February 2016
This file contains important last-minute information about Circuit Design Suite 14.0.1 for Windows, including installation and compatibility issues.
Refer to Getting Started with NI Circuit Design Suite for information about getting started with Circuit Design Suite. You can access this PDF from Start»All Programs»National Instruments»Circuit Design Suite 14.0»Documentation»Circuit Design Suite 14.0 Getting Started.
You can also access this from the Multisim or Ultiboard Help menu.
Supported Platforms
Installing Circuit Design Suite 14.0.1
Automating the Installation of NI Products
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 10
Using NI Software with Microsoft Windows 8.1
Product Security and Critical Updates
Known Issues
Bug Fixes
New Components
Legal Information
To run Circuit Design Suite 14.0.1, your operating system (OS) must be one of:
Circuit Design Suite 14.0.1 does not support Windows NT/Me/98/95/2000, Windows XP x64, or the Windows Server non-R2 editions.
Your system must also meet or exceed the following:
National Instruments Circuit Design Suite will drop support for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 as of July 1, 2016. Versions of Circuit Design Suite that ship after July 1, 2016 will not install or run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003. For detailed information about Circuit Design Suite's product life cycle, visit NI Multisim OS Support and System Requirements. The information on this page applies to Multisim and Ultiboard.
Circuit Design Suite 14.0.1 updates Circuit Design Suite 14.0 side-by-side with Circuit Design Suite 13.x and prior.
National Instruments recommends that you regularly back up the files created within the Multisim and Ultiboard components of NI Circuit Design Suite. Additionally, you should back up internal files that store user-created data, such as databases. For more information about which files to backup and where to find them, refer to the Help.
Uninstalling Circuit Design Suite will not remove user data. For more information about the locations of user database and configuration files, refer to the Archiving Data Help topic.
National Instruments posts information about critical updates and security notifications on ni.com. Visit ni.com/info and enter Info Code updates to access this information.
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. However, starting with the August 2012 releases (products using NI Installers version 3.1 or later), you may need to perform additional steps before or during an automatic installation of NI software.
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, 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 on the Start screen, including shortcuts to NI application software products.
NI Launcher helps you find and launch installed NI products. It provides you with a method of finding NI products similar to the Start menu in previous versions of Microsoft Windows. To use NI Launcher, click the NI Launcher tile on the Start screen. NI Launcher launches the desktop and opens a menu containing a list of NI products. Click any NI product to launch it.
For convenience, you can pin your most-used NI applications to either the Start screen or the Taskbar on the desktop, as necessary:
| Current Application | Icon Location | Pin to Action |
| Windows 8.1 Desktop | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to Taskbar |
| Windows 8.1 Desktop | Start screen | Right-click application and select Pin to Start |
| Windows 8.1 Start screen | Desktop Taskbar | Right-click application and select Pin to taskbar from the menu bar on the bottom of the screen |
If you want to find a particular application or related files, such as documentation files, from the Start screen, you can access all installed files by right-clicking anywhere on the Start screen and selecting All apps. A list of all installed software and related files appears, in alphabetical order by creator or type.
For more information about NI support for Windows 8.1, visit ni.com/windows8.
Visit ni.com/security to view and subscribe to receive security notifications about National Instruments products. Visit ni.com/critical-updates for information about critical updates from National Instruments.
LabVIEW functionality (LabVIEW instruments and grapher interpolation) will not work if the installation path uses characters that are not native to the "Language for non-Unicode programs" setting, available by selecting Start»Control Panel»Regional and Language Options and selecting the Advanced tab. In the Vista OS, use the "Current language for non-Unicode programs:" setting in the Administrative tab. LabVIEW functionality works for Unicode characters that are native to this setting.
You cannot install Circuit Design Suite 14.0.1 on Windows Vista Starter edition.
Multisim and Ultiboard leak GDI resource handles when used over extended periods of time, eventually leading to unpredictable user interface behavior and crashes. This is an issue with MFC applications running on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003. For more information and workarounds, refer to KB 4JREGSXL:Multisim or Ultiboard Leaking GDI Resource Handles.
Multisim Help and Ultiboard Help display in very small windows on high resolution monitors (e.g., 3200 x 1800). To enlarge the windows, click in a help topic, hold down the Ctrl key and spin the mouse wheel. For notebook computers with precision touchpads, hold down the Ctrl key and use pinch-in and pinch-out gestures to zoom to the desired level.
