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Bob_Schor

Provide a "Remove NI Software From PC" Tool

Status: Already Implemented

Already available with NI Package Manager, see the idea discussion thread for more information.

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

14 Comments
AristosQueue (NI)
NI Employee (retired)

Bob: It would be a miracle* if we could provide new abilities in software you've already got installed, so one way or another, if you want an "uninstall everything" feature, you'll have to install something. 🙂 The NIPM is your best option here, and it is the tool that NI has developed to fulfill this goal.

 

* a miracle... and a rather substantial security risk!

lvw
Member
Member

I have a similar problem.

I have a PC where LabVIEW2017 and NI Vision (and other) was installed. I have first uninstalled all NI Software with Windows tools, but there was a lot of NI stuff left on the HDD and registry.

Then I have installed LabVIEW 2015SP1-64bit. This worked, but NI Vision 2015 refuses to install because newer version are already installed (which is not the case since I have uninstalled everything from NI before). 

I have downloaded the NI Package Manager 17.5 and uninstalled everything again (except NI Package Manger), but this does not help.

So, I would prefer a small tool that wipes everything away from NI on my machine.This costs me a lot of time and senseless effort. You should provide a tool like this. This is not the first and probably not the last time I would like to have it.

Now I have to reinstall Windows to get rid of NI stuff and start from the scratch.

 

Regards,

Stefan

 

crossrulz
Knight of NI

Use CCleaner to clear stuff out after you uninstall.  It can handle the registries.  Not sure about everything else floating around.


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remerling
Member

Apologies to the experts, but the NI Package Manager fails to remove conflicting/broken installations.  This might be due to new handcuffs my IT friends have installed on my machine.  Whatever MsiBlast does, it works where nothing from NI does.  This does assume that you have admin rights on your machine, though.