[Package Builder] Building installer from LabVIEW 2020 SP1 package fails

[Mahatma_Andy]

Hi all,

I struggle to get an installer built with NI Package Builder (Version 20.6, 32bit). My setup is shown in the attached picture.
I get an error but I don't understand why because the file which is obviously selected in the sources (see Editor tab) seems to be stated as missing during build. In the Inputs tab I selected the folder where I extracted the files from LabVIEW2020SP1.iso download. Can anyone explain to me what that could mean or what could be the reason for that?

Thanks in advance.

[Oli_Wachno]

Have you tried mounting the ISO as a drive and selecting installers for the package from this mounted drive?

This has worked for me

If I have understood you correctly, you have extracted the files from the ISO.

[CL_eisenwr]

Is there a reason you do not want to build Package Install instead of package containing the packages?

[Mahatma_Andy]

Yes, I extracted the iso contents to a folder on the network an set this path for Input files. For testing purposes I created a repository instead of an installer and that seems to work. But it's not sure all target machines have Package Manager installed to install the repository-package

[Mahatma_Andy]

I want to build an installer because the target machines are not up to date and it's not sure they have NI Package Manager installed.

[Oli_Wachno]

My current idea for a similar situation is as follows:

• have (in my case by corporate IT) NIPackage Manager rolled out on all applicable machines.
• after having installed NI Package Manager, run a script to have NIPM to point to a repository where the installer are stored
• install packages from there (preferably silent installation)

[Mahatma_Andy]

I think that would be the preferable way for me. Rolling out NI Package Manager prior to installations should work.

Thanks!

[CL_eisenwr]

FYI The Package Installers build with NI Package Builder automatically include NIPM and install it first if it is not present on the system.

[Scott_Richardson]

Hi Mahatma_Andy -

I have two area of questions to follow up on your post.

A) Package Builder can add packages to an installer in 3 ways:

1. packages that the solution builds
2. packages installed on the build system
3. top-level packages included an offline package installer accessible on disk

Reviewing your first solution in your post above makes me want to know if you are aware of option (3), and if so, were there any issues with (3) that prevented you from resulting in a proper installer for your needs?

For the workflow of option (3), you can select Installer Products tab, click Add Installer button and select the "Install.exe" file for the offline installer on disk, and then select the top-level packages in the installer to include in your installer.

B) I am still interested in your error that you got when building your first solution. Could you look in the following directory for the log file that contains the error when building your installer and share that here or directly with me? If you cannot find it, you might have to build it again. The log file may provide more insight to determine why the error is happening.

[Mahatma_Andy]

Hi Scott,

I was also trying option (3) but couldn't find where to select the top level packages from the installer. Do I always have to specify locations for the packages in the Editors tab? When selecting from an Installer it should be clear where the files reside, shouldn't it? For drivers I also don't want to install all optional packages for the products. I'm interested in specific support for LabVIEW 2018 and don't need the whole overhead supporting several LabVIEW versions and so on. So I thought if I drag the packages from the Input pane to the Editor pane (Folder "Temp" there) that only these specific packages are available to the installer.

I'm sorry but the logfile is gone and my previous solution for testing got deleted.