The following is a subset of the issues fixed since the last release of Circuit Design Suite.
| Multisim ( 47 ) | |
| Bug ID | Description |
|---|---|
| 552261 | Changing Windows scale to a high value will affect Labview instrument's front panels. |
| 558467 | Netlist sometimes fails on DC OP Point when UIC is specified. |
| 560790 | Nexys2 config files do not contain clock pin information. |
| 523358 | Basys3 config file should not reference a non-existent user constraint file. |
| 526709 | Schematic designs sometimes open with oversized drawn components. |
| 517117 | Simple purely linear circuit does not converge. |
| 553522 | Poor recovery from divide by zero in expressions. |
| 550584 | The Logic Converter instrument is unable to build some circuits from expressions in Windows 10. |
| 553490 | Malconfigured pulse source causes an internal error during simulation. |
| 435230 | The Spice Parser have different behavior for a node that is located as a node and in an expression. |
| 283552 | Search for Components only searches for Component RefDes. |
| 534878 | Convergence error when building a circuit using the 555 Timer Wizard using its default values. |
| 534639 | Automatically calculating TMAX is failing for simple circuits. |
| 542863 | Current Probe variable sometimes is not showing up on Grapher. |
| 534833 | Circuit simulates even though there is no ground present in the schematic. |
| 525445 | Probes do not show up in output variable lists when they are connected to advanced level transistors. |
| 478804 | Symbol pin name "NC" does not get rename automatically when creating a multi-section part. |
| 498811 | When a net is named with the word 'open' it will not show in the analysis output tab. |
| 533014 | OECL import has incorrect fill behavior. |
| 534762 | Upon transferring to Ultiboard sometimes some net connections are not preserved. |
| 509585 | Upon using a large tdm or tdms file and selecting the Reload file option for a TDM source component, Multisim will take a long time to load the data. |
| 518678 | Upon re-sizing the edit model dialog, the model data area will overwrite the model header box. |
| 525451 | Changes to the Routing Layers in Net Properties PCB tab does not get applied. |
| 515521 | Selecting the Simplified Version option will add redundant menus in Breadboard view. |
| 402113 | Component wizard allows you to proceed with no package pins mapped. |
| 371670 | Wire routing for certain pin types behaves incorrectly. |
| 483318 | Disabled values in dynamic dialog are editable after the dialog is reopened. |
| 535399 | When running LabVIEW-Multisim co-simulation, Multisim may crash if the Multisim design file is copied to a new location and the VI is updated to reference that new location. |
| 508357 | Component Refdes can incorrectly be edited from its Value tab. |
| 517171 | When merging two single pin sources there is no conflict dialog for other existing sources on page or multi-page design. |
| 532809 | Word generator single-stepping has incorrect behavior. |
| 518526 | Nested ternary expressions are not handled well by the SPICE parser. |
| 525293 | Multisim will truncate silently a model name that is greater than 49 characters. |
| 513013 | Edit model dialog not showing instance parameters when default parameters are specified in the template. |
| 528549 | Deleting multi-pages then backward annotating from a ewnet file may lead to a crash in Multisim. |
| 526512 | Circuit Parameters data sometimes is lost when design is opened. |
| 524758 | VSWITCH device should support the hysteresis parameters. |
| 506434 | User field titles are not immediately updated in Database Manager, Components tab. |
| 524983 | Model mapping is being affected when there is NC for pin name in the model. |
| 524605 | Advanced Pin Mapping maps pins incorrectly when sorting a Multi section component pin table. |
| 520020 | Cannot Search specifically for Buses anymore. |
| 523846 | In a 32-bit OS, refreshing a PLD device status with 64-bit Xilinx tool can crash the application. |
| 523348 | Multisim runs out of memory when running ac sweep from a very small frequency, which can lead to a crash. |
| 517340 | Complete Replace Components operation on any page other than the one the selected component is on will lead to a crash. |
| 520916 | The revision field within Title Block is limited to only 3 characters. |
| 523178 | Component properties are not updated properly when hidden pins are added/renamed. |
| 517887 | Device specific parameters value does not allow to enter a decimal point. |
| Ultiboard ( 16 ) | |
| Bug ID | Description |
| 553185 | Off-centered holes on pads revert back to the center after saving. |
| 547814 | Exporting Gerber and NC Drill in imperial unit does not match the drill target and hole locations. |
| 535013 | Exporting Gerber 274X will generate file with missing D code 10. |
| 488146 | Gate Swap does not work for custom component when its footprint is on the User DB. |
| 496161 | Ultiboard reference Identifier label is set back to the default position after updating the part. |
| 480717 | Default settings for PCB copper layers are not always respected by the layers in the design toolbox. |
| 537054 | Square holes are reported as design rule violations on export but not on DRC check. |
| 537067 | Picture properties not working consistently when importing bitmaps and using keep aspect ratio. |
| 539855 | Placing images in footprint edit mode should not create true-colour images. |
| 511935 | Cannot place picture from right-click menu in net bridge edit or custom pad shape edit modes. |
| 515037 | Using the Follow-me router to complete a route may sometimes hang Ultiboard. |
| 469108 | Unable to place a SMT part under another SMT part on the opposite side due to a corrupted hidden attribute. |
| 508292 | When Custom Hole and Standard Hole shapes are selected, then opening their shared Properties can lead to a crash. |
| 513232 | When Keep-In area has the Part Height option set and placing a part from the CAD family can lead to a crash. |
| 511757 | Cannot Export design reports in HTML format type. |
| 519656 | German Ultiboard displays Drill Symbols table header text with '?' in some of the words. |
Refer to the Database section of the Multisim 14.x Features and Improvements topic of Multisim Help for a list of new components.
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