.. _faq-getting-nivisa:

NI-VISA Installation
====================

In every OS, the NI-VISA library bitness (i.e. 32- or 64-bit) has to match the
Python bitness. So first you need to install a NI-VISA that works with your OS
and then choose the Python version matching the installed NI-VISA bitness.

PyVISA includes a debugging command to help you troubleshoot this
(and other things)::

    pyvisa-info

According to National Instruments, NI VISA **17.5** is available for the
following platforms.

.. note::

    If NI-VISA is not available for your system, take a look at the :ref:`faq`.


Mac OS X
--------

Download `NI-VISA for Mac OS X`_

Supports:

- Mac OS X 10.7.x x86 and x86-64
- Mac OS X 10.8.x

*64-bit VISA applications are supported for a limited set of instrumentation
buses. The supported buses are ENET-Serial, USB, and TCPIP. Logging VISA
operations in NI I/O Trace from 64-bit VISA applications is not supported.*

Windows
-------

Download `NI-VISA for Windows`_

Suports:

- Windows Server 2003 R2 (32-bit version only)
- Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit version only)
- Windows 8 x64 Edition (64-bit version)
- Windows 8 (32-bit version)
- Windows 7 x64 Edition (64-bit version)
- Windows 7 (32-bit version)
- Windows Vista x64 Edition (64-bit version)
- Windows Vista (32-bit version)
- Windows XP Service Pack 3

*Support for Windows Server 2003 R2 may require disabling physical address
extensions (PAE).*

Linux
-----

Download `NI-VISA for Linux`_

Supports:

- openSUSE 12.2
- openSUSE 12.1
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop + Workstation 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop + Workstation 5
- Scientific Linux 6.x
- Scientific Linux 5.x

More details details can be found in the `README`_ of the installer.

.. note::

    NI-VISA runs on other linux distros but the installation is more
    cumbersome. On Arch linux and related distributions, the AUR package
    `ni-visa`_ (early development) is known to work for the USB and TCPIP
    interfaces. Please note that you should restart after the installation for
    things to work properly.


.. _`README`: http://download.ni.com/support/softlib//visa/NI-VISA/17.0/Linux/README.txt
.. _`ni-visa`: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ni-visa/
.. _`NI-VISA for Mac OS X`: http://www.ni.com/download/ni-visa-17.5/7224/en/
.. _`NI-VISA for Windows`: http://www.ni.com/download/ni-visa-17.5/7220/en/
.. _`NI-VISA for Linux`: http://www.ni.com/download/ni-visa-17.0/6700/en/
