RS Logix 500 on Windows 7

Hi All,
our IT dept has now moved to Windows 7 (we skipped Vista) so I'm now trying to get all our software running on the new machine. My question is it worth trying to get RS Logix 500 (ver 7.0) and RS view Studio Ver 4.0 running in a virtual xp machine or would we be better off just biting the bullet and up grading to versions that will run on Windows 7?

Thanks

Jezz

*If* you have a TechConnect contract, just do the upgrade.

Otherwise, the Virtual Xp(or Vmware) option is a fantastic one.

We don't have the TechConnect Contract so we would just have to buy new, I'm just concerned about how reliable the XP virtual machine route would be, I don’t' want to be sat at 2 am wishing we had upgraded.

I don't use the VirtualXp(part of Win7) but I do use Vmware workstation.

It has never been anything but 100% reliable for me.

The only catch was we use the USB versions of the cnet and dh+ cards, so I haven't tried the PCMCIA one.
Serial works great though.

There isn't VMWare support for PCMCIA cards. Also no Windows 7 drivers exist for Rockwell PCMCIA cards either. I thought I read somewhere in the RA documentation for FTView that they don't recommend XP Mode for production use; only developement. I use VMWare and it's great. But it might be simpler to use native Win 7 supported apps.

I very strongly recommend VMWare Workstation for anything involving FactoryTalk View. I went to using VMWare a couple of years ago when I was responsible for supporting FTView 4.0, 5.0, and 5.10 systems and it was the only reason I didn't have to haul around three workstations.

As long as you have a decent modern-spec computer, it will take away most of your version and compatibility headaches.

There is nothing wrong with using VirtualXP, but you will want to consider using VMWare instead of Microsoft's Virtual PC. Although I haven't tried 4.0, I had problems with 5.0 in Virtual PC. People have found a work around, but VMWare Player worked fine for me (and it was free).

That being said, it's much easier to use it natively in W7. If you want to go that route, get the latest RSLogix 500 and FactoryTalk View Studio V6.0 (previously RSView Studio). I'd use 32bit windows as well. Is say this because there could be problems if you develop application with FTVS in 64 bit (6.1) and share them with users that have 32bit Windows. If 32bit isn't an option, then VMware Player is my recommendation (others will recommend the full Workstation).

Here is a snippet from the ME release notes saying don't use XP Mode for hosting ME. I can't find anything similar for SE.



To overcome these constraints

You can do one of the followings to overcome the constraints:

• <LI class=bulletfirst type=disc>Use XP MODE on a 64-bit Windows 7 Professional desktop computers. Please notice the following tips:
• Requires free download from Microsoft.
• Native 64-bit and 32-bit XP Mode Image can share FactoryTalk Activation.
• XP Mode is not suitable for runtime applications (i.e. hosting ME Station).
• Use Separate PC or Virtual Image Running 32-bit Windows OS, and you could share FactoryTalk Activation with 64-bit PC over network.