Multiple versions of labview on 1 computer

[Azazel]

Hello,

I have just purchased LV 8.2 and am about to install it on my computer.  The old version of LV I currently have on my computer is 7.1.  Can I run both versions on the same computer or is it beneficial to take off LV 7.1 first before installing the new 8.2.  Any opinions?

Azazal

[PauloM]

Hello

My experience is that they will both run on the same computer, you just have to take care when openning files from windows explorer.  I think it will then use the last one you installed (LV 8.20), but you can allways right click the file and choose witch version to use.

Take care about toolkits and stuff you have in th toolbox, they will not be on the new one unless you install it.

But I haven't had any big problems with it,

Regards,

Paulo

[Matthew_Williams]

Check out:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/58be852cb35237c786256a290079df39

http://forums.ni.com/ni/board/message?board.id=170&message.id=223470&requireLogin=False

I haven't done this myself; too chicken.  We just keep a machine dedicated to each
version of LV we need.  Less effecient hardware wise but _much_ more effecient
for developer time and headache.

Matt

[SimonH]

Azazal,

You can certainly run both versions on the same computer.  I have 6.1, 7.1, 8.0, and 8.20 installed on this machine and I regularly have more than one version open at the same time.

However, Paulo is very correct by saying that toolkits typically only install for one version of LabVIEW and that you need to be careful not to open your VIs in the wrong version of LabVIEW.  If you were to open and save a LabVIEW 7.1 VI in 8.20 you would be unable to open it again in 7.1.

Matt, great links - I'm going to repeat that first one here in clickable form:

Installing Toolkits for Use with Multiple Versions of LabVIEW

Regards,

Simon H
Applications Engineer
National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/support

[ErnieH]

I guess my thoughts are why NI has not put any effort to make the upgrades compatible with older versions. Why should we have to jump through hoops on every upgrade? If I have a compiled program in manufacturing that is an older version and they want a minor change, it turns into a major job sometimes to update to the latest version. A little effort on NI's on newer versions would help the users who compile their programs tremendously. Not asking for the world, just don't force me to uninstall things from my old version so the new one will work.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Be specific. I just upgraded a large application from LabVIEW 7.1 to 8.5 with very little effort. (hours, not days). I still have 7.1 installed and have not lost a bit of the old functionality.

[ErnieH]

Not all applications are problems. Updating older programs that use their toolkits and runtime licenses can be problematic. Applications using the core LabVIEW tools are usually not much trouble, We support a lot of different versions of apps using vision, realtime, and fpga tools. It would be much easier for me to make a small change, recompile it,  and send them the executable if I had the same development system I originally used. Sometimes these are remote sites with slow modems, so a major upgrade is undesirable. The problem with updates is you have to uninstall old toolkits to install them on the latest version. If they could make the next version load without making me do anything with the old version, that would be desirable. If not, I will delay upgrading until absolutely necessary and if I do, keep a pc with the old system in case I need it.