Using LabVIEW 2016 on a computer that already has 2017 installed

[DB@KMC4ni]

I need to do some work on LabVIEW VIs that are running on a computer with LabVIEW 2016. This computer cannot be migrated to 2017 yet.

I need to do the modifications on a computer that already has 2017 installed on it. After installing 2016, I still could only find an executable for 2017. How can I install and use 2016 on a computer that also has 2017 installed?

[Bob_Schor]

If you are talking about installing LabVIEW Development Software (a.k.a. "LabVIEW"), you must install them in sequential order.  I've run into this numerous times (though by now I've "learned my lesson the hard way").

If you run into a situation where you have, say, LabVIEW 2017 installed, and want to install LabVIEW 2016 (or earlier), the following are the steps to take:

• Go to Control Panel and uninstall all National Instruments Software.
• Reboot.
• Start the re-installation Process, starting with the oldest Version you wish to install.  Do not install Device Drivers at this time.
• Reboot after each Version install.
• When you've installed all of the LabVIEW Versions, reboot, then install the Device Drivers from the installation kit of the most recent LabVIEW Version.

One warning.  LabVIEW 2017 changed a number of features involving the Installer.  I'm not certain whether this explains my dilemma or not, but I had some difficulties installing LabVIEW 2017, and had worse difficulties trying to remove it.  On two Windows 10 systems, attempting to get back to a "clean PC" so I could reinstall (only) LabVIEW 2016 revealed that my PC was sufficiently corrupted that the only solution was to reformat the C: drive, reinstall Windows, and reinstall all of my other software (I'd backed up my Profile, of course).

Ah, there's an even safer way (I'm reminded by that last paragraph), and one I think I'd urge you to consider -- start with a PC that does not have LabVIEW, then do whatever LabVIEW installations you wish, oldest-to-most-recent.

Bob Schor

[Gregory]

If you have room on your hard disk (~80GB is good) then you can create a virtual installation of Windows using VirtualBox, and install LV 2016 there.

[altenbach]

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

If you are talking about installing LabVIEW Development Software (a.k.a. "LabVIEW"), you must install them in sequential order.

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I have installed many LabVIEW versions in any order and never had any problems. (OTOH, I am not installing any drivers, so that might make a difference).

[Bob_Schor]

My observation that "order matters" might be due to my Standard Install including LabVIEW RealTime and NI Vision.

Bob Schor

[Jacobson-ni]

I haven't seen issues with order of LabVIEW versions but I usually keep to one version of LabVIEW per VM.

[natasftw]

If you got through the installer and it said it was successful, check your Programs -> National Instruments to see if you can find the LabVIEW 2016 option there.

If you didn't see the completion window, it's likely the install didn't complete and you should try it again.

[crossrulz]

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

My observation that "order matters" might be due to my Standard Install including LabVIEW RealTime and NI Vision.

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I don't install Vision, but I have installed LabVIEW 2016 with RT and FPGA and then later had to install 2015 and had no issues other than the drivers (reinstall the 2016 drivers to support 2015 LabVIEW).  To put it further, I also install LabVIEW 8.2 after installing whatever the latest version is (I use it to convert old code).