WinXP: Problems launching PT8 after install

[trupro]

Hey all.

alot of the softsynths and plugs I bought last year were installed to work with my ableton setup. Many have RTAS components as well, and while ableton use VSTs, some of these have made or installed themselves to digi or waves folder when I installed the original plugz last year. A version for each plugz platform, as normal.

-Fastforward to last nite...Now Ive installed PT8 with my brand new MboxPro2. After installing it, I cannot start PT up. I've had official copies I purchased of some waves and other plugs and softsynths, that worked fine with ableton and other daw software I use. but now, not only do those not work with PT, protools wont even launch because it cant find its own plugs.

-So the problem is that, although PT8 installs fine, MboxPro2 installs fine, etc...when I go to start ProTools, it cannot find any plugins. A dialog pops up when trying to just start PT8, asking 'locate the waves plug in folder'. So i select it from the dialog, yet there is nothing in the PlugIns folder in DAE. The one that just installed with the digi program, has nothing at all inside it.

-This made me think its seeing my original waves bundles somewhere, or the registry account of those plugins perhaps, and not installing them at all when I do the PT install.

-I thought maybe my original RTAS and waves bundles were confusing it. So I temporarily dragged anything I was using 'pre-mbox install' that was digi related into the trash. Then uninstalled PT and did a new install of it and the hardware. But this didnt help or even augment the problem. Same problems is duplicated whenever I start PT8. Stalls at 'locate your waves folder' etc.

-So my next step, I suppose, is to completely and officially uninstall anything waves or digi related. Furthermore, a ton of my softsynths also have RTAS versions, some of which went into a digi folder. So there is alot of stuff that had digi-related tags or folders for RTAS versions, before I even got this protools interface. Therfore, its hard to know whats cuasing the issue.

-taking the original digi plugz folder away didnt help at all, so Im worried that even after taking everything out, uninstalling etc...I'll have the same exact problem when I try to put the other plugz back in. A very many of my prescious plugz are RTAS compatible, and I would like to avoid another huge wipe/install/reinstall, especially if this will just happen all over if I do in the reverse order.

I feel like Im grasping at straws here. If any of you had waves plugs for use with another DAW, and then installed PT8 with an interface after that, please chime in here, It would be most appreciated!

[The Weed]

What happens if you cancel out of that Dialogue Box? I upgraded my Waves and, for some reason, got a pop-up asking for the Waves Preferences Folder for 6.1.1. Cancelling out of that dialogue and any other ensuing dialogue got me into Pro Tools. Looking in my Plug-Ins Folder in Pro Tools I found Wave-Shells for 6.1.1. Dragging them to the Unused Plug-Ins Folder stopped the Dialogue pop-ups.

Cheers,