NI-SWITCH 2023 Q3 Readme

July 2023

This file contains installation instructions and compatibility information for NI-SWITCH 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

Supported Hardware

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

Include this section if your product supports Phar Lap ETS. NI no longer supports Phar Lap ETS Real-Time Operating System


System Requirements

NI-SWITCH 2023 Q3 has the following requirements:

  • Processor—1 GHz or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
  • RAM—1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
  • A screen resolution of 1,024 x 768

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

Supported Operating Systems

NI-SWITCH 2023 Q3 supports the following operating systems:

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

Application Software Support

NI-SWITCH 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.

Application Software Versions Supported by NI-SWITCH 2023 Q3
LabVIEW 2020 and later
LabVIEW Real-Time Module 32-bit 2020 and later
LabVIEW Real-Time Module 64-bit 2021 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-SWITCH .NET Class Library, .NET Framework 4.0 (minimum) is required. The NI-SWITCH 2023 Q3 .NET Class Library can be used with Visual C# or Visual Basic .NET in any Visual Studio version that can target .NET Framework 4.0 or .NET Framework 4.5.

To use the .NET API, you must install the .NET class libraries or the .NET wrapper 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-SWITCH Python API, refer to the niswitch module.

Installation Instructions

Download the NI-SWITCH installer from ni.com/downloads. NI software includes NI Package Manager to handle the installation. Refer to the NI Package Manager Documentation 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.

Updated LabVIEW Compatibility Policy

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

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.

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.

Accessing the Documentation

Refer to the NI-SWITCH documentation, accessible from Start»National Instruments»NI-SWITCH»NI-SWITCH Documentation, for information about the NI-SWITCH.

Finding Examples

You can access all the installed NI-SWITCH examples at Start»National Instruments»NI-SWITCH»NI-SWITCH Examples.

Select Help»Find Examples from LabVIEW to launch the NI Example Finder. LabVIEW examples for NI-SWITCH are located in the labview\examples\instr\niSwitch 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 Ouput»Modular Instruments»NI-SWITCH or by directory structure at instr»niSwitch.
  • Click the Search tab to search all installed examples by keyword. For example, search for "SWITCH" to locate all NI-SWITCH examples.

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-SWITCH 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

Include this section if your product supports Phar Lap ETS.

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.