shutdown error with lkads.exe

[Bill2@NGC]

When shutting down, sometimes I get an intermittent error about lkads.exe not being able to do something.  It goes away after a few seconds.  I've shutdown a few more times since then, but no errors, so I'm not sure what exactly it said before shutting down.

I've seen this a few years ago when I installed conflicting versions of some labview drivers.  But in this case I only have one version of LabWindows 2010.  Has anybody seen this or know anything about it?  Can I just disable lkads.exe and it's related services?  Thanks.

bill

[LindsW]

Hi,

Lkads.exe is the NI PSP Service Locator, which allows you to see shared variables on a remote system.  Lkads.exe depends on the NI Variable Engine and NI Time Synchronization services.  If you are not using shared variables in your application, you can disable these services, which should resolve the error you are seeing.

To do this you can go to Control Panel>>Administrative Tools>>Services and stop these services.

If you see the error again, could you please post a screenshot?  Also, let us know which OS you are using, and if there is any pattern as to when this occurs (a specific program you are running before closing, etc.).

Regards,

[Bill2@NGC]

Hi Lindsey,

Thanks for your help.  The original author is no longer here.  How do I determine if shared variables are used?

The shutdown error also occured with lkserv.exe.  Can I shut that down too?  

Lastly when I tried stoppint lkads.exe, it said it also had to shutdown NI Variable Engine, NI Domain Service, NI Time Synch, & Lookout citadel Server.

Thanks.

[LindsW]

Hi,

Network shared variables are typically used when you need to access variables over a network to share them between different applications, remote computers, or other hardware.  More information about them can be found here:

http://www.ni.com/white-paper/5484/en/

Regarding the error with lkserv.exe, do you mean lktsrv.exe?  If so, this is part of the Lookout services.  Do you have Lookout installed and/or are you using it?  If you’re unsure, here is more information about Lookout:

http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/12511

You can also look in Control Panel’s Programs and Features under National Instruments Software to see if you have this program installed.

For more information on the other services you mentioned and what they affect if stopped, see the following KnowledgeBase Article:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/0247ED5E4758D84C86257621006F793B?OpenDocument

While you should be able to shut down these services as long as you don’t require them to run your applications, it might be better if we could resolve what is actually going on.  If you are able, could you please post a screenshot here?  Or at least the text of the message?

I also have a few other questions for you:

1)    What OS?

2)    Has this behavior always occurred or just recently?

3)    Other than popping up this message for a few seconds, does CVI seem to shutdown normally?  Or do you have to force it to quit?

4)    Is there a specific application that you run that seems to cause the behavior?  Or is it random?

Regards,

[Bill2@NGC]

Hi Lindsey,

    My answers are below.

While you should be able to shut down these services as long as you don’t require them to run your applications, it might be better if we could resolve what is actually going on.  If you are able, could you please post a screenshot here?  Or at least the text of the message?

---  Can't take a screen shot since the PC shuts down and cameras are not allowed here, so no real pictures either.

I also have a few other questions for you:

1)    What OS?

---  Windows XP

2)    Has this behavior always occurred or just recently?

---   No reports of this happening before.  But original PC crashed and I had to reinstall the SW and drivers on a replacement PC.  So as far as I know it started after reinstall.

3)    Other than popping up this message for a few seconds, does CVI seem to shutdown normally?  Or do you have to force it to quit?

---   PC shutdown runs normally, but maybe a couple of seconds slower before shutting down pc.  CVI runs fine, but I did get one report of keyboard, touchpad and SW not responding consistently.  I have not been able to reproduce this.

4)    Is there a specific application that you run that seems to cause the behavior?  Or is it random?

---   Appears random.

Thanks.

[LindsW]

Hi,

Since the behavior seemed to start around the reinstall and appears random, it sounds like maybe something installed improperly.  I would recommend force reinstalling the software, as explained in the following article:

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/ADD22E807D5A12AD862579EC00760F79

This will force the installer to re-install all the files in the installation instead of just ones that appear corrupt or missing.

Make sure that you re-install CVI first and then the drivers, as this is required for proper linking.

Regards,

[LucianoAssirelli]

Good morning.

I can give some more data about the problem, since it is recurring on many installation of ours.

We install CVI2010 applications on Windows Embedded Standard standard 2009 (which is an embedded

version of Windows XP. We actually use the shared variable engine, so we cannot just avoid running the service.
The message is that captured in the following image.

Hope this can help you and us 🙂