If you are a person who uses DAW to compose music often, you may have come across VST3 plugins. VST3 plugins are awesome, but there are a few issues with them. The recurring message is this:
You can’t change the default VST3 folder. It MUST be placed there. This was set by Steinberg, the licensor of the VST format. This has to do with Steinberg’s own DAWs like Nuendo/Cubase and their internal plugin manager, which uses this system folder for installed VST3 plugins. This also has to do with the VST3 preset standard, which is able to save presets with different categories. All DAWs on the marked which support VST3 are forced to search new VST3 plugins in
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3
This would be fine, except I don't like being told "No".
Instead, there are a few ways to "trick" the DAW into searching oher folders for your VST3 plugins. If you're a Reaper user, then cool, you can ignore this as Reaper doesn't care and will blindly search recursively for any VST format. For the rest of us, this little trick should work on FL Studio and Renoise.
VST3 plugins are locked to a single install location by Steinberg's VST3 specification. All compliant DAWs are required to scan C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, and only that path, for installed plugins.
The workaround is a Windows Symbolic Link (Junction): a pointer that makes Windows treat one folder path as if it were another. By replacing the default VST3 folder with a junction pointing at your preferred location, DAWs can find their plugins exactly where they expect to, while the actual files themselves live wherever you want.
Note for Reaper users: Reaper ignores the VST3 spec and scans any folder you point it at; you don't need this guide.
Note for iLok-licensed plugins: This may not work for products protected by iLok (such as EastWest Opus), as iLok cannot traverse symbolic links to find its
.keylicence files.
- Windows OS (x86 or x64)
- Administrator access
- Your new VST3 folder already created at its destination (e.g.
D:\VST3) - Any existing plugins moved out of
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3into that new folder
Type cmd into the Windows search bar.
Right-click Command Prompt and select Run as Administrator. Administrator rights are required because you will be modifying a protected path on the C:\ drive.
Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files.
Delete the VST3 folder here — the junction will replace it. If the folder doesn't exist yet (or you already deleted it when moving your plugins), skip this step.
⚠️ Make sure you have already moved your plugins to the new destination before deleting this folder, or they will be gone.
Back in Command Prompt, run the following command — replacing the second path with your actual destination:
mklink /J "C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3" "D:\Your\New\VST3\Path"
If successful, you will see a confirmation message:
Trigger a plugin rescan in your DAW. It will find your VST3 plugins at the new location via the junction, without any configuration changes on the DAW side.
1. The junction was created but my DAW still can't find my plugins.
Check that the destination path you provided in mklink actually exists and contains your .vst3 files. The junction is only a pointer; if the target folder is empty or the path is wrong, there is nothing to find.
2. I get "Access Denied" when running mklink.
Command Prompt was not launched as Administrator. Close it and repeat Step 1, making sure to right-click and select Run as Administrator.
3. I use iLok-protected plugins and they stopped working.
iLok cannot traverse symbolic links to find its licence files. You will need to keep iLok-licensed plugins in the original C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 folder directly, or maintain a separate unsymlinked install for those plugins.
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