Provide a "Remove NI Software From PC" Tool

[Bob_Schor]

I am struggling (yet again) with LabVIEW installation problems that appear to involve LabVIEW 2017 (and possibly LabVIEW 2016 f5 patches).  After having systems with multiple (sometimes only 2) LabVIEW Versions installed "go south" (typically by having MAX stop working and Block Diagrams with DAQmx code fail to load), I've tried to "Remove All" NI software, only to discover that "bits and pieces" still remain, both on Disk and (especially) scattered throughout the Registry.

I've been working with NI Support for 2-3 weeks trying to "recover" from a LabVIEW corruption probably caused by installing the 2016 f5 patch.  We finally decided to do the "Uninstall/Reinstall" route.  Although I got 2012 SP1 installed, 2014 SP1 failed (could not install NI Network Discovery 14.0, "Verify you have sufficient privileges to install Services").

My concern is that, short of reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling Windows (which I was forced to do on two of my PCs), there appears to be no way to fully uninstall all NI Software.  I would like to propose that NI develop an "Eraser" utility (like Eraser for Microsoft Office) that searches out all files that NI puts on the C: drive (not in User Space) during installation and all Registry entries that it scatters throughout the Registry, allowing the PC to be "rolled back" to a "pre-NI" state.  Such a tool might want to be restricted to Full or Professional licenses, or maybe provided on an "As Needed" basis by the NI Support Team, but I really don't want to have to rebuild yet a third PC ...

Bob Schor

[crossrulz]

It would make sense to embed this in the NI Package Manager.

[Bob_Schor]

Isn't the NI Package Manager "new" with LabVIEW 2017?  Will it help for systems that have (as does the one I'm struggling to rebuild) LabVIEW 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (but no 2017)?

Bob Schor

[crossrulz]

Yes, it is new.  But not exactly part of LabVIEW 2017.  NI Package Manager is a lot like VIPM: a separate application that manages the NI installations and eventually any packages we build for it.  It can currently manage the installations of anything previous to LabVIEW 2017.

Just a side note: NIPM is actually more associated with NXG.  But that is beside  the point.

[Steve_TDiode]

Might a utility such as CCleaner be able to find registry entries that are no longer valid?

[Bob_Schor]

Steve asks if a Registry Cleaner (he mentioned CCleaner) could find registry entries that are no longer valid.  Well, I tried that, after which I needed to reformat my C: drive and reinstall everything (starting with Windows).  There are hundreds, probably thousands, of possible NI-related entries.  My point is that NI should know which they put in, and which could be safely removed.  IMHO, a "Vendor-specific" Cleaner is much more likely to be (a) effective, (b) safe, and (c) safe than a DIY approach.  [You may notice an emphasis on safety ...].

Bob Schor

[wiebe@CARYA]

I think there is such a tool, called MSIBlast.exe. Not sure how official it is or if it's even still supported. I don't think it will uninstall everything, but I think it "might be supposed to" clean up registry entries.

It's mentioned here, for instance.

A build less obscure option somewhere would be nice though. Installing PM made it impossible to remove or modify my earlier NI installations, and also invalidated the earlier uninstallers. But I guess that's a temporary inconvenience.

[MichaelBalzer]

This is the primary reason I now only develop with LabVIEW in a virtual machine, with one LabVIEW version / driver set per VM. This doesn't help the end user though, so if anything goes wrong with an NI installation on their physical machines, it's a pain to sort out.

LV2017 and NXG have increased potential cruft too, with installers for 3rd party tools such as Erlang and RabbitMQ. Officially supported NI tools (DCAF for example) also install 3rd party software like Graphviz and PuTTy. So a clean-up tool would need to be aware of NI installed 3rd party tools, and provide an option to remove those too.

[AristosQueue (NI)]

The NI Package Manager, which is the add/remove programs entry for all NI software, can remove all the NI software in one go. The NIPM is installed with all recent NI software. It manages all the installations, even for older NI software.

If none of the NI products you are using installs NI Package Manager, you can download and install it directly.

[Darren]

Already available with NI Package Manager, see the idea discussion thread for more information.

[Bob_Schor]

Not everyone has NI Package Manager (I, for example, don't have it as I have not yet been able to successfully install LabVIEW 2017 so that it will run, and allow my earlier versions of LabVIEW, specifically 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016, to run).  Given the extremely difficult and time-consuming issues I've had with 2017 (requiring reformatting and "starting over" rebuilding two Windows 10 PCs and a successful  complete Uninstall from Program Manager in Windows 7), I'm rather reluctant to try installing NI Package Manager to act as my "Complete LabVIEW Uninstaller".

I apologize for my cynical attitude, but this cost me about two months of down-time.

Bob Schor