Rockwell Software Instalations

Hi All,

After years of using Rockwells software I've now got to install the following to 7 laptops...

Studio 5000 up to V24
Logix 5000 V12-20
Logix 500 up to V9
Linx V2.59
RS Networx
View ME transfer Utility 6.1

I've only previously installed Factory Talk VS ME and that gave enough headaches so I was wondering if theres a natural order of instalations? Also any advice to make the process easier.

Cheers,
Will.

Good luck.
Are the laptops identical?
I'd do one, image it, and roll out the image to the other 6.

rdrast said:

Good luck.
Are the laptops identical?
I'd do one, image it, and roll out the image to the other 6.

Click to expand...

Yeah they are all identical. They all have in individual licence of Windows 7 though.

What are the impications of imaging a drive? It sounds like it will save time but is it all above board?

I've cloned a hard drive once before and it gave me problems with crashing.

Thanks.

I use Paragon Drive Copy Professional ($40) with great success. Tried using Paragon Backup and Restore (free version) but it would not duplicate the 100 Meg reserved system partition required by Win-7.

Win-7 has a very easy method to change the license number - right click Computer, get Properties, scroll down to the bottom where it says Windows Activation and select Change Product Key - there you will enter the original Product Key from the Win-7 Sticker attached to your computer.

WillM,

I have done this using Clonezilla - free Linux software.
Make a master on one laptop, clone it and restore it to the others.
Then deal with your licence issues for Win7 and Rockwell.....

IIRC I would start with RSLogix5000 (all versions that you may need), then Studio and then 500.
Sort out your Linx type and version and do that next, if not already loaded from 5000.
Then deal with Networx.
Then get all the required EDS files from Rockwell or the connected devices or DVD and load them up so that Linx can identify them all.

Your Rockwell activations can be tied to the network card or the HDD of the laptop - you have to deal with them individually, and if you are like me, my laptops were not connected to the internet, so had to transfer the activation files.

Brilliant.

Thank you all for your advice! I think I'll definitely look at the cloning route and the above order.

Had numerous headaches but having a problem with Logix 5000 on Windows 7 (64 Bit)...

I’ve got everything to work from v20 down to v16 but v13 & v15 are locking me out. Strangely they won’t go through FT Activation Manager but are trying to go through the old EVMove.
I’ve tried a re-install but it’s still operating the same.
Any advice on this?

Thanks

Hi Will,

once you have activated V20 then all other versions should run without further activation.
The older versions will look for EVMove only but the licence should be fine.

Do they not show that fact that they are activated?

JohnCalderwood said:

Hi Will,

once you have activated V20 then all other versions should run without further activation.
The older versions will look for EVMove only but the licence should be fine.

Do they not show that fact that they are activated?

Click to expand...

I haven't actualy activated yet, just running on the 7 day grace. I wanted to test all functionality before transfering a licnce from an old machine.

So is it that v13 & 15 wont offer a grace period but will allow access once FTAV is activated?


Cheers

Are these going to be field service laptops or are they going to be on the same network in a manufacturing facility?

If they are networked just cloning them and slapping them on a network will cause issues as you will have the same windows SID on each machine.

The best way is to install all your warez on one machine and let it be the master. Image it then sys prep it and deploy with an image deployment software not just simple imaging software.

Image deployment software in the free dept would be Fog, Windows WDS, CloneZilla and in the Paid dept would be Smart Deploy (Best), Acronis Snap Deploy, etc.

PBuchanan said:

Are these going to be field service laptops or are they going to be on the same network in a manufacturing facility?

If they are networked just cloning them and slapping them on a network will cause issues as you will have the same windows SID on each machine.

The best way is to install all your warez on one machine and let it be the master. Image it then sys prep it and deploy with an image deployment software not just simple imaging software.

Image deployment software in the free dept would be Fog, Windows WDS, CloneZilla and in the Paid dept would be Smart Deploy (Best), Acronis Snap Deploy, etc.

Click to expand...

They will be used in one factory where there is a slim but possible chance that 2 machines could be used on the same network.

I'll have to discuss the cloning with IT as they staged all the laptops and will know what is suitable.

Cheers.

WillD,

Once you activate, then the different versions will just work.....

We have cloned 4 laptops this way with Clonezilla for programming purposes and changed IP Addresses, and they just work on the same network.
A wee hint - do not use IT.......

JohnCalderwood said:

WillD,

Once you activate, then the different versions will just work.....

We have cloned 4 laptops this way with Clonezilla for programming purposes and changed IP Addresses, and they just work on the same network.
A wee hint - do not use IT.......

Click to expand...

They will work on the same network yes but if you did not sysprep then the SID will be the same on all of them and that can be an issue if they are on a domain.

If they are on the same network but not domain joined there will be no issue.

I'll leave the multiple machine installs to the other capable guys, but here's some other information to note...

