# Reinstalling existing libraries in a new PC



## afg (Apr 28, 2018)

My PC has finally died after 5 years of faithful service. It is therefore time to get a new PC and embark on reinstalling all my VI libraries (including Berlin Woodwinds, Sample Modelling, Kontakt libraries, VSL, Hollywood Strings, ample sound, Play and loads of other stuff). The thought of reinstalling all these libraries is nerve wracking and is giving me nightmares. How easy is the process? Have any of you'll gone through process? What issues did you'll face in this process? Do I have to reach out to the VI developers to reactivate the licenses? Would love hearing your inputs.


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## Jdiggity1 (Apr 28, 2018)

Did your hard drives die with the PC, or are they salvagable?
If your drives are still usable in your new machine, all you'll need to do is install the players and license managers, and direct them to the drives containing the samples.
Play and Kontakt libraries are licensed to your account, not a machine, so once you install Native Access and EW Install Manager, you relink them to your libraries and you're good to go.

If your drives are unusable, then you will be able to redownload most libraries through the various download managers or online accounts, but some might require getting in contact with the developer to send you new download links.
I found that VSL, East West, Native Instruments, Cinesamples, Spectrasonics, 8dio, and a few others were easy to redownload without contacting support. Spitfire lets you redownload your libraries once you "reset" them in their library manager (which can take several hours). And others like Orchestral Tools do not have online accounts or downloaders, so you either need the original emails from when u purchased the libraries, or contact support.

All in all, I'd say it is "easy", but can take some time.
I keep a hard drive with these installers on it for that reason, and a backup drive with common libraries on it.
Good luck!


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## afg (Apr 28, 2018)

Jdiggity1 said:


> Did your hard drives die with the PC, or are they salvagable?
> If your drives are still usable in your new machine, all you'll need to do is install the players and license managers, and direct them to the drives containing the samples.
> Play and Kontakt libraries are licensed to your account, not a machine, so once you install Native Access and EW Install Manager, you relink them to your libraries and you're good to go.
> 
> ...


Thanks so much. Lets see how it goes.


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## Quasar (May 1, 2018)

What was already said. A lot depends on what exactly "died". If your OS HD died and the PC won't boot, the computer may be fine. If the motherboard is fried or something, it's likely that the hard drives are still fine. And if you have multiple hard drives, it's highly unlikely that they all died at the same time.

And do you have backup? It's of course always best practice to have everything backed up. I keep two separate copies of installers on backup drives.

When it comes to the PIA of reactivating everything, it depends on what you have, what the developers' policies are for each case, so it's likely to be a slog if you do reinstall everything. As jdiggity1 said, "easy" but likely time consuming, and there wouldn't be any shortcuts to circumvent that. Good luck.


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