Ableton Forum

For those having issues with VST2 and VST3 plug ins in custom directories, the latest beta released today addresses that:

- Fixed an issue that caused scanning VST plug-ins from Live’s Preferences on Apple Silicon computers to take longer than expected.
- Scanning VST2 and VST3 custom folder paths now works as expected.

https://ableton.centercode.com/welcome/

That shit isnt fixed i was waiting for an update because i was using the beta version and with the 11.1.1 release its still not fixed..

RaadsKoen wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 08, 2022 7:40 pm

so this thread is more about, place all in one plugin folder, the VST2 versions, than that are 2 options;

1. yes put them all in one folder, if it can be done... it can be done, but also a lot of overhead.
2. if you don't put your VST2 plugins in one folder, like me, i have 4, don't know why, but for me is how i like it.

for 2. there is workaround using symlinks:

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/

as already mentioned.

I'm running Windows 10 and using 2 VST2 folders. Prior to Live 11.1, Live was using a shortcut to access the second VST2 folder. That has stopped working.

The fix: Created a symlink with the "/J" option to make a directory junction from the defined VST2 custom folder to the target folder, using the instructions in the article linked above.

This option worked as well for me as the previous shortcut had, and all of my VST2 plugins were scanned by Live. So now all of my missing VST2 plugins that had been in a folder referenced by a shortcut are now available.

For anyone stumbling onto this post in search for a quick solution:
There is a workaround using Symbolic links instead of shortcuts. To make a symbolic link you need to mess with a command prompt (unfortunately)

1. Open Command line as an administrator
2. Execute a following command Example: where "C:\Program Files\VstPlugins\" is a folder you want to create a link in and "External" - name of a symlink (it will appear in VST2 folder in Ableton)
3. Rescan plugins in Ableton

This worked for me with Ableton 11.1 and Windows 11. Hope it helps

Here is how I have mine working by replacing the shortcuts for junction points in windows

Delete your shortcut references but make not of the destination

create a junction point with mklink from the windows cmd from source to destination

example below my source for vst is C:\Program Files\Vstplugins and I create a link called Steinberg linked to C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins

mklink /J "C:\Program Files\Vstplugins\Steinberg" "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins"

This is working for me since shortcuts stopped working

Hope this helps