LabVIEW won't start after failed attempt to install Vision module

[bekateen]

Hi All,

I downloaded a VI from the NI Discussion board to display a PNG file with transparency. The VI required a subroutine present in the VISION Development module, so I attempted to load and install that. But the install failed before completing.  The bigger consequence is that LabVIEW won't start now. I reinstalled my copy of LabVIEW 2019 sp1, but LabVIEW still won't start.  I tried double-clicking on the last VI to run properly before the Vision Development Module install attempt, and I get the error message, "There was a problem sending the command to the program."  All the solutions I'm reading in the forums suggest it's more about connecting the VI to the file, but since my program won't run at all, I can't figure out how to proceed. Any thoughts?

Thanks for your help. Eric

[Bob_Schor]

Installation in the era of NIPM, and LabVIEW 2019 in particular, is fraught with problems.  I've done many installations (for myself and my colleagues), including additions, and when it goes wrong (as yours has), the safe way to fix it is to do a complete uninstall of NI Software and to redo the installation.

It seems clear to me that installing LabVIEW Vision was the step that caused the problems.  Sometimes (rare, in my limited experience) you can "repair" an installation, but "Remove and Redo" has always worked for me (and takes only a little more time, if any).

There have been numerous discussions on the Forum of how to do this safely (I've written some of them).

One final note -- LabVIEW Vision has its own license, I believe, so before trying to download and install it, be sure you are licensed for it.

Bob Schor

[bekateen]

Thanks, Bob.

First I tried the repair and as you can imagine it made no difference. I completely uninstalled the software and reinstalled the next day, with LabVIEW 2020 instead of 2019. I made the mistake of also reinstalling the vision software, thinking my institution had a license for it, but after the reinstall NI told me that my licence didn't cover it. Nonetheless, I ran LV and it worked last night. This morning I turned on the computer and started getting LV error messages even during the boot process (see two images attached, mentioning missing DLLs). This was before even trying to start LV. So I uninstalled everything and reinstalled just LV 2020 without the Vision package.  I removed and reinstalled everything again. (this is the second complete removal / reinstall in 48 hrs).  The reinstallation failed and displayed the message, "An error occured while installing a package NI-controllerdriver (20.0.0.49152-0+f0)" (third photo attached).  In spite of that error, LV 2020 starts.

So I'm not sure what didn't install.  Do I need to fix something? Why is this so difficult for NI to build a simple installer?

Don't get me wrong - I know computers are all different and LabVIEW is a complex program, and problems can occur.  But I've been using LV since 1986 and I can't ever recall having so much trouble with a repair/install. Sheesh!

Here is the installer error log:

===== 2020-May-17 15:59:30.203031 =====
Exception in ni::pkgclient::TransactionBase::StartInternal. Error code: -125083
Request type: 30
-125083: An error occurred while installing a package: ni-controllerdriver (20.0.0.49152-0+f0)
File: source\nipkg_client\pkgclient\PluginInteraction.cpp
Line number: 235

Additional error information:
-125530: An error occurred while installing the MSI at 'controllerDriver64.msi'.
File: C:\dev\1\s\nipkg\source\shared_agents\WinInstall/ErrorHandler/ErrorInfo.h
Line number: 103

I'm also attaching screen shots of the error messages on computer start from earlier today and yesterday.

[billko]

All I can say is... it's NOT you!  Installing/uninstalling LabVIEW and its various components has become very difficult/tricky since the introduction of NI Package manager.

Wish I could help you out, but at least know that it's not you.

[Bob_Schor]

If you are at an Institution with a License, then the license only covers LabVIEW 2019.  The only Edition of LabVIEW 2020 that is current available is the Community Edition, whose license specifies that it is only for non-commercial and non-academic use.  If you are a Student, you can use it for you "on-the-side" Hobbyist explorations (building a Home Automation system for yourself, say), but not for doing your Class-assigned LabVIEW Homework!

At the present time, LabVIEW 2020 has a limited set of Drivers available.  I don't know if LabVIEW Vision (which ordinarily requires an addition license from NI) will be part of Community Edition.

I think your best way forward, one that will most likely get you

• a working LabVIEW installation that you can use to do your work,
• a LabVIEW installation that adheres to the Licensing Agreement with NI, and
• a LabVIEW installation that has the "bits and pieces that you need to do your assignments

is to do the following:

1. Completely uninstall all NI Software from your computer.  The Forums contains several responses (including some from me) on how to do this thoroughly and safely.  Do not attempt to do anything with the Windows Registry!
2. Download and install LabVIEW 2019 SP1 (I recommend 32-bit LabVIEW) using your Institution's license.  There are also several Forum responses on how to do this safely -- a key point is to not attempt to do it all in one pass -- install just LabVIEW first (de-selecting all the Drivers), reboot, the minimum set of Toolkits and Modules, reboot, and finally Drivers.

Note that when LabVIEW 2020 is released, LabVIEW 2020 and LabVIEW 2020 Community Edition are designed to be separate Products), each of which has an independent license.  The Community Edition license is licensed to you, personally, and is free (for a year, renewable).  To be honest, I don't know if/how NI plans to keep the two Editions separated, but the easiest way would be to have only one, "regular" if you are using it at work or at school, and Community Edition if you are only using it as a hobbyist (and not offering your code for sale, as that would be "commercial", I would think ...).

Bob Schor

[bekateen]

Thank you for the additional information.  I must be honest and say the part about the institutional license I find puzzling.  When I finished the last install yesterday and ran LV 2020 the first time, it asked me to activate and I put in my institution's license.  The activation page accepted that and I received an automated acknowledgement email from NI indicating my product was activated. This morning I started my computer, got more dll related errors for NI Device Monitor and NI Updater during computer startup.  But after I said "okay" to those and closed those windows, I started LV 2020 and checked the info; it reads my name, my institution and my institution's site license.  

How do I interpret that?  I certainly am not fixated on LV 2020 and I can go back to LV 2019 sp1.  I would first need to reopen the VIs I've already opened and back save them to 2019 versions, otherwise I might not be able to open them again.  For now though, if my site license is accepted, should I just leave 2020 installed?

Thanks again, sorry for the persistent questions.

Eric

[billko]

I believe LV 2020 Professional just came online yesterday sometime.

[bekateen]

Thank you all for your help.  Since LV 2020 is running, I will probably leave it for a while.  If the error messages on computer boot become annoying, I may uninstall it and go back to LV 2019. But for now, I've wasted enough time on this. If it's running, it's running.

Cheers, Eric