64 Bit Labview

[CompSol]

I saw on the NI website that LAB view 2009 9.0F3 will run on Windows 7 64 bit OS, so thanks. But my question is this, we currently have version 9.OF3 running on 32 bit version of LabView, and we are upgrading the OS to Windows 7 64 bit. If we continue to use the current 32 version of LabVIEW will the program be limited to the amount of RAM it can use? We will be using 16GB of RAM.

[Verywiseguy · Accepted solution]

The 32 bit versions of labview do have a RAM limitation.  I believe it is 2-4 GB. (Source)

You need to use the 64 bit versions of LabVIEW in order to use more RAM, but I've heard that there are some other downsides to that.

[billko · Accepted solution]

The main downside is that many of the toolkits do not support 64-bit LabVIEW.  Unless you really need the memory space a 64-bit application can give you, it's probably better to stick with LabVIEW 32-bit.

[CompSol]

Thanks, not sure how to aceept a soultion since both replies helped.

[Dennis_Knutson]

Mark both of them.

[billko]

Or if you felt that one was the actual answer while the other was a helper, mark the solution on the solution and a kudo on the other.  (Edit: I wasn't implying one was better than the other  It was for future reference.)

[BosonResearch]

I naively thought the 64 bit version would perform fine on my 64 bit Windows 7 machine. My VIs had been fine under 32 bit LabView 2012, but I needed to change computers, hence updated. After doing a repair and a reinstall trying to determine why my Active X control stopped being operable (both suggested by NI support) a different support person informed me that they don't recommend the 64 bit version, it has a number of unsupported features. I wish they made that a little more obvious, even stating it on the downloads page, I'm frustrated at the large time waste this caused. Putting out a product that's not quite ready to work across the spectrum without being frank with the users is a stupid move, not one I expected from NI.

[billko]

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@BosonResearch wrote:

I naively thought the 64 bit version would perform fine on my 64 bit Windows 7 machine. My VIs had been fine under 32 bit LabView 2012, but I needed to change computers, hence updated. After doing a repair and a reinstall trying to determine why my Active X control stopped being operable (both suggested by NI support) a different support person informed me that they don't recommend the 64 bit version, it has a number of unsupported features. I wish they made that a little more obvious, even stating it on the downloads page, I'm frustrated at the large time waste this caused. Putting out a product that's not quite ready to work across the spectrum without being frank with the users is a stupid move, not one I expected from NI.

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I would counter that you should have done your homework before taking the plunge.  Any product that has dependencies outside of itself is going to have issues with its 64-bit version.  Look at web browesers, for instance.  64-bit versions need 64-bit plugins.  Sound familiar?

Actually, LV 64-bit is essential to a sizeable minority in the LabVIEW world.  They deal with huge chunks of data that just doesn't fit into a 32-bit memory architecture.  For those people, it's a gift from [insert whatever is applicable to your preferred religion here].

[billko]

Sorry my last post was so negative.  I do understand your frustration.  I agree that NI should probably put something at least on the download page.  They have this, but I have no idea how to get to that page other than to Google Labview 64-bit.

[BosonResearch]

Thanks for the reference to more information on the issue. The page about 64-bit version abilities in Windows 7 was published August 12, 2016, about when I whined about the issue here. So, it would have been hard to have read it in advance of this dust up. NI has a way to go in getting this issue clear for their users.