how to get rid of NI-MAX?

[CoastalMaineBird]

How do I get rid of NI-max so that I can re-install it?

In trying to get a PXI RT target to work with LabVIEW 7.0 (which turned out to be impossible), I "upgraded" MAX and NI-DAQ to the point where it wouldn't even recognize my old RT board (PCI-7041).

I ended up using a separate partition for Windows (2000), LabVIEW 8.2 and the new MAX/NI-DAQ stuff. That worked fine.

I left the old partition as it was.

Now I need to go back and work in LV7 with the PCI 7041. But I think the software drivers got gorched in the process, as not even MAX will see it.

So I tried to re-install, but the 3.0.2 MAX disk I used to install it originally complains that there's a newer version on the system, and won't touch it.

This in spite of the fact that I have trashed the entire Program Files \ NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS folder.

Various disks all refuse to install MAX because "there's a newer version already installed", yet it's not smart enough to tell me what version that is.

All the installers up to 4.0.3 do that.

The 4.1 installer doesn't give me any options - it just says that "This feature will remain on your hard drive". In spite of the fact that I trashed it, it claims that it's still there. And even though it "knows" it's there, there's no option to remove it.

If I drag over a copy of Program Files \ National Instruments \ MAX from a working machine and run it, I get "exception unknown software exception at address 0x_____". That's no help.

Is there a registry key I need to erase? Is there a DLL I need to trash in \system32\ ?

Or do I just re-install Windows again?

[unclebump]

Here is a link to a vi that will list all of the programs installed with the uninstall string.

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=142804&requireLogin=False

[CoastalMaineBird]

Well, thanks, I think, but I don't see how to use that info.

I've already trashed LabVIEW in the process of trying to remove everything, so I can't run it on the real machine (although I am trying again right now).

When I run your thingy on a different machine (with LV7 and MAX 3.0.2 on it), I get (for example) a

software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\uninstall\[67910c60-35c9-46ff-a523-85e932b7041f]

But my real machine has no such key in it (no uninstall key). It's a Win2K machine, I ran yours on a XP machine.

And now, I trashed the entire PROGRAM FILES \ NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS folder again, trashed all the registry NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS keys I could find, and all the NI*.dll in \System32 and tried installing LabVIEW again. No joy.

I get an error: The "MSIServer service failed to shutdown. Reason: the requested control is not valid for this service. Running this installation from the Administrator's account may solve this problem.

Well, I -AM- running from the admin's account, thank you very much. the ADMIN TOOLS \ SERVICES tool shows no such service running.

< sigh >

[tst]

Try searching the forum for a program called MSIblast. It should remove all NI related stuff.

[unclebump]

format c:\

[CoastalMaineBird]

Try searching the forum for a program called MSIblast.

Bingo! An all-purpose bug remover!

Here's an FTP link to this utility:

ftp://ftp.ni.com/outgoing/msiBlast.zip .

I used the REMOVE ALL NI SOFTWARE option, and it listed about 100 things to remove. About 20 of them had to stop and remind me to restart after I was done, and 3 gave an error and refused to die, but I am now re-installing.

Thanks for the tip!

[gwd]

Uninstalling Labview seems to be a persistent problem. Unfortunately the reformat c:\ may be the easiest solution. It depends on how much trouble it will be to rebuild the system compared to trying to find a solution.

[CoastalMaineBird]

Actually the msiBLAST thing did the trick. Some registry key or other was telling the installer that MAX was already there, and the installer is not smart enough to see for itself.