Installed the module.
I Copied the NodeEmbed directory to sites/all/modules/ckeditor/plugins directory.
I edited the ckeditor.config.js

  config.extraPlugins = '';
  config.extraPlugins += (config.extraPlugins ? ',NodeEmbed' : 'NodeEmbed' );
  CKEDITOR.plugins.addExternal('NodeEmbed', Drupal.settings.ckeditor.module_path+'/plugins/NodeEmbed/');

I copied the NodeEmbed directory to the correct folder.
I 

// Toolbar definiton for all buttons
Drupal.settings.cke_toolbar_DrupalFull = [
  ... blah blah blah ...
  '/',
  ['NodeEmbed'],
];

I went to Admin>Configuration>CKEditor and added the buttons and clicked the Plugin File:NodeEmbed option.
I assume that when you say

Select the correct Drupal toolbar from the CKEditor settings page.

that you mean to choose the correct profile... but it doesn't matter. I have 2 profiles, and I edited both to use the NodeEmbed.
I added Node Reference field to my Article (for practice).

Still get a blank text area...
Nothing.

Comments

richard.french’s picture

richard.french commented

I had the exact same issue. The Node Embed CKEditor requires the CKEditor iframedialog plugin to work. If you look at Node Embed plugin.js file you'll see this at the top 

CKEDITOR.plugins.add( 'NodeEmbed',
  {
    requires : [ 'iframedialog' ],

Downloading the iframeddialog plugin from http://ckeditor.com/addon/iframedialog and then copying it to the CKEditor plugins directory should fix it.

bebelg’s picture

bebelg commented
Status: Active » Fixed

It works for me

Status: Fixed » Closed (fixed)

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for 2 weeks with no activity.

bleen’s picture

bleen commented

added an extra step to the docs here: https://drupal.org/node/1476024