THERM / WINDOW 8.0 now on our website

[Robin Mitchell]

I have just posted version 8.0 of both THERM and WINDOW on our software download pages. 

THERM

https://windows.lbl.gov/therm-software-downloads

WINDOW

https://windows.lbl.gov/window-software-downloads

Please keep in mind these are both Research Versions, and are still in development, so we would like users to test them but not use them for certification or other "real" work. 

Please also post an issues you find to this forum, so that we can continue to fix problems and develop the features. 

Thank you for your interest in our software. 

Robin Mitchell

[Michael Donn]

Kia ora Robin et al

I am wondering how close the v8 is to general release. We are in the summer building the student computer image for the Autumn trimester - starting at the end of February. We'd like to build the image in the next 10 days or in early January if at all possible. 

I'd rather just have one copy of the most recent versions of Window and Therm, but in looking at prep for industry, I would also like to prepare students for what looks to be relevant to their professional careers.

Given v8 came out in March, is a confirmed final version of Window /Therm 8 going to be available - or should we continue with installing v7.84

M

[Robin Mitchell]

Michael

I think you should probably continue to use 7.8.74, rather than 8.0

The final version of 8 will be 8.1, and it probably won't be ready until late summer 2025

I am cc'ing Charlie Curcija in case he wants to add anything to my response. 

Robin 

--
You can view the WINDOW forum online at:
https://groups.google.com/g/berkeley-lab-window
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Berkeley Lab WINDOW" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to berkeley-lab-wi...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/berkeley-lab-window/de2164c6-f654-4742-bdcf-9caf46476087n%40googlegroups.com.

--

Robin Mitchell

Building Technology and Urban Systems Division
Energy Technologies Area
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

[Michael Donn]

Brilliant 

Thanks for rapid response.

And Happy Holidays..

M

Sent from Outlook for Android

---

From: Robin Mitchell <rdmit...@lbl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, December 11, 2024 1:39:40 PM
To: Michael Donn <michae...@gmail.com>; Charlie Curcija <dccu...@lbl.gov>
Cc: Berkeley Lab WINDOW <berkeley-...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Berkeley Lab WINDOW] Re: THERM / WINDOW 8.0 now on our website

 

[Michael Donn]

Hi Robin

As a result of the Ladybug Tools folks getting close to an interface to THERM again, and in the interests of ensuring a robust integrated consideration of Thermal Bridges in student thermal modelling, I have asked that our technicians install Window 8.1. 

I am reassured by our conversation of a while ago that 8.1 should be a final version.

As each year, during our summer (now), the tech staff build a new Windows computer image with as few vulnerabilities as possible, a bunch of installation issues arise.

First, with v7.8 last year there was a Radiance installer:

They have noted:

==================================================================================================================================

"We have previously installed Radiance for WINDOW in conjunction with previous versions of WINDOW, but as of their new version 8 it’s not on their download page.

 https://windows.lbl.gov/window-software-downloads

 Expand Version 7.8.80 and it’s there

• Expand Version 8.1.30 BETA and it’s not there

 I have to assume they don’t (yet) have a Radiance for WINDOW version compatible with WINDOW 8."

================================================================================================================================== 

My sugestion of just going to     and finding the current most up-to-date version of Radiance was rightly not viewed with confidence.

They have pointed out also that as each year the 300+ student computers have a clean image, there are no C++ Redistributable libraries.

Your instructions in the past have been excellent. But now Microsoft have made changes (discussion below):

==================================================================================================================================

As discussed just now – the WINDOW (and the THERM) download page has a link discussion the Redistributable Packages, being this page here: https://windows.lbl.gov/redistributable-packages

 That page contains a link to the Microsoft Visual C++ downloads page, and a screenshot of what to look for on it, however Microsoft has made some changes to their page such that the screenshot no longer matches. There’s also no alignment between the indicated Visual Studio 2015-2022 and vs\17 on one page and the vc14 for Visual Studio 2017-2026 mentioned on the other.

