Topic: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

As soon as the Windows installer is finished, the installed VST3 file is somehow automatically removed from my system (latest W10 build). I am not sure what would cause this, but something is not right with the Pianoteq 9 installer on WIndows...

Anyone else had this happen?

Last edited by EvilDragon (22-10-2025 09:51)
Hard work and guts!

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

EvilDragon wrote:

As soon as the Windows installer is finished, the installed VST3 file is somehow automatically removed from my system (latest W10 build). I am not sure what would cause this, but something is not right with the Pianoteq 9 installer on WIndows...

Anyone else had this happen?


Maybe Windows Defender is deleting/quarantining the file because it thinks it's suspicious. Check the defender logs.

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

Nope, nothing like that. I would've gotten a notification from Defender, but I am not getting anything. Logs don't show anything. My whole D: drive (where I install all the VST plugins) is excluded from scanning by Defender.

Hard work and guts!

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

EvilDragon wrote:

Nope, nothing like that. I would've gotten a notification from Defender, but I am not getting anything. Logs don't show anything. My whole D: drive (where I install all the VST plugins) is excluded from scanning by Defender.

Even if you tell the installer to install it to D:\... , the .vst3 file will be on C:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Pianoteq 9.vst3\Contents\x86_64-win\Pianoteq 9.vst3
MD5 HASH - 6D45623AFB8248172561C8A84ED1934A

Last edited by revox (22-10-2025 10:57)

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

Ummm ok, it's not removing itself. The VST3 folder makes itself HIDDEN after install. Why?

Hard work and guts!

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

EvilDragon wrote:

Ummm ok, it's not removing itself. The VST3 folder makes itself HIDDEN after install. Why?

Seems like the installer adds 'S - system attribute' to the directory 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Pianoteq 9.vst3'

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3>dir /AS /B P*
Pianoteq 9.vst3

"System Attribute (S): This attribute indicates that a file is a critical part of the operating system. It helps protect important system files from being altered or removed by users."

To remove the S attribute:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3>attrib -S "Pianoteq 9.vst3"

Last edited by revox (22-10-2025 11:29)

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

Yeah this is completely unnecessary to do with VST3 fikes/folders. I know of no other product that does this.

Hard work and guts!

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

EvilDragon wrote:

Yeah this is completely unnecessary to do with VST3 fikes/folders.

Fully agree...

EvilDragon wrote:

I know of no other product that does this.

NotePerformer does this. Now you know for some trivia night

lp

Last edited by revox (22-10-2025 22:36)

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

Heh. Well it makes no sense. I have a 100 other VST3 plugins they all don't set the -s flag.

Hard work and guts!

Re: VST3 doesn't wanna stay installed

EvilDragon wrote:

Heh. Well it makes no sense. I have a 100 other VST3 plugins they all don't set the -s flag.

I found the issue, the installer does indeed set some attributes on the installed vst3 file, and I had completely forgotten about it.

The VST3 of Pianoteq 9 is now a vst3 "bundle": a folder that can hold binaries for multiple architectures. It also contains, per Steinberg specifications, a Plugin.ico and a desktop.ini file , that allow to specify an icon for the "Pianoteq 9.vst3" folder. But in order to get it to work you have to set some attributes  on the .ico,  the desktop.ini and the bundle folder. The icon is shown only if the bundle folder has the "system" attribute, or the "read-only" attribute. So we will use the read-only attribute instead of "system" and that should solve your issue.