Why do all NI downloads default to ONLINE Installers?

[RTSLVU]

I don't know about how any other company is ran but all of our ATE stations and most of our LabVIEW development stations DO NOT HAVE INTERNET CONNECTIONS!

Why is every installer an "online installer" that requires an internet connection?

It makes no sense as it might save you few minutes downloading but the installation process takes longer because it still has to download the full installation package.

So what's the point? To save HDD space? With multi-terabyte HDD's being pretty much standard issue these days that argument really holds no water.

[BertMcMahan]

Another fun tidbit, if you install NI software using NIPM, it (apparently) only caches the installation file temporarily. Thus, if you go to create an installer using the App builder, it doesn't have the necessary support files so you can't install anything else. Like, you know, the Runtime engine, DAQmx,... just everything you need to create a standalone installer for a customer.

I have to say, I switched from the "USB drive" to NIPM and it's been... frustrating. I feel your pain 😞

[JoshuaP]

All of the downloads on ni.com should have a link "Individual Offline Installer" in the bottom right that downloads the full distribution.  This process is actually much slower because it downloads everything.

The normal NI Package Manager based install only downloads the features you select to install and doesn't download things that you already have installed.  That way you aren't redownloading things like MAX, .NET Runtimes, and many of the shared packages that are common across every driver over and over and over again.

[RTSLVU]

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@JoshuaP wrote:

All of the downloads on ni.com should have a link "Individual Offline Installer" in the bottom right that downloads the full distribution.  This process is actually much slower because it downloads everything.

The normal NI Package Manager based install only downloads the features you select to install and doesn't download things that you already have installed.  That way you aren't redownloading things like MAX, .NET Runtimes, and many of the shared packages that are common across every driver over and over and over again.

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Yes the very fine print at the bottom.

But they have also removed all those things that were normally installed like NI-MAX 

See my post here https://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW/Why-doesn-t-LV2020-installers-install-NI-MAX/m-p/4077011

So that explanation makes no sense either.

[crossrulz]

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@RTSLVU wrote:

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@JoshuaP wrote:

All of the downloads on ni.com should have a link "Individual Offline Installer" in the bottom right that downloads the full distribution.  This process is actually much slower because it downloads everything.

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Yes the very fine print at the bottom.

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I've been complaining about this since it went up that way.  It should be displayed very plainly with 2 buttons: "Offline" and "Online".

[JoshuaP]

I don't disagree.  The offline installer option should be more prevalent to make it easier for users to choose the best option.