Windows 10-Rockwell Automation Software.RS Logix5000,500,FactoryTalk View.Any Issues?

Good Morning ,

I'm getting ready to take the step of retiring our Windows XP laptops.
We have a number of older ControlLogix CPU's and are using versions 10 thru 20 on some of these Windows XP machines. Wondering if you can help me with a few questions......

- RS Logix 5000 -What versions load up fine and play well with Windows 10 ?

- What are the benifits of using the virtual environment ?

- Is the virtual environment available with Windows 10 ?

- Is XP Mode available with Window's 10 , and if so , does that eliminate the
need to do the conversion of FactoryTalk View applications done in 32 bit , or
it is probably better to convert anyway ?

- What about RS Logix 500. It does not matter what version of RS Logix 500
version you have , I guess it will still communicate with the SLC 500 and
MicroLogix . correct ?

I'm sorry , I know that alot of questions.

Thanks so much for your help.

Tried V30 on win 10 direct on host no VM, issues getting installed (can't remember them all now this was a year ago - think codeMeter was one). Eventually got it installed and worked OK fairly stable, but, tried very hard to get the FTAM to work with a dongle and just couldn't. Gave up and went to Win7.

Hopefully, they sort any and all issues soon (next 6 months), when win7 becomes a "should not be connected to the internet" OS it's either win10 or VM with a specific NIC setup to not pass through internet.

Did you install the dongle driver?

Have everything from v20 up on a w10 host with no problems.

I just keep a vm for all the older stuff that doesn't get touched much.

jkerekes said:

Did you install the dongle driver?

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Yes, it recognised it both in device manager and FTAM but couldn't assign the license to the dongle - spent 2 days, technotes etc, gave up.

Cydog said:

- What are the benifits of using the virtual environment ?

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The benefits are too many too list.

1) You don't have Rockwell running on your host system (alarm servers etc.)
2) Rockwell likes to crash and have errors that aren't recoverable. When this happens you delete your VM and grab your back up of that VM. Now you only lost a couple days work and not an entire project.
3) Lose a computer (fire/water/electrical/etc), just get a new computer and install VMWare/VirtualBox and copy paste your backup VMs and you are ready to go. Some licensing stuff might need to happen on the Host but, it should be copy and paste.
4) In a VM you can install/delete/test and not have a care in the world, if it works great keep going, if it doesn't. Delete VM and grab a copy of your latest backup. (This is useful for windows updates, sometimes updates crash systems)
5) If working with co-workers VMs can be shared and the whole install process can be bypassed.

VMs save huge amounts of time when it counts, at first it seems like a waste of time, but in a pinch they're a game changer.

Based on Van's post, it seems to me that running a VM is like buying insurance. You hope you never need what a VM can give you but, if you do, it is worth the price of going that way.

We tried VMs here for a while but our company won't spring for the laptops to run them without serious performance issues. So we went back to running everything on the host.

I am running Win 10 with Logix 5K version 18 and up. No problems there. Studio V30 and up tend to crash randomly but that seems to happen to everyone here and we are a mix of Win 7 through Win 10. I just ran into an issue with FTVS V8 with my Win 10 machine, but that isn't supposed to run on Win 10 at all so that is my fault.

Logix 500 V6.2 will open a file and let me play around but I don't have a plc to try to connect to. I don't know if that would cause an issue.

Keith

Thanks. What about XP Mode , is this still included with Window's 10 ? You also need separate license for , let's say FactoryTalk View to work with FactoryTalk View Applications done in Window's XP 32 bit , correct ?

I guess still no easy way to convert those applications from 32 bit to 64 bit ?

Thanks in advance ,

Would you guys say that Window's 7 is more stable for Rockwell Software ?
If so , will Window's 7 be around for awhile , and I imagine MicroSoft will support it for awhile.

Win 7 support ends Jan. 2020.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-windows-7-support

Cydog said:

Would you guys say that Window's 7 is more stable for Rockwell Software ?
If so , will Window's 7 be around for awhile , and I imagine MicroSoft will support it for awhile.

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Support ends January 2020. After this, no security updates, so you would be wise not having it connected to the internet. You can buy updates after this, but only for 3 years and the cost doubles year on year. And I think it's only intended for enterprise agreements.

kamenges said:

Based on Van's post, it seems to me that running a VM is like buying insurance. You hope you never need what a VM can give you but, if you do, it is worth the price of going that way.

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Yes, but also, my current station has 4 core vms I'm using.

Win7 for FTMEv5 7 and 10 (I don't believe can all be installed together), then a win10 VM that is more or less a personal computer for when I go on the road.

This way my host stays pretty much clear of anything. So if I'm in a hotel, I can have one vm connected to VPN and I can work and another VM that is running netflix on the hotel tv.

Originally posted by Van:

Win7 for FTMEv5 7 and 10 (I don't believe can all be installed together)...

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For better or worse Rockwell has almost forced us into running VMs if we need to support multiple versions of Factory Talk View. They have had multiple installed versions figured out for Logix for the last 15 years. The fact that they can't do it for Factory Talk View is just startling to me.

Keith

The two BEST things ive ever done in regards to Rockwell software...

VMWare workstation pro
Windows Server 2012 R2

Absolute game changer as others have said above, cannot recommend it more.