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COSMOS Sample Finder Troubleshooting

Jul 03, 2022

Use this troubleshooter to identify and resolve various issues and error messages that may arise while using Waves COSMOS Sample Finder.

COSMOS scan is sluggish or freezes

If COSMOS scan is sluggish, freezes, or comes up with no result, it may be due to scanning an extremely large volume of data.

  • How to fix: stop COSMOS scan and start a new scan of several smaller folders.
COSMOS progress wheel is stuck before login

If COSMOS is stuck and displays this error: ‘COSMOS is connecting to sample database. This may take a few seconds.’, it may be due to a stuck Waves process.

  • How to fix: Restarting your computer will restart this process and should resolve the issue.
COSMOS won’t log-in

If COSMOS will not log in and displays this error: ‘Invalid username or password’, it may be due to wrong credentials or a Waves service failure.

How to fix:

Unable to Scan

If Cosmos displays this message: "We are unable to scan your files because some essential files are missing.’ Please re-install the plugin and try again, it may be due to a corrupt installation (missing models), or that the Waves file structure has been moved or compromised.

No Search results in COSMOS /
‘Oops, something went wrong’ error /
‘Sorry, there was an error adding this folder’ error


If COSMOS returns no search results or displays one of the messages above, it may be due to an issue with the ‘Waves Plugin Server’ (WPS) process.

How to fix on Windows:

  • Close COSMOS
  • In Task Manager, under the ‘Details’ tab, terminate the WavesPluginServer process
  • Press [Win key]+R, type %LocalAppData% and hit Enter
  • Go into the Waves Plugin Server folder and delete all the files and folders there except for cosmos.sqlite
  • Launch COSMOS
How to fix on Mac:

  • Close COSMOS
  • In Activity Monitor, terminate the WavesPluginServer process
  • In Finder, click on the Go menu while holding down [Alt/Option], click on Library > Application Support > Waves Audio > open Waves Plugin Server
  • In the Waves Plugin Server folder, delete all the files and folders except for cosmos.sqlite
  • Launch COSMOS

None of the above worked? Contact Technical Support.