CVI 2009 Base Package won't activate CVI 8.1

[Josh_W]

I own a license for CVI 2009 Base Package, which is activated and works correctly.  A customer of ours requires that we use CVI 8.1.

When I launch CVI 8.1, I first got an evaluation period, but now I'm unable to launch at all since the evaluation is expired.

I already tried removing my cvi_base_pkg_080100.lc and downloading the new one from NI's site (http://joule.ni.com/nidu/cds/view/p/id/78/lang/en).

License manager shows that the license is installed correctly:

What should I do next?

[LuisG]

Hi Josh,

I don't know what the first problem was, but the current problem seems to be that 8.1 can't find the license file that you downloaded from ni.com. This is probably because you are using Windows 7, and CVI 8.1 (which does not support Windows 7!) cannot find the license file in the location where it was downloaded to.

You might get it to work if you manually copy CVI_Base_PKG_080100.lc from C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\License Manager\Licenses to C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\License Manager\Licenses, but I'm not certain.

Luis

[Josh_W]

LouisG,

I tried copying the license file as you suggested, and it does not change any behavior. 

I did not expect it to because CVI shouldn't be looking directly for the license file.  As far as I know, NI's License Manager (NILM) handles the license files. All NI software products call into NILM, which then goes and queries the active licenses.  Since NILM can find the licenses, I didn't expect moving the licenses to the old (WinXP) location would help.

I just realized that I did not include all of the troubleshooting that I had tried. If I click on 'Activate' in the No License Available dialog, I get the usual NILM dialog 'Finalizing your activation' followed by a message that says it was activated. But when I dismiss the dialog by pressing Finish, I still get the No License Available dialog.

I am aware that CVI 8.1 is not officially supported on Win7.  However, NILM and activation is supported on that operating system.

Is there anything else I can try?

[nickb]

Hey Josh -

Just a quick question - have you tried running CVI 8.1 as administrator?

NickB

National Instruments

[Josh_W]

nickb,

I had forgotten to try that. But it didn't make any difference. Thanks for checking in!

[LuisG]

Josh,

Yes, you're correct that it's NILM that performs the activation. However, a big chunk of NILM is implemented as an SDK that is linked, as a static library, to the ADE. Therefore, CVI 8.1 is still using the old NILM SDK which predates Windows 7, including the logic of where to look for license files, even though you have a higher version of the NILM runtime components installed in the computer.

Now, since I'm not very familiar with everything that NILM does, I'm not all that certain that that is the only problem. And clearly it wasn't, since it looks as if copying the license files didn't help. Sorry about that. I think Nick is still experimenting with your scenario and we might have some more information later.

Luis

[nickb]

I'm trying to reproduce what you're seeing, but I'm not having much luck...  Here's what I did:

1. Install CVI 8.1
2. Install CVI 2009
3. Hide 2009 'Full' license files (from your NILM screenshot, it looked to me like this is what you did)
4. Activate CVI 2009 base
5. Run CVI 8.1 - 8.1 runs with no activation dialog (I must run as Administrator, because I have UAC enabled).

Did you do something different than this?  What is the name of the user you're logged in as?  Are you running with UAC on or off??

NickB

National Instruments

[Josh_W]

Louis,

Thanks for cluing me into how NILM works with NI software.  I didn't realize that it was linked as a static library.  I had seen in the past when NI moved to WinVista-compliant paths that licenses didn't need to be in the old folders and that software pre-change and post-change worked equally well with the new folders, so I had guessed that it was all handled by the NILM runtime.

Nick,

This may not be a reproduceable case.  I wish I could tell you my install order...but unfortunately this machine isn't that clean.  I think the order goes something like this, but I'm not completely certain:

Install CVI 7.1 (eval)

Install CVI 2010 (eval)

Install CVI 8.1 (eval)

Install TestStand 4.2.1 (eval)

Install TestStand 2010 beta (beta license)

License CVI 2010 & CVI 7.1

Install LabVIEW 2010 (full)

Uninstall TestStand 2010 (after beta expires)

Uninstall TestStand 4.2.1

• I originally had all of the usual license files for CVI, but I removed the extraneous ones (full/debug/etc.) as part of my debugging to make sure they weren't interferring in some way. I still have those licenses, they're just in a subfolder called 'old' within the Licenses folder.
• My UAC is set to "Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop)".
• I'm logged in as "VIRGINIA\Josh" (VIRGINIA is the name of our local domain), and I'm an administrator.

If you can't reproduce this, and it's not immediately obvious what's causing it, don't spend too much time at it. I'm worried it's an interaction between the TestStand beta license expiring, and the CVI license being in eval at that time.  I can work around it for now (I can write the code on my machine where I have better monitors and then compile it on a test machine where it licenses correctly).  We're also considering moving to Win7 x64 by the end of the year, so I'll have to re-install everything then anyway.

[nickb]

Hey Josh -

I've tried a couple different install scenarios, but I've not been able to reproduce what you're seeing.  It's also not clear what could be causing the problem for you... Order of installation matters, because that is how the path to license files is set.  If non-Vista-aware software (CVI 8.1) is installed first, licenses will be installed to the UAC protected Program Files location - but under this scenario, running CVI as Administrator resolved everything for me.  When Vista-aware software (CVI 2009) is installed, all the licenses are installed to the ProgramData location, and I don't have trouble activating either of the versions.

I haven't had time to try installing any TestStand versions, but if I get a few free minutes tomorrow, I'll try to take a look.

NickB

National Instruments

[Josh_W]

Over a year later, I ran into this same issue when trying to activate CVI 8.5.1. Here's the situation:

• Windows XP (which makes it easier than the last case because there's no issue with Vista paths/UAC)
• Installed CVI 8.5.1 evaluation from the web
• Downloaded CVI 8.5.1 base license file
• Activated base license file
• Still can't run CVI

Here's the kicker though: the evaulation from the web is named NILWCVIFDS851. Does that mean there is a separate installer for the base development system? On the ni.com/src  page, there are separate installers for the full and the base for all versions back to 9.0, but 8.5 only has the full development system available for download.

Is that the reason I'm having trouble?

-Josh