QuickDesigner/Quickpanel/Proface communication question(s)

Hello All,

I am just starting to learn how to communicate with HMI's (Total Control Quickpanel/Proface) and some guidance would be very helpful!

So far i've learned that you need Windows XP to be able to connect/communicate with these Interfaces.

So I have a Laptop that is running Windows 7 with Windows XP loaded on a virtual machine from Microsoft. I do not have any drivers installed (Wifi, Ethernet, etc.) on the XP side of things.
Is this something I would need to install for the HMI to Connect/Communicate with the computer?

I am currently using QuickDesigner 3.70 with a QPK2D100L2P, QPJ2D100S2P, and a QPI2D100E2P with the updated version of the HMI-CAB-C49 (USB-GPW-CB03A) cable.

I have installed the drives from the CD it came with to the XP Virtual Machine but i'm not certain I installed the correct ones or they installed correctly.

My main intentions is to be able to test the ports (if possible) and then move to transferring programs, downloading programs etc.

unless it is a quickpanel with a ethernet port, you should just be able to use the usb to serial cable that you purchased to download the program to the panel. You will need to setup the software to use whatever com port the usb cable creates.

I havent used that usb cable, I have always used the older style serial cable.

diat150 said:

unless it is a quickpanel with a ethernet port, you should just be able to use the usb to serial cable that you purchased to download the program to the panel. You will need to setup the software to use whatever com port the usb cable creates.

I havent used that usb cable, I have always used the older style serial cable.

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Diat150

Understandable. I've seen people say they use com port 3 and or 5 but all that shows up for mine is 1 & 2 but I can't get past it saying I need to make sure everything is connected. What am I missing/doing in-correctly??

did you connect it to your vm? I am not sure which virtualization software you are using but the one I am most familiar with gives you the option to connect a usb device to the running vm.

diat150 said:

did you connect it to your vm? I am not sure which virtualization software you are using but the one I am most familiar with gives you the option to connect a usb device to the running vm.

Click to expand...

I don't believe I have tried that. I will try that and write my results as soon as I can!

Thanks!!

diat150 said:

did you connect it to your vm? I am not sure which virtualization software you are using but the one I am most familiar with gives you the option to connect a usb device to the running vm.

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I have connected all USB options that are in the drop-down menu of the VM with no further success.

I have provided a picture for better details!

What COM port does the USB/serial get installed as? If it isn't COM1 or COM2, it looks like you will have to make sure it installs as one of those two.

you should be able to see what is going on in the device manager of xp under com ports. unplug the usb cable and see if one of the com ports goes away. You may have to install a driver for that cable in xp.

lso, do the same in your host os.

Hello and thank you for the quick responses.

I was able to change the COM port to any port number as it was set to COM3 as default. I didn't realize there was a 4 day trial on the QuickDesigner software. Are you still able to purchase serial keys for this? If i'm not able to get the full version running, is there a more updated program that will support these older HMI's??

CNorris318 said:

Hello and thank you for the quick responses.

I was able to change the COM port to any port number as it was set to COM3 as default. I didn't realize there was a 4 day trial on the QuickDesigner software. Are you still able to purchase serial keys for this? If i'm not able to get the full version running, is there a more updated program that will support these older HMI's??

Click to expand...

You can un-install QuickDesigner then re-install it for another four days.
Yes there is a more modern software to use for this, it is Proficy Machine Edition View from GE. Contact them to purchase.

Be away though that using ProficyME for the quick panels does change some styles fonts and whatnot and I also found the older the panel it was the slower it was after using PME instead of QuickDesigner. But PME is also more user friendly IMO.

DwSoFt said:

Be away though that using ProficyME for the quick panels does change some styles fonts and whatnot and I also found the older the panel it was the slower it was after using PME instead of QuickDesigner. But PME is also more user friendly IMO.

Click to expand...

That was the case with early versions of Proficy ME View, however the lastest versions do a very good job.

ALWAYS keep your software up-to-date.

Haha. That is good to know. I do agree on software up to date. But in this case I was provided the software by the customer... thanks for letting me know RussB

Ok so i've run into some problems.. I had to reinstall VMware software and get XP Mode back up and running. The version I am running now is different than the one I showed in the previous picture. I am unsure what version that was but the one i'm using now is 7.1.4. I am getting an error when trying to connect the drive to the XP-VM. The driver comes up fine in W7. I have installed the drivers on the XP-VM. What version of VMware works best for you all?

The first picture is when it's connected to W7 before I try to connect it to XP.
If you notice at the bottom of the XP-VM window, it shows the error.

Screen shots don't tell me much but it is likely that you can't have the USB used by both the host and the XP-Mode VM at the same time.