How to get a free copy of RSLogix Emulate 500

By
Shawn Tierney
-

READ FIRST: As of April 2020 this procedure has changed – see the new article HERE for the updated steps.

Original Article:

Free is good

One of the best kept Rockwell secretes is for the last few years they have offered RSLogix Emulate 500 for free.

With this software, you can test your SLC-500 or MicroLogix programs right on your PC, without the need to connect to a physical unit.

And Emulate also supports “debug” files, a sort of reverse ladder logic used to simulate what happens as the process runs.

NOTE: 02/11/2015 – Article updated to reflect Rockwell website changes

How to find

While RSLogix 500 Emulate is free, if you attempt to download the latest version using Rockwell’s website you’re prompted for registration information only those who purchased the software have.

To avoid this dead end, follow the below steps to download RSLogix Emulate 500 from Rockwell’s website for free:

1) Navigate to http://www.ab.com:

1-Go-to-AB com

2) Select Product Compatibility and Download Center under Quick Links:

2-Selected-Download-Center

3) Select Find Downloads:

3-Select-Find-Downloads

4) Type in “Emulate” in the product search box, and then press enter:

Learn to use and program the SLC-500

FreeEmu1

5) Select “RSLogix Emulate 500,” then version 6.0

FreeEmu2

 6) Next click on “Downloads”

FreeEmu3

7) Select the small picture of a red arrow and hard drive:

FreeEmu4

8) Select “RSLogix Emulate 500 6.00.00” under Product Add-ons. You may have to also select “download cart”

NOTE: At this point you may be asked to login. If you don’t already have a free account go ahead and create one and log in so you can continue with the download.

FreeEmu6

9) Accept the terms:

FreeEmu7

10) Next select “Direct Download”

FreeEmu8

11) Now select the link to download RSLogix Emulate 500:

FreeEmu9

Note: Below you’ll find a screenshot of Rockwell’s website showing which versions of Windows 7 RSLogix Micro 8.3 is supported on:

RSLogix-Micro-Compatibility

For information on other operating systems check out Rockwell’s compatibility website using the link below:

I hope you find the above steps to freely download RSLogix Emulate 500 from Rockwell’s website helpful.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please feel free to leave them with us by filling in the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️ 

If you enjoy this episode please give it a Like, and consider Sharing as this is the best way for us to find new guests to come on the show.

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Eliminate commercials and gain access to my weekly full length hands-on, news, and Q&A sessions by becoming a member at The Automation Blog or on YouTube. You'll also find all of my affordable PLC, HMI, and SCADA courses at TheAutomationSchool.com.

shawntierney avatar
Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

Discover more from The Automation Blog

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

67 COMMENTS

  2. Hi Mr Shawn ,

    I appreciate your reactivity towards comments here and your helpfulness with the programmers ,
    Sir i have one question what is the main difference between Studio 5000 Logix Emulate and RS Emulate 5000 , and as i am using the RS logix 5000 V20.00.00 which version should i install on RS Emulate 5000 or which version in Studio 5000 Logix Emulate , and the most important thing is if you can provide a link where i can Download one of the emulators Software cited above in this message , many thanks for your usual collaboration.

    Nabil Karimi.

  3. tq for replying and i want to know what are the job opportunities after completing PLC SCADA course of 3 months???

    which are the companies provides jobs for this course and in which country have more job???

    thanking you

    • Good morning Muneer,

      We don’t yet have a job board here, so I would recommend checking out a job board site like http://www.Indeed.com and search on PLC or SCADA.

      When I worked in Albany, NY, just in that territory there were hundreds of companies that used PLC’s and SCADA and most of their help wanted postings could be found on Indeed.

      Hope this helps,

      Shawn Tierney

      Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

  5. Good morning dear shawn,
    i already purchase your course PAC BASICS.
    i got a rslogix 5000 demo version (90 days),Let me know if any chance to get rslogix 5000 emulator for free or demo version for studying purpose .
    thanking you
    ANU

    • Good afternoon Webby,

      Are you sure you selected Emulate 500?

      I just tried it again right now, and to be clear I do not have a Tech Connect nor have I ever purchase Emulate and therefore have no serial number for it, and still it allowed me to download it for free again and never once prompted me for a serial number.

      So unless you’ve selected the wrong package, I have no idea why you’re being prompted for that information.

      Best of luck,

      Shawn Tierney

      Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

  10. Hello Shawn sir after trying many time it shows “Error while login to become member Try after some time”.i had try web site by different angles as well as refresh the page many time. i am trying since last full month but found same Error msg. i am from maharastra(india) is it root of my problem??

  11. please Shawn Tierney or some body else, in the country Im, i can not douwnload free RS Logix Emulate please can you sent me an Application Setup, pls i seriously need it. is it possible to sent by mail? if not pls tell me the application to download, that will hepl for transfering me the Setup
    dont ignore my demand pls, thank for all

  13. Just an update:
    When I go to http://www.ab.com, it forwards me to ab.rockwellautomation.com. From there I go: “Products”-> “Product Compatibility and downloads” (click). On that page I click Find downloads. On the next page searching for “automate” did not bring up the 500 version (though it did bring up 5000) I had to search “emulate” to get the 500 version.

