LabVIEW Installer Hangs While Installing NI Offline Help Viewer

• The installation hangs during the first launch of the NI Offline Help Viewer.
• The LabVIEW installer splash screen becomes stuck at “Installing NI LabVIEW Offline Manual / NI Offline Help Viewer.”
• Multiple NIOfflineHelpViewer.exe processes appear in Windows Task Manager. This occurs during both interactive and silent installations.

• The application displays its splash screen but never fully launches.
• No splash screen appears and the NI Offline Help Viewer fails to start.

• A corrupted or partially initialized offline.sqlite help database
• Old or damaged *.zcp documentation index files
• Stale ICU cache files in the Windows temporary directory
• Multiple Offline Help Viewer processes spawning during installation
• Incomplete or failed prior installations of NI help components

Scenario 1: Installation Hangs (First Launch of Offline Help Viewer)

1. Terminate NIOfflineHelpViewer.exe

1. Open Windows Task Manager.
2. Select the Processes tab.
3. Locate NI Offline Help Viewer.
4. Right-click the process and select End Task.
5. Select the Details tab.
6. Verify that no instances of NIOfflineHelpViewer.exe are running.
7. If any remain, right-click the process and select End process tree.

2. Remove Corrupted Offline Help Database

1. Delete the following file:
   C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\Offline Help Viewer\database-orm\offline.sqlite
2. Restart the LabVIEW installation.

Scenario 2: Hanging Splash Screen (Viewer Starts but Stalls)

1. Clear Database‑ORM Directory

1. Close the NI Offline Help Viewer.
2. Use Windows Task Manager to terminate all NIOfflineHelpViewer.exe processes.
   (Refer to Scenario 1 for detailed steps.)
3. Delete all files in the following directory:
   C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\Offline Help Viewer\database-orm
4. Relaunch the NI Offline Help Viewer.

2. Rebuild Documentation Index (*.zcp Files)

1. Navigate to:
   C:\Program Files (x86)\National Instruments\Shared\Offline Help Manuals
2. Identify the folder for each installed NI product. Each folder contains offline help (*.zcp) files.
3. Drag one product folder at a time into the NI Offline Help Viewer window.
   Dragging multiple folders simultaneously is not supported.
4. Wait for the import wizard to complete before proceeding to the next folder.

3. Reinstall Missing Documentation

1. If required folders or *.zcp files are missing, reinstall the NI product associated with the missing documentation.

Scenario 3: Application Will Not Start (No Splash Screen)

1. Remove ICU Cache Files

1. Close the NI Offline Help Viewer.
2. Open PowerShell.
3. Run the following command:
   Remove-Item 'C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\Temp\*icudt*' -Force
4. Relaunch the NI Offline Help Viewer.

Recommended Steps for All Scenarios

• Terminate all NIOfflineHelpViewer.exe processes
  Ensure no Offline Help Viewer processes are running before repairing or reinstalling components.
• Disable NI Offline Help Viewer During Installation
  (Applies to LabVIEW 2025 Q3 and later.)
  If offline documentation is not required, deselect NI Offline Help Viewer during LabVIEW installation to prevent automatic launch.
• Delete offline.sqlite Before Installation
  To proactively prevent installation stalls, delete the following file before starting the installation:
  C:\ProgramData\National Instruments\Offline Help Viewer\database-orm\offline.sqlite