Vivado for Windows, what do I need

[LoveLaika]

I'm having issues with Vivado on Windows. Apparently, I think it doesn't like spaces in path names. My user folder path has a space in the user name, and Vivado doesn't think its valid. So, I decided to try and start fresh. Problem is, looking online, I'm not sure what version is the latest. There's this ML version, but thats new to me. How do I download HLS, and how do I avoid this user folder error?

Last time I used Vivado, it sucked. Now, after 5 years or so, it still sucks. Makes me long for ISE, at least that worked, though not on Win 10.

[Someone]

Vivado for Windows, what do I need

A lack of sanity?

Its a mess on any operating system with known bugs/issues no matter which way you go. Their preferred version of linux (specific to the version of Vivado) is usually safest. Then, don't install updates, keep it offline etc.

[emece67]

.

[LoveLaika]

Figured as much. Thanks for replying.. Last time I used Vivado professionally, was on Linux. Ever tried it with WSL? Though, may not be good cause I don't think WSL works with USB stuff.

[Fred27]

I'm sure you'll have more luck with Vivado on Windows "normally" than using WSL. I've even got Vivado working without a problem on Windows 11 beta (installed under C:/Xilinx so no spaces). When I tried to install petalinux under WSL I never got it to work.

[rstofer]

I don't have any problems with Vivado and never have.  I have it installed on at least 3 Win 10 machines and it works fine on each.  In fact, I just installed it on this machine last week.  I did not install the Vitis stuff, I didn't think I would need it based on what I have done over the last few years.

I installed Vivado under C:\Xilinx so there are no spaces in the path.

I also have ISE working under Win 10 using the file rename approach and it also works fine.  It's pretty easy to find the instructions with just a quick Google search:

https://www.micro-nova.com/xilinx-ise-win10

I have not tried the ISE VM approach even though it seems to be the preferred method from Xilinx.

[LoveLaika]

Oh right, I forgot. Since ISE's outdated, all they did was somehow port it into a Virtual Box since they won't upgrade it to Win 10+. I tried that once, and it didn't work out well.
It's funny how Xilinx FPGAs could be thought of as the gold standard, but the software to work on them just sucks at times.

I also had Vivado installed under C:\Xilinx, but when I opened up a project, it says "C:\User\<Name with Space>' is invalid. I'm guessing somehow, the path name is bad because it has a space in it, and I don't know how to reconfigure it in Vivado.

File rename....it might work if I set my main home directory as something else. Install to C:\Xilinx, but somehow set my home folder to D:\Xilinx?

[NorthGuy]

I also had Vivado installed under C:\Xilinx, but when I opened up a project, it says "C:\User\<Name with Space>' is invalid. I'm guessing somehow, the path name is bad because it has a space in it, and I don't know how to reconfigure it in Vivado.

Strange. I have Vivado installed in C:\Xilinx\Vivado and projects go to C:\Xilinx\Projects

[LoveLaika]

Maybe it's the way I installed it. After everything, it still says

boost::filesystem::directory_iterator::construct: The directory name is invalid: "C:/Users/<USERNAME>"

My username has a space. I'm not sure if this is truly the issue or not, but it's a pain. I can't even open up an example project, with the log showing the same error.
Could it be because I installed it for one user rather than for all users? If so, looks like I'll have to reinstall it again.

[rstofer]

File rename....it might work if I set my main home directory as something else. Install to C:\Xilinx, but somehow set my home folder to D:\Xilinx?

Yes, the workspace can be wherever you want, you get to pick it when you create the project.  I have a couple of projects on my Desktop so they are mirrored on OneDrive.  This may be a mistake because the cloud can't handle files (specifically, deleting files) as fast as Vivado would like but it all seems to work out.

Otherwise, I put my projects in a c:\workspace\<project> directory structure.

[Bassman59]

Maybe it's the way I installed it. After everything, it still says

boost::filesystem::directory_iterator::construct: The directory name is invalid: "C:/Users/<USERNAME>"

My username has a space. I'm not sure if this is truly the issue or not, but it's a pain. I can't even open up an example project, with the log showing the same error.
Could it be because I installed it for one user rather than for all users? If so, looks like I'll have to reinstall it again.

You can put the projects anywhere you want. Mine tend to get put on a network share, like Z:\Projects\Gizmo\ whatever.

