RS Logix 500 and the A: drive

I just put RSLogix on my laptop. When I start it up, it rapidly accesses the A drive several times before completely loading. Other programs don't do it. What do you make of it?

Rockwell software products require a software activation key to boot up. When you installed RSLogix you should have been prompted to install the activation for the product as well (usually at the end of the install). If the activation key isn't on the hard drive the software will look for a key disk in the floppy drive.

You can manipulate the order and drives that RSLogix will look for the activation key on by editing the rocksoft.ini file which is found in the c:\windows directory. Adding (or modifying) the line 'checkdrives=x,x,x' will accomplish this. 'x' represents the various drives you wish to search for the activation key.

There is a tech note on the subject as well, found below:

http://domino.automation.rockwell.c...3B4DE2A2397E998C85256AFB005D3108?OpenDocument

grs

It's probably looking for the activation key, even though you installed it on your hard drive.

Look in the Windows folder for ROCKSOFT.INI.

There you may find some lines like:

[Common]

KEEPDIR=TRUE

KEYDISK=TRUE

Path=C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software

CHECKDRIVES = A

Make sure that KEYDISK=FALSE. If the line isn't there, put it in. KEYDISK is the parameter RSLogix uses to know if your activation key is installed.

Same with CHECKDRIVES. It should be set CHECKDRIVES = C. CHECKDRIVES is the parameter RSLogix uses for where to start searching for an activation key.

That should fix it.

((Beat you again, OG!! ))
(((Unfortunatedly, someone else beat me )))

one little point about Checkdrives and Keydisk parameters......

Checkdrives overrides the Keydisk setting. All you need to add is the keydisk parameter (keydisk=false).

Use keydisk to use your floppy as the location for your activations. In that case KEYDISK=TRUE.

Use checkdrives if activations are installed on a network drive. OR if you want to specify a search order for the activation. For example:

checkdrive=acf

this would search the "a:" drive then if no activation is found it would search the "c:" drive. If no activation is found in either location then search the "f:" drive which is just an example of a network location.

Be aware that checkdrives would override any keydisk setting. If checkdrive=c and keydisk=true you will not be able to access the floppy activation.

So the suggestion then would be to stick with Checkdrive and forget keydisk.

One other point.....If you are running WinXP ro W2K you may not have the ROCKSOFT.INI file. These settings are now handled as environment variables. If you want to set these environment variables, let me know and I can post the directions. It's pretty easy.

OG

Neither checkdrives or keydisk were in my .ini file. Adding "checkdrives=c" did it for me.
Thanks.

operaghost,

I would like to know how to set the environment variables, i have the same problem of RSLogix 500 reading the floppy drive whenever it is run. I have W2K running on my PC.

Thanks in advance.

Windows 2000 Environment Variables

Ashley, here are the steps for Windows 2000 environment variables:

1. From the desktop, right-click on My Computer
2. From the menu select Properties
3. Click on the Advanced tab (far right)
4. Click the Environment Variables button
5. In the lower window (system variables) click New for a new variable
6. Type in the variable name (such as kedydisk or checkdrives)
7. Type the Variable value
8. Click OK to accept the variable (Click OK three times to close all open windows)
   [/list=1]
   
   So for example:
   enter a variable called "checkdrives" and enter a value of "C"
   
   This would check only the C: drive for an activation. Of course remove the quotes from my example when actually entering these.
   
   That should do it! Steps are pretty much the same for NT and XP with only slight variations in how Microsoft gets you from point A to point B.
   
   Good Luck and let me know if you have any questions.
   
   OG
   
   I just checked the RSLogix help files and this information is listed there as well. Not as detailed as mine of course, but it is there. Go to Help and Copy Protection and choose the Network or Multiple Computer topics or just search the Help for Keydisk or Checkdrives

OG, worked just fine. thanks a lot.

The hard drive will search for the license on start-up yes.
However if you change your bios settings on start up so that the pc boots on your hard drive then this problem should disappear.

Well now that is an entirely different problem. The original problem was that the RSLogix software, when started, searches the A: drive for the license file. This delays the software startup and just plain sounds bad hearing the floppy churn away.

The term startup was not meant to imply starting up the computer. We instead meant starting (or opening) the RSLogix software.

OG