Opening Your Plugin on Windows

A quick, safe walkthrough to get your NHOF plugin installed and running on Windows — including how to clear the Windows warning screen you may see, and fixes for the most common snags.

VST3 PluginStandalone AppWindows 10 & 11 · 64-bit

Read this first — it's safe

You may see a blue "Windows protected your PC" screen, or your download may look "blocked." That's expected. We're a small independent studio finishing our official Windows signing certificate, so Windows doesn't yet recognize our name — it treats every new publisher this way until the certificate is in place. The software is clean and safe; you just need to tell Windows to trust it once. This guide shows you exactly how.

The 3-Minute Install

Our Windows downloads now ship as a proper installer (.exe) — no manual file-copying. It puts the plugin and the standalone app exactly where they belong in one click.

Unblock the download first (optional but tidy). If you downloaded a .zip, find it in your Downloads folder, right-click → Properties, and if there's an "Unblock" checkbox near the bottom, tick it, then Apply → OK and extract it. Inside is the installer (.exe). If you downloaded the installer directly, skip to the next step.
No "Unblock" checkbox? No problem — it just means Windows didn't block it. Continue.
Run the installer. Double-click the installer .exe. Because it isn't code-signed yet, Windows may show the blue "Windows protected your PC" screen — that's expected and safe. Click More info → Run anyway (full walkthrough in the next section), then follow the installer's Next → Install prompts. Windows may ask for permission to install — click Yes.
What the installer places. It installs both formats for you:
The VST3 plugin → C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\

The Standalone app → its Program Files folder (with a Start-menu shortcut).
Rescan in your DAW. Open your music software (FL Studio, Ableton Live, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, etc.), go to its plugin manager, and rescan / refresh plugins. Your NHOF plugin will appear under the product name. Done.
Prefer the standalone app? Launch it from the Start menu (or its install folder). The first time, you may meet the same SmartScreen warning — clear it once (next section) and it opens like any app. You can right-click it → Pin to taskbar for easy access.

Prefer to copy the file yourself?

You don't have to use the installer. If the download includes a loose .vst3, you can copy it straight into C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\ by hand, then rescan in your DAW. The one-click installer just does this for you and cleans out any older copy first.

Getting Past the Windows Warning (SmartScreen)

When you first run the installer — or later open the standalone .exe — Windows may show a blue box titled "Windows protected your PC." The "Run anyway" button is hidden until you click More info. Here's the exact sequence:

↑ Click "More info" first — then the "Run anyway" button appears. Click it once and Windows remembers your choice for that app.

Double-click the .exe. The blue "Windows protected your PC" box appears.
Click the small More info link (under the message text).
A Run anyway button appears at the bottom — click it.
The app opens. You won't be asked again for that file.

Troubleshooting

If a friend or customer gets stuck, these cover almost everything:

I don't see a "Run anyway" button — only "Don't run."

You need to click "More info" first. The Run anyway button is hidden until you do. If More info is missing entirely, your PC may be locked down by a work/school policy or "Smart App Control" — see the next item.

The warning has no "More info" at all (Smart App Control / managed PC).

Newer PCs can ship with Smart App Control on, which blocks unsigned apps outright. Two options: (1) Use the VST3 plugin in your DAW instead of the standalone — it isn't affected. (2) If it's your own PC, open Windows Security → App & browser control → Smart App Control and set it to Off (note: this can't be turned back on without resetting Windows, so only do it if you're comfortable). On work/school machines, ask your IT admin.

My antivirus deleted or quarantined the file.

Because the app is unsigned, some antivirus tools flag new/unknown publishers as a precaution — it's a false positive. Open your antivirus, find Quarantine (or Protection History in Windows Security), and Restore the file, then add an exclusion for the folder you extracted to. Re-download from your original link if it was removed.

It says a DLL is missing (e.g. "VCRUNTIME140.dll was not found").

Your PC is missing Microsoft's free runtime library. Install the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable (x64) — search "Visual C++ Redistributable latest supported downloads," grab the x64 installer from Microsoft's site, run it, restart, and try again. Most PCs already have it; some fresh installs don't.

The plugin doesn't show up in my DAW.

Check these in order: (1) The .vst3 is in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\. (2) You ran a rescan in the DAW's plugin manager. (3) Your DAW is 64-bit (all modern versions are). (4) Look in the DAW's plugin list for a "failed" or "blocked" section and re-enable it there. (5) Some DAWs cache results — try "rescan / reset" or restart the DAW. In FL Studio: Options → Manage plugins → Find installed plugins.

The standalone opens but there's no sound.

Open the app's Settings / Audio (often a gear or "Options → Audio Settings") and pick your actual output device and driver. For lowest latency, choose an ASIO driver if you have one; otherwise the default Windows device works fine.

Is this actually safe? Why does Windows scare me?

Yes, it's safe. Windows shows that warning for every app from a publisher it doesn't yet recognize — it's about our certificate, not the software. We're an independent studio and our official Windows signing certificate is on the way; once it's issued, these warnings disappear automatically. Nothing about the plugin changes.

Still stuck?

Email sales@newhalloffamestudios.com with your Windows version and what you see on screen, and we'll walk you through it. We want you making music, not fighting your computer.