Complete the following steps to enable the embedded UI on an RT target. If you enable the embedded UI, you can access a desktop environment on your RT target from which you can browse files, access terminals and settings, and interact with the front panel of a VI running on the RT target.

Note   Some RT targets do not support an embedded UI. Refer to the specific RT target hardware documentation to learn if the target supports an embedded UI.
  1. Connect a display device to the RT target. You also can connect other UI devices, such as a mouse and keyboard.
  2. Connect the RT target to the same subnet as the host computer. Refer to the Connecting to LabVIEW Real-Time Targets topic of the Measurement & Automation Explorer Help for information about connecting to RT targets. To open the Measurement & Automation Explorer Help, select Help»MAX Help from NI Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX).
  3. If the recommended software set (for example, NI CompactRIO version - version date) is installed on the RT target, proceed to step 4. Otherwise, complete the following steps to install the recommended software set.
    1. In MAX, expand Remote Systems in the configuration tree, and then expand your RT target.
    2. Select Software in the configuration tree.
    3. Click the Add/Remove Software icon on the toolbar to launch the LabVIEW Real-Time Software Wizard.
    4. Select the recommended software set that the wizard displays and click Next.
    MAX displays the progress of the installation, and then restarts the target.
  4. Enable the embedded UI checkbox in MAX:
    1. Expand Remote Systems in the configuration tree, and then select your RT target.
    2. In the Startup Settings section of the System Settings tab, place a checkmark in the Enable Embedded UI checkbox.
    3. Click Save, and then Yes when prompted to restart the target.
    Note You also can enable the embedded UI checkbox using NI Web-based Configuration & Monitoring.

The target restarts and displays the embedded UI desktop.

Note National Instruments uses Xfce to create the embedded UI for RT targets. To learn about using and configuring Xfce, refer to the Xfce help available on the Xfce website.