Instrument Lib icon is missing in function palette

[labview7-new_user]

Can some one help me? I am missing instrument Lib in my function palette. I am using labview ver.7. How do I find them? Your help is great appreciated.

[Nli]

Have you done a search for "Instrument Drivers" in the functions palette?

[labview7-new_user]

Yes, I did, the instrument lib icon is missing and nothing is display after the search except the instrument I/O assistant.

[Nli]

The palette menu file for "Instrument Drivers" is at \instr.lib\dir.mnu. If you don't have this file, then you have to reinstall LV to repair it.

Maybe you moved this file to somewhere else? In that case just put it back to its original location and it will be fixed.

[labview7-new_user]

Hi, nancy..
thank you for your help. what is 'LV" mean? I am new to the Labview. I can find inst.lib from my program files. Program files\NI\labview\inst.lib. All my VI are still there. is there any suggestion you may have before I do reinstall "dir.mnu"
should I go to Add/remove controll panel to remove the Labview then reinstall the labview. Thank again

[Nli]

By "LV" I meant "LabVIEW".

No you don't need to uninstall LabVIEW. This is what you can do:
1. Insert the LabVIEW installation CD.
2. go to you computer's "Control panel>>Add/Remove Programs".
3. Select LabVIEW and choose "repair".

This should put the dir.mnu back to your "instr.lib" folder.

Hope this fix it.

[Noel]

As pointed out, it is very possible that your dir.mnu file was accidently over written in your \instr.lib directory. This can happen when unzipping an instrument driver without the create directories option enabled in your unzip utility or if the zip file was created without storing folder information. One quick fix, without re-installing LabVIEW or repairing LabVIEW, is to copy the user.lib's dir.mnu file to the instr.lib directory. The menu palettes behave the same, they just have a different icon. Alternatively you can copy the attached dir.mnu file to your \instr.lib directory.

[Nli]

PS, the "dir.mnu" in user.lib and instr.lib are not exchangable. They are synchronizing to different folders. So you need to use the attached dir.mnu for instr.lib.

[Noel]

Ah, You're right. The two dir.mnu files used to be interchangeable and synchronize to whatever directory they were in. Doesn't seem that way anymore. Darn.