How to remove deleted plugins from Ableton's plugin list?

[Creature Lurkin]

I'm having an issue were plugins that have been removed from my system continue to show up in my vst3 browser in Ableton. I had a brainworx bundle that I uninstalled and yet the entire bundle still shows up in the vst3 section. It does not however show up under the vst2 section. After the uninstall, I went into the vst3 folder and made sure any remnants of the plugins were deleted. I have show hidden folders turned on. I even went into registry editor and removes any leftover brainworx stuff... Yeah nothing seems to work. The entire bundle is still there in Ableton under vst3. Even if I use the exact name of one of the plugins and search my entire hard drive for it, nothing shows up. For the life of me I cannot figure out why it still sees them.
None of them will actually load, if I try to load any of them, Ableton states they cannot be found.

If I have Ableton rescan the plugins folder, it still lists them. Is there a way to like "clear the cash" or somehow get Ableton to do a true rebuild of the vst3 folder during a scan? At that point there might be a chance it doesn't find them.

I'm not sure how to fix this, some advice would definitely be appreciated.

PS: forgot to mention I'm on Windows 10 operating system.

[[jur]]

Try holding the alt key when pressing the plugins "rescan" button.

[Creature Lurkin]

Try holding the alt key when pressing the plugins "rescan" button.

I gave that a shot and everything still shows up under vst3 folder. It's driving me nuts, I just don't understand how it can find something that isn't there. I searched my entire hard drive again for the plug-in names and a complete windows HD search can't even find them.

Anyone with more ideas on a fix?

[Pitch Black]

Reset Live?

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... eset-Live-

[Creature Lurkin]

Reset Live?

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... eset-Live-

gave that a shot as well, same result. All of the plugins in the deleted pack still show up in the VST3 folder in Ableton.

[Creature Lurkin]

Actually it looks like I have found a solution. I essentially toggled back and forth between ableton's "VST3 plug-in system folder" , and the "VST3 plugin custom folder". Eventually landing on the VST3 plug-in systems folder, when it was noticed the deleted plugins no longer appeared. I had this location selected before and they still did appear, quite strange.

They also appeared when I had the custom folder selected... My custom folder being "C:\Program files\Common files\VST3"; which if I'm not mistaken happens to be the same location ableton's VST3 plug-in system folder directs to?

I'm a bit confused as to how or why exactly this fixed the problem, but I am very excited it has done so.

[Tarekith]

Thanks for letting us know how you solved it.

[flavioeverardo]

On Mac, the rescan with the alt key works for VSTs, for AU you must restart your computer after you delete them from the Library path.

[SurfingDingo]

I had the same issue here to do with a plugin that had been removed per the documentation but still showed in Ableton. After trying various rescan and the solution below I happened on the solution. Turn off all plugins (AU, VST2, VST3) Then reboot. Then turn back on. Worked for me on 12.2.5 on a MacBook Air M3 / Sequoia