Chrome Wont Load LabVIEW Real Time Web Configuration Pages

I spent a week at the CLA summit last week (more to follow) and got a nasty shock on my return.

On attempting to login to configure a compactRIO system I get faced with a request to install silverlight:

Install Silverlight

 

As I have used this every day for a long time, I somehow don’t believe this.

It turns out that Google have removed support for some cryptic NPAPI that many plugins require to run, including Silverlight.

This finally explains why I have been seeing more security warnings about running silverlight pages, it appears this has been coming for some time, in fact over a year! Wish someone had told me.

Fear not, there is a workaround, but it will only work until September.

  1. Navigate to chrome://flags/#enable-npapi in the browser
  2. Click Enable under Enable NPAPIenable_npapi
  3. A box will appear at the bottom of the screen with a Relaunch Now button. Press this to relaunch chome ensuring you back up any work in the browser first
  4. And back to work fixing compactRIOs.

And in September…

I guess if there is no change from the NI side it’s a move to Firefox or IE!

7 Comments

  • David

    April 22, 2015

    I just ‘upgraded’ from Windows 8 to 7 and upon re-installing the NI applications discovered this problem. Your posting is very timely. Thanks.

    Reply
  • David

    April 22, 2015

    I should also add that I have noticed other strange behavior with Chrome. For example, I downloaded some software from the NI ftp site, and Chrome insisted it could not see the files. IE worked without a problem. I am pretty sure it didn’t used to do this.

    Reply
  • Javier

    April 22, 2015

    Thanks for the heads up, James!

    Reply
  • Ian Bell

    April 28, 2015

    I (and quite a few others at NI who use Chrome) had the same experience. And it has been officially reported – resulting in the following new Knowledgebase entry entitled:
    “Why Do Remote Front Panels and the Web Interface (WIF) No Longer Work After Upgrading To Google Chrome Version 42?”
    http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/websearch/760D1009EAAAB95586257E2F0054624E?OpenDocument
    This Knowledgebase includes the following
    “Google Chrome version 42 and later are not supported browsers for National Instruments web technologies. National Instruments highly recommends that customers use the WIF or Remote Front Panels through supported browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari).”

    Reply
  • Russell Blake

    April 29, 2015

    Thanks James!!! This very timely I had just run into this error today and switched to IE to get around it. Now I can go back to Chrome at least until September.

    Reply
  • Russell Blake

    April 29, 2015

    Another alternative is to use the IETab.net plugin, which creates an IE shell within chrome.

    Reply
    • James McNally

      April 29, 2015

      Cool I will have to have a look at that.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close