Musescore scanning all VST plugins on start up and locking

see https://musescore.org/en/node/341112#comment-1162830

Summary:

I've just had the same problem. Installed Musescore 4 for the first time and could not open it because of this ilok scan.

My problem is slightly different to yours in that I don't have an ilok and wasn't aware of the plugins that it was scanning for. But I'm going to post my solution here because your post is the first thing that comes up when you search for "musescore" and "ilok".

My Solution:

It would ask me to activate the licenses for things that I didn't even know I had and had never used in the first place. There is no option to open Musescore without these plugins (or components or whatever they are?) and then Musescore quits from launching if you are unable to activate these licenses.

I couldn't find a solution to this anywhere in the Musescore forums or manuals.

Eventually I found the folder where this scan takes place. On a Mac the location is "Users >> NameOfUser >> Library >> Audio

The Audio folder should contain the following folders: MIDI configurations, MIDI drivers, Plug-Ins, Presets and Sounds. From here you can search for each plugin that the ilok scan is looking for. In may case they were all Solid State Logic Native items, none of which were showing up in my ilok account by the way. I deleted them all and now MuseScore launches fine.

I think it's pretty shoddy that there is no option to launch Musescore without these 3rd party plugins. If you don't know what the plugins are or where to find them then you could be left clueless as to why this problem is happening. Especially since the program automatically quits if you are unable to activate a license.

For those who are still encountering this problem. Just go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Waves and delete all the files in that folder. Just like that.
Tuan