At this point in time, you must have a DAQ device configured in MAX for the NI-DAQ funcitons to work. If you are building a program, and just want to make sure it will run, you can sometimes "fake out" NI-DAQ by adding a non-plug and play board (such as DAQPad-MIO-16XE-50). This will allow you to run most NI-DAQ functions, but will not remove all errors.
Nick W.
www.ni.com/ask