Installing Nikon Capture NX2, step by step, my findings… by Stany Buyle
 

Based on what I read on different photography forums, quite a lot of people seem to have some troubles with the installation of Nikon Capture NX2 or the reliability after the installation.
While I like this program VERY much because of its incredible U point technology and while I initially encountered some problems myself I did quite a bit of testing and research about the correct installation of this software.

After I gathered all required information by googling, reading numerous of related threads during weeks on different fora, trying out and downloading the necessary side programs, I was installing this great program on 3 different machines, with 3 different OSystems (Win XP pro32, Vista 32bit and Vista 64bit), 3 different motherboards and different hardware components. All 3 are running flawless.

Lately I ran some kind of real life stability and functionality test while writing my humble D3 vs D3X review: I was postprocessing several times +10 huge D3X NEF or TIFF files all opened @ once, and I never encountered a problem...

A recent crash I had with Nikon View NX was originated and completely repaired after I installed the necessary running components…

Here we go:

1.      If you have tried before to install Nikon Capture NX2  and Nikon ViewNX and it doesn’t work properly  make sure you uninstall TOTALLY both Nikon Capture NX (in case of using NX2upgrade, uninstall all Capture versions) and Nikon View NX (Capture NX and Nikon ViewNX share some components) ...

... including registry keys.!!!

 

2.      Restart your PC

3.      Check if your system has .NET framework version 1, 2 and/or 3…
If not, download and install them

    After some research I found that .NET Framework seems to be the core of every modern Windows operating system. .NET Framework 2.0 for Windows XP and .NET Framework 3.0 for Windows Vista. .NET Framework is a complete and solid platform for development and running of modern applications such as Nikon CaptureNX. Nikon Capture does not work on a Win OS without .NET framework installed.
Underwhile there is .NET Framework 3.5 and lately .NET Framework 3.5 SP1:
Very probably some bugs in 3.5 have been repaired and some updates are included.

4.      Download and  install .NET Framework 3.5:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en

5.      Restart your PC

6.      Download and  install .NET framework 3.5 SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ab99342f-5d1a-413d-8319-81da479ab0d7&displaylang=en

7.      Restart your PC

I my recent research I found out that Capture NX was developed with MS Visual Studio, which incorporates and uses Visual C++ libraries, so I think these updates are important in realtion to the installation of Capture NX2, I'm not 100% sure though...

the latest versions of the runtime components can be found here underneath:

8.      Download and install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 & 2008 Redistributable Packages:
note and update:  As I don't have access to the original codes of none of the underneath programs, nor to the code of Capture NX, I don't know which of the underneath software is really necessary to run Capture NX2.1.1 properly. So I advice to install them all as I did, and in my case by doing this way , everything runs perfect, for months already...

                    For 32bit OS:
                Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86)
                http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=32BC1BEE-A3F9-4C13-9C99-220B62A191EE&displaylang=en
                Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)
                http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=200B2FD9-AE1A-4A14-984D-389C36F85647&displaylang=en
                Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x86)
                http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9B2DA534-3E03-4391-8A4D-074B9F2BC1BF&displaylang=en
                Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86)
                http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=A5C84275-3B97-4AB7-A40D-3802B2AF5FC2&displaylang=en
               For 64bit OS:
                Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package (x64)
                http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=bd2a6171-e2d6-4230-b809-9a8d7548c1b6&displaylang=en
                Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable Package (x64)
                http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=BA9257CA-337F-4B40-8C14-157CFDFFEE4E&displaylang=en

             !!! While Nikon Capture NX is a 32 bit program, even when you are using Windows Vista 64 bit, you should also install the 32 bit related packages and updates.
 

9.      Restart your PC

10.  Download and install Install Nikon ViewNX 1.2.2

Go to http://www.europe-nikon.com/flashmap/support.html/ “your country” / support / software dowloads / View NX 1.2.2

Important note: while installing Nikon software, let your internet connection "on".

11.  Download and install Install Nikon Capture NX2

12.  Restart your PC

13.  Download and install Install Nikon Capture NX2.1 update

14.  Restart your PC

15.  Download and install Install Nikon Capture NX2.1.1 update

In my research on the internet to improve the use of Nikon software I found out that redirecting the cache of both Nikon ViewNX and Nikon Capture to a separate (fast read/write-)physical drive increases the speed of this program significantly.
 

16.  Download and install Nikon RAW codec 1.6.0...
URL for download: http://www.nikonimglib.com/nefcodec/
 

17.  Enjoy this mighty program…

Thanks for visiting my website and kindest regards,

Stany Buyle.

article published 2009, february3th, 13:30PM on www.fotografie.fr