Generating a NI Update Service Log for Troubleshooting Errors

Updated Jan 13, 2023

Reported In

Software

  • NI Update Service

Operating System

  • Windows

Issue Details

When I try to download updates through NI Update Service, I receive errors.  How can I create a NI Update Service log file to get more information about possible errors during the update process?

Solution

Logging can be enabled when you run the NI Update Service from the command line.  This will generate a log file that NI can use to debug NI Update Service behavior.  Any version of the NI Update Service can be executed from the command line, but only NI Update Service 2.1 and later can generate log files with the -log flag. 

The location for the NIUpdateService.exe may vary by operating system and by installation, but it can generally be found at C:\Program Files\National Instruments\Shared\Update Service.

To enable logging, use the -log flag from the command line followed by a valid location for the file to be generated.  A valid location is one that the user has permission to write to.  No log file will be generated if the user does not have write permissions for the location specified.

Example:
>NIUpdateService.exe -log C:\Users\nitest\Desktop\log.txt

Additional Information

If the file path includes spaces, then the entire path must include quotes ("") around it because the command line separates input parameters by spaces unless quotes are used. For example, "C:\Program Files\....\log.txt".