Access NI Platform Bundle Installer after installation

[PM7]

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out how to install additional NI Platform Bundles (or whatever they're called) after LabVIEW has already been installed.

When I first run the Setup program I'm presented with a dialog like this (see attached). I can select from a variety of add-ons and software packages. However once LabVIEW has been installed I can't for the life of me figure out how to access this dialog again to install more packages. I've tried the NI Package Manager but there are limited options there. I don't understand the purpose of the VI Package Manager (why is there both an NI and a VI Package Manager anyway?) but that doesn't seem to have what I want either.

For instance I would like to install Vision, Analyzer, and Signal Processing. None of these terms show up through a search in the NI Package Manager, and the VI Package Manager just seems to have a whole bunch of VIs specific to various company products. I've also tried to run C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared\NIUninstaller\uninst.exe but that just opens the NI Package Manager for some reason.

How do I get just the list of standard LabVIEW add-on bundles that I can add to my installation?

I'd like to avoid a complete reinstall if possible (takes forever!) but I'm tempted to do that out of frustration.

I have LabVIEW 2018 installed with the full license suite available through my institution.

Thanks

[BertMcMahan]

Can't you just rerun the same installer? I think you should just be able to check boxes for what you want to add. I don't think it'll uninstall anything. You may have to check boxes for what you already have installed- I don't think it'll reinstall anything if it's already there.

I don't have access to my installer media handy right now so I can't check for you unfortunately.

[Bob_Schor · Accepted solution]

I can confirm that if you install LabVIEW + other things, and you want to (later) add Some More Things, then if you simply reinstall LabVIEW + Other Things + Some More Things, it will "try" to do that, but when it sees LabVIEW is already installed, it will skip it and go on to the next thing, installing only what isn't there.

I think I've also just told the Installer "Install this (not-yet-installed) Module", and it just does that.  I'm not 100% certain of this (and usually take the first pattern of "(Re)Install Everything" (and ignore the 5-second "Installing LabVIEW, Done" for each Module that's already there)).  You do use NIPM to remove Modules, but that's by directly interacting with it, not running the Installer ...

Bob Schor

[PM7]

You're right, this did work! I was able to run the setup file even from a network drive and install the required modules.

Also note that in the installer you can change items you don't need to "Do not install" (screen snip attached) to skip it altogether.

Is there also some way that you can add these modules from the NIPM?

Quite frankly I don't really understand the purpose of either the NIPM or the VIPM.

[BertMcMahan]

I don't use NIPM much so I can't comment there, but VIPM is a great tool that lets you install a variety of toolkits from both NI and 3rd party vendors in a couple of clicks. The old way was that you copy a directory full of VI's over to some location, then try to get the pallete file to figure out where the new files are, and hope it all works. If you want to change directories or get a new computer, you have to make sure all of your old settings are (manually) moved to the new one.

VIPM lets you install these addons with just a click of "Install", and it'll put all the files in the right spot and update all of your menus. You can also uninstall it just as easily. Updates are as easy as installing- just hit Update and your files are now updated.

Need one package for one project, but don't use it much? Instead of manually moving files around all the time when you switch projects, you can uninstall the VI Package file and it's gone. I believe VIPM Pro can make "mega packages" where you can scan a project, then it'll tell you which VI packages are installed- then you can wrap that thing up into a Voltron super VI package made of all of the smaller packages, then keep that master VI package with the rest of your source code. Now you can distribute things MUCH easier, and switch around which packages you have installed based on what task you're trying to do. Plus, it makes reuse among coworkers much easier, as they all have the same version of a VI package installed to each of their machines, and you end up with fewer "File in the wrong location/not found" messages.