NI-MAX duplicate entries in Software tree

[ErikL68]

Has anyone else run into this issue? Strangely, it's only the newer elements that are duplicated, and some are not (notably NI-MAX's entry). Everything is working fine, but this is concerning. NI-MAX version 2025 Q3.

I've performed a Reset on the Configuration Data (from the Tools menu in NI-MAX) and restarted the PC, but the duplicates remain. And I didn't see any notifications in the Known Issues for MAX (MAX and System Configuration Known Issues and Bug Fixes - NI) though it doesn't appear any entries for MAX beyond version 20 exist.

I've got multiple PCs exhibiting this, including a few with minimal installs (DAQmx, VISA, 2025 Q3 64-bit Runtime, and only other elements that were packaged with these).

Any suggestions? I hate to just ignore it.

Thanks,
Erik

[alexderjuengere]

Has anyone else run into this issue?

yes.

probably irritating but unrelevant.

I believe to remember this kind of conduct has been around for a few years (~2023), but I might be wrong

[Bob_Schor]

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@ErikL68 wrote:

Has anyone else run into this issue?

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I can also answer "Yes", but can add a little more information.

My installation on my personal Laptop which has LabVIEW 2024 Q3 (64-bit) as the only version of LabVIEW installed has a Software listing in MAX that looks similar to Erik's.

But wait, there's more ...

At work, our IT folks have some "scanning" software that they run every Monday that "looks for vulnerabilities" and asks us to remediate them.  One of my colleagues keeps getting flagged with LabVIEW patches (I'm doing this from memory, but something like "LabVIEW Runtime 2024 Q3 Patch 4").  What's strange about it is that NIPM shows that Patch 4 and Patch 6 are installed, so I "reasoned" that if we used NIPM to remove Patch 4, the problem would go away.  It didn't.  I honestly think this is a bug in the "monitoring" software IT is using, but that's a difficult argument to make!  

It is difficult to "pin down" the IT folks who are worried about protecting the network and don't understand software development (particularly not a graphical data-flow system like LabVIEW).  I also don't know whom to contact at NI to ask for assistance in removing "traces" of patches that I "uninstalled" through NIPM, but still show up on the "Scan for vulerabilities" routine that IT is running (software whose name I don't know).

Bob (Frustrated) Schor

[softball]

Hi

Just a guess. Could the root of the problem be related to multiple patches released in July 2025 to fix a CIN security problem :

https://www.ni.com/en/support/security/available-critical-and-security-updates-for-ni-software/code-...

Affected Products

Product Version	Mitigation
LabVIEW 2025	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2025 Q3 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2025 Q1	LabVIEW 2025 Q1 Patch 3 – In Work
LabVIEW 2024	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2024 Q3 Patch 4 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2023	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2023 Q3 Patch 7 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2022	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2022 Q3 Patch 6 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2021 and prior	Not in Mainstream Support

NI of course needs to comment on such an issue.

Regards

[Bob_Schor]

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@softball wrote:

Affected Products

Product Version	Mitigation
LabVIEW 2025	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2025 Q3 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2025 Q1	LabVIEW 2025 Q1 Patch 3 – In Work
LabVIEW 2024	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2024 Q3 Patch 4 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2023	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2023 Q3 Patch 7 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2022	Upgrade to LabVIEW 2022 Q3 Patch 6 or later from NI Package Manager or Software Downloads
LabVIEW 2021 and prior	Not in Mainstream Support

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Good call, @softball.  The affected PC was running LabVIEW 2024, so we got patches for 2024, 2023, and 2022.  Unfortunately, there were multiple patches listed for some of the LabVIEW versions (i.e. applying the Patches apparently didn't remove the earlier versions, or maybe the "Patch" was what was being flagged).  On my machine, I did a "complete uninstall of LabVIEW 2024" followed by a complete reinstall, but I was reluctant to suggests this to my colleague, and also had trouble explaining that "we should have fixed it, but the fix didn't remove the "flags" that signaled the problem".

I'm definitely going to read the link you kindly provided, and will talk again with the IT folks here.

Bob Schor

[softball]

Hi

NI MAX has been with us in its current form since about 2003. Maybe it is a little tired. And soon to be retired ..

So, NI may not be working that much on it and instead focusing on the replacement that should go with both Windows and Linux.

Here is an edited excerpt from the online manual of the replacement :

https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/hardwareconfigurationutility/page/hwcfg-user-manual-welcome.htm...

What Is Hardware Configuration Utility and Who Is It For?

Updated 2025-10-13

Hardware Configuration Utility is software for test engineers and technicians who need to visualize and configure hardware in their systems. Use Hardware Configuration Utility to view and configure connected NI hardware. Hardware Configuration Utility is a modern and robust alternative to NI MAX.

Use NI Hardware Configuration Utility instead of NI MAX whenever possible.

Hardware Configuration Utility Key Features

• View local and remote real-time systems.
• View hardware configuration information, including required software and drivers.
• Perform built-in hardware operations such as resetting, calibrating, and self-testing.
• View hardware documentation such as pinouts, user manuals, and specs.
• View and manage system software. On real-time systems, manage base system images and programming environments.
• View hardware soft front panels.
• Save and apply system configurations.

This illustration is from the online manual :

Regards

[shanewrn]

From where I’m standing, the issue is probably that the VI isn’t releasing some hardware channel or buffer properly when the main loop ends, so when it starts again, the system still thinks something is locked. If it were me, I’d focus on ensuring every session does a clean close of resources, maybe wrap the critical parts in an error-handler that always fires even on crash, so the next start is clean.

[ErikL68]

Thanks. I agree NI-MAX has become more and more unusable over the years, with this just the latest bug to show up.

As far as patches causing this - I doubt it. I've seen it on fresh NIPM installs prior to going back to NIPM to install patches. And it shows the same patch levels for both entries and always shows two entries regardless of patch level. Sloppy uninstallers are definitely annoying, but I don't believe that's what's happening here.

Unfortunately, the new NI Hardware Configuration Utility seems to only manage NI Hardware and let you see your USB and Serial devices. I don't see any option to manage NI-VISA configuration beyond a menu item to "recover serial port numbers" (which I tried, and watched NI HCU crash hard after being prompted by the "Admin by Request" app our I&T department recently saddled us with to enable Admin access, even though I completed the Request).

I also don't see any support for making "DAQmx Tasks" in NI-HCU like you can in NI-MAX. I managed to avoid using this feature for my work, but have found some smaller projects in my company that other users made using them. If they go away entirely even in NI-MAX I won't shed a tear, but others might.

Last, if NI-MAX is going away, how do I access VISA settings - especially Server? I tried launching "NI-VISA Remote Server" from the NI-VISA branch in NI Launcher (another tool I've never used previously) and it launches a service to manage VISA sessions, but if I right-click on the Taskbar icon "NI VISA Server" and select "Edit Settings..." from the context menu, it opens NI-MAX. I use the NI-VISA configuration within NI-MAX to set aliases and frequently use it to remotely access VISA devices (usually serial or USB ports) on other PCs.

This is starting to remind me of LV NXG...

Regards,
Erik