LabVIEW Community Edition or LabVIEW NXG Community Edition may only be used for your personal, non-commercial, non-industrial purposes. You may not use the Software for teaching or research at a degree-granting educational institution. For exact details, see the NI General Purpose Software License Agreement, Addendum F. General guidance for multiple use cases is provided below.
In general, non-commercial and non-industrial references any use case that is not intended to make a profit. The LabVIEW Community Edition is intended for personal projects. Here are some examples:
LabVIEW Community Edition may be used:
Using the LabVIEW Community Edition at a place of business or to create test systems, exe's, toolkits, etc. that you intend to make money from, directly or indirectly, is not allowed. In these situations, the paid for LabVIEW licenses must be used. Examples of situations where the LabVIEW Community Edition cannot be used include, but are not limited to
Paid for Academic Site Licenses or individual LabVIEW licenses are required to use LabVIEW for teaching and academic research at degree granting institutions. Academic Site Licenses also include access to additional LabVIEW Modules and Toolkits typically used for Academic Research and Teaching, which are not included with LabVIEW Community Edition. LabVIEW Community Edition is not for use at degree-granting institutions such as Universities, Vocational Schools, and Certification programs. LabVIEW Community Edition cannot be used for the following use cases:
Q: How can I activate LabVIEW Community Edition?
A: LabVIEW Community Edition is not activated with a serial number or activation code like traditional LabVIEW. Instead, your product will be activated automatically by using your NI.com account to both download and sign in to NI License Manager. Use the following steps to activate LabVIEW Community Edition:
Q: “I’m a high school teacher and a LabVIEW advocate – I’ve created some LabVIEW apps to help run some experiments. Can I use the new LabVIEW Community Edition?”
A: Yes. Non-commercial primary/secondary school uses are allowed by the LabVIEW Community Edition licensing.
Q: “I’m a professor teaching an undergraduate signal processing course and I use LabVIEW to demonstrate filtering concepts. I require that my students use LabVIEW for various homework and labs. Should they install and use the Community Edition?”
A: No. As a post-secondary degree granting institution, you should have an Academic Site License with enough seats to cover the class attendance, which also allows students to install/activate on their own computers via the Student Install Option and ensures access to needed modules/toolkits not included in the LabVIEW Community Edition.
Q: “I’m the student president of our college campus biomedical engineering club. We use LabVIEW to design and test new cost-effective devices for developing countries pro-bono. Is this use included in the LabVIEW Community Edition license?
A: Yes. Even though this is being used at a post-secondary degree granting institution, the use is outside of a formal classroom setting, not required as part of a course, and is being used for non-commercial purposes.
Q: “I’m a student at university and we are taught how to use LabVIEW software in the classroom. I like to tinker at home with LabVIEW because it’s fun. Is this use included in the LabVIEW Community Edition license?”
A: Yes. Even though this is being used at a post-secondary degree granting institution, the use is outside of a formal classroom setting and not required as part of a course.
Q: “I’m a student at university and we are taught how to use LabVIEW in the classroom. I’d like to use LabVIEW for homework assignments which I like to do at home, but I can’t get access to the labs on campus to do this homework. Should I use the LabVIEW Community Edition license?”
A: No. Since the use is part of your enrollment in a post-secondary degree granting institution, your University should have an Academic Site License with enough seats to cover the class attendance and that allows students to install/activate on their own computers via the Student Install Option.
Q: “I’m a professional engineer and use LabVIEW as part of my day-to-day role in test software development. I’d like to use LabVIEW on the weekend for fun home projects. Is this use included in the LabVIEW Community Edition license?”
A: Yes, provided the home projects are not connected to any work-related activity.