This file contains important information about NI-VXI 16.0, including installation instructions, new features, a partial list of bugs fixed, and known issues.
Documentation Included on CD-ROM
Product Security and Critical Updates
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1
NI Software Support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003
NI-VXI is the interface software for your National Instruments VXI controller. It provides the necessary driver to access devices on any VXI bus attached to your workstation. Using NI-VXI, you can control a VXI bus using National Instruments VXIpc embedded controllers, MXI-2 extender technology, VXI-USB controllers, VXI-8360x series controllers, or a combination of any of these controllers.
NI-VXI works by providing a software layer between the NI-VISA programming interface and your hardware. You write programs in LabVIEW, C++, or other environments that use industry-standard VISA functions to access and control your VXI device, and NI-VISA uses NI-VXI to perform the appropriate operations on your device.
NI-VXI uses the standard National Instruments Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) for configuration. Through MAX, you can set up any configuration options for your VXI controllers and devices.
Additional documentation is available on the CD-ROM version of NI-VXI 16.0. You can find these documents by selecting Explore CD from the Autorun menu. They are in X:\Documents\, where X is the letter of your CD-ROM drive.
These documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF). You must have Adobe Reader installed to view the PDFs. Refer to the Adobe Systems Incorporated website at www.adobe.com to download the latest version of Adobe Reader.
The installation process for NI-VXI includes installing NI-VISA, MAX, the NI-VXI 16.0 driver, associated configuration files, and the NI-VXI API emulation layer included with NI-VXI 16.0. Optionally, the installer can also install development utilities and documentation related to the NI-VXI API.
NI-VXI stores various configuration options and associated applications in a folder located by default in Program Files\National Instruments\VXI on 32-bit Windows and Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\VXI on 64-bit Windows. You also can specify a different location to install these files.
By default, the NI-VXI API emulation layer is installed. This library provides a familiar programming interface and utility package for users of older versions of NI-VXI. If you are not a current NI-VXI 1.x/2.x user or currently use VISA as your programming interface, there is no need to install this option.
Refer to Known Issues for specific information regarding installation issues with this software.
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about National Instruments products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from NI.
Version 16.0 of this software adds support for Windows 10 32-bit and 64-bit.
Every attempt has been made to maintain backward compatibility with the installed base of existing NI-VXI applications.
Follow these steps to enable VPO on Windows 10:
Once VPO is enabled for the VXI device in the system, no additional reboots will be required for that particular hardware in the system. This is a one-time sequence, that is to be performed to enable VPO on the device.
PCI Express Native Control feature in Windows is incompatible with Variable Power On feature. It is required to disable the PCI Express Native Control feature before enabling VPO. PCI Express Native Control feature can be disabled in Windows by opening a command prompt with Administrator privileges and executing the following command:
bcdedit /set pciexpress forcedisable
If VPO is enabled on a system where PCI Express Native Control feature is enabled, the system might hang during boot. To recover the system, remove all VXI hardware from the system, boot into Windows, and disable PCI Express Native Control feature.
For more information, go to ni.com/info and use the Info Code VXIVPOPCIeNativeMode.
You must perform software installation with an account with administrative privileges before using it as a non-Administrator.
To run your VXI applications from a user account without Administrator privileges, be aware of the following:
When you power cycle or reboot the host computer, all VXI-836x series controllers, including any controllers in a daisy chain configuration, must be connected and powered on within 5 seconds. This is because the system BIOS assigns resources to devices at the very beginning of boot time. Any powered off controllers (and any controllers or modules downstream from it in a MXI-2 daisy-chain) will not have resources assigned to them and will not appear or function during that boot of the computer.
You can use the Variable Power On feature to remove this requirement for individual VXI-836x series controllers. For more information, refer to the Measurement & Automation Explorer Help for NI-VXI.
The USB 2.0 specification introduced a new "hi-speed" USB protocol, theoretically capable of transferring 480 Mbps. Older USB 1.1 ports offer "full-speed" transfers, which have a maximum bandwidth of 12 Mbps. The VXI-USB controller supports USB 2.0, and National Instruments strongly recommends connecting it to a USB 2.0 hi-speed port with a hi-speed cable. Many new computers have USB 2.0 built in, but if your system does not, National Instruments recommends installing a plug-in card with USB 2.0 support. If you connect a hi-speed USB device (such as the VXI-USB controller) to a full-speed port, the operating system warns you that the device's performance is degraded.
The VXI-USB VISA timeout (VI_ATTR_TMO_VALUE) is the total number of milliseconds to wait before timing out a transfer. This is different from other NI-VXI controllers in that the timeout is signaled even if progress on the transfer is being made. For large word serial transfers, you may need to increase the VISA timeout value to allow the transfer to complete.
If your VXI setup or hardware state changes, you must select View»Refresh or press <F5> from within MAX to see these changes.
When changing the Logical Address on a VXI controller, some system instability may result until you reboot the system.
Along with the various improvements discussed above, the following history documents other fixes in NI-VXI:
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. However, starting with the August 2012 releases (products using NI Installers version 3.1 or later), you may need to perform additional steps before or during a silent installation of NI software.
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:
Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.
When you install NI software on Microsoft Windows 8.1, you will notice a few additional tiles in the Apps view, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX), and NI Launcher. For more information about NI support for Windows 8.1, visit ni.com/windows8.
NI Launcher helps you find and launch installed NI products. It provides you with a method of finding NI products similar to the Start menu in previous versions of Microsoft Windows. To use NI Launcher, click the NI Launcher tile in the Apps view. NI Launcher launches the desktop and opens a menu containing a list of NI products. Click any NI product to launch it.
| Note NI MAX does not appear as a desktop shortcut when installed on Microsoft Windows 8.x. You can launch NI MAX either from the Apps view or from within NI Launcher. |
For convenience, you can pin your most-used NI applications, such as MAX, to either the Start screen or the Taskbar on the desktop, as necessary:
| Current Application | Icon Location | Pin to Action |
| Windows 8.x Desktop | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to Taskbar |
| Windows 8.x Desktop | Start screen | Right-click application and select Pin to Start |
| Windows 8.x Start screen | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to taskbar from the menu bar on the bottom of the screen |
If you want to find a particular application or related files, such as documentation files, from the Start screen, you can access all installed files from the Apps view. To get to the Apps view, right-click anywhere on the Start screen and select All apps (Windows 8) or click the down arrow on the bottom left of the screen (Windows 8.1).
For more information about NI support for Windows 8.x, visit ni.com/windows8.
NI-VXI will drop support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 as of July 1, 2016. Versions of NI-VXI that ship after July 1, 2016 will not install or run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. For detailed information about NI application software product life cycles, visit ni.com/info and enter one of the following Info Codes:
| Product | Info Code |
| NI LabVIEW | lifecycle |
| NI LabWindows™/CVI™ | cvi_lifecycle |
| NI Measurement Studio | mstudiolifecycle |
| NI TestStand | tslcp |
| NI DIAdem | ddlcp |
| NI SignalExpress | selcp |
| NI VeriStand | nivslifecycle |
| Note Any version of NI-VXI that supports Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003 will still be available for download at ni.com/downloads. |
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