Installation instructions

Installing Igor Pro

Requirements: Windows 10 64bit or MaxOSX 64bit (analysis only)

Igor Pro Update Nightly

We rely on a fixed intermediate Igor Pro version. This is not available as installer package but only as zip file.

Update steps

  • When you open a new MIES version you might get the following message in the history:

    Your Igor Pro version is too old to be usable for MIES.

and a dialog appears with a button which opens this documentation.

In that case please perform the following steps:

  • Download the package for Igor Pro 9 (Windows) or Igor Pro 9 (MacOSX). Either from within Igor Pro or from a web browser.

  • Close Igor Pro

  • Windows: Replace the folders IgorBinaries_x64 and IgorBinaries_Win32

    in C:\Program Files\WaveMetrics\Igor Pro 9 with the ones from the downloaded zip package. This requires admin access.

  • MacOSX: Install from image as usual

  • Restart Igor Pro

Installation using the installer (preferred)

Select the installer for the latest release from here.

Pressure control may be implemented with ITC and/or NIDAQ hardware. For NIDAQ hardware, install the NIDAQ Tool MX package from Wavemetrics.

Install version 2.2.2 of the Multiclamp Commander (64bit) from here.

Signed installer

Starting with release 2.3 the installer executable is signed with an Extended Validation (EV) Code Signing certificate. See Wikipedia for more information. Signing the installer should avoid most issues with antivirus software treating the MIES installer as potentially malicious. The public key of the certificate can be downloaded from here.

Silent installation

The installer is developed using NSIS which also supports silent installation. The installer requires admin privileges also with silent installation.

To perform a silent installation pass the /S command line option which will install with the following settings:

  • Install for Igor Pro 9 64bit

  • Admin installation into %PROGRAMFILES%MIES for the current user, pass /ALLUSER to install for all users

  • Install all Hardware XOPs

Previously existing MIES installations of the admin will be silently uninstalled.

Installer details and limitations

The installer uses the Nullsoft Installer System NSIS. NSIS allows to create installers that require admin privileges and installers that run with user privileges only. By default an installer requiring admin privileges is created by executing tools/create-installer.sh from a MingW64 bash. With tools/create-installer.sh 1 a user mode installer can be created.

The installer tries to detect if and where the required Igor Pro versions are is installed. It defaults then to the 64-bit version if the found Igor Pro(s) which is reflected in the default selection of the corresponding installer dialog. In silent mode the found defaults are automatically used. If in silent mode no Igor Pro installations are detected then only the main MIES files get installed.

Installer with admin privileges

When run as user the installer asks for privilege elevation.

Installs by default to the user folder e.g. \Users\Admin\Documents\MIES folder. Igor Pro integration through shortcuts is put to the user Igor Pro procedures/extension folders in \Users\Admin\Documents\WaveMetrics\Igor Pro X Folder.

Installs with /ALLUSER or corresponding dialog selection to the \Program Files\MIES folder. Igor Pro integration through shortcuts is put to the global Igor Pro procedures/extension folders in \Program Files\Wavemetrics\Igor Pro X Folder.

Prior installation it is detected by checking the installed programs list of windows (Apps & Features) if MIES is already installed. If it is installed then the uninstaller is called first. If the installation was run silent then the uninstaller is also called silent.

A limitation is that the installer can not detect if another user has a user installation of MIES. Thus such installation will remain in parallel and result in a double installation for that user (global and local). The local installation of this user has to be uninstalled. This can be done when the user is logged in through windows Apps & Features.

Installer with user privileges

Installs by default to the user folder e.g. \Users\User\Documents\MIES folder. Igor Pro integration through shortcuts is put to the user Igor Pro procedures/extension folders in \Users\User\Documents\WaveMetrics\Igor Pro X Folder.

Installation for all users is not supported as it would require administrative privileges. Thus the dialog option is greyed out. When /ALLUSER is specified an error message is shown. If /ALLUSER and /S for silent installation is specified the installer silently quits.

Prior installation it is detected by checking the installed programs list of windows (Apps & Features) if MIES is already installed. If it is installed then the uninstaller is called first. If the installation was run silent then the uninstaller is also called silent. The user can only uninstall previous installations from himself. If the previous installation was done by an admin the uninstaller will ask for privilege elevation.

