I'm one of the people who reported this problem, brought it to NI's attention, was told that they could duplicate it, then was told they no longer could duplicate it.
Here's my experience, in a nutshell:
- Laptop (Win 10 x64) had LabVIEW 2016 installed (LV, LV-RT, Vision, drivers). Tried to install LabVIEW 2017, seemed to work but MAX was totally hosed (saw no devices, right-hand pane couldn't show My Computer fully).
- Called NI, AE walked me through trying to "fix" MAX. Failed. I said I'd uninstall/reinstall (meaning Add/Remove Programs, NI Software, Remove All, start all over with 2016/2017).
- Could not install 2016 reliably. Services during installation were not installing properly.
- Spent the better part of 4-5 days "fixing" the laptop. Had to resort to Uninstall + File/Folder Deletion + Registry Scrub (by hand). Able to reinstall LabVIEW 2016.
- Heard NI confirmed problem, then couldn't confirm (the nature of the Beast).
- Was successful (I think) doing a dual-installation on a Windows 7 (x64) machine.
- A week ago, tried again on a "scrap" Windows 10 desktop. Again, success. Note that this was a very recently-built machine, no "old" code, not much stuff.
- Decided to "try again", but on home Desktop (also Windows 10 x64), as Laptop was considered "too valuable to screw up". Turns out Desktop had 2014, 2015, and 2016 installed -- I decided to do only 2014, 2016. 2014 installed without problems. I had enabled NI Updates, and decided to "update as I go" (my usual pattern). During the Update process, I noticed that NI Services were again starting to disappear, and that MAX was becoming hosed (now nothing showed in the right-hand pane). I'd gotten an error message when trying to update NI-VISA, something about not having sufficient privileges to start (or stop?) an NI Service (don't remember which one). Recall I'd seen and reported this a few years ago, tried the Fix (a Repair on NI VISA, slower and more frustrating than a Complete Uninstall + Reinstall), which fixed the Services but left MAX still hosed.
- Reported the latest findings to NI, suggesting that part of the problem might be the NI Update Service, which appeared to have gratuitively stuck some LabVIEW 2017 stuff on my machine that had only LabVIEW 2014 installed. I sent them the full Service Report two days ago, and it is Somewhere In the Works. Meanwhile, I'm starting the slow, painful process of getting the NI Badness out of my Desktop ...
Your mileage may vary. I do not plan, at the present time, to install LabVIEW 2017 on any other physical machine. If time permits (I do have other things to do), I may try building a system on a Windows 10 VM ...
Bob Schor
