Rockwell Automation Software & Windows 8

Right before I go home for a day, I'm creating a thread to see if there someone going through same thing I do...

I've just got new laptop at work. But it came with windows 8 64 bit.
(For best thread results...12 GB RAM, 1 TB hard, i7 processor, touchscreen, etc.)
I've installed RSLogix 500 software no trouble.
I've installed RSLogix 5000 software for version 15 thru 20.01 no trouble.
I've installed Studio 5000 software no trouble.
I've installed RSLinx software no trouble.
All above software tested, went online to processors, just fine.
But...FT view Studio ME gives me trouble.
It installed without errors. It opens the software fine.
But when I choose the file to open, it hangs and forced to shut down software.

Is there any person using FT view Studio ME version 7.00 on Windows 8 PC or laptop? Let me know of there special instruction to install software package.

Yes, I did ask to RA tech support and they replied my call with 5 words,
"We Don't support Windows 8."

Thanks for answering in advance...

I recently got a new windows 8 machine, but decided to go the VM route and installed all my Rockwell software in a Windows 7 VMWare Virtual Machine, and it all works great. Highly recommend that route!

Doylen said:

Yes, I did ask to RA tech support and they replied my call with 5 words,
"We Don't support Windows 8."

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I record my AB calls now. And whenever a client requests AB (because they have a service contract option! We can call for help any time! This sounds legit!) I offer to play them a recording of another AB rep telling me "Not our problem" or "You're the only one with that problem, so we can't offer you any support"... The list goes on, but the stuff they "think" is OK to tell me as a paying customer, just infuriates me.

benaiahhenry said:

decided to go the VM route and installed all my Rockwell software in a Windows 7 VMWare Virtual Machine

Click to expand...

This is your best option.
AB writes their software so it works "right now" with little to no care for the future.
So update the VM with Windows Update, install AB software. Test functionality. DON'T EVER INSTALL ANOTHER THING ON THE VM EVER AGAIN IN YOUR LIFE!

So how's AB different than any other vendors? I wouldn't even order a Win8 machine for work. It's just too risky. I have one machine monitoring box that got a 32 bit USB chip (didn't even know there's such a difference) that doesn't work with any OS that's 64 bit. It's just part of this industry.

Windows 8 is the new "Vista"... destined for the "software scrap heap" before they even finished rolling it out.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/software/3498553/windows-9-rumors-freeze-corporate-windows-8-uptake/

harryting said:

So how's AB different than any other vendors? I wouldn't even order a Win8 machine for work. It's just too risky. I have one machine monitoring box that got a 32 bit USB chip (didn't even know there's such a difference) that doesn't work with any OS that's 64 bit. It's just part of this industry.

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32-bit and 64-bit operations, and the conversion are nothing new. So an old industry should be familiar with them.
So why not make a chip that received 64-bit instructions from your computer/USB and truncate the high 32-bits before transmission?
It's just an excuse to postpone upgrades.

The business as I understand it, works like this:
- A software upgrade that fixes bugs is good to the end user, but the company makes $0 because they cannot market it as a "new feature"
- New features are the bread and butter of any software firm. If it is "new" then we can bill for it

So, send 80% of the developers to make new.
20% to fix the broken stuff.

And because 64-bit will be 100% of computers in 4 years from now. Why even bother wasting our time to create conversion stuffs for 32->64?
80-20 rule...

Doylen said:

Yes, I did ask to RA tech support and they replied my call with 5 words,
"We Don't support Windows 8."

Thanks for answering in advance...

Click to expand...

You went through all of that without checking the software requirements prior to installing the software?

It's give or take with Windows 8. I tested it out, things worked but then I upgraded to 8.1 and things broke.

FTView ME has well documented with issues between 32 bit and 64 bit systems. AB has had many webinars about this and released many compatibility strategies. Has everything to do with the watcom database not being 64 bit compatible and having to move to SQL Express. It's a messy situation, so for any FTView ME work you should just run a Windows 7 32bit in a VM for most flexible compatibility.

AB will be supporting Windows 8 in Logix 5000 V24 and a few other core programs shortly but don't expect a lot for windows 8 in our field as a lot of people are waiting to invest their resources in Windows 9.

I have been using the Windows 9 Beta Developer version for a couple weeks now and it's leaps and bounds better than Windows 8 almost like windows 7 was to Vista.

No matter what AB supports at this point in time I would not dream of installing any industrial software directly on my machine. Use a virtualization product like VM Ware, Hyper V, Xen or Virtual Box.