Windows 11
Cubase 14

I have legit Kontakt 8 installed and I have just installed the latest Portable one from the sister site but Cubase 14 cant see it.

In the readme.txt that is inside the portable folder it says to modify the PluginID in the corresponding section of VST Plug-ins settings file (Settings.ini).

As far as I know Cubase 14 uses .xml files now in its plugins cache (I may be looking in the wrong place).

Does anyone know where this "settings.ini is located?

A file search on my system brings up 100's of settings files.

Many thanks.

 

I just used the install.exe to install the Kontakt 8 VST3 and it shows up fine in Cubase 14 for me :I

 

Okay but that doe not really answer my question.

 

My fault, misinterpreted the question

 

No worries....

 

Anyone ?????

 

off the top of my head... I assume you have the K Port somewhere eg. C:\KPort8 with all the contents and in your ..Program Files\Common Files\VST3 there is a symlink folder 'Kontakt 8 Portable' (that targets ..KPort8\Kontakt 8\x64\VST3). In there should be the Kontakt 8 Portable.vst3, the readme you are talking about AND the Settings.ini
You can change the name of the .vst3 (say to something like "Kontakt 8 Port.vst3") and then change your Settings.ini accordingly like:

Code:

[Kontakt 8 Port.vst3]
PluginId=Ni08
PluginName=Kontakt 8 Port

If you don't see the Settings.ini in there, you lost it somewhere. But you can just make a new one in that folder I guess..

 

why wouldn't you use a wildcard search to find every .ini file on the hard drive with your pugins? search for *.ini, and maybe browse until you find a smaller section of the disk to search, like only programs etc. Make sure you have hidden files visible.

How does a user delete something they don't know where it would have been?

 

Mate,

I have a full time job, a family and very little free time.

This is a forum where people used to help each other and not make smart aleck comments.

If you can not offer help then do not answer, its that simple.

 

It took you longer to type this than using a wildcard to find where a file you can't find is located. " I can't find it". Yeah, because it isn't there. Like 2 minutes. You have been posting about this since yesterday.

This is nothing "smart alleck" about that. A "smart alleck comment" like that be to mention you would have more free time by knowing what you were doing.

 

Last edited: Jun 2, 2025

I assumed you already had everything unpacked/installed. “KPort8” was just a folder name suggestion when unpacking KontaktPortable_v8xx.exe - you can name it whatever you want.

Here’s what I’d recommend: uninstall any Kontakt Portable 8 version if present. Run KontaktPortable_v8xx.exe and choose and select/name the destination folder for your Kontakt. Inside that folder, run Install.exe and tick the options 'Add VST3 plugin to your DAW' (Optional - Create shortcuts.. / Create start menu..)

Now in that folder, check ...\Kontakt 8\x64\VST3 or C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Kontakt 8 Portable (that’s just a symlink) and monitor it.

At this point (bc it's a fresh install) you’ll most likely only see Kontakt 8 Portable.vst3 and readme.txt. The Settings.ini file doesn’t appear yet - it’ll be created the first time you launch the DAW.

Once it’s there, you can edit it

Mind that:
- if you rename 'Kontakt 8 Portable.vst3' (and edit Settings.ini accordingly), your DAW will (probably) catch the plugin.
Otherwise
- you have to force rescan - for Cubase, IIRC, that would mean deleting the vst3blacklist.xml and vst3plugins.xml in Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Cubase 14_64\Cubase Pro VST3 Cache\

Cubase isn’t my main DAW, so you probably know more about that last part than I do

You only have 3 lines in Settings.ini:
- 1. in [ ] put the exact name of .vst3. If you renamed it for the reason I mentioned above, you have to change it here too.
- 2. PluginId that you have to change (I changed mine from original NiK8 toNi08)
- 3. Plugin name - I keep it same as .vst3 file name

 

If you disable the normal kontakt8,vst3 by remaming it for example to Kontakt8.vst3no, then the portable will show up in cubase, if installed correctly. I do not advise using both unles you have a very special need for it. I consider portable as the best version by far. If you do it like this it is easy to change back and forth. Just rename the one you don't want to use. And like this if you change versions everything will open fine in cubase whichever version you use. Of course the same libraries must be registered in both and that is where the portable version shines. Very easy and controlable way of adding libraries.
Oh and the settings ini is in the portable folder itself next to the kontakt.vst3

 

Totally agree, K Portable is fantastic. But there's literally no reason not to use it alongside any other version. In fact, I’d say that's the biggest advantage: zero interference. Use case: 100% legit NI ecosystem for, say, streaming, updating via NA etcetc ...and Portable for testing what you don't own (yet.. or never will)

And tbh that whole setup’s basically two clicks. just fired up Cubase to check and yep, it works the same everywhere. No need to go back and forth.

 

Thanks - the settings.ini is created when the portable runs. I removed the installed Kontakt by moving the kontakt.vst out of C:\Program Files\Common Files\vst3, reopened my daw, rescanned ensuring the portable path was added, then went to my portable Kontakt folder and found the settings.ini in Kontakt Portable\Kontakt 8\x64\VST
Once that was there the instructions worked perfectly for me - Thanks to this post.