Instrument alias doesn't show up in Labview VISA selection

[A1Penguin]

Has anyone ever resolved this issue?  I just started having the same problem.   I have 2 GPIB instruments.  Both respond to commands from MAX.  Both have an alias specified (and saved) in MAX.  When I left work at the end of 2013, my LabVIEW (2009) code communicated with both instruments using their aliases.  Upon returning to work in 2014, LabVIEW will not communicate with them using the alias.  The correct aliasses are typed into the respective visa controls, however neither alias show up in the visa control dropdown. The GPIB number does show up in in the visa control, and my LabVIEW code will communicate with the instruments if I use those.  I would prefer to keep using the alias.  Meanwhile all of my LAN instruments continue to work fine with their aliases.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. 

Thanks.

[SLD]

Not sure if this will help your problem since you didn't mention anything about software updates, but I had a problem with alias names not showing up in a VI after upgrading a machine from LV 2012 to 2013 (full development suite). The alias name DID show up in NI MAX (upgraded to v5.5) and I was able to communicate with the instrument.

When I selected my GPIB device in MAX and re-scanned for instruments, the alias name was cleared out. I re-entered the alias named, saved it, and now it shows up in my VI (solved my problem).

BR;

Shaun

[A1Penguin]

Thanks Shaun, 

I did discover from a different thread that I could change the aliases and resave them in MAX to get LabVEIW to see them.   Interestingly, none of the software on my teststand was updated.  It is an off line non networked system.  All I did was shut it down at the end of 2013 and start it back up in 2014.  No LabVIEW updates, no Microsoft updates.  Nothing.   In 2013, I shut the stand down and powered it up a few times with no problem.  In 2014, every time I power down and back up, LabView can not see these aliases.  I have the same problem on two identical systems.  Meanwhile, there are many others teststands that run the same versions of LabVIEW that do not have the problem.