July 2023
This file contains installation instructions and compatibility information for the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software.
You can find more release information on ni.com.
Product Security and Critical Updates
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 11
Unsupported Windows Operating Systems
The NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software provides an EtherCAT master driver to support the real-time EtherCAT network operations. Use the software with the LabVIEW Real-Time Module to configure the EtherCAT network and map the EtherCAT device signals to the LabVIEW I/O variables.
The NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software supports the following operating systems:
Note Product no longer supports any 32-bit Windows operating system. Refer to Unsupported Windows Operating Systems for more information about support for Microsoft Windows OSes.
To install the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software, install the following prerequisite software.
Refer to the LabVIEW Readme for additional system requirements and supported operating systems for LabVIEW.
Notes
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Download the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 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 Package Manager.
After installing your software, you will need to activate it. Activating your software verifies the licenses associated with your NI account, so you can start using your software. You have different options for activation, based on your software and how it was purchased. Please visit ni.com/activate for more information on activation methods.
The "NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT LabVIEW Support" and "NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT Support for LabVIEW FPGA Module" packages support applications using NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT with LabVIEW 2023 or later. When installing NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT, these packages will be recommended if you have already installed LabVIEW 2023 or later and installed to the LVAddons directory.
LVAddons directory location: C:\Program Files\NI\LVAddons
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.
The following table lists the supported EtherCAT masters and the earliest supported version of the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT.
| EtherCAT Master | Earliest Supported Version |
|---|---|
| PXI-8106 | 1.0 |
| PXIe-8130 | 1.0 |
| PXI-8104 | 1.0 |
| PXI-8108 | 1.01 |
| All real-time embedded PXI controllers with the PXI-8231 or PXI-8232 Ethernet interface | 2.0 |
| PXIe-8133 | 2.0 |
| PCI-8232 | 2.0 |
| PCIe-8231 | 2.0 |
| PCIe-8233 | 2.0 |
| PCIe-8235 | 2.0 |
| cRIO-9081 | 2.2 |
| cRIO-9082 | 2.2 |
| RMC-8354RT | 2.5 |
| RMC-8355RT | 2.5 |
| PXI-8109 | 2.5 |
| PXI-8115 | 2.5 |
| PXIe-8115 | 2.5 |
| PXIe-8135 | 2.5 |
| cRIO-9068 | 2.6 |
| cRIO-9030 | 14.0 |
| cRIO-9031 | 14.0 |
| cRIO-9033 | 14.0 |
| cRIO-9067 | 14.0 |
| sbRIO-9651 | 14.0 |
| cDAQ-9132RT | 14.0 |
| cDAQ-9134RT | 14.0 |
| PXI-8840 | 14.0 |
| PXIe-8840 | 14.0 |
| PXI-8119 | 14.0 |
| PXIe-8119 | 14.0 |
| PXIe-8880 | 14.0 |
| PXIe-8881 | 21.5 |
| cRIO-9034 | 14.5 |
| cRIO-9035 | 14.5 |
| cRIO-9036 | 14.5 |
| cRIO-9038 | 14.5 |
| cRIO-9039 | 14.5 |
| cRIO-9064 | 14.5 |
| cRIO-9065 | 14.5 |
| cDAQ-9133RT | 14.5 |
| cDAQ-9135RT | 14.5 |
| sbRIO-9607 | 15.0 |
| sbRIO-9627 | 15.0 |
| cDAQ-9136RT | 15.0 |
| cDAQ-9137RT | 15.0 |
| CVS-1458RT | 15.0 |
| cRIO-9032 | 16.0 |
| cRIO-9037 | 16.0 |
| cRIO-9035 (Sync) | 16.0 |
| cRIO-9039 (Sync) | 16.0 |
| IC-3171 | 16.0 |
| IC-3172 | 16.0 |
| IC-3173 | 16.0 |
| cRIO-904x | 17.6 |
| cRIO-905x | 18.0 |
| PXIe-8840 Quad-Core with NI Linux Real-Time | 18.5 |
| PXIe-8880 with NI Linux Real-Time | 18.5 |
| PXIe-8861 with NI Linux Real-Time | 19.0 |
| All PXIe controllers with NI Linux Real-Time with the PXIe-8245 or PXIe-8246 Ethernet interfaces | 21.3 |
| sbRIO-9603 | 20.0 |
| sbRIO-9608 | 20.0 |
| sbRIO-9609 | 20.0 |
| sbRIO-9628 | 20.0 |
| sbRIO-9629 | 20.0 |
| sbRIO-9638 | 20.0 |
Note NI does not recommend using cDAQ real-time controllers with the NI 9145 EtherCAT slave device in FPGA mode, because cDAQ real-time controllers cannot read user-defined variables from the NI 9145 EtherCAT slave device. When using a cDAQ real-time controller as the master device, you can only read EtherCAT device signals from the LabVIEW I/O Variable Functions. You cannot read directly from the LabVIEW I/O variables.
Note If you use NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) to install the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software on real-time controllers, some controllers, such as the Embedded Vision System, require you to install the controller driver software. Otherwise, MAX cannot discover the controllers.
Note In NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 18.5, PXIe-8840 Quad-Core with NI Linux Real-Time and PXIe-8880 with NI Linux Real-Time are supported only for VeriStand. In NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 19.0 or later, this support no longer relies on VeriStand.
Note NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 21.5 or later supports only the non-primary built-in Ethernet port of PXI controllers with NI Linux Real-Time.
Refer to the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT® Help, available by selecting Help»NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT from LabVIEW, for information about the NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT software.
Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW to launch the NI Example Finder. Navigate to the Hardware Input and Output»NI-Industrial Communications»EtherCAT folder to access the examples.
If you are using LabVIEW 2023 or later, you can find the examples for NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT® in the niecat\1\examples\indcomecat folder under LVAddons directory.
If you are using LabVIEW 2022 or earlier, you can find the examples for NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT® in the labview\examples\indcomecat folder.
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 4.0, 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 4.0 separately before you install NI software.
For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:
For more information about NI support for Windows 10, refer to NI Product Compatibility for Microsoft Windows 10.
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.
NI-Industrial Communications for EtherCAT 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.
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End-User License Agreements and Third-Party Legal Notices
You can find end-user license agreements (EULAs) and third-party legal notices in the following locations after installation:
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