How do I uninstall NI VISA Config 15.0?

[phil.peyton@austin.org.au]

I have installed NI-VISA Config 15.0 and discovered that it is not supported by LabVIEW 2011 which I am using. I need NI-VISA Config 14.0.02 instead, I think. I am running OS X 10.10

The Uninstall Readme.txt file says "To uninstall NI-VISA for Mac OS X, you must remove the following files and folders from the system. "

It refers to "NI-VISA Runtime" which is not part of the the installed package, and to a file path that does not exist as far as I can see"; 

Applications/National Instruments/NI-VISA/Library/Application Support/National Instruments/

I have moved all NI VISA files from the Applications folder to the Trash and installed NI-VISA Config 14.0.02 but when I open it, NI-VISA Config 15.0 keeps appearing and warning about missing files.

Any tips on getting rid of NI-VISA Config 15.0?

[AlexAlligator]

Hello Phil,

Do the file paths listed in the Uninstall Readme.txt appear after enabling 'Show Hidden Files' on OS X?

Here's a link to quickly make sure hidden files and directories can be shown.
 

IanLunn.co.uk - Quickly Show/Hide Hidden Files on Mac OS X Mavericks & Yosemite:

http://ianlunn.co.uk/articles/quickly-showhide-hidden-files-mac-os-x-mavericks/

[phil.peyton@austin.org.au]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for the reply.

I've followed the instructions for revealing hidden files but it hasn't changed the contents of NI-VISA in the Applications folder. No sign of NI-VISA Runtime or a Library folder.

Shouldn't putting the entire NI-VISA folder in the Trash effectively disable it and all its contents anyway?

Phil

[AlexAlligator]

Hello Phil,

Thanks for following up after trying those next steps. I'm sorry for just getting back to you at this time. I'm not too familiar with the folder structures in OS X. I've just checked out a Macbook Pro with Yosemite on it from our hardware department. I'll try installing and uninstalling NI-VISA to see if I can replicate the issue and find those relevant directories. 

Has there been any progress in the meantime? I do not believe putting just that folder in the trash will fully erase all instances of NI-VISA unfortunately. 

Does NI MAX show the directories where NI-VISA is installed? The driver and runtime should be listed under the Software tab. 

[phil.peyton@austin.org.au]

Hi Alex,

Thanks again. You are right, I had to empty the trash to get NI-VISA Config 14.0 working. Silly of me. So that is solved.

My problem now is that, in NI-VISA Config 14.0 under "Settings"  I can't get it to "Show all devices accessible to VISA". It is stuck on "Show only devices registered with VISA". When I try to change this it says: 

"Error -5008 occurred at IniconfWrapper.lvclass:CheckErrorFromStatus.vi. An unexpected error occurred when calling the configuration file library. New changes could not be saved. Please make sure the appplication has write permission to visaconf.ini and nivisa.ini, and enough disk space is available."

These instructios do not seem to apply to Mac (visaconf.ini and nivisa.ini are Windows files, I think?)

I have a bespoke device that I have been able to control and use on my old MacBook Pro (LabVIEW 2009 with NI VISA Config 5.0) via a USB cable. In NI VISA Config 5.0, ""Show all devices accessible to VISA" was enabled and it worked with ease.

How do I get NI-VISA Config 14.0 to do the same thing? A newer version with less functionality than the old one is frustrating...

Phil

[AlexAlligator]

Hi Phil,

I can't say that I've seen this particular error before. Our internal resources here at NI don't give many results for that error code either.

On my test MacBook Pro with NI-VISA Config 14.0 I am able to select both the 'Show only devices registered with VISA' and 'Show all devices accessible to VISA', so not being able to select one of those options is definitely not the intended behavior.

I don't want to recommend another reinstall of the same version of NI-VISA, but it seems like this may be the quickest fix for this particular error message.

I have looked within the folders outlined in the Uninstall.txt file for the OS X version of NI-VISA and have also found the directories referenced to be incorrect. I cannot seem to find the location of a configuration file that would allow me to re-enable the 'Show all devices accessible to VISA' option. The only clue I can provide at this moment is the path for the configuration file on Windows machines, which can be found in the following forum post:

https://forums.ni.com/t5/PXI/how-to-enable-disable-the-VISA-option-quot-Show-all-devices/td-p/124196...

[phil.peyton@austin.org.au]

Hi Alex,

If anyone there can fix this bug with the Mac version, that would be great.. 

Regards,

Philip

[rainey]

A couple of years late, but, with regard to the write permission issue on Macs, the files are located at:

/Library/Preferences/NIvisa/visaconf.ini

/Library/Preferences/NIvisa/Passport/nivisa.ini

To fix the permission issue, I changed the owner of these two files to myself (e.g. sudo chown <user> visaconf.ini). Not sure why this was necessary since the files were already read/write by all. I suspect it has to do with my institution's security configuration.