Remote Front Panels, NI Network Browser, or WIF Don't Work in Browser

Updated Apr 13, 2020

Reported In

Hardware

  • CompactRIO Controller

Software

  • LabVIEW

Other

  • Google Chrome
  • Mozilla Firefox
  • Safari macOS Mojave

Issue Details

When I use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to access Remote Front Panels, NI Network Browser or the Web Interface (WIF), I get one of the following errors:

Google Chrome

When I try to access my remote front panels from Google Chrome, I see the following message:

NI has detected that your browser might be blocking a plug-in. Visit ni.com/info and enter the following Info Code for more information: BlockedPlugin
 


Mozilla Firefox

When I try to access Remote Front Panels in Mozilla Firefox, I see the following behavior:
 
 

Safari macOS Mojave

When I try to access Remote Front Panels in the macOS Mojave version of Safari, I see the following:


Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox

When I try to access the NI Network Browser or the Web Interface (WIF) from Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, I see the following message:

NI has detected that your browser might be blocking a plug-in. Visit ni.com/info and enter the following Info Code for more information: BlockedPlugin

 

Solution

National Instruments highly recommends that customers use the supported browser (Internet Explorer). 

Previously, other browsers were able to display Remote Front Panels by utilizing a browser plugin mechanism called Netscape Plugin Application Programming Interface (NPAPI). This plugin mechanism was deprecated from Google Chrome beginning in version 42, Mozilla Firefox beginning in version 52, and Safari 12.1 in macOS Mojave 10.14.

As such, Google Chrome version 42 and later, Mozilla Firefox 52 and later, Safari 12.1 in macOS Mojave 10.14, and Microsoft Edge are not supported browsers for these older National Instruments web technologies.  

Additional Information

To determine is the root of your issue is based on this deprecated plugin mechanism, check which browser version you are using.
  • Google Chrome: Check your version by clicking on Customize and control Google Chrome menu (the three dots menu in the top right) >> Help >> About Google Chrome.
  • Firefox: You can check your Mozilla Firefox version by clicking the Open menu  >> Open Help Menu >> About Firefox menu item.
  • Safari: You can check which version of macOS you have, and you can check your version of Safari by clicking Safari > About Safari in the menu bar.

NPAPI plugins may continue to work in the Mozilla Firefox Extended Support Release for some time after the release of Mozilla Firefox version 52. If you are running into an issue with missing plug-ins with older versions of Firefox, you can restore these plug-ins. 

Newer web technologies such as the LabVIEW NXG Web Module and SystemLink support the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. For more detail, see the Readmes for those products.
 

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