NI Multisim: Advanced circuit design software with simulated components. Download NI Multisim 14.0. Developed with educators, Multisim™ for Education helps students easily visualize and understand the behavior of electronics with 30+ intuitive simulated instruments, 20+ easy-to-configure analyses, and interactive components that are proven to reinforce theory and prepare students.
Multisim is a SPICE environment for Windows that lets users prototype, design, and test electrical circuits in a simulated manner.
Multisim, which used to be called Electronic Workbench, is a SPICE platform for Windows developed by National Instruments. SPICE stands for Simulation Program with Integrated Circuits Emphasis. It’s a tool often used to teach students about electrical circuits because it allows for real-world experience without the risks of working with electrical circuits in the actual real-world.
The application comes with a large selection of objects that can be used in creating, modeling, and testing electrical circuits. These objects include known electrical components, predefined schema, simulation modules and more. The suite also allows for additional modules, including third-party modules, which can be loaded to dictate the current simulation behavior. For instance, a micro-controller module would provide the behaviors and errors common to such an environment.
Multisim is such a powerful tool because one doesn’t need advanced knowledge to use it. Trial and error is encouraged, but the program is sophisticated enough to facilitate an experienced user exploring advanced concepts. Everything that’s needed to prototype, design, develop and even test electrical circuits that do or could exist in the real-world is provided here.
This program has been around awhile, and it shows. The UI has never received the overhaul it should have, but it works well once you’re used it. The UI can be daunting to the new user. It will certainly be familiar to users who have experience in other SPICE environments, but this is a program for beginners. It’s worth noting that many people who use this program are students who are guided by an instructor. If you’re tackling this challenge on your own, some research and trial and error will likely be required.
Pros
- Prototype and design electrical circuits
- Test electrical circuits
- Includes a broad range of intuitive analysis features
Cons
- Outdated user interface
- Not as user-friendly as it could be
NI Multisim is a program that helps you design and test circuits and PCB designs. At Studica, we often get some of our National Instruments customers contacting us regarding installation issues with the software. In this post, we will detail some common issues related to installing the product and the steps you need to take to resolve those issues. Hopefully, this will serve as a resource for future users who find themselves struggling with installation issues. National Instruments also provides a Multisim support page.
“The Specified Path Does Not Exist”
Solution 1:
Sometimes, when people download Multisim from Studica (which is also known as Circuit Design Suite 14.0), they will run into an error that says something like “The specified path does not exist” and it will output some file path. Usually, this could mean a few things. The most common cause of this issue is that the ZIP file containing the installer has not yet been extracted. We distribute the installer in a .ZIP file. As per Microsoft’s website, here is the procedure to extract a ZIP file so that you can use the files in it:
- Locate the zipped folder that you want to unzip (extract) files or folders from.
- Do one of the following:
- To unzip a single file or folder, open the zipped folder, then drag the file or folder from the zipped folder to a new location.
- To unzip all the contents of the zipped folder, press and hold (or right-click) the folder, select Extract All, and then follow the instructions.
Buy Multisim Student Edition
Once the extraction is done, a new folder should pop up with the installation files in it. Inside of this folder, you want to run the setup.exe file. This will open the installation wizard. Proceed through the installation wizard and follow the instructions.
Solution 2:
The ZIP file is not always the culprit of this error. Sometimes, this error can occur even after the ZIP file has been extracted and you attempt to run setup.exe. In this situation, the most likely issue is a corrupt download. This does not necessarily mean the download from our server is corrupt. The most common reason that a download is corrupted is due to unreliable internet connections on your computer while you are downloading the file. This is a very common problem for people who have unreliable Wi-Fi connections that provide slow speeds and drop the connection intermittently. One solution to this problem is to use an Ethernet cable, but if you have unreliable internet, and using a cable is not an option, you should download Multisim from this link.
- Click on the “NI Downloader” link under the “Download Options” section.
- This will first download a small executable. Run that executable and it will open a download manager.
- Follow the prompts that are given to you to download the software.
- Once it is downloaded, you can find the installer in C:National Instruments Downloads. In there, you will want to go into the Circuit Design Suite 14.0 folder and run Setup.exe.
Multisim 14 Student Edition
“You Have 14 Days Remaining on your Trial Period”
Probably the most common issue people contact me about is licensing. Whatever the reason, a lot of people have issues with the software not activating during the installation process. Because of this, they will get a warning message about their trial period expiring when they open the software. If they wait long enough, they will not be able to use the software and will be told they must activate. To activate your product, follow these instructions:
- Go to your start menu and type “NI License Manager”. Open the app called NI License Manager.
- Once it’s open, find Multisim 14.0 in the list and expand it out by clicking the + icon next to it.
- Right click on the “Student Edition” item and click “Activate”. Choose the “Automatically Activate through an internet connection” option and proceed through the activation process.
- You will be asked for your serial #. You should be able to find this on our My Downloads Page. You will need to log in with your Studica account to see this. The serial # usually follows this syntax: B01P23456
- You will also be asked to sign into your NI account. If you do not have one, there will be an option to create an account with them.
Here’s a screenshot of the License Manager and what node you need to right-click:
Once you’ve completed this, then your software should be activated and you’ll no longer receive the expiration messages.
If you purchased a physical copy of the software, then you need to follow the same procedure outlined above. However, your serial # will be located somewhere on the packaging that was sent to you. Often, the serial # will be on the CD sleeve that the software came in or somewhere on the packaging for the software. Again, the syntax for the serial # will look like B01P23456.
Conclusion
These issues are the most common installation issues we’ve run into at Studica. Hopefully, this post will help other people who are frantically Googling for a solution. In the worst-case scenario that nothing you do seems to be fixing the issue, then please contact us.
Ni Multisim 14.0
Blogger: Mark Philipp, Application Engineer at Studica