"Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

Everything was fine.. nothing has changed. nothing was updated from it last working fine.. and now I get this error when booting PT..
"Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program"

so I hold down N... and it's not seeing my Apollo interface all of a sudden.. so I unplug/plug... reboot.. same prob.... I repeat a few times.. then it finds it.. but is now set for 32ms playback hardware.. so I change it to 256.. reboot.. and it's not finding it again...

What is happening?
Please help.
I found one thing on the PT help site about a midi setting.. but I can't find that particular one anywhere in PT 2019..and it feels unrelated to this.

S

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

Couple of things to check:
Is Windows using your audio interface for system sounds? It shouldn't.
Is your iLok plugged into a working USB2 port?

Peripheral to this:
Don't hot plug/unplug peripherals from the computer even though theoretically you may be able to. Too much weirdness can happen. Not to mention possible port damage.

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

I've used this same setup for 2 years, so not sure why it would all of a sudden start this. I haven't removed any iLoks (literally ever).. and when I do, I'm OCD about doing it right. Can't be iLok because it loads software and plugins fine.. just says PT "hardware" is either not installed or used by another program. PT is all of a sudden locking up here and there and when I reboot the system.. load PT, I get this message.

i DID find that windows was trying to use it as both input and output device.. so I stopped that.. thought for sure that was it.. but same thing... even after reboot.. I press N down.. and PT even sees my apollo.. but when I choose it, it then gives me the error. Can't believe this.

PT help files mention: Set Sound In/Out in Audio MIDI Setup to Built-In
but I see this no where.. maybe only a mac thing? again, seems unrelated.

and FYI - Apollo is definitely working - the Apollo software finds it perfectly.. loads great.. and all my instruments routed through it I hear just fine as normal with normal levels and faders.. just PT has stopped playing nice with it.
Have session in 30 mins.. normally after 10 reboots, this stops.. but no luck right now..

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

Try trashing prefs.

Try re-installing the driver.

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

FWIW, many times a Windows update or driver update will change some settings without warning. The last 3 updates reset Power Management on MOST of my USB ports(most, but not all) and my Windows default sound device(which is supposed to be the optical SPDIF on the motherboard) has been reset to my interface at least once, and changed to HDMI every time I update the nVidia driver:eek:

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

trashed prefs... same.
had PT 2019.5... just installed 2019.6 .. same

it'll randomly work after 20 reboots and then after a few hours suddenly my HW Buffer Size is magically changed from 256 to 32 or sometimes 64 in pro tools... by itself.. I keep it on 256.. it's never done this before.. but keeps changing now to really low.. and clicks.. so I go to my Apollo software and it'll say something completely different....and it is from my Apollo software that I have to set this setting.. so I change it back to 256.. then restart pro tools and that's when suddenly it says hardware iis in use.. or not installed... and depending the reboot, Apollo only shows up every other reboot.. it's very very unstable.

Guess I'll try reinstalled Apollo driver.. from there, I'm lost.. and this is costing me so much time I didn't have to fix new probs this week. Stopping me in my tracks.. (no pun intended) haha.

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

installed latest apollo software.. still no change.
One thing that I realized after reading though the other accounts of people having this problem.. is this started shortly after loading a session someone sent to me that had totally different sample rate and outputs that I would normally use for my setup.. I loaded it.. it gave me a bunch of the normal "you don't have these outputs/plugins, etc.." and I closed it.. imported the wavs and made my own session from scratch.. but the very next day... suddenly my "hardware is in use" or "not installed"..

I don't want to order an entire new Apollo just to find out it is a setting.
but I'm desperate at this point.. I have to get up and running.

Any other thoughts? They are VERY appreciated.

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

Here's something to try before casting blame on the Apollo. Set Windows so it uses the Apollo for system sounds and see if that works okay. If it does then the Apollo itself is okay. Don't forget to set your system back to not using the Apollo for system sounds.

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

yep it works fine like that.. just put apollo as the windows sound setting and it plays through the apollo and my studio speakers just fine.. so does all other instruments through the apollo... and even the apollo console software shows it connected and working properly.. (although every reboot it does seem to change HW buffer settings on its own where it never did that before)..

So yes - it works fine like that.. but I'm completely out of things to try to get PT to stop giving me that error - when it's been working fine for years.

Re: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program" ??
 

i.e. - currently - I have Apollo console set to 256ms hw buffer...
I load pro tools... I press N... it shows up as an option (this time).. so I choose apollo... (strangely PT shows it as 32ms hw buffer)... gives me no other option to change it (because it reads it from the apollo hardware itself which I set in Console.. so I have no idea now why it is always showing a different hw buffer than it is set to in console)... in any case - I hit ok.. and it gives me the message! "Pro tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program".