LabVIEW 8 default paths, how to permanently change them?

[John J]

My LabVIEW installation is not working too well because the default paths for Library, Temporary, Default, and Default directories are set to be referenced as \\machine\c$\Program Files\National Instruments Instead of C:\Program Files\National Instruments.  This breaks the help among other things, and makes using LabVIEW rather annoying.

I can override the paths with Tools->Options->Paths, but then I get an Source Control error at startup, I can't create runtime EXE's, and even more problems.  I can modify all the paths in the registry, but they get reset when I start LabVIEW.

I have completely uninstalled and reinstalled everything.  Searched and replaced all network references in the registry and .INI files.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks,

JJJ

[JLS]

Hello,

Interesting.  It looks like your default path is a network path of some kind.  I wonder if perhaps it would help to set the root directory on your computer, if it is not already off of your C drive.  To check what your machine's root directory is currently set to:

1. click start -> run

2. type cmd and press OK - this launches a command prompt

3. type set and then press enter to execute the command

4. look for a statement like: SystemRoot=C:\WINDOWS

Perhaps yours says something like: SystemRoot=\\machine\c$

Try changing your system root, if that's the case by doing:

1. click start -> run

2. type cmd and press OK - this launches a command prompt

3. type set SystemRoot = C:\WINDOWS and then press enter to execute the command

To check that it has this value, just type set again and you should find the SystemRoot value to be indicated in the list as SystemRoot=C:\WINDOWS.

I am speculating that perhaps this discrepancy (the system root not being based off of C:\, while the LabVIEW paths ARE based off of C:\) could cause the problems you see when you change Tools->Options->Paths, and receive an error, exe building problems, and others issues that weren't specified.  On that note, can you screenshot the error and attach it to your reply?

In any event, I hope this helps and I look forward to your reply!

Best Regards,

JLS

[JLS]

Hello again,

Just to clarify:

The default directory and library directory paths in LabVIEW 8.0 on my machine are set to: C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.0

Best Regards,

JLS

[John J]

JLS,

Thanks for the reply.  I didn't actually expect one.

Your suggestion is good, but that is not the source of the network reference.  When I used the "\\machine", I was just referr ing to the PC's network UNC path.

I had already checked the environment, which also is in the registry.  There are NO network references anywhere in the environment, the registry or any configuration files with the standard extensions (i.e. .INI, .INF, .CFG...) on the entire machine.

Wherever these "default values" come from, it is not a standard location.  It seams strange that they get modified in the registry at each startup.  I would figure that once they are set, they would be left alone.

Any other thougts are appreciated.

Thanks again,

JJJ

[JLS]

Hello,

Interesting problem - I am not sure what's happening.  I'll explore this a bit more and repost whatever I find.  This is the first time I've heard of this behavior with LabVIEW.

If you can screenshot and attach the error, that may prove helpful!

Thank you,

Best Regards,

JLS

[John J]

JLS,

I've included the Source Control error that I get, although I believe this is more a side effect than the problem.  However, finding the cause of this may lead to the core of the problem.

 If I leave the paths with the network reference, almost everything works except the help via the shortcut menu or main Help menu, and something else that escapes me at the moment.  If I change the paths to the correct ones, it fixes the help, but there are several other symptoms that show up.  Since I'm changing them to what should be the standard default paths, and they refer to the same directory as the bogus network default paths that show up, one would think that this would be a quick fix.  Well, it breaks a bunch of stuff.  In addition, since replacing the paths in the registry and the labview.ini file gets overwritten at startup, there must be another location that contains the incorrect paths or some flag that forces network paths.

I believe that if I can find this, maybe I can clear things up.  I know that I could be entirely wrong, and would certainly appreciate any further input.

Well, enough of my babbling.

Thanks for your help,

JJJ

[JLS]

Hello,

Ok, we may have tracked down the problem.  It turns out that LabVIEW references it's own location (and I am guessing other paths it uses) contingent upon the explicit path you use to launch it.  Basically, the \\machine\c$ is the mechanism for specifying a machine name, then (if you have adminstrative privileges on that machine) c$ will give you access to that machine.  I now suspect that if you right click on whatever link/shortcut you are using to launch LabVIEW, and click Properties and then the Shortcut tab, that it has a path specified that starts with "\\machine\c$..." for the Target field. 

Try setting it to something like: "C:\Program Files\National Instruments\LabVIEW 8.0\LabVIEW.exe"

The attached screenshot shows the Properties window I am referring to, as well as how I navigated there.

I hope we have found the solution!

Best Regards,

JLS

[John J]

OK,

So, I read your post up to the word "launch", and didn't bother to finish reading before I checked th shortcut.  Well, you were right!

It never occured to me to check the shortcut on my desktop, since I created it by copying the one from the start menu.  Obvously, when I reinstalled LabVIEW, the desktop shortcut would not get replaced.  How it got to that state, will be a mystery.

Thank you for taking the time to help with this issue.  I'm one of those people that will keep on trying until I solve the problem, which can be a good thing, but also can get me stuck on unresovable issues.

I was just about to run LabVIEW from anoter user account using the Start Menu shortcut, which would have worked, but I would not have known why.

Thanks again,

JJJ

[JLS]

Awesome,

I understand how frustrating it is not to figure out the root cause of a problem - sometimes even more so when it can be fixed by a seemingly disconnected process (such as changing user accounts and launching from the Start menu in this case), while the details of the reason for the fix remain hidden. 

Fortunately in this case, we found the cause before discovering the "spontaneous fix" solution 🙂

Thanks for updating!

Best Regards,

JLS