Re-install Labview 2016 after Uninstalled using NI package manager

[farisshahidan]

Hi, I was trying to reinstall Lab view 2016 which I had uninstalled using the NI Package Manager and during the installation it give me a message saying "NI Lab View 2016 (incompatible with products already installed)". I'm suspecting this might due to an incomplete uninstall from the package manager. Please advise me on how to reinstall the Lab view again. Thank you!

[DavidF_NI]

Hi farisshahidan, 

From my experience NI Package Manager will leave some stuff behind if you don't expose it by deselecting the "Products Only" checkbox. Do you see any remnants of LabVIEW 2016 when you search for it in the Installed tab with the Products Only checkbox deselected? 

What other NI software do you have installed? If you don't have much, you could do a complete uninstall and reinstall of NI Software. Bob Schor has some great steps in this forum post. The steps are a bit of a nuclear option, but work well. 

Out of curiosity, why did you uninstall LabVIEW 2016? 

Best,

David F.

Technical Support Engineer

National Instruments

www.ni.com/support

[Bob_Schor]

Are you removing only LabVIEW 2016, or all versions of LabVIEW?  What Versions did you originally have on your PC?

I regret to say I have a lot of experience installing and uninstalling LabVIEW.  The one Basic Rule for installing LabVIEW is that you must install the oldest Version first, and install in "Version Order".  [You can skip Versions, but once you install LabVIEW N, you cannot install LabVIEW N-1 or N-2].  Before LabVIEW 2017 and the introduction of the NI Package Manager (NIPM), I would sometimes do a "partial removal" of LabVIEW (say, the latest version only), but my present experience is the only safe LabVIEW removal is a Complete LabVIEW (and National Instruments Software) removal.

I assume you have NIPM installed.  To do a complete National Instruments Software removal, do the following:

1. Open Control Panel, go to Programs and Features.  If you are using Windows 10's "Settings", go to Apps, expand Apps & Features.  Find National Instruments Software and Uninstall (or Remove All).
2. Step 1 will probably take you to NIPM.  If it does, check the box that selects everything (except NIPM) and uninstall it.
3. Reboot.
4. Repeat Steps 1 and 2, but this time look to see if there are any "crumbs" left over (see if any of the tabs at the top suggest other software).  Expose and remove them as well.
5. Reboot and repeat Step 4 until nothing seems to be left except NIPM.
6. When you are pretty sure everything else is gone (and you want to be "as sure as possible", otherwise it means that you have to start over, backing up your data and reinstalling Windows and all your other software, I'm not kidding!), choose to uninstall NIPM (directly from Programs and Features or from Apps, not through National Instruments Software).  You should get an "Are you sure?" warning.  If you are sure, say "Yes".
7. Reboot.  See if anything is left.  You might find that after NIPM is gone, there are only 422 more things that suddenly appear to be uninstalled (this happened to me last week).  Go ahead and uninstall them.
8. Reboot.
9. If you get here, congratulations.  You can now start the re-installation process.

If you have questions, feel free to ask them here.  We'll try to help.

Bob Schor

[farisshahidan]

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply. Yup, I could see the remnants of LabVIEW 2016 when I deselect the Products Only checkbox. Do I need to remove them as well?

I have a lot of NI Software installed onthis shared computer. I'm not sure if uninstall all of them will be a good solution as it might affect other users as well. The reason I uninstall LabVIEW 2016 is because I had NI DAQ device that only compatible with NI DAQmx 9.0, which means I need to downgrade the Labview version. But, I'm too naive about this 😞

[farisshahidan]

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your step-by-step solution. I only remove Labview 2016. I'm not sure what version that this PC originally have since this a shared PC. But from the NI folder in the Program Files I could see Labview 2012 folder ( I believe thats the original one). Anyway, when you say compete unistall of NI Software, did you mean all of the software listed in the Installed tab in NIPM? If yes, a complete uninstall might affect other users as well. Would you reckon alternative method that might be working? Thanks a lot for your help!

Regards

[Bob_Schor]

In general, the software on a PC is "shared" by all of the Users.  On a "shared PC", no "ordinary" user should have Administrator Privileges and be able to add/remove Software, as this impacts all of the Users.  I apologize for my error in not understanding the shared nature of this machine.

When a Software Package renders that package unusable, it will generally be "unusable for everyone", so an Administrator would be justified in "fixing it for everyone", even if it involved completely "rebuilding" the machine (after backing up all User Files, of course).  The way LabVIEW manages its Versions makes LabVIEW multi-version installations a little more difficult and problematic, but in my more-than-a-decade of experience with it, I don't think I ever was successful with a "partial removal".  Indeed, my LabVIEW 2017 experience led to my "wiping" and rebuilding two Windows 10 PCs (and, now that I think of it, when I got my new desktop at work six months ago, we went through 2-3 "builds" of Windows 10 until I figured out my mistake in installing LabVIEW 2016, 2017, and 2018 ...).

What I would advise at this (late!) state is to see if LabVIEW 2012 (which should be the only LabVIEW left on the machine, if I understand your post correctly) still runs. 

• If it does run, you can try to install later versions of LabVIEW (in strict Version order, leaving Device installation to the very end).  If this works, try it and see if your problems go away (do not install updates that have later versions of LabVIEW associated with them!).
• If it does not run, then completing the removal of all National Instruments Software "won't hurt" (nothing runs now, anyway).

When you get ready to reinstall, remember to always install the minimum Versions that you need, oldest first, with only the required Modules and Toolkits.  Install Devices after all of the Versions are installed.  [You may have a problem with LabVIEW 2012 -- NI's "backward Compatibility" advice is 5 years, meaning nothing before LabVIEW 2014 or 2015].  I recommend that you do not install any LabVIEW Updates for versions that are not installed on the rebuilt PC.

Bob Schor

[Sudharsan62]

I understand this is a old post. Just want to add my experience so that it might help someone in the future. I faced a similar error posted in the question.

The issue generally occurs when there are some driver support files like NI VISA Support for LabVIEW 2016 (32-bit) is installed. Open NIPM, search for 2016 and uninstall any driver support files installed for LabVIEW 2016 as well.

Now LabVIEW 2016 is cleanly uninstalled and you can do a fresh installation.