 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170

 If there’s any means to get some clarity around which version is required, that would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

This is the illustration from the installation web site of what we used to see when following the redistributable libraries link from the installation page: 

 

 

 NOW we get this:

==================================================================================================================================

Guidance on which of the many of these to follow would be gratefully accepted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[D. Charlie Curcija]

Hi Michael,

We will look into these issues and provide our planned course of action.

Charlie

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/berkeley-lab-window/5696a8f5-307e-4947-a26a-49585ff0f4e8n%40googlegroups.com.

--

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

D. Charlie Curcija, Ph.D.                              Tel: (510) 495-2602

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory         Fax: (510) 486-4089

Windows & Envelope Materials Group           Cell:(510) 604-8668

1 Cyclotron Rd., 90R3147                           Email: dccu...@lbl.gov

Berkeley, CA 94720                                    Web: http://windows.lbl.gov/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Robin Mitchell]

Michael

I am already looking into these issues. 

The link on the redistributable page for the MSVC installer is already out of date. I will fix that, but the bigger issue is that it changes all the time. 

Due to licensing issues from LBNL / UC we are not allowed to include those in our installer, which is incredibly frustrating. 

Hopefully I will have some answers for you next week. 

Robin 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/berkeley-lab-window/CAPCvEOEn9kxVa0nLg3YxhRsUEmB7u_mvCK0m6d9rzkrpM759iQ%40mail.gmail.com.

--

Robin Mitchell

Windows & Envelope Materials Group

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

[Michael Donn]

Thanks Robin. And Happy New Year!

How are you keeping?

M

Sent from Outlook for Android

---

From: Robin Mitchell <rdmit...@lbl.gov>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2026 9:01:52 AM
To: D. Charlie Curcija <dccu...@lbl.gov>
Cc: Michael Donn <michae...@gmail.com>; Berkeley Lab WINDOW <berkeley-...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Berkeley Lab WINDOW] Re: THERM / WINDOW 8.0 now on our website - follow up questions

 

[Robin Mitchell]

Here are the answers to your two main questions -- let me know if you have other questions. In terms of how we are doing, because our FY26 funding is still unknown, we have reduced our time to 75% for a few months. We shall see how the final budget unfolds.

• Radiance and WINDOW 8.1 -- we do not yet have a version of Radiance for 8.1 but hopefully will soon.

• The Visual C++ link info has been updated on our website. It changes constantly and is very frustrating to us, and definitely bad for users. 

As you noted in your original email, here is the new link

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170#latest-supported-redistributable-version

It is still the same basic x86 install file that should be downloaded and installed

There is the updated image I put on our website (the website takes at least an hour to process updates so you might not see it right away)

[Michael Donn]

Thanks so much for the rapid response.

So sad to hear of the funding situation. We complain about the anti-environmental  "free" market actions of our 'leaders', but then look across the Pacific and realise it could be much worse..

Take care.

M

Sent from Outlook for Android

---

From: Robin Mitchell <rdmit...@lbl.gov>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2026 9:58:03 AM
To: Michael Donn <michae...@gmail.com>
Cc: D. Charlie Curcija <dccu...@lbl.gov>; Berkeley Lab WINDOW <berkeley-...@googlegroups.com>

[Robin Mitchell]

Thanks for pointing out that our website was out of date -- it's always good to get feedback like that !!

Robin

[Robin Mitchell]

Michael

Simon and I looked into the Radiance issue, and WINDOW 8.1 can run Radiance, if you do the following. And I will make a formal installer for 8.1 like the one for 7.8

In the W8.1.ini file, the location for where WINDOW will look for Radiance is shown below, ie, a folder called WINDOW8

And that is similar to WINDOW 7.8, where it looks for a folder called

C:\Users\Public\LBNL\WINDOW7\RADIANCE

If I just copy that WINDOW7 folder (and all it's contents) to a new folder called WINDOW8, then WINDOW 8.1 can run Radiance !!

Now when I run Radiance from WINDOW 8.1, it generates the specified results

So you can do that by hand, ie, copy the WINDOW7 folder and contents to a WINDOW8 folder, and it should all work.

And I will create an installer for Radiance for WINDOW 8.1 that does the same thing, although probably not until the 2nd week in February. I'll let you know when it exists. 

Thank you for prodding us to figure all this out !!

Robin