Creating LabVIEW installer

[Nitzan.peleg]

Question:

I try to build and executable and installer to my LabVIEW application.

• I have a LabVIEW NXG Professional license
• LabVIEW Professional Development System, Windows, All Languages, Subscription License, Download

I do not have any problem building my executable but when I try to build the installer I get the following message:

The only installers that I am trying to install are

If I deselect them all I can execute the installer but that does not solve my problem. Any suggestions?

[Bob_Schor]

Several comments:

• LabVIEW NXG stopped development in 2021 (I think).
• The Run-Time engine for LabVIEW NXG is different from the one for (classical) LabVIEW.
• Can you successfully build an Executable on your NXG machine that will run on that same machine sucessfully?  If the answer is "Yes", and if it is possible to download an installation of the Run Time Engine for that same version on NXG, then you should be able to do a "Two-step" install --
  • First install the Run-Time engine on the Target PC.
  • Next copy the Build of the Executable to an appropriate location on the Target Machine.  One fairly common place to put the Executable is in Public Documents, often under a folder "LabVIEW Builds" (see the location in the Build Specification).
  • The Executable (<Your Program>.exe) will be one level down in the Executable.  I usually create a Shortcut to the Executable and place it on the Public Desktop if I want all users of that PC to be able to run it.  A nice Icon helps them find it.

Bob Schor

[Nitzan.peleg]

Thanks Bob!

Although the license said LabVIEW NXG I use the classical LabVIEW.

My problem is that for some reason the LabVIEW installer does not find the NI installers (see the picture of the additional installers: Runtime, 488.2, VISA and Serial). In the old days I'll insert the media (discs) and LabVIEW installer find them. Now that I install it from the internet, how do I find them? I did get the offline installer, but that does not solve the problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Nitzan

[cordm]

It looks like the cache was damaged or deleted. Check if these links help you:

Forum: Some Installers you selected for this build are not available (2021)

KB: Select Source Dialog Prompt When Building an Installer

[Souhe]

This "Select Source" dialog box is appearing because there are software installer dependencies missing for the build. In order to build a new installer that contains a particular product, files from the original installer media of the selected product are required.

To resolve this, you have two options:

1. If the additional installer has been downloaded from ni.com/downloads and the source has been deleted, it will be necessary to download the same version and unzip it again before the build, and point the installer source location field to this new folder.

• Point the Select Source dialog to the directory in which setup.exe was extracted. For IVI drivers and self-extracting executables (.exe), the WinZip Self-Extractor extracts files to C:\National Instruments Downloads\. If the download came as a .zip file, extract the files, then point it to where the extracted setup.exe is located.

2. Uninstall and reinstall LabVIEW and components If you don’t have the original installer files, the best approach is to uninstall and then reinstall LabVIEW and all required components. This will ensure all installation files are properly available for the build process.

LabVIEW needs access to the original installation files of the components to successfully create the installer without errors.

[Bob_Schor]

From my own experience installing LabVIEW (probably several hundred times, frequently for students and colleagues over 15-20 years), I strongly support the second suggestion from @souhe, namely to completely uninstall LabVIEW, then reinstall the (single) version you want to use, along with toolkits and drivers that you use.

The Uninstall process (usually) takes three passes.  I find it easiest (and safest) to do this from Control Panel (type "Control Panel" in the Start menu, and make sure you have Admin credentials).

1. From Control Panel, select "Programs and Features".  Find "NI Software" and select it.  It should bring up "NI Package Manager".  Be sure "Products Only" is not checked (you want to remove everything possible).  Click the "Name" checkbox at the left of the Package list to select everything, and start the uninstallation.  It should take "tens of minutes" (30?).  Reboot when done.
2. From Control Panel, select "Programs and Features".  Make sure "NI Software" is not showing, only "NI Package Manager".  Select it, remove it (about a minute), and reboot.
3. From Control Panel, select "Programs and Features".  Remove "NI Software" (again) if necessary.  Reboot.

At this point, LabVIEW is uninstalled, though the LabVIEW files are still present on your hard drive.  My advice is to leave them alone, let them be overwritten by the next "Reinstall" step.  The only caution is that if you installed the JKI Package Manager (VIPM), when you re-install it, you may have to re-add the packages you previously used.

Now go ahead and download the NI Installer for the version of LabVIEW you wish to run.  Pay attention to the 32/64 bit choice.  I generally install only the minimum components and drivers that I need (DAQmx, VISA, IMAQdx (if using Vision), PXI, RIO), and the minimum set to "Other Items" (that's not the right name, but the "other stuff" they ask when you hit "Next" after the first page).  Installation goes pretty quickly if you have good internet speed.

When you reboot, activate your software (I forget if this step is before or after the reboot), configure LabVIEW, configure VIPM (if you use it), and you should be good to go.

Bob Schor

[alexderjuengere]

so, you are using the application builder to build your installer. 

I once ran in a similar issue like you, and had to manually add the missing dependencies from previously downloaded offline-installers 

(by unselecting "automatically select recommended installers" and then some educated trial and error using NI warning or error prompts....) 

there is a second possibility, the NI package builder, which also lets you build installers from offline-installers: package installers

as it was quite a hassle to fix the NI application builder installer, we switched to NI Package builder,

which I now use for a few years without any issues.