NI Camera File Generator on Windows 11 cannot load camera files

[ftaga]

Hi, 

I am trying to make a custom camera file for an Andor Ixon Ultra 897 camera to be read via camera link with a PCIe-1430 on Windows 11 machine. I am using the camera file generator (version 18.0), but it seems there is something wrong with windows folder and the camera file generator folders structure. From the NI camera file generator when I create a new file results in an error "Fatal error occurred at: cannot open the requested file for writing.". If i try to open a camera file that is located in "C:\Users\Public\Documents\National Instruments\NI-IMAQ\Data" I get the error "Camera files cannot be read or saved to a directory other than ni-imaq/data". How can I solve this error?

Best,

Fedele.

[L.Zakarian]

Hello Ftaga,

It is hard to help you with the low number of elements that your are giving about your project.

However, I found the manual of the camera here and I didn't find any incompatibility with any other system that you were using. Since I don't have any clear solution yet for your problem, I can suggest you the following links:

• This page explains in detail how to create a file using the NI Camera file generator.
• This page explains the different Framgrabber specifications for the NI Camera generator.

If you don't find any solution with those two links, you can then go on this page of the forum which is all about Troubleshooting Camera link.

If it still doesn’t work, you should then try to uninstall and reinstall in a complete way your drivers and your softwares.

I hope this will solve your problem and I will try to reproduce this issue on my side to see if it can be solved.

[ftaga]

Hi Zakarian,

I already went through both manuals of Ixon and PCIe framegrabber. 

I suceeded reading the camera through camera link with another 3rd party frame grabber, so camera link connection is well implemented. The only issue here is with NI software, and specifically the camera file generator. 

Specifically, the issue can be tracked to the camera file generator software (version 18.0) not being able to properly detect the Windows 11 OS. In fact, it tries to look for the camera files (*.icd files) in the path that would use for Windows XP (you can find more info here https://knowledge.ni.com/KnowledgeArticleDetails?id=kA00Z000000P6ywSAC&l=en-CH). 

Nevertheless upon installation, the default camera files are placed in <Users>\Public\Public Documents\National Instruments\NI-IMAQ\Data on Windows 11. While Camera File generator software looks for them in <Documents and Settings>\All Users\Shared Documents\National Instruments\NI-IMAQ\Data.

The main issue is that the camera file software is not allowed to read or write from any other folder of the OS, therefore on windows 11 is completely bugged, rendering it useless. 

I am confident once I manage to load a proper .icd for my camera, I will be able to get images from it. 

I hope these are sufficient details.

Best regards,

Fedele Tagarelli.

[L.Zakarian]

Hello Ftaga,

Your issue is quite surprising. I can think of three possible explanations for this:

• PC Parameter or Conflict: The issue might stem from a parameter or conflict within your PC. Although this is unlikely, it's worth ruling out. Could you try running your test on another PC to check this possibility ?
• Outdated Vision Acquisition Software: This could be due to an old version of the Vision Acquisition Software. You mentioned using version 18.0, but the file path you provided indeed corresponds to the Windows XP version. Could you double-check this? Here, it might helps to uninstall and reinstall all related NI software.
• Windows 11 Compatibility: The issue might be a compatibility problem with Windows 11. I'll investigate this further, but this seems to be the most likely explanation since Windows 11 isn't listed in this ReadMe for the Vision Acquisition Software 18.0. 

[ftaga]

Hi L. Zakarian,

I have tried running this on Windows 10 and it works fine. At the moment I don't have other win 11 machines available, but a tech support ticket has been opened for this, and NI is trying to reproduce this issue on Win 11 virtual machines as we speak. I'll update this if I have further details. 

All NI-IMAq software is 22.5. Unluckily it's not really feasible at the moment to unistall and reinstall all NI software as the setup is actively being used for experimental activity, and would consider this as a last resort measure. 

Thanks for the help on pinpointing the issue. If you have further news don't hesitate to post. 

Best regards,

FTaga.

[ftaga]

Dear L. Zakarian,

the issue was fixed by updating ni-imaq from 22.5 to 23.0. Not sure if it was outdated version or just that something went wrong with some drivers installation included in ni-imaq. Now I can acquire images from the camera. 

Thanks for the help.

Best,

ftaga.

[L.Zakarian]

Hello Ftaga,

Drivers are indeed very often implicated in this type of issue. I should probably have investigated further in this direction... 🤖

But anyway, I’m very glad to hear that your issue is now solved! 😉