Kontakt 8 plugin unavailable in Logic Pro after system reset

Wow. It's fixed!!!!!!! A definite WOOT from me. HUGE thanks to Jordi from LogicProHelp usergroup, and DunedinDragon from the NI usergroup, and all the others that contributed along the way.

Turns out, I had a plugin file (Kontakt 8.component) in both the global /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ folder and the user-level folder. The working enviro only had one plugin in the global. So moving the plugin file out of the local tree solved the problem.

Jordi gave me the idea of creating a new admin user, then seeing what happens in the new environment. DunedinDragon gave me the idea to check file permissions, which put me on the trail of an exhaustive comparison of all the associated files I could think of.

It's a mystery how the extra plugin file got there, because the only reason I was mucking around in those folders was trying to figure out the problem, that seems to me like originated when I rebooted the computer.

I no longer care how it got there, lol. THANKS everyone for your help!

I have narrowed it down, at least a bit:

I created a brand new (admin) user, logged in as that user, then opened Logic. Everything works *great*

It's logical (no pun intended) to conclude something is missing/corrupted/misconfigured in the user file tree, like

//MacHD/Users/My_Original_Login_Name/Library/Audio

//MacHD/Users/My_Original_Login_Name/Library/Preferences)

etc

while the global tree, like

//MacHD/Library/Audio

//MacHD/Library/Preferences

is working fine.

OK, next morning with fresh mind. Tried the entire process again. I've opened a ticket with Native Instrument's tech support. Here's what I've tried so far:

2026-02-08 

Same errors as before:

Logic Pro can’t find Kontakt plugin; Kontakt standalone app behaving badly (Misrouted audio out, not accepting input from external MIDI keyboard)

STEPS TAKEN

1) Using Native Access, uninstalled Kontakt 8. (Deleted all the files listed by Native Access)

2) Rebooted Computer

3) NA came back with “Repair” option for Kontakt:

4) Not sure whether to Repair or reinstall? 

5) I Chose Reinstall, now in Native Access for Kontakt, repair button changed to “Open” button.

TESTING Logic Pro:

1) Opened a different Logic project.

2) Added new software Instrument track

3) Went to select Kontakt, but it was not present in Logic’s list of Plugins: 

4) Opened Logic’s plugin manager, discovered that the Kontakt checkbox for “Use” was again unchecked:

5) Checked the checkbox, closed plugin manager, did not make Kontakt appear in Logic’s list of available plugins.

6) Closed and reopened Logic, went to plugin manager. Kontakt was again unchecked.

There is no way to add Kontakt to a Logic Pro project.

TESTING KONTAKT 8 Standalone App:

1) Launched Kontakt (Clicked Kontakt’s Open button inside Native Access).

2) Kontakt was empty, then did it’s own search to load some (but not all) of the instrument libraries.

3) Once the libraries were loaded, checked to see if one would play, by clicking the onscreen keyboard in the bottom of the Kontakt UI. 

  Same problems with accepting MIDI input, as well as problems routing audio out.

4) Tried a 3rd-party instrument: Clicked “Load” and loaded an instrument from:

  //MusicLibs/29 Kontakt 8/3rd Party Libraries/Muletone_Brazil/Brazilian Series Repinique 1.3/Instruments/Repinique - Single Hits.nki

5) Instrument appeared to load fine in Kontakt

6) Same problems as step 3:

  A - audio out from Kontakt routes ONLY to display monitor’s speakers, not to system audio, such as “Laptop Speakers” or “Fireface UFX II” (My audio Interface). Cannot change the audio out target.

  B - Kontakt does not accept input from the external MIDI keyboard. Only the onscreen keyboard triggers sound. 

7) Confirmed that MIDI input is good at the hardware level:

I don’t know what to try next.

Thanks very much, anyone have any ideas?

Thanks dSparks!

In case anyone is reading this, Here’s an update of my “progress” as of 2/10/26:

It turns out Native Instruments, without my asking, updated Native Access this morning. I now have NA 3.22.1

Using this, I uninstalled Kontakt. (From a list of files shown in Native Access that you need to delete — they do not have a software package to do the uninstall)

Then I backed up and deleted the plist file for Logic, at

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.logic10.plist

I reinstalled Kontakt (and again, Native instruments updated this as well, without my asking, from 8.8.0 to 8.8.1) So they are throwing variables into this effing mess.

With Kontakt installed, and Logic with no plist file, I started up Logic.

Logic went through the expected process of scanning the AU plugins, then asked some new install questions, like (Do you want to download more sound files?)

And after all that, we got this message:

Same error, but different format for the dialogue box in which the error appears. Sure why not, lol.

And the worst part is, now my MIDI is not accepting input, from the hardware level. (I use an old utility called “MIDI Monitor”, it shows nothing incoming at the hardware level when I hit the keys of my Nord and my Hammond XK5.) I don’t know if this happened unrelated, or before and I didn’t notice it; but I don’t have time to troubleshoot right now.

