NI-DCPower 2023 Q3 Readme

July 2023

This file contains installation instructions and compatibility information for NI-DCPower 2023 Q3.

You can find more release information on ni.com.


System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems

Application Software Support

Installation Instructions

Product Security and Critical Updates

New Features

Supported Hardware

Behavior Changes

Accessing the Documentation

Finding Examples

Automating the Installation of NI Products

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 11

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

Unsupported Windows Operating Systems

NI no longer supports Phar Lap ETS Real-Time Operating System


System Requirements

NI-DCPower 2023 Q3 has the following requirements:

Minimum System Requirements

  • Processor—2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor or equivalent
  • RAM—1 GB, 800 MHz DDR2 RAM
  • A screen resolution of 1,024 x 768

Recommended System

  • Processor—2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 or equivalent
  • RAM—4 GB, dual-channel 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM

Refer to the LabVIEW Readme for additional system requirements and supported operating systems for LabVIEW.

Supported Operating Systems

NI-DCPower 2023 Q3 supports the following operating systems:

  • Windows 11
  • Windows 10
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016
  • NI Linux® Real-Time1

1 NI Linux Real-Time does not support the following features:

  • Autopopulation of resource names in LabVIEW 2020 and earlier
  • Test panels as accessible from NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX)

Application Software Support

NI-DCPower 2023 Q3 supports the following application software versions, including service packs. If you are not using NI application software, refer to Microsoft Visual Studio Support or Python Support.

Application Software Versions Supported by NI-DCPower 2023 Q3
LabVIEW 2020 and later
LabVIEW Real-Time Module 2020 and later
LabWindows™/CVI™ 2019 and later
LabWindows/CVI Real-Time Module 2019 and later

This product no longer supports LabVIEW NXG. Refer to LabVIEW NXG on ni.com for more information about LabVIEW NXG Life-Cycle Dates and driver version support.

Microsoft Visual Studio Support

If you are using the NI-DCPower .NET Class Library, the .NET Framework 4.0 (minimum) is required. The NI-DCPower .NET Class Library can be used with the Visual C# or Visual Basic .NET programming languages in any Visual Studio version that can target the .NET Framework 4.0 or the .NET Framework 4.5.

To use the .NET API, you must select the .NET Framework 4.0 Languages Support or the .NET Framework 4.5 Languages Support packages in the NI-DCPower installer to install the .NET class libraries in addition to the NI device driver. For information about versions of the .NET Framework and the drivers each supports, as well as the download location of the installer files, refer to .NET Resources for NI Hardware and Software.

Python Support

For more information on installing and using the NI-DCPower Python API, refer to the nidcpower module.

Installation Instructions

Download the NI-DCPower 2023 Q3 installer from ni.com/downloads. NI software includes NI Package Manager to handle the installation. Refer to the NI Package Manager Manual for more information about installing, removing, and upgrading NI software using NI Package Manager.

Note

  • If Windows Update is enabled, the installation process might hang if Windows Update interferes with the installation of Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Run-Time. For more information and steps to resolve this issue, refer to NI Installer Hangs While Installing Visual C++ 2015 Run-Time.
  • If you purchased this product with an NI Software Suite or NI Product Bundle, use the installation media that shipped with your purchase to install this product.

Updated LabVIEW Compatibility Policy

When installing NI-DCPower, the "NI-DCPower Support for LabVIEW" package will be recommended if you have already installed LabVIEW 2022 or later and installs to the LVAddons directory. This package supports applications using NI-DCPower with LabVIEW 2022 or later.

LVAddons directory location: C:\Program Files\NI\LVAddons

Product Security and Critical Updates

Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. For information about critical updates from NI, refer to Available Critical and Security Updates for NI Software.

New Features

  • Support for PXIe-4162 Asymmetrical Compliance Limit
  • Support for PXIe-4162 Measurement Autorange

Supported Hardware

Visit NI Hardware and Software Operating System Compatibility to view driver, desktop operating system, and real-time operating system support for individual hardware devices.

