What I tried to do was install only MIR, my samples and nothing else. (so no VI, VE or anything). I didn't realize that you had to have one of them to get MIR to see the instruments (or actually to get the directory manager).
I don't understand why MIR requires to have VI installed at all I guess is the point hehe. The actual VI interface would open up inside of MIR prior to it being installed, but would tell me on the left side that no installed licenses were available. After I installed VI and VE Pro, and ran Directory Manager, MIR could actually load instruments.
I do see that the manual says you need Virtual Instruments, but I misunderstood that to mean, the samples themselves, not the actual VI application.
Maestro2be