Installing NXG on another drive

[svings]

I'm trying to install Labview NXG from NI Package Manager. I have a computer with a smallish C  drive (SSD) and a large traditional D drive. I want to install it on D like my normal Labview. I cannot find any way to do that from the Package Manager, and that is the only way to install NXG.

I'm surely missing something here? How can I install NXG on D?

Thanks 

[JÞB]

Thinking outside the box..

Rename C to T for Temporary,  rename D to C

Install NXG

Rename C to D

Rename T to C

Then post to the idea exchange that this should have been easier 

[Bob_Schor]

I'm just guessing, here, but I would imagine that if the Installer puts NXG into C:\Program Files\National Instruments (as seems to be the Windows model), and puts links to it in various places in the "C:" Drive, and in the Windows Registry (whereever that ends up being mapped), when you revert, the Registry will still say "C:\..." but there will be no "there there".

If I were going to try this, I would definitely try it out on a "spare PC", say on a VM ...

A safer suggestion ("It's only money ...") is to purchase a larger SSD and figure out how to migrate your system (I'm sure there are "gotcha's" there, as well, but it directly addresses the problem of "My C: drive is too small" ...)

Bob Schor

[JÞB]

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@Bob_Schor wrote:

I'm just guessing, here, but I would imagine that if the Installer puts NXG into C:\Program Files\National Instruments (as seems to be the Windows model), and puts links to it in various places in the "C:" Drive, and in the Windows Registry (whereever that ends up being mapped), when you revert, the Registry will still say "C:\..." but there will be no "there there".

If I were going to try this, I would definitely try it out on a "spare PC", say on a VM ...

A safer suggestion ("It's only money ...") is to purchase a larger SSD and figure out how to migrate your system (I'm sure there are "gotcha's" there, as well, but it directly addresses the problem of "My C: drive is too small" ...)

Bob Schor

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Bob, Registry entries are drive letter agnostic (So you can rename drives)

LabVIEW is smart enough to use symbolic paths and the standard search directories relative to those symbolic paths.  

My suggestion is safe as long as no development is done with absolute paths before un-renaming the drives;)

[nyc_(is_out_of_here)]

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@JÞB wrote:

Thinking outside the box..

Rename C to T for Temporary,  rename D to C

Install NXG

Rename C to D

Rename T to C

Then post to the idea exchange that this should have been easier 

---

If I am booted into Windows 7 on my laptop,

how do I rename C to T and D to C ?

I can rename Local Drive (C:) on my hard drive to Temporary (C:) but it retains the C:

I did it just now to try it out.

Edit

I can go into Computer Management and change the Drive Letter and Paths for C: (Local Drive) to something else, but I am cannot go any further as I don't have another hard drive on this laptop.

...

My first inclination if I was the OP is to use a disk imaging software such as Acronis True Image to create an image file of the current small hard drive to an external hard drive. Next install the new larger 1 TB SSD and image it with the image file that was created. 

My PNY 120 GB SSD came included with a free product key for Acronis True Image.

I didn't use it because I use Clonezilla, but it was nice to have.

.

[Bob_Schor]

The virtue to the solution that @nyc and I proposed (Clone the C: drive to a larger SSD) has the virtue that while there will be an initial cost (for the Drive), the process is "reversible" so if there's a "gotcha" (like a Serial Number check to prevent Cloning), you should be able to "put 'em back the way they was".  Of course, you do need to be able to run Cloning software (but you should be able to create a version of Clonezilla that can run from a bootable USB stick).

If this is a "managed" (and "locked down") machine, the "right way" to do this, of course, is to talk to the IT Gurus, tell them the problem, offer to purchase the new SSD, and beg for their assistance.

Bob Schor

[wwaller]

I don't recommend symlinking the install itself but I'd be interested in seeing what happens if you symlinked the Addons directory (next to the install, contains libraries NXG ships, examples, driver plugins, etc.) to another drive. I would expect that to be safe, and it probably accounts for a significant portion of the vanilla NXG install.

Keep in mind you might experience slower first load times because of this, if it works at all.

There may be an official answer on this, just throwing ideas out there. (There may even be a cleaner way to do this through package manager I'm not aware of)

[svings]

Thanks all

However, I was more looking into the obvious solution of configuring this Package Manager to install packages where I want. I couldn't find anything in the configuration, but maybe some ini files or something somewhere?

[svings]

Hello

Just wondering if anyone has figured out how to configure the Package Manager to install on other drives?

[TessellatedSquid]

Seriously NI? Crickets on this very silly issue?