Where do I find Installer Source

[helpmeitabwt]

Hi,

I want to create a Volume License Installer for both LabView and Circuit Design Suite.

I followed this guide - Create a Volume License Installer in NI Volume License Manager (VLM) - NI

I've installed both software but where do I found the setup.exe/install.exe for both of these? This needs to be selected in the Volume License Installer Wizard.

[Scott_Richardson]

When installing software on a system, NI Package Manager does keep a copy of the underlying product packages on the system for building installers in LabVIEW and TestStand, but that is different than what Volume License Manager requires.

The workflow for creating a custom installer from other installers using Volume License Manager requires you to download the source installer, e.g., using the "Install Offline" option from ni.com, specifically LabVIEW and Circuit Design Suite. Each download is an .iso file that can be mounted to extract the installer files, and each installer contains the required install.exe or setup.exe file in the root directory of the installer.

Volume License Manager allows you to create a custom installer that includes a subset of products from a single installer on disk. Typically the source installer is a "suite" installer that contains all the products you need to include in your custom installer.

NI Package Builder is another installer builder application that also allows you to create a custom installer that includes a subset of products but supports the source being one or more installers on disk. You can review How Can I Build a Custom Installer for Multiple NI Products? for more information. Note that NI Package Builder built installers do not configure the installed system to automatically connect to the Volume License Manager system for licensing.

[helpmeitabwt]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your reply.

I've downloaded the offline installer from ni.com for Multisim. I then mounted the ISO and during the VLI wizard I selected the Install.exe from the mounted ISO and completed the wizard.

Now I have a folder with _src, Client, Install.exe & vli.id in it.

When I try to run the Install.exe on a PC that needs the software I now getting the error attached.

[Scott_Richardson]

I have some questions for you to debug this further:

1) What OS and bitness are you building the installer on and what OS and bitness are you installing the built installer on?

2) Can you issue the following in a command prompt at the base folder in the installer and share the resulting file created on your desktop?

dir /s > %UserProfile%\desktop\diroutput.txt

3) What version of NI Package Manager is installed? What version of NI Package Manager is installed? You can run the following in a command-prompt:

"C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI Package Manager\nipkg.exe" --version

4) What version of Volume License Manager do you have installed? You can determine this by looking in the Installed tab of NI Package Manager and locate the product package.

Next steps:

If the answer to question (1) was Windows 10 or 11 and 64-bit, and if the version of NI Package Manager from question (1) is less than 23.5, I recommend that you install NI Package Manager 2023 Q3 before you try to build the installer again and test it. And if the version of Volume License Manager is less than 2023 Q1, then I recommend that you download and install that version before you try to build the installer again and test it.