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I am struggling (yet again) with LabVIEW installation problems that appear to involve LabVIEW 2017 (and possibly LabVIEW 2016 f5 patches). After having systems with multiple (sometimes only 2) LabVIEW Versions installed "go south" (typically by having MAX stop working and Block Diagrams with DAQmx code fail to load), I've tried to "Remove All" NI software, only to discover that "bits and pieces" still remain, both on Disk and (especially) scattered throughout the Registry.

I've been working with NI Support for 2-3 weeks trying to "recover" from a LabVIEW corruption probably caused by installing the 2016 f5 patch. We finally decided to do the "Uninstall/Reinstall" route. Although I got 2012 SP1 installed, 2014 SP1 failed (could not install NI Network Discovery 14.0, "Verify you have sufficient privileges to install Services").

My concern is that, short of reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling Windows (which I was forced to do on two of my PCs), there appears to be no way to fully uninstall all NI Software. I would like to propose that NI develop an "Eraser" utility (like Eraser for Microsoft Office) that searches out all files that NI puts on the C: drive (not in User Space) during installation and all Registry entries that it scatters throughout the Registry, allowing the PC to be "rolled back" to a "pre-NI" state. Such a tool might want to be restricted to Full or Professional licenses, or maybe provided on an "As Needed" basis by the NI Support Team, but I really don't want to have to rebuild yet a third PC ...

Bob Schor

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I remember this in previous (pre-8.2) versions of LabVIEW - not sure why it was removed. I have a use case to use projects as templates (like when someone wants to write a plugin for a utility I've written, I want to be able to send them a zip containing a project, methods, etc). The project includes installer settings (so their files go into the right place under my util's plugins folder, but when they build and try to install their plugin, they get an error if another plugin bult using the same template has already been installed. This is because the "Upgrade Code" (stored in the lvproj file) is the same (it tells Windows that the two products are the same, so subsequent installs are seen as upgrades or replacements, not new installs.

My memory tells me that I used to be able to hit a "Generate" button somewhere which would give me build a new code - all I'm asking for is that back (I can add a step in my work instruction to hit that button before you build).

I don't currently have a workaround for this (other than having engineers manually edit the lvproj file) - if anyone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it for the interim!