Install TestStand Deployment Packages problem

[zou]

While installing, NI Package Manager can't find the dependent driver package in the same folder.  Doesn't get a chance to manually allocate the missing package.

No such problem on the develop pc.

Anyone had this problem before?

[Scott_Richardson · Accepted solution]

George, for others to help you with this issue, it would be helpful to see the actual messaging that you are getting during installation, may posting screenshots would help.

Can you give additional information on what specific installer you are running? Was it a downloaded NI online installer, a downloaded NI offline installer, or a custom installer that you created with LabVIEW, TestStand Deployment Utility, NI Package Builder or Volume License Manager? If custom, what version of software are you using?

You could also review the NIPM logs files created during the installation transaction to see if there is any additional information. If you post those files here, someone else could review them as well.

Package Manager 21.3 did improve some error messaging for cases were an underlying MSI fails during installation, but not sure if that will help here since it is an issue of not finding a dependent driver, but you could upgrade Package Manager to see if the error message improves.

There is a known issue with NI Package Builder and Volume License Manager built installers where they can incorrectly exclude dependent packages in the underlying built feeds. So when installing without selecting all top-level products in the installer, the following error messages can occur during installation when a required package is not found in the registered feeds in Package Manager: "A required package could not be found:  The package 'package-name' requires package 'dependent-package (>= version)' that has an architecture compatible with this operating system." 

At least for Package Builder, the simplest workaround is to ensure that the built installer either does not allow the end-user to select a subset of the included products for installation, i.e. install everything. When configuring the installer in Package Builder, for each product included, configure the "Installation Behavior" setting to be "Always Install". By doing this for all included products all feeds are used, and allows the installer to find missing products from some feeds in other feeds.

[zou]

Thanks, I'll check the error log when I get chance.

I built both packages with the Deployment Utility for TestStand 2017 SP1 64bit.

The instrument driver package works fine by itself.  The sequence package is depend on the driver package, selected manually on the Dependencies dialog window.

The deploy computer is not online.  I can't post screenshot or upgrade.  Sorry.

I don't have other tools to build package for now.

[zou]

Here is the screen shot:

[zou]

Upgrade to Package Manager 21.3 solved the problem.

[Scott_Richardson]

Hi George, glad to hear that you are moving forward. The error you were getting can occur when the dependent package that was found was created by a version of Package Manager that is greater than the version of Package Manager that is installing software.  This might explain why installing Package Manager 21.3 fixed the issue. In general the version of Package Manager should be equal to or greater than the version of Package Manager that created the packages being installed.

[zou]

Unfortunately, the same error comes back again today for a new package.

The package is built with the TestStand Deployment Utility 64bit.  Does it call the Package Manager behind scene?

The Package Manager on the build computer is 19.6.

[Scott_Richardson]

George, yes, ADEs like TestStand, LabVIEW, and NI Package Builder all call into the installed NI Package Manager to create the packages.

My understanding is that the two packages that you have are both built with TestStand 2017 SP1 64-bit on a system that has NIPM 19.6 installed. It might be helpful if you explain the installation workflow you are executing. How are you initiating the installation of the top-level package (double clicking on .nipkg file, using nipkg.exe commands, launching a package installer, or using NIPM in some way)? Where is the dependent package that cannot be found located (on disk next to other package, included in an NIPM feed, in a feed that is registered in NIPM)?

The error that you are seeing occurs when NIPM cannot located a dependent package that has a specific name and allowed version, or the architecture attribute of the package does not match the system. One thing you could try is to use the nipkg.exe CLI application to try to install the dependent package to see if it can be installed manually on the target system. For example:

1. nipkg.exe install --simulate "C:\pathtonipkg\dependentnipkgfilename"
2. nipkg.exe install --simulate dependentnipkgname
   • This requires that the dependent package be available in a registered feed

If you want us to look at the packages themselves, you should share them privately, or maybe just share the control files from the packages after extracting them from the .nipkg files using nipkg.exe unpack or 7-ZIP.