Verify a remote connection with NI-MAX
Using LabVIEW or NI-VISA? NI Measurement & Automation Explorer is the graphical way to register your instrument and prove the link with a test-panel *IDN? query.
If your toolchain is LabVIEW, TestStand or anything built on NI-VISA, the instrument must be visible to NI's driver layer. NI-MAX (Measurement & Automation Explorer, installed with NI-VISA) is where you register it and test the link — before writing a single line of G code.
Add the instrument
- Open NI-MAX and expand Devices and Interfaces
- USB instruments appear automatically once plugged in
- For LAN: right-click Network Devices → Create New VISA TCP/IP Resource, choose Auto-detect or enter the IP manually
- The new resource appears as e.g.
TCPIP0::192.168.1.121::inst0::INSTR
Prove it with the VISA Test Panel
- Select the instrument and click Open VISA Test Panel
- In Input/Output, the query field is pre-loaded with
*IDN?\n - Click Query
Siglent Technologies,SDM3055,SDM35HBQ1R0001,1.01.01.25 (Read operation, 45 bytes)
The identification string in the test panel is the definitive proof for NI-based software: the resource name shown in NI-MAX is exactly the string you pass to VISA Open in LabVIEW.
Instrument doesn't appear with auto-detect? Add it by manual IP — auto-discovery uses multicast, which many office networks block, while direct connections still work fine.
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