Installation...

The normal order of installing multiple versions of RSLogix 5000 is to start with the oldest and work your way up. This way, as different components are installed, the versions are incremental and should upgrade the components to the newer versions as you go.

If you start with the latest, such as RSLogix 5000 v20, and work your way backwards, there is the potential for some newer files to be overwritten with older versions. This can cause issues with several things, not least activations.

Activation...

RSLogix 5000 V13.xx - v19.xx all support either EVRSI Master Disk or FactoryTalk Activation. They will run on the Grace Period and once that has expired you will get a prompt stating as such and also offering the option of activating using either Master Disk or FactoryTalk Activation. You can then select the FactoryTalk Activation method and if there is already a valid license for the product, on the FactoryTalk Activation Manager Server, then it should activate against it.

If it does not activate successfully after this prompt, then one possibility is that a certain "rsl5kcp.dll" file is corrupted or is too old a version.

To correct this you can take a copy of this file from another working version from the following location...

C:\Program Files\Rockwell Software\RSLogix 5000\ENU\vXX\Bin

...where "vXX" represents a working version.

Another reason for activations not working, where multiple version are installed, is again where you have installed the older versions, such as v13 and v15, after installing the newer versions. It's also possible that certain licensing DLL files, required for FactoryTalk Activation to work correctly, have been overwritten by older versions.

If this is the case, then you have no choice but to uninstall all versions and start again with the oldest first.

Compatibility...

RSLogix 5000 v19 or greater are supported under Windows 7 64-bit.
RSLogix 5000 v13 - v18 are known to work under Windows 7 once User Account Control (UAC) is disabled.

Elephant in the room...

EDS Subsystem...

Another overriding factor I've noticed here is the mix of pre and post EDS Subsystem products in your list above. You also have not specified which version of RSNetWorx you are installing?

I've mentioned this a few times here before...

With the release of Studio 5000 v21, and other concurrent products, the EDS registration system was updated. The older system registered each EDS file in the Windows Registry. This meant that each EDS file was required to be parsed before doing so, and made the installation of many EDS files quite slow. As observed while installing RSLinx Classic.

To speed this registration process up, and to provide more efficient access to the files, an SQL Database was introduced to handle the registration of all EDS files.

Once certain products are installed, at certain versions, in alignment with the Release of Studio 5000 v21, the newer SQL Database is installed and the older Registry based EDS files, if any already exist, are converted over to the Database and then removed from the Registry.

Any older versions of products, from before the cut-off point, that rely on EDS files registered through the Windows Registry, will no longer have access to them, as they have been removed. This is where you see Yellow or Gray question marks for devices in RSLinx Classic, RSNetWorx, etc.

From your list...

Studio 5000 up to V24 <<< Installs newer EDS Subsystem (v21 and up installs newer EDS)
Logix 5000 V12-20 <<< Requires older EDS Registry
Logix 500 up to V9 <<< N/A
Linx V2.59 <<< Requires older EDS Registry (v3.51 and up installs newer EDS)
RS Networx <<< What Version? (v11 requires older EDS, V21 newer EDS)
View ME transfer Utility 6.1 <<< N/A

Because of this incompatibility, it is most advisable to install...

RSLogix 5000 v12 - v20
RSLinx Classic v2.59
RSNetWorx v11 (if installing v11)

...within a Windows XP environment, preferable within a VMware session inside the Windows 7 Host Operating System. You can then install all the v21 compatible software products within the Host OS and there will be no conflicts.

The specific products that install the newer EDS Subsystem include:

Studio 5000 Version 21 or higher
RSNetWorx Version 21 or higher
DeviceNet Tag Generator Version 21 or higher
FactoryTalk View Studio Version 7 or higher
RSLinx Enterprise Version 5.51 or higher
FactoryTalk Services Platform (FTSP) v2.51 or higher
RSLinx Classic Version 3.51 or higher
Add On Profiles built using AOP core 9.0 or higher

Installing any of these product versions will install the new EDS Subsystem and unregister the old EDS files from the Windows Registry.

I'm sorry if I'm a bit late with this news, but if you've ploughed ahead and feel that things are "working OK" thus far then proceed as you will. But if you do run into some strange issues, you at least have the above to bear in mind.

Regards,
George

I have used an earlier version of this device to clone drives with great success. Works at the sector level so it doesn't matter whats on the drive.

Then follows the issue that sometimes the EFI BIOS is either located on, or intimately tied to, the drive (HP!) and that negates copying. I'm hoping that is a older model problem and new laptops wont have this issue any longer.

Duplicate SIDS will only be a problem if the machines are domain joined and then copied. If you copy them as workgroup machines and then join them to the domain after cloning, a different SID will be used for domain integration. Sysprep is always best though.

GeoSpark - Nice writeup!