Limited DAQmx Functionality After Installing NI-DAQ™mx Drivers

Issue Details

I just installed the NI-DAQmx drivers, and am trying to troubleshoot one or more of the following:

• The DAQmx API functions (DAQmx VIs and DAQ Assistant) are missing from my LabVIEW palettes
• Missing certain NI MAX functionality
  • No Test Panels options when I right-click on my device in NI-MAX
  • "Find Network NI-DAQmx Devices" option is missing when right-clicking Network Devices
  • There is no Data Neighborhood folder under My System in NI-MAX
• I do not have the option to create Virtual Channels in NI-MAX
• Why can't I find this DAQmx functionality even after installing the NI-DAQmx drivers?
• I am missing one or more of the three DAQmx functions found in NI MAX.

Solution

If you can't find DAQmx functions in LabVIEW or if you seem to be missing certain NI MAX functions that you should have after downloading NI-DAQmx, make sure that you have the following software packages installed by looking under the Software tab in NI MAX as shown below: 

• ADE Support provides Application Development Environment (ADE) Support for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement Studio. These can be specified during your installation of DAQmx on the Features page of the Setup:
• Device Drivers include drivers for all DAQmx compatible hardware supported under the specific version (details can be found on the download page)
• MAX Configuration provides functionality to work with DAQmx supported hardware in MAX (e.g. Test Panels, Connection Diagrams, Create Channels, etc.)

If you are missing any of these, you most likely have the wrong DAQmx driver type installed. As shown by the picture below, there are three types.

• NI-DAQmx x.x (called "Full" prior to 9.8). Includes Device drivers, MAX Configuration, and ADE Support
• NI-DAQmx Runtime x.x with Configuration Support. Includes Device drivers and MAX Configuration.
  • Select this one to work with your hardware in NI MAX on a test machine, but still do not plan to do any development on the machine.
• NI-DAQmx Runtime x.x (called "Core" prior to 9.8). Includes only Device Drivers.
  • This is primarily used as a minimal package for test machines running deployed applications that will not require any development or NI MAX configuration.

If you have these three drivers and cannot find DAQmx functions in LabVIEW, follow the steps listed in Can’t Find DAQmx Functions after LabVIEW or NI-DAQmx Install. To find the specific driver type and version you need, use the NI-DAQmx Download page. Make sure to install the NI software in the correct order.

Additional Information

When installing NI-DAQmx through the NI Package Manager ensure that in the additional information tab, the box for NI-DAQmx Support for LabVIEW xxxx (where xxxx is the year of your LabVIEW version) is checked. If your version of LabVIEW does not show up in the additional information window, ensure that LabVIEW is updated to the latest patch.