Solution
As of NI Package Manager (NIPM) 20.7 and Meta Deployment Framework (MDF) 20.7, NI installers will no longer support Windows versions prior to Windows 10 or any 32-bit OS. If you recently upgraded to NIPM 20.7 or installed any NI software that was built using NIPM 20.7 or MDF 20.7, the underlying deployment engine on the system was updated as well. This means that you can no longer build distributions that run on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2, or any 32-bit OS.
If you absolutely need to run your deployment installer on any of the mentioned OSes, you can complete the following steps.
NIPM-Based Distributions
These steps apply mainly to NIPM-based package installers built from LabVIEW, LabVIEW NXG, LabWindows™/CVI, TestStand, and NI Package Builder.
- Uninstall NIPM 20.7 from the Windows Control Panel.
- Download and install NIPM 20.6 using the offline installer option. You may ignore any prompts related to upgrading to NIPM 20.7 or later.
- Build your deployment as usual and try running the installer.
Note: if you include any new packages (from 2021 or later), then the installer may still refuse to install due to dependencies. For example, a package you selected, or a dependency may require a newer version of NIPM or OS, and this cannot be overridden. If the above steps do not work, then use NIPM to uninstall all NI software, and then install older versions of that NI software (released in 2020 or earlier) to avoid upgrading anything to a version that does not support any legacy OS. If uninstalling all NI software and installing older versions is not an option, build an executable instead, and make sure the target machine has all the dependencies required for the executable to work. These dependencies should not only be compatible with the executable but also with the target system
MSI-Based Distributions
If you would like to know what version of MDF you have currently installed on your system, navigate to
C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared\MDF\BinRTE. Right-click on the
MdfCommon.dll file and go to
Properties » Details » File Version.
The following steps apply mainly to MSI-based distributions built from LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI, TestStand, and Measurement Studio. NI does not officially support or guarantee that your deployment installer will always successfully run upon the following modification.
- Open the setup.ini file located in your built deployment installer folder.
- Search for the VersionNTMin=10,0,0,0,0 line.
- Modify this line to VersionNTMin=6,1,7601,1,0.
- Save the setup.ini file.
- This will change the minimum supported OS version for the deployment installer to Windows 7 SP1 (32-bit and 64-bit).
Note: you will need to repeat these steps every time you build a new deployment installer.
LabWindows™/CVI - "The mark LabWindows is used under a license from Microsoft Corporation. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries."