When connecting the Traktor Z2 mixer to Serato DJ Pro on a Windows laptop, you may encounter one of the following issues:

• A "Troubleshoot" pop-up appears, indicating potential problems:
  
• The lighting on some buttons or screens of the Z2 mixer does not reflect the expected state in Serato DJ Pro.

These issues typically arise due to a background service from Native Instruments Traktor DJ that interferes with communication between Serato DJ Pro and the Z2 mixer.

Causes

If you have installed other Native Instruments software on your Windows machine, it may have installed the NIHardwareService process in the background. This service can interfere with the Z2 mixer by adjusting the lighting states incorrectly.

If you are are not experiencing issues, you may safely ignore the "Troubleshoot" message in Serato DJ Pro.

Considerations

Disabling NIHardwareService may disrupt the functionality of Traktor DJ, Maschine, Komplete Kontrol, and other NI hardware/software that rely on this service for hardware-to-software communication.

If you use these applications with Serato DJ Pro, consider using Option 1 to temporarily resolve the issue, upon which you can use those applications after a restart. If you disable the service permanently using Option 2, you will need to re-enable the service, even after a restart.

Workaround

Follow one of the two options below to resolve this issue.

Option 1: Stop the Service for the Current Session (Temporary)

1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc on your keyboard).
2. Scroll down the list to find NIHardwareService.
3. Click on it to highlight it.
4. Right-click and select End Task.
   

You will need to repeat these steps after every restart.

Option 2: Disable the Service from Auto-Starting (Permanent)

1. Open the Start Menu and search for Services.
2. Open Services in the results.
3. Scroll down to locate NIHardwareService.
4. Right-click and select Properties.
   
5. In the Startup Type field, select Disabled from the drop-down.
   
6. Click Apply, then OK.

Reverting the Change:
If you need the service in the future, follow the same steps and change the Startup Type back to Automatic.