To view information for your device:

  • Select your hardware model in the dropdown list on the page to view compatibility information for your device.
  • Type your hardware model number in the dropdown list on the web page to filter the list of available devices.

Note: Some compatibility information may only be available in the archive attached to the NI Hardware and Software Operating System Compatibility page. For historic driver and OS support information, refer to the readme for the relevant driver version.

Behavior Changes

NI-DCPower 21.0: The NI-DCPower Soft Front Panel has been replaced by InstrumentStudio, which is automatically installed when you install the NI‑DCPower driver. You can access InstrumentStudio in one of the following ways:

  • From the Windows start menu, select National Instruments»InstrumentStudio. This launches InstrumentStudio and runs a soft front panel populated with devices detected on your system.
  • From Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), select a device and then click Test Panels.... This launches InstrumentStudio and runs a soft front panel for the device you selected.

The deprecated NI-DCPower Soft Front Panel remains available for download. Visit Legacy Soft Front Panels for NI-DCPower, NI-DMM, NI-FGEN, and NI-SCOPE for more information.

Accessing the Documentation

Refer to the NI DC Power Supplies and SMUs Help accessible from Start»All Programs»National Instruments»NI-DCPower»NI-DCPower Documentation, for information about NI-DCPower.

Finding Examples

Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW or LabWindows/CVI to launch the NI Example Finder.

  • LabVIEW 2021 or older: Examples for NI-DCPower are located in the LabVIEW XXXX\examples\instr\niDCPower directory.
  • LabVIEW 2022 or later: Examples for NI-DCPower are located in the C:\Program Files\NI\LVAddons directory.
You can modify an example VI to fit an application, or you can copy and paste from one or more examples into a VI that you create.

The NI Example Finder offers two ways to access all installed LabVIEW example VIs and their descriptions:

  • Click the Browse tab to locate examples by task at Hardware Input and Output»Modular Instruments»NI–DCPower or by directory structure at instr»niDCPower.
  • Click the Search tab to search all installed examples by keyword. For example, search for "DCPower" to locate all NI-DCPower examples.

IVI Compliance Package Functionality

NI-DCPower no longer installs IVI Compliance Package. NI-DCPower supports IVI configuration and runtime, but no longer supports the following features:

  • LabVIEW and CVI IVI class driver APIs for developing IVI interchangeable applications
  • IVI Class Simulation drivers
  • IVI-COM Adapters

If you want to use the above features, you must install IVI Compliance Package separately, either from ni.com/downloads or from the NI Device Drivers 2018 DVD.

Automating the Installation of NI Products

You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.

If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.6.2, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.6.2 separately before you install NI software.

For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to Automating an Installer in the NI Package Manager documentation.

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 11

Microsoft Windows 11 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. For more information about NI support for Windows 11, refer to NI Product Compatibility for Microsoft Windows 11.

Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10

For more information about NI support for Windows 10, refer to NI Product Compatibility for Microsoft Windows 10.

Unsupported Windows Operating Systems

NI-DCPower no longer supports Windows Vista/XP/7/8.x, Windows Server 2003/2008/2012, or any 32-bit Windows operating system. Versions of this product that ship after May 1, 2021, may not install or execute correctly on these operating systems. For detailed information about NI operating system support, visit https://www.ni.com/r/win32bitsupport.

NI No Longer Supports Phar Lap ETS Real-Time Operating System

NI Software no longer supports Phar Lap ETS Real-Time Operating System. Versions of this product that ship after May 1, 2022, may not install or execute correctly on this operating system. For high-level information on the support roadmap for Phar Lap and its replacement, NI Linux Real-Time, visit ni.com/r/xf35k1. To find out what hardware is supported on PXI controllers running NI Linux Real-Time, visit ni.com/r/b7g5wi.