Vivado 2020.2 got installed on my Win10 machine at C:\Xilinx\Vivado\2020.2

Having said all of that, it's fscking 2021. Xilinx still can't figure out how to deal with spaces in path names? I'm surprised we're not stuck with 8.3 filenames. (And don't get me started on Vivado projects and version control.)

[LoveLaika]

Well, I did install it in C:\Xilinx, and I did save my projects in D:\Projects\etc, but it still says the aforementioned error. I never recall installation asking me to set up a directory there. Maybe I'll just delete it and save the trouble.

[SiliconWizard]

Vivado is an enormous piece of software junk.
Don't get me wrong, it has a lot of functionality, some rather nice. But as far as software is concerned, it's rather bad. (Heavily bloated, slow, a number of incompatibilities, confusing UI, ...)

It's a general trend, it seems, though. Xilinx is not the only one here. A fun example is with the Picoscope software. I suggest anyone using/having used it with Pico USB scopes to try the "Picoscope 7 T&M Early Access". Sure it's beta  stuff. But just take a look at the new UI compared to the old one. Good f*cking lord. https://oem.picotech.com/p7beta/download

[LoveLaika]

Deleting my Xilinx and .Xilinx folders didn't resolve the problem I still get the error when I try to open an example project:

ui.utils.e: ui.frmwork.cmd.CommandFailedException: boost::filesystem::directory_iterator::construct:
The directory name is invalid: "C:/Users/<USERNAME>"
ui.frmwork.cmd.CommandFailedException: boost::filesystem::directory_iterator::construct:
The directory name is invalid: "C:/Users/<USERNAME>"

To be clear, <USERNAME> is only my first name, not my entire name, which is what my user profile is. I have no idea how to change that setting or redirect it permanently in Vivado.

[rstofer]

I opened one of the Xilinx CPU examples and directed the project to: C:\Users\<first 5 letters of my real name, chosen by Windows, not me!>\OneDrive\Example and it synthesized just fine.

[LoveLaika]

I opened one of the Xilinx CPU examples and directed the project to: C:\Users\<first 5 letters of my real name, chosen by Windows, not me!>\OneDrive\Example and it synthesized just fine.

In my case, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I open up Vivado, click on "Open Example Project" under Quick Start, and I get the aforementioned error. It doesn't even print the whole path, only the following:

"C:/Users/Donald"

 

Also to note, I also get the same error when I try to open up the hardware manager in Vivado by going up to "Flow" and click on Open Hardware Manager.


I tried changing the default project directory to start in my home directory (which for the record shows {C:/Users/Donald Glover}), but that didn't help at all. Restoring original settings starts it at {C:/Users/Donald Glover/AppData/Roaming/Xilinx/Vivado}

Comparing how you got it to work and mine, could it be the use of '\' rather than '/'?

[rstofer]

You appear to have a space in your user name and Vivado doesn't like it.  This has been a problem since the day Microsoft allowed embedded spaces in file names.  It isn't just Vivado that has the problem.  Sometimes it is possible to work around the embedded space by quoting the path with single quotes.  'c:\some ugly long directory name' will often work as long as it is quoted.

Why not install Vivado in c:\xilinx and the source files in c:\workspace?  Likely you need to create both directories and, of course, subdirectories for each project under c:\workspace.  Don't let your user name be any part of the path.  Go for the simple solution...

[LoveLaika]

I did install it in C:\Xilinx and for my project source files, I did store it on another drive. Its just that Vivado looks at my C:\User\ folder for maybe the Xilinx folder there, even after I deleted it. I dont know why. Maybe there's a path variable that Xilinx looks at. If that's the case, how do I edit it? I can't change it in user settings and it never asked me this during installation.


Maybe it will stop looking there if I run Xilinx as an Admin...

[kmike]

Vivado stores some data in
c:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Xilinx\
and
c:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\XilinxLicense\

It sets these paths in
C:\Xilinx\Vivado\<VERSION>\bin\setupEnv.bat
an maybe other .bat scripts

You could try moving/copying the Xilinx folders from the appdata folder to a "safe" location and edit the .bat file to point the paths to the new location.

Hope this helps!

Br,
mike

[rstofer]

You could always create another user and username...  It would be awkward but it's one way to get a username with no embedded spaces.