Corrupted installations

After the installer has called a potential uninstaller it checks if the target Igor Pro procedures folder for the MIES integration has no shortcut to MIES. If there still exists a shortcut to MIES then further installation is aborted. The graphical installer gives a message box requesting a manual cleanup. Such case typically happens if shortcuts in the Igor Pro folders for integrating MIES were created manually. Then the shortcuts have to be removed manually first before a MIES installation is run.

Manual Installation

The manual installation instructions are here for historical/compatibility reasons or in case you are on MacOSX. Windows users should always prefer to install via the Installer package.

Windows (with hardware support)

  • Install the Visual C++ Redistributable package

  • Quit Igor Pro. If you have never opened it, open it once and then close it.

  • Get the MIES source code and initialize the repo, see Getting MIES

  • Create the following shortcuts in C:\Users\$username\Documents\WaveMetrics\Igor Pro 9 User Files

    • In User Procedures a shortcut pointing to

      • Packages\IPNWB

      • Packages\MIES

    • In Igor Procedures a shortcut pointing to Packages\MIES_Include.ipf

    • In Igor Extensions (64-bit) a shortcut pointing to XOPs-IP9-64bit

    • In Igor Help Files a shortcut pointing to HelpFiles-IP9

  • ITC hardware:

    • Open a powershell console as administrator and execute the following script:

      • Packages\ITCXOP2\tools\Disable-ASLR-for-Igor64.ps1. This script can also be executed from within Igor Pro via Mies Panels->Advanced->Turn off ASLR (requires UAC elevation) which as the name suggests needs an Igor Pro instance started as Administrator.

    • Install the ITC drivers from Heka

    • Execute their ITCDemoG64.exe program as administrator. You should see some cute sinuses.

    • Open regedit, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Instrutech, select Permissions... from the context menu. In the opened window select Full Control in the Allow column for ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES for this key and close with OK.

  • NI hardware:

  • Install version 2.2.2 of the Multiclamp Commander (64bit) from here.

  • Start Igor Pro

Windows (without hardware)

In case you don’t have the hardware connected/available which some XOPs require, you can also install MIES without any hardware related XOPs present.

  • Install the Visual C++ Redistributable package

  • Quit Igor Pro

  • Get the MIES source code, see Getting MIES

  • Create the following shortcuts in C:\Users\$username\Documents\WaveMetrics\Igor Pro 9 User Files

    • In User Procedures a shortcut pointing to

      • Packages\IPNWB

      • Packages\MIES

    • In Igor Procedures a shortcut pointing to Packages\MIES_Include.ipf

    • In Igor Extensions (64-bit) a shortcut pointing to

      • XOPs-IP9-64bit\JSON-64.xop

      • XOPs-IP9-64bit\MIESUtils-64.xop

      • XOPs-IP9-64bit\ZeroMQ-64.xop

      • XOPs-IP9-64bit\TUFXOP-64.xop

      • XOPs-IP9-64bit\mies-nwb2-compound-XOP-64.xop

    • In Igor Help Files a shortcut pointing to HelpFiles-IP9

  • Start Igor Pro

MacOSX (without hardware)

Analysis support only. Data acquisition and NWBv2 export are not supported on MacOSx.

  • Quit Igor Pro

  • Get the MIES source code, see Getting MIES

  • Create the following symlinks in /Users/$username/Documents/WaveMetrics/Igor Pro 9 User Files

    • In User Procedures a symlink pointing to

      • Packages/IPNWB

      • Packages/MIES

    • In Igor Procedures a symlink pointing to Packages\MIES_Include.ipf

    • In Igor Extensions (64-bit) a symlink pointing to

      • XOPs-MacOSX-IP9-64bit

    • In Igor Help Files a shortcut pointing to HelpFiles-IP9

  • Start Igor Pro

JSON Configuration folders

MIES supports JSON files for loading and storing panel configurations. Although it is possible to load files from arbitrary paths manually, one can also put the files into one of the following folders

  • Packages/Settings in the installation location

  • C:/ProgramData/AllenInstitute/MIES/Settings

to execute all of them via MIES Panels ‣ Automation ‣ Load standard configuration or by pressing CONTROL-1.