LabVIEW 2018 or 2019 will not launch

[michael.lambert]

Problem

This issue has been observed in both LabVIEW 2018 (32-bit) and 2019 (32-bit)

I've installed LabVIEW 2018 or 2019 on my computer, followed all prompts and accepted updates, and rebooted. When I try to run the new version of LabVIEW, nothing happens. I've tried to launch it via the desktop shortcut, the exe itself in program files, and from task manager - no luck with any of them.

Observations

There appears to be some kind of interference between these two versions of LabVIEW - perhaps something to do with shared resources. It's been observed that whichever of the two versions is installed second will not launch, regardless of how many updates or repairs you run. If you install 2018 followed by 2019, 2019 will not run. If you install 2019 first, 2018 will not run. 

We have not yet found any solution for this and the recommended workaround is to migrate any 2019 projects to 2020 and avoid installing 2019 altogether.

[RavensFan]

Not that this directly helps you, but I've never seen that happen.  Right now I have 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 all installed, in that order.  I can start any one of them without issue.

So something out of the ordinary is happening in your situation.

[michael.lambert]

I figured so... I uninstalled and reinstalled it without success. I'm just going to start fresh.

[Bob_Schor]

For what it is worth, until LabVIEW 2019 came out, I had no trouble having multiple versions of LabVIEW installed on my PCs.  I called my installation "Triple LabVIEW", as it consisted of LabVIEW 2016, 2017, and 2018.  My installation consisted of LabVIEW Professional, Real-Time Toolkit, LabVIEW Vision Development Module, and Drivers, including DAQmx, VISA, Vision Acquisition Software, and PXI Something-or-other.  I installed in "chronological order", namely 2016 first, then 2017, then 2018.  If I needed to reinstall, I always did a complete uninstall of all NI Software (using Control Panel only), and would sometimes delete the NI folders in Program Files, Program Files (x86), and Program Data.  I would also (usually) uninstall JKI, IVI, and VISA software.

When LabVIEW 2019 came out, this process failed totally.  After 4-5 months of trying, with help from NI Technical Support, my Support Engineer suggested I install in "Reverse Chronological Order", i.e. 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016.  I laughed, and tried "one 'mo time" in (what I thought was) the "correct" order.  Then I, again, uninstalled, and installed 2019 (LabVIEW only, no Toolkits, Modules, or Device Drivers).  Success.  Installed LabVIEW 2018 (only).  Success.  Installed LabVIEW 2017 only.  Success.  Installed LabVIEW 2016 only.  Success.  Installed 2019 RTM.  Installed 2018 RTM. etc.  Repeated for VDM (which, as I recall, back-installed for 2018, 2017, and maybe even 2016).  Installed Drivers.  And ... I now have Quad LabVIEW on my Personal Laptop.

At Work, I also built Quad machines successfully.  However, it was a sufficient hassle when "something inevitably goes wrong" that I'm now running them as "2019 Only" systems.  Needless to say, I have not installed LabVIEW 2020 (except on a VM, mainly for Testing purposes and to help out on the LabVIEW Forums).

Bob Schor

[michael.lambert]

Update: I discovered that whoever had installed some of the previous versions of LabVIEW (2015/2016/2017) had installed them to the D:\ drive rather than the C:\ drive. When I installed the newer versions, they went to the C:\ drive (as I incorrectly assumed all the others had). I'm positive that having shared components splintered all over the place was the cause of the issues so I completely wiped the PC clean of NI products and started from scratch. 

So far so good.