11 has been a nightmare for me. I had a hair pulling experience when setting up Cantabile. Many Thanks to @Brad after several message exchanges, we got it going.
I went to 11 in February, only because 10 will end soon, and several developers are starting to require 11.
I decided to install Omnispere 3 on my Win11 machine. I left Omnisphere 2 on my Win10 machine, as it runs very well.
As with everything involving Win11, it was a f**k up.
I had problems with Omnisphere dll. Win11 decided I needed a default file type association for the dll. I tried to bypass the default, but 11 forced me to make a decision before moving on. It forced notepad on me. Every dll I owned became a notepad default.
After hours reading, and trying Win fixes, it asked for a program that would host dll files. All it offered was Cantabile and notepad. I chose Cantabile. BUT, now all dll files are requiring only Cantabile.
I tried the app reset in settings and nothing changed.
I am stalled at this time.
I’ve spent several hours in Win forums and single hacks (which never work).
I am at the point of using some Reg edit hacks. As others were saying, Windows created this problem so users will be forced to only use Windows apps.
Regardless, every geek I know, has told me, 11is pure horse manure, and Windows now takes charge of everything. The users have no control. Linux is not quite ready for “prime time” yet, but is looking good at this minute.
I had to bump from Win7 to Win10 on Cantabile machine only because Kemper Profiler required Win10 to update firmware. This was all after win10 had been out a while and did not cause problems. When Brad wanted to drop <Win10 from Cantabile support, I was already there. I’m still holding off Win11 on the Cantabile machine until the very last moment (years I hope). My recording DAW is still Win7 and I just don’t want to go through the upgrade hassle. I was forced to go to Win11 on my surfing machine (the one I’m typing on right now), but that’s it for now. I did not notice any problems with the Win11 upgrade; but few, if any, audio programs are operated on this machine.
For audio/Cantibile machines, my philosophy is F**k Win11, Internet, VST3, 32bit, and iLoks. Macrium Backup as needed and regularly backup Cantabile Songs.
Wow, really sorry to hear that Corky. FWIW there is a way to get another year of win 10 updates, IIRC it requires a Microsoft account. I did it on my personal machine and it’s been working. Unfortunately that might be too late for you. For my gig machines I’m still on 10, but for those occasional updates I now have to enable bitdefender, do my updates, and then go through a long menu to disable bit defender again. Maybe not the best scenario but that’s what I’m stuck with. PITA. Microsoft simply sucks.
Tom
I reduced my machines this year. I have 1-win 10 laptop, 1-win 11 laptop, and 1-win 10 desktop now. The laptops are my gigging machines, but the 11 is a backup. Quite a shame what Microsoft has done.
I still run some old vsts without a problem. The original VB3 still runs on all of them. The vst developers keep dropping support, thanks MS.
Hi Tom.
Just to point out another thing. I am posting this on an 8.1 with a pop up every day saying “I must update my computer soon as support is ending”.
I can’t open my bank accounts, social security, and my email because I didn’t upgrade. Funny thing, I can’t upgrade 8.1 anyway on this old machine.
Win 11 is a piece of crap! I am in the middle of my third install now. Many programs including Cantabile missing or do not work, USB ports not working, sound card not working, sometimes my settings are not getting saved. One update that won’t download or install. I hate Micro-shaft. I’ve been trying to download and install 25H2 hoping it will fix things.
I wish you well on that. 11 lurks in the pits of hell. Once you think you got this, 11 raises it’s ugly head and gives a satanic laugh at your failed attempts.
I hear you Corky. I have an old Win 7 machine like that, that I still use occasionally. What’s odd about the Win 11 problem is I’ve seen so many reports in the past of it working fine for DAW, Cantabile, etc. Glad it’s working for you Derek.
Tom
Ok last night I reinstalled using the media creation tool to USB on top of my last install. Now I’m on 25H2 and I have all the latest updates. Things are working great so far outside of the reinstalls I was ecpecting to redo. I still hate MS but not so much today lol. This is one of the biggest hassles I’ve ever had with an OS.
I’ve been using Windows 11 for quite some time now and never had a single issue. My only gripe is the Windows 11 installer tries really hard to make you use a cloud-based account and I prefer local accounts - but there are ways around it and that was the same as Win 10.
It’s hard to guess what might have happened with your Omnisphere installation. What do you mean “I needed a default file type association”? Was that provoked by the Omnisphere installation or were you deliberately trying to associate .dll files? Even if you did accidentally associate .dll files with notepad, is that really a problem - that shouldn’t affect any running programs or vst hosts.
It sounds like this was more a problem that just happened to occur while you were running Windows 11, rather than being a problem with Windows 11 itself.
Unfortunately, upgrading Windows is just a pain. I never upgrade existing systems and always install clean and that helps, but it means reinstalling everything. But that’s also a clean slate and I like getting rid of all the old cruft.
In the end, no operating system is perfect and the pain points usually come from change and not being used to something different. Same when switching between operating systems - it’s the changes that get you, not the operating system itself.
Win 11 makes you use a default file type on any anything it suspects needs a default. What it is, if you have a note or text, it automatically goes to Notepad. This works for many files. If you pull up an MP3, the media player pops up. If you go to settings in Win 11, select apps on the left panel, and select Default Apps on the right panel, you will see many apps like Clock, Calculator, news. and on.
What happened was I was using the Omnisphere DLL. and somehow linked it to notepad. I couldn’t reverse it. I was pulling what little hair I have left. Everything DLL I used would pop up in notepad. It only let me exchange to Cantabile, which I did so I could move along.
Now any dll’s I touch, whatever it is used for, will automatically go to Cantabile. It can’t be reversed.
Last week I searched, and tested, and even went into regedit without luck.
My dll does not work in Omnisphere, but it is for the stand-alone which I am not using. There is good news, Windows will sell us more apps to screw things up.
This is one of the biggest hassles I’ve ever had with an OS. 