  14. Dear Shawn,

    I’ve been trying to download the RSLogix Micro Starter Lite (v8.30) without RSLinx — for offline programming (English) and I can’t it to go past the Installshield Wizard screen. I am using Windows 7 x64bit.

    Thanks.

    • Good afternoon Andrew,

      Using the below link I checked to see if it was compatible, and it appears it only works with Windows 7 Pro 32bit and 64bit, as well as Windows 7 Home 32bit, but not with Windows 7 Service Pack 1 installed 🙁

      http://compatibility.rockwellautomation.com/Pages/ProductReplacement.aspx

      I’ll update the article with a picture from the above site – are you indeed running Win7 Pro with Sp1? Or maybe Win 7 Home 64?

      Hope this helps,

      Shawn Tierney

      Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

        • Not sure if there is a workaround aside from getting v9 or v9.5 from your local rep – just ask for a temp activation for RSLogix Micro and they should send you an email within a couple of minutes. After 30 days it will revert to the free version discussed here.

          Other options would include using the software on a WinXp machine, or using free virtualization software to create a virtual XP machine on your system.

          PS – I really wish RA would update this download to at least v9 🙁

          Hope this helps,

          Shawn Tierney

          Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

          • I would like to send you an update on this.

            Finally, I was able to ran the RSLogix Micro Starter Lite (v8.30) without RSLinx — for offline programming (English) uses Win 7 Home Service Pack 1 x64 properly. The reason i wanted to download this because I am joining the PLC course from Paul Lynn via Udemy. After checking with him, he discovered the problem that i encountered was due to my norton antivirus. I was able to download and run the file after disabling my norton.

            I tried to download the file on my wife’s laptop that uses Wins 8.1 x64 and it worked properly.

            The conclusion is the RSLogix Micro Starter Lite (v8.30) without RSLinx — for offline programming (English) can be downloaded and ran properly even though you are using either Wins 7 Home Service Pack 1 x64 or Wins 8.1 x64.

  15. Thanks very much Shawn
    I tried to install the Emulate Rslogix500 following your 11 steps but while installing the following error message came up

    Could not H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARERockwell softwareSetupDefaultCommon registry entry- Installation Failure [#19]

    • Ivan,

      Thanks for your comment.

      I just ran through it again myself and can confirm you now need to login to proceed past step 8.

      However, I can also confirm you can create a free account and login with it to continue with the download process.

      PS – I went ahead an updated the procedure above – thanks again for find that!

      Sincerely,

      Shawn Tierney

      Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

  22. Yes, I don’t think 32 bit windows is problem:D, this problem is emulator related.
    This piece of software is released before Windows 7 and it is a pitty that AB did not update their software to fully support Windows 7 (in free edition).
    Right now I don’t have another Windows 7 edition to test, but don’t think I will change windows to see how emulator works…
    For now it is not big problem to see pop-up message (start once and use it all day long:D).
    Thanks for your fast response and advices for this software.
    Almir

    • Good morning H4rDw4rE,

      Yeah, once I get past the initial error pop-up it seems to work great on Win7, although I also had to add the registry keys to add the Emulate driver into the old RSLinx package suggested for use with the free RSLogix Micro Starter Lite.

      I haven’t tried the newer version of Emulate 500 to see if it’s also free, but last I checked the newer RSLinx doesn’t require the registry edit to add the Emulate driver back in.

      Have a great weekend,

      Shawn Tierney

      Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

  24. EDIT:
    Learned it on hard way.
    You can fix registry error message in emulator but don’t do that.
    If you do that than you can’t use emulator (it’s running but Micrologix can not connect to emulator).
    Last hour I tried to figue it out what happened with errors about emulator can not be started.
    In the end I go back and uncheck run emulator as administrator…
    Now it’s time to see how to make some things in AB.

    • Almir,

      Thanks for the information. I always get a registry pop-up error when I start emulate on Win 7 64 bit but just press OK and it works fine.

      However, for other readers who might be confused – if Emulate doesn’t show up in RSLinx then you need to add it to RSLinx via the registry edit shared above – this puts Emulate back in the drivers list in RSLinx.

      Thanks,

      Shawn Tierney

      Join my free community to follow along! You can also become a member and support our work at: Automation.Locals.com

  25. Just downloaded without any problems.
    Will try it and see how to learn AB and what is all about AB compared to the Siemens PLC (Simatic S7).
    Almost all people I know say that AB is well organized and it is easier to learn.
    Thanks again.

  26. I keep getting this message after login to download :

    Your browser and/or operating system is not supported for Software Downloads at this time. If you have IE11, please add ‘rockwellautomation.com’ to the ‘Compatibility View Settings’ under Tools menu . Refer to the FAQ page in the left margin for the current list of system requirements

    Tried compatibility view settings thing and still keep getting the same message