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Dual-Boot Windows 10/11 and Real Time Operating Systems on NI PXIe Controllers

Updated Mar 31, 2026

Reported In

Hardware

  • PXI Controller

Issue Details

  • I want to use both Windows 10/11 and a Real-Time OS, such as LinuxRT or Phar Lap, on my PXIe Controller. 

Solution

Note: NI will remove support for Phar Lap for cRIO in the NI 2020 Software Release and for PXI in the NI 2022 Software Release. For more information, please see the Phar Lap RT OS EOL Road Map. Also, NI does not plan to support Dual-Boot for NI Linux Real-Time controllers at this time.

 

  • Due to differences in frameworks of Windows 10/11 and RT operating systems, PXIe controllers can not be dual booted with both Windows 10/11 and a RT OS. 
  • NI's policy for PXIe Controllers that ship with Windows 10/11 is that they are configured to boot in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) mode with a GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioned hard drive. Windows 10/11 systems which are installed in UEFI mode with a GPT partitioned hard drive do not support dual booting PharLap RT, and there is no plan to add this capability. Hence, dual booting with Windows 10/11 is not supported with NI PXIe controllers. PharLap RT requires legacy booting and a Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioned hard drive.
  • Configuring a dual boot Windows 10/11 PXIe Controller using MBR partitioned hard drive is not recommended by NI. NI is not responsible for any malfunctions of the PXIe controller.
  • If you would still like to change between systems, it is recommended that you change out the physical hard drive of the controller with the operating system of choice loaded on the new drive.  If your chassis originally had Pharlap RT installed, you may need to update the BIOS to support the UEFI mode required with Windows 10/11.
    • This statement does not apply to embedded controlelrs with the M.2 drive. We do not recommend users replace the hard drive on these controller. 
      • We have designed a special PXIe-8861 and PXIe-8862 for applications that require removeable hard drives. These PXIe-8861 and PXIe-8862 use a removable U.2 drive. The part numbers for these controllers are 786986-01 and 788818-01 respectively.

Additional Information

In case of Windows 7, you can do dual booting by following Dual-Boot Windows 7 and LabVIEW Real Time on a PXI Controller .

As far as dual boot support for Linux RT is concerned, it is not currently on the list of features NI is targeting for Linux RT.