I won’t be able to respond or test anything until this coming Saturday, so I’ll pick this up then. 

There's still a few things to try that people have suggested. Will try those thiscoming weekend if I have time.

Thanks for reading, and for any ideas you might have…

Back again, sorry I was away so long. Out of town for a week, and playing in the user groups (highly recommended) LogicProHelp.com; Native Instruments Community; Apple's community. Will start looking for a Kontakt user group on Facebook, since problem still remains.

here's what I've tried so far:

1. Full Disk Access enabled.

2. Support Ticket opened 2+ weeks ago.

3. Kontakt 8.component file is present.

4. No Plugins uninstalled.

5. Some Instruments updated today, manually, from within Native Access. All tested great in Kontakt.

6. Along the way in this journey, Kontakt and Native Access are now most recent versions (Auto updated somehow, I never initiated a manual update of these two).

7. Reinitialized Kontakt database.

8. Usage Data Tracking in Kontakt is off.

9. Deleted Logic's plist file.

10. Rescanned all AUs (multiple times) inside Logic.

11. Also tried deleting the AU cache file.

12.Sent a debug/log file to NI Support, using their NI Support Tool. Waiting to hear back.

Next to try is to delete the Kontakt User plist file in Preferences folder. (Not yet tried).

ANY ideas you might suggest? Thanks everyone!

Heavy sigh, Reinstall did not work.

I get same error in Logic (Can't find the Plug-In Kontakt).

In Native Access (using the folders on the right hand side--thank god those are there--), I deleted all the files listed. When I returned to Native Access to reinstall, I did notice that for Kontakt, there was a red Exclamation point and a button "Repair" .

Thinking I didn't want to try to use the old enviro because that seemed like the messed up one, I hit Reinstall instead. Now I get the same error in Logic, as mentioned above.

I'll try the unistall again...and if I get the "Repair" button, I'll try that.

Thanks!

Oh fiddlestix. No good.

I tried repair, I tried reinstall. Nothing gets the plugins to work. There's other problems as well:

1) in Kontakt 8 standalone, none of the additional instruments I got from NI are loading.

2) The audio output of the standalone app is not going to the Mac's system audio out, it's going to the speakers in the display monitor. Regardless of what I choose for system out - Laptop Speakers, Audio interface, etc.

I'm going to knock off for tonight, If I dig any deeper, damage will be the only outcome. ;-)

Thanks for checking in, I really appreciate it!

The conversation with NI has started...they first sent me a boilerplate (from an AI bot?) suggesting numerous things about libraries and old versions of Kontakt that had nothing to do with the problem, heh. Luckily, a human followed up by asking if I still have questions, and I've been deluging him with screenshots and descriptions of my testing and findings, lol. Waiting to hear back on their thoughts...

Libraries are loading into Kontakt standalone, so I'm hoping that would mean they would load into Kontakt plugin if I could get that plugin to run inside Logic. So I'm currently thinking that 's not the problem. And the library I care about (an awesome collection of Brazilian percussion from Muletone Audio in Brazil) loads one instrument per track, so these are loaded manually into Kontakt, whether it's the plugin or the standalone.

For Repair vs Reinstall, my thinking is the current install is horked, so better to blow it away and start from scratch. I can't remember now in all the trial and error attempts to fix, but I *think* I have tried the Repair option because Reinstall wasn't working.

btw, A Reinstall is not actually from scratch, because Native Access remembered that my libraries are on my external SSD, not whatever the Native Access default is. So their approach to reinstall, which is to manually delete their files [eyeball roll upwards], doesn't completely wipe the slate clean.

The 2 problems with Kontakt Standalone have been resolved: I needed to point the audio out to the specific audio device, following "System Preferences" is not an option in this app. I also had to assign the MIDI ports. Also kinda klunky, but the standalone is working now.

Will continue to update.

Depending on what I hear back from NI Support, I'm now thinking it's time to uninstall the entire suite of Native Instruments software, then reinstall.

Does anyone have any tips about that?

Thank you,

David

Wait, you're saying any time I restart my computer, I have to re-register Kontakt? wrong.

Hardware/software working on Sonoma does NOT automatically mean it will work in later versions. also wrong.

I'm seeing opinions and assumptions here, not much fact and concrete advice.

Awesome, DSparks;

Thank you so much for the relevant and actionable info!

Also tried the group at David Nehmani's LogicProHelp.com. Got one response that reinstall is the fix. I was hoping for something simple, like replace the Kontakt.component file, lol.

I've left a post today at Native Instruments user group, too soon to have heard anything back yet.

Also posted in Facebook's Apple LogicPro User's Group. Heh, the replies there were "Don't you mean version 11?" and other not helpfuls. I guess sometimes folks can't help jumping in before double-checking whether the info offered is actually helpful and on target.

I guess I've gotta bite the bullet and uninstall/reinstall.

Thanks again, I'll let you know how it goes!