When you change the default install path in windows registry, it adds this folder as an unremovable plugin search path in the plugin manager and does not remove the previous search path.
I reinstalled FL Studio 20 and it remembers the folders.
I reinstalled FL Studio 20 again without migrating settings and it still remembers the folders somehow.
Yes, there is an easy workaround of just renaming my new folder, re adding, etc, and just leaving the file paths there, but I feel the problem should be fixed to save other confusion and frustration. literal hours I spent trying to sort my VST's into folders and wondering why they were still showing up in FL Studio when i rescanned plugins. I was re-adding the new folders i made and the folders just would not add to the list. I didn't realise they wouldn't add to the list because they were already there in the set of default paths. It was extremely easy to overlook; I never would have assumed FL Studio would read the windows default, let alone leave the folder there once I had changed it again.
I imagine this is a feature intended to prevent someone from changing their default path, and if it dissapeared from the plugin paths, that it would make VST's not open and project files would be ruined. However you could just leave the folder there, and if FL reads that it is no longer the default search path, make it removable.
My (annoyingly default windows) VST installation folder was titled 'Steinberg' within my Program files (x86) folder, however I install into the regular vst folder.
Both of these folders are default 'Plugin Search Paths' within fl studio.
I was using the opportunity of the upgrade to 20 to re-install plugins and move them all to arrange them within a single folder so they were not split. I also had an accidently made extra vst plugin folder in program files i also wanted to conglomerate.
I Created a new Folder in Program files for all my non VST3 plugins to be installed into. In this folder I made 3 sub folders:
32 Bit VST
64 Bit VST
Waves
For anyone with experience with waves, you will know that is it not convenient for a huge list of literal hundreds of 'plugins' titled 'GenericMulticoreProcessor' to be floating around your plugins list when you are using the browser.
So I titled the folder 0VST so it was always at the top of my files for convenience, and because I wanted to include my waves plugins in the same place as my other plugins for convenience. I also titled it differently so that it wouldn't include the entire folder (waves seperate plugins included) when i scanned for plugins.
The ideal list of search paths would be
Default plugin paths (now empty folders)
0VST\32 Bit VST
0VST\64 Bit VST
with no waves, as the shells are installed in the VST3 folder
Now the fun begins! I moved and sorted everything into the new folders. In reg-edit, I changed the default install path that pops up when you install a new plugin to my new 0VST folder. and then finished moving everything to their new home. I add the 2 search paths i mentioned and boom, my plugins list was filled with over 1000 waves .dll files.
I spent hours tinkering with files, moving folders and renaming. What I didn't realise was, the 0VST folder I had made as the default install file is now a unremovable plugin search path which includes the entire waves plugin folder.
FL Studio is adding the new windows default install paths and making it an unremovable plugin search path
Useful to some maybe I thought. I can just deal with it by changing window's default search path to one that I want to be as one of the plugin paths anyway to dodge the waves plugin problem. I registry edit the default path to a dummy folder i called SPAGHETTI.
Then I try to add the 64 Bit VST folder to the search paths and it just wont add! I tried resetting etc. I had absolutely no idea why this was happening. It was extremely easy to overlook that FL Studio had kept the old path I had set as default (the entire plugins folder) when it added the new SPAGHETTI folder. I was at this for a long damn time until I realised.
Please let us be able to remove them.