Managing Multiple Versions of LabVIEW on same Computer

[JimMacD]

With a new version of LabVIEW coming out every year, and service packs every 6 months, what is the best way of keeping different versions of LabVIEW (8.6, 2009, 2010 SP1) on the same computer, without being effected by new installations?

I have read up on some people using virtual machines to do this. From past experience with virtual machines, I remember only being able to
use a single monitor with the VM. However, it is very helpful to have 2 monitors when programming; are there VMs that can run in 2 monitors (just like
a normal OS?)

Thanks for the input.

[MichaelAE]

JimMacD,

I did some research and these are some potential solutions/work arounds to look into.

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=31027

http://stevenharman.net/blog/archive/2007/04/03/Using-Virtual-PC-with-Multiple-Monitors-Sort-Of.aspx

Regards,

Michael Miracle

NI Americas | AE

NI.com/support

[JimMacD]

I have heard of VirtualBox before, will have to give it a shot.

How do NI Applications engineers manage diffrent versions? I've got to imagine there is some way they can call up older versions of LV when answer support calls

[MichaelAE]

Jim,

A combination of multiple installs on the same computer and access to virtual machines and remote machines.

I don't have to manage legacy software applications. New versions of LabVIEW are designed to be backwards compatible, but there are occasionally issues.

Regards,

Michael M

NI Americas | AE

NI.com/support | 1866-275-6964

[paul_a_cardinale]

I haven't had trouble having multiple versions of LV installed on a single computer.

I once had to support a lot of old code and had five versions of LV (from 5.0 to 7.1) installed.

[JimMacD]

Is that due to the fact that each version is installed in a separtate c:/National Instruments/LabVIEW XXXX folder? My one question would be overlapping drivers, are they an issue.

[Ray.R]

Hi Jim,

I have installed multiple versions of LabVIEW on the same PC.  When doing upgrades, such as a service pack, it does not affect other installed versions.  This was done as a regular install in the OS, not using Virtual Machines.

I have been doing this since 2001, and for some customers, they have versions ranging from 6.1 to 2009.  Only in one recent situation has there been an unusual event with multiple parallel installations.  It was due to a DAQmx driver installation (long story).

Overlaping drivers should not be an issue.  The issue with the DAQmx driver was that I forced to revert a LV8.2 driver by cheating on the installation.  It worked for 8.2 but screwed up something in 2010.  That was because I did not install the DAQmx drivers the way they were supposed to be installed.  😞

[David-n-MO]

I have labview 2013sp1 and 2014 on my computer.  Most of my programming is done for RT PXIe and recently I moved a project from a laptop with 2013 sp1 to my computer.  It compiles, runs interactively and deploys and runs OK, but i've a couple of questions.  When I went to initialize a new controller and load driver software, I only found the 2014 drivers on my computer.  I had to go back to the other system to do the install of the driver software.  Secondly MAX isn't happy  looking a a  pxie system with drivers that it doesn't have.  And thirdly I cannot get remote panels to run from projects on this computer.  I get a "server does not support Remote Panels"

So, can I load 2013 sp1 drivers without screwing things up?  Is the remote panels problem related to this???

[crossrulz]

The drivers cannot do a side-by-side install like LabVIEW.  If you want to use the drivers that came with LabVIEW 2013, then you first need to uninstall your current ones and then install them.  You will also lose the driver support for LabVIEW 2014 if you do this.

Your other option is to just update the RT system and/or your laptop to use the 2014 drivers.  They are still compatible with LabVIEW 2013.

[Sam_Sharp]

I know that VMWare has a 'hybrid' mode where the windows of the VM appear as windows on the host OS so you can minimise/move/resize them as if they were running in the host OS.

Edit for what I do: At work I have 2012, 2013 and 2014 installed on my work laptop. I have a couple of VMs I use for doing build/deployment testing. When I do development at home I use a virtual machine because I hate all the services that get installed with LabVIEW so I don't want those running on my PC unless I'm using them.