A Minor Kontakt Nuisance — and a Fix

I’m posting this as much as a placeholder for myself as anything, but if it helps someone else, then so much the better. Here’s the deal…

Sometimes, when you install a new instrument or library in Kontakt, it’s graphics don’t appear properly in the browser or in Komplete Kontrol. It has to do with the databases not getting updated properly, or getting corrupted somehow. Everything (well, most everything) still works, but the icon doesn’t display, like this:

Instead of the graphic, you see the little gray file folder icons. And, if you have a Kontrol S mkIII controller, the graphics don’t load into the display, either. Again, everything functions, and the graphics usually load correctly when you open the instrument in you DAW.

There’s a workaround/fix, of course, and it’s found on Native Instruments support pages. Here’s the link: https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/7228347290909-Thumbnail-Picture-Icons-are-Missing-in-the-Kontakt-Browser. A caveat is that if you use Microsoft OneDrive (or similar), the file locations in steps 3 and 5 may be slightly different depending on how you setup your system.

Also, just note that the fix may not be permanent. If an instrument or library goes blank on you for some reason, just run through the steps again and you’ll be in good shape … until the next time.