THB, I have no answer to this problem. Here is how I do it:
All Kontakt libraries are on "D:\NI" (D: is a dedicated samples SSD, or just a partition).
All my instrument files (.nki) are on "C:\users\music\Documents\kontakt".
Of course, these paths are the same on every PC. On every new installation I always create the structure like this.
So Absolute or Relative doesn’t matter.
I found this explanation so we had a reference. It appears it’s all about the location of the .nki. It makes sense but if it isn’t working per the instructions then it must be a bug.
Absolute Paths
If “Absolute path” is activated Kontakt will always look for your files at the exact same position you stored your instrument, also when moving it to another location.
For example if you save your instrument to D:\My_Instrument\ and copy it to C:\Release Version\ Kontakt will still look for all resources at D:\My_Instrument\Resources, D:\My_Instrument\MySamples\ and D:\My_Instrument\MyResourceContainer.nkr
You have probably already recognized the problem: When publishing your instrument also your customer’s Kontakt will look for the files at your location which still is D:\My_Instrument..
Relative Paths
If you leave “Absolute paths” unchecked Kontakt uses relative paths. That means Kontakt always looks for your files relatively from where your .nki is stored.
For example if you save it to D:\My_Instrument\MyInstrument.nki Kontakt will look for the resource folder in \Resources
Also when moving all files to a new location (hard drive, partition or sub folder).
So when copying all files to C:\Release Version\ the path to all your files still is \Resources, \MySamples\ and \MyResourceContainer.nkr
Always relatively to where your nki is stored. This way we can publish our instrument without worrying where our customers/users will install our instrument package.
As long as all files are kept together (the way they have been published) Kontakt will always find them even if one puts the files into W:\Love\Subfolders\Even\More\When\Loosing\Track\
Dave