Install NI Software with Offline Feeds for Offline Machine

Updated May 27, 2024

Environment

Software

  • Package Manager

This tutorial describes how to install software found in NI Package Manager on an offline machine. This method will enable you to distribute NI software to multiple offline machines that cannot access a ni.com connection.

Other methods of installing NI software to an offline machine include:

Prepare Files on Online Machine

From an online machine that has an internet connection, install and run NI Package Manager to download the files you need. Then, prepare the files before moving them to your offline machine.
  1. Launch NI Package Manager.
  2. Find your desired product on the Browse Products tab. Click Install.  
In this example, NI Help Viewer will be installed.Graphical user interface, application  Description automatically generated
 
  1. When the installation is complete, navigate to the Installed tab and search for your product. Hover over the product and note its package name in the hover text.
In this example, the package name is ni-help-viewer.
Graphical user interface, text, application  Description automatically generated


Create Offline Feed

  1. Open a command window to C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI Package Manager.
cd C:\Program Files\National Instruments\NI Package Manager
  1. Execute the following commands to download the package to a destination directory and create the feed.
Note: The destination directory name can be a local folder on the computer (e.g. C:\feeds\myfeed) or a shared network folder (e.g. \\mynetwork\feeds\myfeed).
 
nipkg.exe download --all-deps --destination-dir="C:\feeds\<Your Folder Name>" <package name>

nipkg.exe feed-create "C:\feeds\<Your Folder Name>"

For example, here are the commands for the NI Help Viewer package:
nipkg.exe download --all-deps --destination-dir="C:\feeds\NI Help Viewer Download" ni-help-viewer

nipkg.exe feed-create "C:\feeds\NI Help Viewer Download"
Text  Description automatically generated
 
  1. (Optional) The download --all-deps command downloads the primary package and all required dependencies. If you are creating an offline feed for a product that also recommends additional optional packages, you must also complete the following commands to include those additional optional packages in the offline feed.
Note: This step does not apply to the NI Help Viewer.
  1. Execute the following command to determine the package names of the optional recommended packages for your primary package.
nipkg.exe install <package name>

Example
nipkg.exe install ni-daqmx
  1. Press n not to continue but note the Recommended packages.
  2. Repeat the download and feed-create commands for each recommended package that you want to include in the offline feed.
nipkg.exe download --all-deps --destination-dir="C:\feeds\<Your Folder Name>" <package name>

nipkg.exe feed-create "C:\feeds\<Your Folder Name>"
  1. Navigate to the destination directory and move both the NI Package Manager installer .exe and the feed folder you created to the offline machine. If the offline machine can access a shared network folder, move the NI Package Manager installer .exe and feed folder to a shared network folder.


Install Product Packages on Offline Machine

  1. Install NI Package Manager on the offline machine: You can download the offline installer of NI Package Manager from an online machine by clicking the "Offline Install" button on this website: Package Manager
  2. Launch NI Package Manager on the offline machine.
  3. Click on the Settings gear. Enable the Show available packages and feed management tools checkbox.
    Graphical user interface, text, application, email  Description automatically generated
  4. Select Feeds and then click Add.
 
  1. Input a feed name. Browse to the folder containing the feed you created in the previous section. Click Add to register the feed on the offline machine.

     
  2. In NI Package Manager, navigate to the Packages tab and search for the product. Select the product and click Install to install it.
    Graphical user interface, table  Description automatically generated