This is long as there are a collection of details I thought would be useful. Please bear with me.
I have a VI compiled with LV 8.6.1 PDS. The installer ran on the development machine and it works fine there (WinXP SP3).
Was handed a laptop (another WinXP SP3) that already had LV 7.0 (academic) on it. Someone was fiddling with an old version of LV. OK.
Wanted to uninstall 7.0 so there would be a clean field for the program compiled under LV 8.6.1.
So: Start --> Control Panel --> Add/Remove Programs and uninstalled "National Instruments Software". That went smoothly. It wanted a reboot. Fine.
Ran the setup program in my package, the one I'd wanted to install. No errors. The following installers were included with the Build:
* NI LabVIEW Run-Time Engine 8.6.1
* NI Measurement & Automation Explorer 4.5
* NI DAQmx 8.8
By the way, this generated an installation package of "almost" 900 megabytes.
Connected the hardware (one ethernet-based, another RS-232 based). Started the program, "EDGAR2".
First error:
Unable to locate the LabVIEW Run-Time Engine.
EDGAR2 requires a version 8.6.1 (or compatible) LabVIEW Run-Time Engine. Please contact the vendor of EDGAR2 to correct this problem.
(This is Error1.JPG, attached).
A check of C:\National Instruments\Shared\LabView Run-Time\8.6 shows that there is only one item in that directory: a sub-directory named "errors". That's it. If the executable is looking for something in the 8.6 directory, well, there's nothing there.
Uninstalled EDGAR2 using the Control Panel. Reinstalled. Same problem.
Downloaded the standalone LabVIEW Run-Time 8.6.1 installer, Standard Edition, from NI's site, unpacked, and ran the setup.exe from that package.
There is one box with a green checkmark in it: NI Variable Engine .
Click Next. Up pops a pane and Error2.JPG is attached. It won't continue because the "detected" version of Variable Engine is of a higher revision.
The "Next>>" button is grayed out.
Uninstalled EDGAR2 again. But there was no entry in the Windows uninstall panel for uninstalling any National Instruments software. This raised a flag in my mind and NI Support was telephoned.
With the Support Guy running Google searches for relevent topics (I'd done some of that, too), a number of things were tried.. ending up with deleting everything in C:\Program Files\National Instruments while in Safe Mode, everything in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\National Instruments, going through the Windows Registry with REGEDIT, uninstalls and attempted reinstalls. Nope, nothing worked. That defective Variable Engine seems glued into the system
The application can't find the 8.6.1 run-time because it doesn't exist. It doesn't exist because both the standalone and built-in installers see a Variable Engine of a higher version installed and apparently won't install over it. There is no uninstall for any NI software in the Windows Control Panel --> Add/Remove pane and so I can't seem to get rid of this Variable Engine.
At this point, the Support guy says, "Time to reimage your computer. Call us for anything else.. you know we're here for you."
This is the first trouble I've had installing a compiled VI. All other packages built with 8.6.1 PDS just slid right in.
There's been a LOT of software installed on the target over the years and going on the proverbial "scavenger hunt" to locate all of the installation disks will be a time-consuming task (a week is a conservative estimate). Is there a solution to this problem? Where are the installers "looking" for the Variable Engine revision level? Is there a specific Registry key that can be adjusted?
Went looking through the WinXP Event log. No errors are popping up there.
Your time is appreciated.
Mark
