Download and Install NI Driver Software on Linux Desktop

Updated May 13, 2022

Overview

Beginning in 2018, NI offers a new catalog of Linux Desktop support for a variety of test and measurement hardware on the PXI Express platform. With this release, there has been a change to the way that NI’s driver software is acquired and installed onto a Linux Desktop system. Instead of providing an executable INSTALL script as in the past, NI now provides a repository add-on that can be downloaded and used to instruct your Linux distribution’s native package manager to install NI driver software packages such as NI-DAQmx, NI-VISA, NI-488.2, and NI-Sync.

Download the Linux Device Driver repository registration packages from NI Linux Device Drivers. Refer to the readme for more information on which NI drivers and versions are included in each NI Linux Device Drivers download.
Identify the .rpm/.deb file for your Linux distribution. Refer to the following table to see which type of repository registration package best fits your needs.

NI Linux Device Drivers repository registration package options

Static repository registration packages are labelled with a date-based suffix, such as ni-RHEL7CENTOS7-drivers-2021Q4. Software from this repository is not intended to change, and it is updated only for critical patches. Use this kind of repository when you need to reproduce a specific software stack.

Stream repository registration packages are labeled with a -stream suffix, for example: ni-RHEL7CENTOS7-drivers-stream. Software in this repository is updated regularly with the latest versions of each driver package as it is released. Running an update/upgrade command with a package manager will update installed NI packages to their latest released version for systems that have registered a stream repository. This kind of repository is the simplest way to keep NI driver software up to date.

Firstlook is present in repository registration package names, for example ni-ubuntu2004firstlook-drivers-2021Q3.deb, to identify a repository that does not contain one or more of the drivers present in the other feeds. This commonly occurs when NI adds support for a new Linux OS distribution and there is a transition period while individual drivers are gradually added or validated on that distribution.

If you plan to upgrade to a new distribution and you see "firstlook" in its NI repository registration package name, refer to the Supported Drivers table to ensure that the NI products you need support the new distribution

Expand the section below for your distribution to continue.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS

(Recommended) Apply latest system updates to avoid installation issues (learn more):
Note: this may update your system’s kernel to the latest version
sudo yum update
Reboot the system
Install the repository definition file (see table above to help decide between stream and static repositories).
sudo yum install <.rpm file name>
Example:
sudo yum install ni-software-2020-20.1.0.49152-0+f0.el7.noarch.rpm
Use your distribution’s package manager to download and install the desired driver packages. Package names can be found in the NI Linux Device Drivers readme. Some drivers require multiple packages so be sure to look in the readme for each driver you want to install.
sudo yum install <package name>
Example (NI-Scope requires two packages):
sudo yum install ni-scope
sudo yum install ni-scope-daqmx

(Recommended) sudo yum install ni-hwcgf-utility
Build NI kernel drivers:
sudo dkms autoinstall
Reboot the system.
(Optional) Install driver support for LabVIEW. Package names can be found in the readme of each driver.
sudo yum install <package name to provide driver support for LabVIEW>
Example:
sudo yum install ni-scope-labview-2020-support
(Optional) Increase the iNotify limit (learn more).

openSUSE

(Recommended) Apply latest system updates to avoid installation issues (learn more):
Note: this may update your system’s kernel to the latest version
sudo zypper update
Reboot
Install the repository definition file (see table above to help decide between stream and static repositories):
sudo zypper --no-gpg-checks install ./<.rpm file name>
Example:
sudo zypper --no-gpg-checks install ./ni-software-2020-20.1.0.49152-0+f0.lp151.noarch
Refresh the package list:
sudo zypper refresh
Use your distribution’s package manager to download and install the desired driver packages. Package names can be found in the NI Linux Device Drivers readme. Some drivers require multiple packages so be sure to look in the readme for each driver you want to install.
sudo zypper install <package name>
Example (NI-Scope requires two packages):
sudo zypper install ni-scope
sudo zypper install ni-scope-daqmx

(Recommended) sudo zypper install ni-hwcfg-utility
Build NI kernel drivers:
sudo dkms autoinstall
Reboot the system.
(Optional) Install driver support for LabVIEW. Package names can be found in the readme of each driver.
sudo zypper install <package name to provide driver support for LabVIEW>
Example:
sudo zypper install ni-scope-labview-2020-support
(Optional) Increase the iNotify limit (learn more).

Ubuntu

(Recommended) Apply latest system updates to avoid installation issues (learn more)
Note: this may update your system’s kernel to the latest version
sudo apt update
sudo apt dist-upgrade
Reboot
(Required only for kernel versions 5.13 and later).
Apply the workaround from bug #(1860393) nikal fails to install with Linux kernel 5.13 or later with "modversions.h: no such file or directory".
sudo touch /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r)/include/config/modversions.h
Install the repository definition file:
sudo apt install ./<.deb file name>
Example:
sudo apt install ./ni-software-2020-bionic_20.1.0.49152-0+f0_all.deb
Refresh the package list:
sudo apt update
Use your distribution’s package manager to download and install the desired driver packages. Package names can be found in the NI Linux Device Drivers readme. Some drivers require multiple packages so be sure to look in the readme for each driver you want to install.
sudo apt install <package name>
Example (NI-Scope requires two packages):
sudo apt install ni-scope
sudo apt install ni-scope-daqmx

(Recommended) sudo apt install ni-hwcfg-utility
Build NI kernel drivers:
sudo dkms autoinstall
Reboot the system.
(Optional) Increase the iNotify limit (learn more).

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