Possible bug in the LabVIEW 2018 64-bit installer? (or PEBCAK?)

[Perlmarmelade]

Hello, 

I am not sure if I discovered a problem or pulled a massive stupidity; but I can't quite figure out what is going on here:

I tried to install LabVIEW and its subcomponents on my 64 bit machine (Windows 7 through downgrade from 8.1). I downloaded the installer for LabVIEW (worked perfectly), ran it and followed the instructions (worked perfectly); at the end I got the message for successful installation (great), check my local drive and nothing is there. 

There should be a folder somewhere like C:\Program Files\National Instruments, like the installer said, but there is not. 

Is there a bug with the 2018 version or am I just massively stupid? 

Thanks for any help

Ivo

Edit: I tried the same process with the 32 bit version and then scanned both C:\Program Files\ and C:\Program Files(x86)\ for the words National Instruments or LabVIEW, but that did not return any results. 

[jwscs]

hi ivo,

that you have no dirs in "c/{program files, program files (x86)}/national instruments/" is strange,

i am still on 2016 but i would be surprised if NI changed the location paths.

what i gather is, that labview supposedly installed correctly.

do you have icons for labview in your start menu, can you start labview?

if you have started it, open the task manager, and hit right-mouse -> properties on "LabVIEW.exe",

this will tell you the path to the executable.

[Perlmarmelade]

Well, that is the problem, this should be the path, because it's the one the installer tells me. 

I cannot run the program, because it is not there; it does neither appear in the start menu nor in the list of installed programs. 

That is the weird thing that I can't explain. The installer finishes successfully, but after it closes, it's like it has never happened. 

I tried rebooting several times, but that doesn't help. 

What I'm trying now is to go to Windows' recovery thing and reset it to a few days ago. 

Maybe it has to do with the first installation, which failed for some reason, and I had to force delete the remaining data in safe mode. 

[jwscs · Accepted solution]

the failed installation, which you "removed" by hand, will surely have left stuff in the registry and whoknows where else.

i would recommend trying to install in a VM, so you can confirm, that the installer works on pristine windows.

hopefully someone chimes in with a detailed guide to clean windows from anything labview,
so you can install successfully.

[Perlmarmelade]

I reset my Widows to yesterday morning now, it seems to have worked. 

I guess what we learn is that you should keep your Windows clean, and set a recovery point before every big installation. 

[jwscs]

glad it worked out for you,

and yes you should always do that, or full-disk backup if you are so inclined.