May 2017
This document contains information about TestStand 2016 SP1. Refer to the TestStand 2016 Release Notes for information about getting started with TestStand, such as system requirements, licensing information, and installation instructions. If you do not activate a TestStand license, TestStand operates in Evaluation Mode.
Refer to the What's New in TestStand topics for TestStand 2016 SP1 in the NI TestStand Help for detailed information about new features and other changes since TestStand 2016. Refer to the What's New in TestStand topics for previous versions of TestStand in the NI TestStand Help for information about new features, compatibility and known issues, and bug fixes for those versions.
Upgrading TestStand 2016 to TestStand 2016 SP1
Product Security and Critical Updates
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1
Additional TestStand Resources
TestStand 2016 SP1 supports the following operating systems:
Note In 2016 TestStand dropped support for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and installations of Windows 7 without any service packs. TestStand 2016 SP1 will not install or run on an unsupported OS. You cannot deploy or distribute applications that use TestStand 2016 SP1 to an unsupported OS. Additionally, after installing TestStand 2016 SP1, you cannot use any installers built on this computer with any version of LabVIEW, LabWindows™/CVI™, NI TestStand™, or Measurement Studio on an unsupported OS.
For more information about the changes to our OS support for 2016, refer to KB 79UC78LS, Why Does my LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, Measurement Studio, or TestStand Built Installer Fail on Windows XP/Vista and Server 2003?.
Note Support for Windows 32-bit operating systems may require disabling physical address extension (PAE). To learn how this might affect your system and what actions you might need to take, visit ni.com/info and enter the Info Code PAESupport.
1 NI software installs VC2015 Runtime and .NET 4.6.2. Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 require Microsoft updates to support these items. Refer to Microsoft KB2919442 and KB2919355 for more information about how to install these updates.
2 NI software is signed with a SHA-256 certificate. Windows 7 SP1, Windows Embedded Standard 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 require Microsoft updates to support SHA-256. Refer to Microsoft KB3033929 for more information about how to install this security update.
TestStand 2016 SP1 provides full support for the following application software versions, including service packs. Refer to the TestStand 2016 Release Notes to see application software that TestStand allows, but does not fully support. If you are not using NI application software, refer to Microsoft Visual Studio Support.
| Application Software | Versions Supported by TestStand 2016 SP1 |
|---|---|
| LabVIEW | 2013 SP1, 2014 SP1, 2015 SP1, 2016 SP1, 2017 |
| LabWindows™/CVI™ | 2012 SP1, 2013 SP2, 2015 SP1, 2017 |
| NI Measurement Studio - Visual Studio MFC Legacy Support | R3 for Visual Studio 2010; R1 for Visual Studio 2012 |
| NI Switch Executive | 3.5, 3.6 (32-bit only); 15.1 |
TestStand 2016 SP1 supports the following Microsoft Visual Studio versions and associated programming languages.
| Programming Languages | Visual Studio Versions Supported by TestStand 2016 SP1 |
|---|---|
| .NET Framework 4.6.2 Languages (Visual C#, Visual Basic .NET) | 2012, 2013, or 2015 |
You can install TestStand or deployments of TestStand for TestStand 2016 SP1 and TestStand 2014 SP1 or earlier on the same computer. Use the TestStand Version Selector to select the active version of TestStand before you launch TestStand or a deployed TestStand application. National Instruments does not support running applications that use two different versions of TestStand at the same time.
You cannot install TestStand 2016 SP1 over a previous version, such as TestStand 2014 SP1, and you cannot install TestStand 2016 SP1 in the default installation directory for a previous version. If you installed a previous version of TestStand in a non-default directory, you can uninstall the previous version of TestStand and install TestStand 2016 SP1 to that directory.
Installing TestStand 2016 SP1 or a deployment of TestStand 2016 SP1 upgrades TestStand 2016. You cannot install a service pack side-by-side with its main release. TestStand 2016 SP1 and TestStand 2016 use the same directories for the <TestStand>, <TestStand Public>, and <TestStand Application Data> directories.
TestStand 2016 SP1 upgrades TestStand 2016 files according to the following guidelines:
Refer to the NI TestStand Help for more information about the locations of TestStand directories.
Note You can install TestStand 2016 SP1 on a computer on which you have not previously installed TestStand 2016. If you want to install TestStand 2016 SP1 immediately after installing TestStand 2016, you must first restart the computer when prompted after you finish installing TestStand 2016.
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about NI products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from NI.
You can access the software and documentation known issues list online. Refer to the National Instruments website for an up-to-date list of known issues in TestStand 2016 SP1.
Refer to the List of Bug Fixes in TestStand 2016 SP1 on the National Instruments website for a list of a subset of issues fixed in TestStand 2016 SP1. This is not an exhaustive list of issues fixed in TestStand 2016 SP1. If you have a CAR ID, you can search this list to validate that the issue has been fixed.
Refer to the NI TestStand Help for information about TestStand 2016 SP1. You can access the NI TestStand Help in the following ways:
TestStand includes a variety of example programs that you can use to help you learn key concepts or to serve as a starting point for applications you create. You can browse the examples in the following ways:
Select Help»Find Examples to launch the NI TestStand Example Programs Help from the TestStand Sequence Editor.
You can automate the installation of most NI products using command-line arguments to suppress some or all of the installer user interface and dialog boxes.
If the NI product you are installing uses Microsoft .NET 4.0, the .NET installer may run before any NI software installs and may require a reboot before the installation of NI software begins. To avoid a .NET reboot, install .NET 4.0 separately before you install NI software.
For more information about automating the installation of NI products, refer to the following KnowledgeBase articles:
Microsoft Windows 10 is the latest version of the Windows operating system and features significant changes compared to previous versions. Windows 10 introduces several new capabilities and also combines features from both Windows 7 and Windows 8. For more information about NI support for Windows 10, visit ni.com/windows10.
When you install NI software on Microsoft Windows 8.1, you will notice a few additional tiles in the Apps view, including shortcuts to NI application software products such as NI LabVIEW, Measurement & Automation Explorer (NI MAX), and NI Launcher. For more information about NI support for Windows 8.1, visit ni.com/windows8.
Refer to the Technical Support page at ni.com/support and search for TestStand to access the TestStand Support website, which contains online documentation, KnowledgeBase articles, tutorials, example code, discussion forums, and other resources.
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Patents
For patents covering the NI products/technology, refer to the appropriate location: Help»Patents in your software, the patents.txt file on your media, or the NI Patent Notice at ni.com/patents.
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