Cannot uninstall or reinstall Labview

[sikee]

Hi there,

I've seen some solutions posted in the forum, but I couldn't find a proper answer, except reformating the disk (which I'm tryting to avoid to). So I post my description of the issue here. Here is the story:

My computer was upgraded to win 10 from win 7 automatically several days ago. Due to compatibility, I rolled the computer back to win 7 then. However, it seems like that Labview was corrupted during this process.

- I kept receiving errors about NI-IMAQdx modules and couldn't read any signal from camera at all. Then I started to troubleshoot and repair the related modules, which didn't work out.

-Therefore, I considered to uninstall and reinstall Labview to have a fresh start. However, when I tried to uninstall Labview in the Windows control panel, I received the error 1612 during the installation. I found the solution for this and run the MSI to generate the resulting log file (attached here) and sent it to the NI team (haven't heard back from them). In the file, it shows that 'Found 969 NI MSIs installed and 34 broken.' I stopped the uninstallation then, but I'm sure some of the modules have been uninstalled already since there is no reaction when I click the labview.exe icon. 

- Then I tried to fix the issue in another way (forgive me if I got things complicated): force reinstall the Labview in the command window. The reinstallation goes okay. It is cleaned However, the labview.exe icon is still not functional.

I'm not sure what I should do next. Reading from the available posts, I've seem some solutions:

- reinstall the new labview to a new folder

- use MSIblast to uninstall NI softwares. But this is very risky and not encouraged. I'm not sure if I should try it.

- Run the uninst.exe executable to remove items not removed by windows control panel.

Is there anyone having any comment on those solutions? Should I make sure I uninstall the Labview completely first and reinstall it later? 

I have been struggling for days... Thank you for any help I could get.

Sikee

[Bob_Schor]

A couple of points.  

• As far as I know, the only current Version of LabVIEW certified for Windows 10 is LabVIEW 2015.  Some have described success (I think) in installing earlier Releases, but I would be very wary.
• Prior to Windows 10, doing an "in-place" upgrade from one version of Windows to the next was always slightly "dangerous" -- the "safe way" was reformat/reinstall.  Particularly if you have hardware-centric Software (such as LabVIEW), this still seems prudent with Windows 10.
• If "upgrading" is tricky, "reverting" (unless to a full backup) is even more so.

So, advice.

• The "almost certain-to-succeed" method is to first reformat your hard drive, then proceed.  Make sure, though, that you have all (all) of your Installation Disks available.  It actually might not be as bad as you think -- you will certainly have less "garbage" on your PC when you are done.
• Failing that, do your best to uninstall LabVIEW and anything that "looks like" LabVIEW.  Be agressive.
• Oops, before doing the previous step, back up your PC.  [It may already be too late ...].
• Once you think LabVIEW and Friends have been uninstalled, look in Program Files and delete any LabVIEW-related directories.
• For best results (but it is dangerous and takes quite some time), get rid of LabVIEW-related entries in the Registry.
• Now you are ready to try to reinstall LabVIEW.

Sorry, it's a bit of a mess, but should not take more than a day.  I've faced this situation myself -- after 3-4 days of trying to "fix" things, I reformatted the hard drive and spend another half-day ...

Bob Schor

[sikee]

Thank you, Bob! This system upgrade was forced by Microsoft and I didn't realize it until it was already upgraded... It's really frustrating that it causes so many troubles.

Since I'm having trouble to unsinall the Labview (with the error 1612), do you think if it's even possible to uninstall the Labview?

Sikee

[Bob_Schor]

Yes, it is possible, but painful.  As I mentioned before, having done this a few times, if I had to do it, I would (a) back up my data files, (b) make a list of the installed software, (c) reformat the hard drive, (d) reinstall the Operating System (Windows 7 x64 or Windows 10 x64, but not Windows 8), (e) install drivers for printers and other devices, (f) reinstall all other software (Office, Antivirus, Browsers, Acrobat, etc.), (g) restore my data, and (h) install (a single version , preferably the most recent, of) LabVIEW.  Note that you could interchange (g) and (h).

Besides clearing the clutter from  your disk, registry, and Desktop, this is probably the safest, as well as almost the fastest, way of getting a reliable system back (from what you describe, your system is a bit of a mess right now).

Bob Schor