LV2019 Real-Time and FPGA Toolkits Corrupted when installed

[MrJackHamilton]

I've seen on several of our systems with earlier version of LabVIEW [2017, 2018] that when 2019 is installed. The Real-Time and FPGA toolkits show installed and licensed in MAX and NI License Manager. But in LabVIEW 2019 Development, the project tree shows the Warning triangle - with the message that the 'Required 'sic' toolkit is not installed or licensed'

No amount of 'Repair, reinstall of the particular toolkit fixes the problem. We suspect its the certificate/license as all the toolkit VI's are actually in the LabVIEW development directory. We've tried every recommended troubleshooting method.

The only option we've found so far is to uninstall: All LabVIEW developments, All NI drivers...everything and then reinstall *only* LV2019.

This is a tragic mess and huge waste of engineering time to attempt hours of troubleshooting, attempted repair...to no avail.

[Bob_Schor]

When LabVIEW 2019 was released, the ability to run multiple versions of LabVIEW became "problematic".  I estimate that it took me 4 months of effort, and probably two dozen attempts at installations (followed by complete removal of all NI Software) to get a stable system with LabVIEW 2016, LabVIEW 2017, LabVIEW 2018, and LabVIEW 2019 running.  Then two days ago, I installed an NI Driver for LabVIEW 2018 and in the process, I lost the LabVIEW Configuration Manager service, which effectively kills MAX.  I removed all NI Software, started the "Quad" Install, had it fail, started over again, had it fail, and am now doing my third "Remove all NI Software" in three days.

My belief is that there are flaws in how NIPM, which manages installation, handles properties and permissions.  A common "Fatal Error" is the failure to install a service, with the nagging note "Please ensure you are authorized to install services".  My suggestion (after you remove all NI Software) is to either install only LabVIEW 2019 or install any version of LabVIEW except LabVIEW 2019.  I, unfortunately, need all four ...

Bob Schor

[MrJackHamilton]

Bob,

Thanks for your input. And I concur. I'm certain a lot has to do with Windows and UAE in its current form. I still struggle with clients that on Window you can't put folders or files on the root drive. And spend much time wrestling with them that User/Public is the only place data and config files can reside and be robustly accessed by LabVIEW applications regards of user log-in rights.

On removing everything. It's worth noting that LV2019 and NIVM 'appears' to *manage* all previous LV versions in addition to 2019. But, when you use NIVM to uninstall 'All' is only theater. You have to find the legacy install from within Windows>Programs>Add Remove programs...then run the uninstall for each of the older LV versions.

Even then, I found lots of NI services running after running Uninstall All using 2019 NVIM. This prompted me to look deeper and found the need to run the legacy uninstallers.

Worse LV2019 does not support quite a bit of the cRIO systems, which we have a lot of, use a lot of, and they rarely break. So having LV2017 Dev installed provides for supporting that.

We looked into Win10 Virtual Machines, A la. Hyper-V.. But Mon Duex!. There was a Windows KB Update that appears to corrupt Win registry, that prevents starting the Hyper-V service on Win10 Pro for most all of our machines. That said, I am not sure Virtual machine would work, and I'm not sure I want to spend countless hours, digging thru the MS forums to fix the KB update corruption.

Our strategy has been to simply have a new computer dedicated to a particular version. Computer have gotten in the >1,000$ range, that it's a cheaper option that spending a day or more trying to fix the unfixable.

Regards

Jack

[Bob_Schor]

"A PC for a single LabVIEW Version, multiple PCs for multiple Versions" isn't a bad solution, particularly if you don't need every version (I recommend every other, or every third, or wait until a Feature you need is developed).

Bob Schor

[Intaris]

We have one version of LV installed on our PCs. Every other version has it's own VM (Virtualbox).

I have given up on the very concept of multiplt LV versions on a single OS install. Just isn't reliable.

[ba_0101]

I'm having the same "FPGA Warning Triangle" issue in the project explorer. Can't access any FPGA resources when the problem appears. Seems to come and go but more than likely the issue is there. Unacceptable.