.vstsound file missing : a little (real-life) tale, with what could be a "how to ?" procedure…

Cubase
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(FWIW, my setup summary : C12.0.50 Pro / Windows 10 Pro 22H2 / 2 SSDs)

Stumbled upon a nasty issue, yesterday, just after having updated both the Steinberg Download Assistant (SDA) and the Steinberg Library Manager (SLM), with my administrator account. After getting back to my user one, I launched Cubase and got this :

C12_VSTSoundMissing

I immediatly tried the Locate option and got this :

C12_VSTSoundMissing2
C12_VSTSoundMissing21180×711 69 KB

So, I resigned myself to choose the Ignore one and started to find a way to fix the issue : actually, there is none, neither here, in these forums (or I didn’t make an accurate search - all related topics found haven’t been of great help, I must say), nor in the Steinberg site. While scratching my head, I stopped Cubase and I launched the SLM as administrator and looked for the so-called missing file, which actually was here, at the right place (and as the screenshot above shows) :

C12_VSTSoundMissing_SLM_VSTSoundMissing_GMPresets
C12_VSTSoundMissing_SLM_VSTSoundMissing_GMPresets1070×840 114 KB

Tried again to launch Cubase, after rebooting the computer : same issue and the presets related to the missing file (all the [GMxxx] ones) were indeed no longer presents in MediaBay, even after forcing a rescan of my two SSDs :

C12_VSTSoundMissing_MediaBay1
C12_VSTSoundMissing_MediaBay12478×1362 456 KB

So, I resigned again myself and went this time in the SDA, also as administrator, and Reinstalled the Halion Sonic SE 3 - Content (3.35 Gb - more than half an hour for the process). Started Cubase again, same issue… :roll_eyes:
But this time, I choosed the Remove option in the first error dialog window. This, to try again a reinstallation of the whole content, forcing the misbehaving file one.

C12_VSTSoundMissing_SDA_HSE3ContentReinstall2
C12_VSTSoundMissing_SDA_HSE3ContentReinstall21232×832 74.2 KB

… and again a reinstallation of the Content in the SDA. While I was waiting, suddenly, an idea dawned on me : has the .vstsound file been actually removed ? Nope… It was still there at the same place and I had to cut and copy it in my Documents folder with Windows explorer and using my administrator password to get rid of it. Finally, the reinstallation went to its end. Crossing my fingers, I relaunched Cubase : no more error message, yay ! Went to MediaBay again, and indeed, all my [GMxxx] presets were available again.

C12_VSTSoundMissing_MediaBay2
C12_VSTSoundMissing_MediaBay22478×1362 477 KB

At the end, few questions that compose, combined together, a feature request :

  • Why do we need to download 3.35 Gb of content, to reinstall a 4 Mb .vstsound file and isn’t it possible to allow us, precisely with the SLM, to download individually the .vstsound files that compose a content set, to avoid the never-ending download process ?
  • How comes that the SLM doesn’t detect that there is an issue with the file involved, if Cubase detects it at launch ?
  • At last, how comes that, in Steinberg support site, there isn’t a clear troubleshooting page for this kind of “.vstsound file missing” issue ?

Overall, several hours lost (searching, downloading, installing, checking, etc.). Thoughts and testimonies welcomed… :neutral_face:

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Hi. If the file actually exists where Cubase says it cannot be found, then this is a Windows file permissions issue. When you did a cut and copy and had to enter an administrator password, you probably effective overwrote the file with bad permissions with a version that at least had permissions granted to yourself. Here is another method for fixing the issue (which you will need Administrative privileges to do)

  1. Go to C:\ProgramData\Steinberg\Content. ProgramData is a hidden folder, so the easiest way to get there is go to Start > Run and paste in C:\ProgramData\Steinberg\Content
  2. Right click on VST Sound, then select Properties.
  3. Go to the Security tab, then select Advanced button at the bottom right.
  4. If you see a “Change Permissions” button, click on it then click Yes or Okay on any new permission windows.
  5. At the bottom left, check “Replace all child object permissions entries with inheritable permission entries from this object” then click on OK. This will force all files and folders inside VST Sound to have the same permissions as VST Sound itself.
  6. Relaunch Cubase or start a scan and Cubase should find the file without issue.

This method assumes the permissions are correct on the C:\ProgramData\Steinberg\Content\VST Sound folder, but just couple files inside of it have wrong permissions, as was the case on my system. By forcing VST Sound permissions to replace everything in it, you will have repaired the file that Cubase couldn’t read because of bad permissions.

1 Like
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Hi, @Makisound, and thanks a lot for chiming in : finally a feedback, after nearly one year. I’ll keep your suggestion in case of a similar issue would show its ugly head again.

Meanwhile, thanks again and, by the way, welcome to the forums : a great start from you, IMO… :slightly_smiling_face: