How To Access The PanelView Plus Configuration Mode

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 29, 2013

Update: Check out the newest article on this topic HERE.

When powering on a PanelView Plus for the first time, it will boot up to the main “Configuration Mode” menu screen.

From there, the user has several options:

Load an application from internal memory, memory card, or from most USB Flash Drives.
Run the loaded application
Edit the loaded application’s settings
Edit the Terminal Settings
Change the setting for “Delete Log Files Before Running”

In many cases the programmer with change the terminal settings to match the system requirements, which almost always includes entering new network settings.

However, after initial start these settings will often need to be modified, so gaining access to this menu in the future is very important.

Now once a FactoryTalk View Machine Edition runtime is loaded and running, the easiest and most convenient way to return to the “Configuration Mode” menu is to place a “Goto Config” button on one of the project’s graphic display screens.

In many cases, the programmer will chose to put this button on a secured screen so operators don’t accidentally press it and exit the application.

But occasionally a programmer will forget to put a “Goto Config” button on any screen, or will hide it so well that no one else can find it.

The easy and obvious fix for this is to download an updated project which does have a “Goto Config” button.

However, if some time has passed since the unit was programmed, or if a different programmer is now working on the terminal, the existing network settings may not be known.

If that’s the case, there’s just no way to download to the terminal over the network.

When this happens, and the programmer finds himself locked out of the PVPlus configuration menu, he won’t be able to (1) change which project is running, (2) communicate with the terminal, and (3) won’t be able to change any of the terminal settings.

And with a single PanelView Plus terminal costing thousands of dollars, this isn’t a viable position to be in.

In the early days of the product if I found myself in this situation I would resort to disassembling the terminal.

First I would remove power, and then I would remove the “Logic Board” from the “Display Module.”

Next I would remove the retaining screw holding the internal Compact Flash card in, the I would remove the Compact Flash card itself.

I would then put the card into a PC with a Compact Flash card reader, and search it for .MER files which I would MOVE off the card and onto my PC.

When I reassembled the PVPlus and powered it back on, since it didn’t find the startup file it was programmed to run it would simply display an error message and then return the user to the “Configuration Mode.”

Fortunately, in version 3.20.09 Rockwell added a “boot up sequence” interrupt that allows users to bypass the launching of the default project.

When units with the newer firmware are turned on, the user can either press a small “White Box” on the bottom left of a touch screen terminal, or presses the “F1 Key” on a keypad terminal, to force the PVPlus to boot to the “Configuration Mode.”

With how to access the “Configuration Mode” explained above, tomorrow we’ll talk about what to do if the “White Box” doesn’t show up on boot, or if the “F1 Key” on a keypad unit doesn’t launch the “Configuration Mode.”

Until then, if you’ve ever been locked out of your PanelView Plus, or had to use one of the above strategies to get back into the “Configuration Mode,” we’d love to hear from you.

Just click on the “post a comment or question” link below to let us know your thoughts on this subject.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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Transferring Runtime Files (.mer) To PanelView Plus Using USB Flash Drive

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 26, 2013

Update: Check out our most recent article on this subject HERE.

The ability to transfer Rockwell Software’s FactoryTalk View Machine Edition runtime files (.mer) to the PanelView Plus and PanelView Plus 6 using standard USB Memory Stick (aka USB flash drive, USB thumb drive) is a handy feature, if you know how to do it.

In most cases, you’d typically download the runtime file (.mer) directly to the PVPlus via Ethernet, however there are some occasions when this won’t be practical:

When the PVPlus isn’t networked
When the PVPlus doesn’t have an IP address assigned
When the PVPlus doesn’t have an Ethernet Port (some 400 and 600 models)
When there’s no easy way to get your PC near the PVPlus to connect to it
When you have an old pre-6 version of ViewStudio (and the Transfer Utility,) but a new PVPlus 6 (the PVP6 does support older v3.1-v5.1 .mer’s, however the old Transfer Utility doesn’t support the new PVP6)

In these cases, using a USB memory stick to transfer your program from your development PC to the PanelView Plus can be the quickest and easiest, if not the only way to get your file on the unit.

The trick is, the PVPlus and PVPlus 6 only look in one folder on the USB stick for .mer files, and unless your .mer is located in this location the PanelView Plus won’t find it:

Rockwell Software\RSViewME\Runtime

But before you go manually creating these folders you should know of a neat little trick to have them created for you automatically.

If you insert your USB memory stick into your PanelView Plus, then browse the USB memory stick, if the PanelView doesn’t find the default directory on the USB stick it create it for you.

To do this, start by plugging your USB memory stick into your PanelView Plus.

Next, from the configuration menu select “Load Application” and change the source to “External Storage 1” which represents your USB memory stick (assuming no other removable memory was installed prior to your inserting of the USB memory stick.)

After a few seconds, change the source back to internal storage and back out of the load menu.

Click here for a list of currently available USB Memory Sticks and Flash Drives

Now remove your USB Memory Stick from the PanelView and plug it into your PC.

Then browse it with Windows Explorer and you should find the required folders have been created for you.

At this point you can copy your .mer file(s) to the memory stick into the Rockwell SoftwareRSViewMERuntime directory.

Then safely eject it from your PC, and plug it back into the PanelView Plus.

Now, back on the PVPlus, navigate to the File Manager screen under Terminal Settings.

Then copy your .mer runtime application to the internal storage of the PanelView Plus.

Load the application, and set it’s defaults, and in most cases you’ll also want to go back into terminal settings and setup the startup options as well.

I hope the above information on how to use a USB memory stick to transfer runtime files to your PanelView Plus was helpful.

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

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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RSLinx Classic – Plug and Play Drivers used with Allen-Bradley Devices

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 25, 2013

Plug and Play comes to the world of Allen-Bradley Industrial Automation.

With a fairly recent copy of the free RSLinx Classic Lite, and A-B devices with USB ports, you simply plug the A-B USB product into your PC using a standard USB cable, and RSLinx automatically adds a driver to connect to the device.

This might not seem like magic to PC users, who can plug a new mouse into their PC and Windows automatically enables it. But for A-B PLC users this is a giant step forward from the way things have been the last 25 years.

Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s as personal computers became affordable, software began to appear to program PLC’s.

At first, most connections were of a serial type, and to use these connections to program PLC’s users needed to know a handful of serial port settings like the baud rate, parity, number of stop bits, error checking method used, etc.

Not really a challenge, well until someone changed the device from it’s defaults without informing you, leaving you with guessing which setting they changed.

Then there was the multitude of serial cables used for different products. Nine Pin versus Twenty Five Pin, and wiring for DTE to DTE vs. DTE to DCE (e.g. “straight through” versus “cross over.”)

And even today with our Ethernet only devices we still need our Boot-P utility, and to be sure we set the device with an IP address on the same “subnet” as our PC and other devices on the network.

But with the advent of A-B’s USB enabled products connecting has truly become “plug and play.”

Step one is to insure you have a version of RSLinx Classic Lite which supports the product you are about to plug in.

To be on the safe side you can grab the latest copy for free here.

Once it’s installed, you simply plug in the USB device and wait for windows to install the device driver automatically.

If prompted by windows, just select “install device automatically” or similar prompting for your version of windows.

Once completed, you can open RSLinx Classic Lite to find your USB driver automatically added. Select and expand it in the RSWho network browse windows and you’ll see the device you have connected.

Once connected, you can also easily set the IP address of your device (if equipped) right from RSLinx without the need to run the Boot-P utility.

First, browse to the device you connected in the RSLinx RSWho window.

Next, right click on the device (or on the devices Ethernet card if it’s listed separately under the device) and select “module configuration.”

This will open a tabbed dialog box, and the tab we want is labeled “Port Configuration.”

Click on that tab, fill in your devices IP address and Subnet mask, and then press Apply and OK.

At this point your device should now have am IP address, all without having to launch the Boot-P utility!

While my recent experiences with A-B USB devices have been plug and play, I would also like to hear what you think. So if you have any thoughts on the ease of using A-B’s USB devices please share them below using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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USB Cables For Use With Allen-Bradley (A-B) Products

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 24, 2013

USB Cable Data Highway Plus - 1784-U2DHP

For decades we’ve relied on our laptop’s trusty Serial Port or PCMCIA Slot to communicate with legacy A-B devices.

But when our old laptop dies, or a new one arrives, it’s very unlikely to have either a Serial Port or PCMCIA slot.

The good news is most all legacy A-B networks can be connected to with the use of USB cable.

But while USB to Serial cables are affordable, the USB cables that replace the legacy PCMCIA cards are just as expensive as the cable they replace.

So whether you need to communicate via RS-232, DH-485, DF1, DH+, DeviceNet, ControlNet, or to a legacy A-B PLC, VFD, or HMI, you should find a USB cable that can do just that in today’s article:

2017 UPDATE

This summer Rockwell released three new USB cables:

9300-USBCBL-CP3

Provides a quick and easy connection directly to a controller’s 9 Pin D-Shell serial port via USB, supports RSLinx’s Auto-Configure feature, and eliminates the need for the 9300-USBS and 1747-CP3/1756-CP3 cable combination.

Comes in high visibility orange and includes “null modem adapter” for use with DCE devices like most PanelView terminals.

9300-USBCBL-PM02

Provides a quick and easy connection directly to a controller’s 8 Pin Mini-Din serial port via USB, and supports RSLinx’s Auto-Configure feature.

Comes in high visibility orange and eliminates the need to use a 9300-USBS and 1761-CBL-PM02.

NOTE: Rockwell’s original documentation stated this cable also worked with some PanelView Plus models however NO PVPlus models have a 8 Pin Mini Din port.

9300-USBCBL-CNSL

This cable is for directly connecting to a Cisco or Stratix switch from a USB port.

It essentially replaces the need to carry a Cisco Console cable and USB to Serial converter.

2016 UPDATE

ANC-120e: USB to Data Highway Plus, a lower cost alternative to the U2DHP

In late 2016 I had the good fortune to test the much lower cost ANC-120e USB to Data Highway Plus cable and you can find all the details using the below link:

ANC-120e: USB to Data Highway Plus, a lower cost alternative to the U2DHP

USB to Serial: 9300-USBS

Even though new laptops don’t have a nine pin serial port, most of us still have many devices in the field with them, so this cable is one of the first you’ll want to consider buying.

Rockwell makes the 9300-USBS, which is currently at rev 3 (aka series C) and is fully tested with all A-B products and serial cables.

It’s also one of the few USB serial cables on the market which also supports RSLinx Classic’s “auto configure” option for finding the baud rate of the serial device connected.

However, with a list price of $144, that may be a feature you’re willing to give up.

In the past I’ve purchased USB to serial converter devices which looked identical to the 9300-USBS for one tenth the price and they’ve worked well except for the lack of support of “auto configure.”

If you do buy a third party USB to serial cable I recommend keeping the receipt and testing it right away as you don’t want to find out it’s not compatible when you need it the most.

Low Cost Third Party 9300-USBS:

If you’re looking for a third party USBS which works great and also does support RSLinx’s auto config look no further that this unit which I’ve personally tested and found works like a charm:

http://www.TheAutomationBlog.com/usbs

USB to DH-485: 1747-UICC13

If you need to connect to a SLC-500, SLC-5/01, or SLC-5/02, you’ve likely used the large and unwieldy 1747-PIC in the past.

The good news is its replacement is considerably smaller, and supports DH-485 via RS-232 and RS-485.

However, with a list price of $417.00, and only native support for 19.2K (9600 support can be added with a firmware patch from Rockwell found here) it’s not the biggest bang for your cables bucks.

You also need to be careful not to plug in just any Ethernet patch cord to the RJ-45 – it’s a known issue that using an Ethernet cross over cable to connect from the 1747-UIC to a SLC-500 will permanently damage this cable.

This is why I’m recommending the bundle here, the 1747-UICC13: It contains the 1747-UIC and the properly wired 1747-C13 cable.

Low Cost Third Party 1747-UIC:

Many of my clients have forgone the official Allen-Bradley DH-485 USB cable, and instead have used a third party 1747-UIC cable which has the RJ45 and 9 Pin D Shell cables attached, and costs a fraction of the price.

If you’re interested in this third party cable you can find it on Amazon using the link provided below:

http://www.TheAutomationBlog.com/uic

USB to DH Plus (DH+): 1784-U2DHP

The U2DHP is a replacement for both the PCMK and PM05 / 06 cables (1784-PCMK, PCMC, PCM5, PCM6) as well as for the many iterations of the KT card (1784-KT, KTX, PKTX, PKTXD) when used in programming stations or PC’s.

It makes connecting to Data Highway Plus via USB possible, although it only has the 8 pin circular mini din connector found on the SLC-5/04 and New Platform PLC-5’s.

At the time this article was written, this cable listed for $2780, making it strictly for the “have to have” crowd.

NOTE: If you need to connect to a Classic PLC-5, or any Data Highway Plus product with a 9 Pin D Shell, you’ll need a separate adapter to convert the 8 Pin Mini Din.

Grace Engineering makes one such device, PN# C-ABDH-Adapter, which you can find detailed on their website using the link below:

Update 10-27-23: Thanks to one of our readers (Peter) for posting an updated link for this item in the comments:

https://shop.graceport.com/products/c-abdh-adapter

Update 08-10-15: The below link is dead so if you have found another source for this adapter please let us know!

~~http://graceport.com/files/DS-ABDHSmartCable.pdf~~

USB to DeviceNet (DNET): 1784-U2DN

The 1784-U2DN is a replacement for the 1784-PCD and 1770-KFD, and allows for connecting to DeviceNet via USB.

Support for this hardware begins with RSLinx 2.51 and RSNetworx for DeviceNet version 8.

At the time this article was written, the 1784-U2DN listed for $1,610.

USB to ControlNet (CNET) 1784-U2CN

The 1784-U2CN is a replacement for the 1784-PCC PCMCIA card, and comes with a ControlNet NAP (RJ-45) connection.

At the time this article was written, the U2CN listed for $1,930.00

USB to A-B Drives / VFD: 1203-USB

The 1203-USB cable is as universal as a programming cable as they come, as it supports Scanport, DSI, and DPI A-B Drives.

This includes, but is not limited to, the 1305, 1336 Classic, 1336 Plus, Plus II, Force, Impact, PowerFlex 4, 4m, 40, 40p 400, 70, 700, and 520 series.

It comes with the device itself, a USB cable, a 20-HIM-H10 cable, and 22-HIM-H10 cable.

At the time this article was written, it listed for $358.00

Update: Additional Low Cost Third Party Cables

Last time I purchased a 1761-CBL-PM02 the price was a whopping $76!

In my search for a lower cost cable, I came across this one which I’ve personally tested and appears to work just as well as the official PM02 cable:

http://www.TheAutomationBlog.com/pm02

Hopefully you found this listing of A-B USB cables helpful.

If you have any experience with these cables that you’d like to share please do so by using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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Free Allen-Bradley (A-B) And Rockwell Automation (RA) Software (Part 2)

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 23, 2013

Free Software Downloads From Rockwell Software Download Listing

UPDATE 10/31/2017: Try as I might, I can no longer find the software packages listed in this article anywhere online (the associated sites have been completely redesigned.)

UPDATE 08/22/22: While I don’t have permission to post the below software publicly, I have made the old SLC-100/150 software download available to supporters here, and the old DataLiner, InView, DTAM, and MicroView software downloads available to supporters here.

Where to get free software for Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Automation (RA) products, part two:

In yesterday’s article we discussed getting free software for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Automation from the RA Downloads page, the MicroLogix downloads page, the Drives Explorer page, and from the Knowledgebase.

Today we’ll look at less obvious webpages including the Rockwell Software downloads page.

Click here for part one of this article

Free Software Available From The Rockwell Software Downloads Page:

While the Rockwell Software Downloads Page use to have a prominent link from the main http://www.RockwellSoftware.com website, today it’s not as easy to find.

But it’s still worth checking out as many free Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software packages are available for download there.

Below I’ll list those I find the most useful:

1) DL5 Software – Free software download for Allen-Bradley Dataliner DL5 software.

2) DL30 Software – Free software download for Allen-Bradley DataLiner DL30 software. Alternate link for DL30

3) DL40 – Free software download for Allen-Bradley Dataliner DL40 software.

4) InView 2.6 – Free software download for Allen-Bradley InView software. Alternate Link 1 for InView 2.4, Alternate Link 2 for InView 2.4

5) DTAM Plus – Free software download for Allen-Bradley DTAM Plus software.

6) Drive Tools – Free software download for Allen-Bradley Drive Tools software.

7) Ultraware – Free software download for Allen-Bradley Ultraware software.

8) RSNetworx for DeviceNet and ControlNet – The free (un-activated) version of RSNetworx is a limited node variation of the full package. For RSNetwrox for Devicenet, your network can only contain node0 to 6, making it only useful with small systems. Alternate Link for RSNetworx for Devicenet 4.21

9) RSView32 Extensions and Resource Kit – Free software download for RSView32 including several versions of RecipePro, Messenger, SPC, TrendX, and the RSView32 Resource Kit.

Free DTAM Software Available From Spectrum Controls

A few years ago Spectrum Controls took over the DTAM products from Rockwell Automation, and they now provide the DTAM programming software free on their website.

10) DPS – DTAM Programming Software – Programming Software for the DTAM Plus and Micro (2707-NP) available from the Spectrum Controls for free after you provide your contact information here.

That completes the list of free Allen-Bradley, Rockwell Software, and Rockwell Automation software we’re highlighting in this two part article.

If you know of other free software from Rockwell and would like to share the link with our readers please feel free to click on the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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Free Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Automation software (part 1)

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 22, 2013

Rockwell Automation and Allen-Bradley Free Software Downloads Link

Rockwell Automation has a reputation of charging for their PLC programming software, and that’s true for most of the packages that program their Programmable Controllers.

However, RA does make several software packages available free of charge, and I’ll detail those over the next two days.

Click here for the second part of this article

We’ll start at the Rockwell Software Downloads page’s “Free Downloads” link, where several packages are available.

Below I’ll highlight those which I believe are the most useful:

1) Connected Components Workbench (CCW) free programming software for the Micro800, PowerFlex, and PanelView Component:

This free software is three programming packages in one.

First and foremost, this is the software package you use to program Rockwell’s Micro800 family of programmable controllers.

But it also contains the Allen-Bradley PanelView Component programming software, as well as a new editor to configure Rockwell Automation drives, including the new PowerFlex 525.

Version 4 has so many new features that I would highly recommend upgrading to it if you have a previous version.

As CCW requires a fairly current version of RSLinx and ControlFlash, both are included in this large download which you can find using this link:

https://www.rockwellautomation.com/global/support/connected-components/workbench.page?

You can also obtain this software on DVD via an online form here, or from most Rockwell Automation and RA Authorized Distributor offices.

2) ViewME Transfer Utility 6.1 (under free downloads) free upload / download transfer tool for the PanelView Plus.

This utility allows you to upload and download runtime files (.mer) to and from PanelView Plus terminals.

While it comes with all versions of FactoryTalk ViewStudio, is it also freely available here in the downloads section.

Please note, while this utility does require RSLinx Enterprise and FactoryTalk Applications Platform, both are included in this download which you’ll find after selecting “Free Downloads”

3) RSLinx Classic Lite

The latest version of RA’s communication driver used with most of it’s products is now easier to download than ever before.

Why would you need to update RSLinx Classic Lite?

Updates are often required when new versions of existing products, or completely new products, are released.

4) RSLogix Emulate 500

UPDATE 10/31/2017: New procedure can be found at TheAutomationBlog.com/MLD

The processor emulation software for SLC-500 and MicroLogix is now free!

This package allows you to select an .RSS program and run it in emulation mode.

You can also monitor the running code with RSLogix 500 or RSLogix Micro.

Next we move on to the MicroLogix Downloads Page for the following packages:

5) RSLogix Micro Starter Lite

UPDATE 10/31/2017: New procedure can be found at TheAutomationBlog.com/MLD

The free RSLogix Micro Starter Lite programming software, which replaces the older RSLogix 500 Starter 10 point MicroLogix edition, programs a much wider range of MicroLogix products.

Whereas the old free software only programmed the 10 Point MicroLogix 1000, this new free package now programs all MicroLogix 1000’s and MicroLogix 1100’s.

6) RSLogix Emulate 6.0

UPDATE 10/31/2017: New procedure can be found at TheAutomationBlog.com/MLD

Here again you can download the processor emulation for SLC-500 and MicroLogix for free.

Note: You may get a nuisance error about the registry but the software will run fine.

7) MicroLogix Program Download Utility (and more)

UPDATE 10/31/2017: New procedure can be found at TheAutomationBlog.com/MLD

This utility allows you to download an existing program to a MicroLogix without the need for any version of RSLogix.

Just follow the steps to get RSLogix Micro Starter Lite and you see this and other utilities available to download.

Lite Full Version Of Drive Explorer Software Free From The Drive Explorer page at AB.com

8) ~~Drive Explorer Full Edition~~ Drive Explorer Lite Edition

Update: Rockwell has removed the Drive Explorer full edition download but the lite version can still be downloaded HERE.

~~From the A-B Drives Explorer page here you can download a free copy of Drive Explorer Full, used for programming most of RA’s VFD’s prior to the PowerFlex 525.~~

In the past, Rockwell only offered Drive Explorer Lite for free, but with the release of CCW Rockwell has ended support for Drive Explorer and has posted the full version as freeware on it’s website.

Free Software Available To The Public In The Rockwell Knowledgebase:

9) ~~SLC-100 / SLC-150 Programming Software~~

Update, July 2022: See my new video about how to get the A-B and Icom Software and Manuals:
– SLC-100/150 Programming Software

Update, December 2020: Rockwell has removed this Tech Note 🙁

Update: Rockwell has now locked this answer so only those with a Tech Connect can view it and download the software.

~~These old PLC’s are surprisingly durable, and Rockwell has made this old 386 and DOS based programming software available free to the public here.~~

~~Note: You will need to log into the RA Knowledgebase to access this download, but you can setup an account for free.~~

Note: While there are other packages available for free in the knowledgebase, they require a paid support contract and therefore I won’t be listing them here as they are not free for the public to download.

That’s it for part one of this article, but please check back tomorrow for part two (click here to view) in which I’ll list several more free software packages from Allen-Bradley, Rockwell Software, and Rockwell Automation.

In the mean time, if you’ve used any of the above packages, or are just happy to have found where to get them for free, please don’t hesitate to click on the “post a comment or question” link below to let us know!

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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How to get Rockwell Software (RS) And Allen-Bradley (A-B) Replacement Activations and Activation Support:

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 17, 2013

Rockwell Automation Tech Support Homepage

What are Activations?

“Activation” is a broad term used to describe the copy protection mechanism Rockwell Automation (RA) uses for its Rockwell Software products. In years past, the activation method involved using Activation Floppy Disks, but today all the Rockwell Automation software products that use activation have moved to FactoryTalk activation which is similar to Microsoft Windows activation.

How do I get replacement activations, or support getting activations working?

When you or your company purchased your Rockwell Software, for each package you purchased you received one license. This license does not have an expiration date, and RA understands that if you can’t get the activation working, you can’t use your software. With that in mind, even if you don’t have a support contract with RA, you can still get activation support and activation replacements in the below ways:

Telephone activation support

- Typically the fastest method to resolve an activation issue or get an activation reset, Rockwell’s activation support hotline can be reached by calling: 440-646-3434 and following the prompts for activation support

Internet activation support via “Live Chat”

- To access the Rockwell support page that hosts their “chat” system, you’ll first need to log in to their website.
- If you don’t have an account, you can register for free.
- Both the “Log In” and “Sign Up” options are at the top right of the RA Support Homepage – https://rockwellautomation.custhelp.com/

- Once you are logged in, click on the ~~“Chat live”~~ “Chat Online” link:
- From there, select the “Activations” option under “Topics,” then press ~~“Submit Request.”~~ “Chat Now.” This should launch a popup “chat” window in which you will soon be able to ask your activation questions of an RA support tech.

Hopefully the above information will make it clear anyone who owns a Rockwell Automation software product can get free activation support and replacements either via phone or internet chat.

With that said, if you’ve tried either means we’d love to hear how it went. Just use the “post a comment or question” link below to let us know your thoughts.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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How to get Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) Manuals and Documentation: Part 2

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 16, 2013

Getting hard physical copies of manuals and documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software products:

Click here to read part one of this article

Yesterday we discussed how to get electronic copies of Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) manuals and documentation. But what happens if you’re looking to get a physical copy of a manual? For this you’ll need to contact either your local Rockwell Automation office or your local RA authorized distributor.

Both RA offices and their distributors have access to a literature ordering system which allows them to order a limited number of complimentary printed copies of the most popular manuals. Unfortunately not every manual is available, and occasionally certain manuals become unavailable as they are being updated. But the ability to get free physical copies of reference manuals, like the programming instruction reference and user’s manuals is a much appreciated service Rockwell Automation still provides its customers.

Major types of documentation available for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software products:

To round out this topic, I’ll list below the major types of documentation available for most RA products:

Brochure: Typically a glossy full color flyer about the product with pictures and highlights about the products features.
Product Profile: Usually shorter and more abridged version of a brochure, often times only on page.
Catalog: In years past all major RA products segments had their own catalog, but these days they are typically reserved for industrial components.
Selection Guide / System Overview: These documents replace the classic catalog and detail all the products and accessories for a particular product family. The selection guide is typically the document you’ll need to pick out components when building a system bill of materials.
Installation Instructions / Data: These small documents come in most hardware boxes and typically cover how to mount and wire the device.
Technical / Product Data: In the past these we short versions of manuals which also contained much of the information found in the installation instructions. More recently they have become collections of technical details of the product including certifications and specifications.
Getting Started Guides: These are typically short documents which come in some software packages and cover installation basics, but longer more in-depth versions on various products are also available.
Quick Starts: Similar to Getting Stated Guides, quick start guides usually have step by step instructions on how to implement a product.
User’s Manual: These are often the one document you need to implement a product. Occasionally, important information is left out of the users manuals and can only be found in either the Installation Instructions, Technical Data, or online Knowledge Base.
Reference Manual: In-depth manuals popular in the Programmable Controller category detailing programming instruction sets.
Programming Manual: These documents exist for the older products and compliment the Hardware Manual for the same product. They covered how to connect to and program the product, typically minus details on the instruction set.
Hardware / Installation and Operation Manual: Another document for older products, they complimented the Programming Manual for the same product. They covered how to install sand troubleshoot the hardware.

Click here to read part one of this article

I hope this information about how to obtain a physical hard copy of documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software was helpful. If you’re someone who prefers to have certain manuals in “physical” form, or have a “go to” manual you use on a regular basis, please consider sharing it with us using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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How to get Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) Manuals and Documentation: Part 1

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 15, 2013

When using new products from Allen-Bradley or Rockwell Software, you’ll likely need to refer to the product documentation and manuals for product details. And if you still have the box the product came in, you’ll often find an installation manual or guide inside.

While these short documents do contain helpful information on how to wire or install the product, they typically don’t contain enough information on their own to allow new users to successfully implement the product. And often times these “in the box” documents are discarded with the original packaging long before they’re actually needed.

Note: You can watch a video on using Rockwell’s Literature Library in our companion video blog HERE.

Update 10/31/2017: Over the years Rockwell has dramatically changed the look of their Literature Library, however much of the information in this article is still valid.

Getting Electronic Manuals and Documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software Products:

The good news is you can find electronic copies of most all Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software manuals and technical documents on Rockwell Automation’s “Literature Library” website shown below:

To access this website you can use the short URL, AB.com/literature, which will redirect you to the new longer URL, http://literature.rockwellautomation.com

Searching the literature library for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software manuals and documentation:

There are two main ways in which you can use RA’s Literature Library to find the documents you need. First, you can use the Products tab to browse the product categories until you find the product you’re interested in. Just select the product category, and sub-category if available, and you’ll be taken to a listing of all available electronic publications for that category.

For example, below is the listing you’ll be presented with if you selected the Programmable Controls category, and then selected the MicroLogix 1100 sub-category:

The other way to find documents is to use the search field on the right side of the page. Just enter in a Keyword, Product Description, Catalog Number, or Publication Number and press search, and the site will return a list of results based on the information you entered.

Below are the results I received when I searched on “CompactLogix:”

Downloading manuals and documentation for Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software:

Once you find the publication you’re interested in, you could just click on the PDF image and view the document in your browser, but I wouldn’t recommend that as it often takes very long to load the document inside your web browser. Instead, right click on the PDF symbol and (in Internet Explorer) chose “Save Target As” to save the document to a convenient location on your computer.

Note: If you’re using a different web browser, the right click menu will be slightly different. For instance, in FireFox the right click menu item you would chose would be “Save Link As.”

By convenient, I mean someplace you can remember and get to quickly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat around while a client spent much more time looking for a document he had just downloaded than it took to download the document in the first place. As for me, I typically choose a new folder on my desktop for easy and instant access to the document. Then later, if I don’t want to file it in my document storage folder, I just drop it into the recycle bin.

Hopefully the above information on obtaining electronic copies of Allen-Bradley and Rockwell Software manuals was helpful. Tomorrow I’ll discuss how to get hard physical copies of these manuals, as well as discuss the different types of documentation available.

Click here to read part two of this article

In the meantime, if you have an A-B or RS document you use on a regular basis please consider sharing it with us using the “post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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Transferring Software Registration of Allen-Bradley (A-B) and Rockwell Software (RS) products

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 10, 2013

Rockwell Automation Transfer Registration Menu Item

Occasionally a Contractor, System Integrator (SI,) or Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) will provide programming software to their end customer, but forget to register it to them. When this happens the end user doesn’t get any product notices sent to owners of that package. They also don’t get activation or technical support since they aren’t registered with Rockwell as registered user.

Note: You can listen to our podcast about transferring software registration HERE.

But if you ever run into this situation there’s an easy fix. Rockwell provides an simple web form which the currently registered user (often times the Contractor, SI or OEM who sold the package) can use to transfer the registration of the package in question from himself to the end user. And, if your the end user and all you have is the serial number of the software package, Rockwell can look it up in their system and put you in contact with the currently registered user so you may request of them that they transfer the software they sold your company into your companies name.

If you need to transfer a software package registered to yourself to your end customer, you start by navigating to the software registration transfer for accessible from https://activate.rockwellautomation.com/

Once this page loads, click on the “Transfer Software Registration” link on the bottom of the menu on the left side of the screen:

Update 10/30/2017: The link has been renamed, “Update contact information or transfer software registration” and can be directly accessed here:

https://activate.rockwellautomation.com/TransferRegistration

When the form appears, fill in the following information:

– Enter in the software serial number, or serial numbers separated by commas.

– Enter in the currently registered user’s information including Company, Contact, and Address information.

– Enter in the information of who the software is being transferred to, including Company, Contact, and Address information.

Update 10/30/2017: The web-form has changed and no longer looks like the below.

When you’ve filled in all the required fields, press “send registration.” If all the contact information is correct, in a few days the software will be re-registered to the company and contact you listed in the “Transfer To” section.

Hopefully you’ll find the process as simple and easy as I’ve described above (and experienced several times myself.) And if you’ve ever needed to use the process before we’d love to hear how it went. Or, if you ever ran into a Rockwell software registration transfer issue, we’d also like to hear about those. In either case you can leave your comments below using the “post a comment or question” link.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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View Studio – Alarms: How to Edit or Create Large Numbers of Messages Quickly

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 9, 2013

When you have hundreds or even thousands of alarm messages to add to your FactoryTalk View Machine Edition (View ME) project, this little trick can be really helpful.

To start, enter a few alarm messages of each type you’ll need into the View ME Alarm Setup Message Editor to act as your template. Then click on the top left hand corner of the alarm messages table to select the entire table:

Now right click on row one of the table and select copy:

Next, open MS Excel and a worksheet. Then right click on cell A1 and select Paste.

Delete the row, and then edit, copy, or duplicate your alarm message rows to create as many new alarm messages of each type as you need. Note: If you add new Triggers you’ll need to manually create those in FactoryTalk View Machine Edition.

When you’re ready to bring the new messages back into View ME, select and copy them (right click and select copy, or use the home menu – copy option)

Now back in View ME’s Alarm Setup Message Editor, right click on the unassigned row and select paste:

At this point you’ll see your new alarms in View ME’s Alarm Setup Message Editor, and after creating any new Alarm Triggers you may need you’ll want to press OK to save your work.

Hopefully you’ll find this simple little trick of using MS Excel to edit and create large numbers of Alarm Messages for View ME is helpful. If you have any experience with this means of creating alarm messages, or use the XML import/export feature, we’ve really like to hear from you by way of the ““post a comment or question” link below.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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ControlLogix, CompactLogix – How to test the loading of Non-Volatile memory

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 5, 2013

RSL5K Controller Properties with Nonvolatile Memory Tab Circled

RSL5K Controller Properties Non-Volatile Memory Settings

Similar to other Allen-Bradley PLC’s, the CompactLogix and ControlLogix Controllers give you three options for loading the Controller’s memory “image” from non-volatile memory (CompactFlash, SD, etc.) These “load modes” are “User Initiated,” “On Power Up,” and “On Corrupt Memory.” Below I’ll walk you through how to test each of these modes, of which “On Corrupt Memory” is the trickiest.

Note: You can listen to our companion podcast about loading of Non-Volatile memory HERE.

To test the “Load Mode” of “User Initiated” follow these steps:

In this test you’ll download a program to the Controller’s memory, and then transfer it to the non-volatile memory with a load mode of “User Initiated.” Next, you’ll download a different program to the Controller’s memory to prove you can overwrite it by manually reloading the original program back from non-volatile memory.

Using RSLogix 5000, download a program to the Controller, go online and insure the Controller is in program mode.
Open the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
Change the “Load Image” setting to “User Initiated” and press the “Store” button to transfer Controller’s memory image to Non-Volatile memory.
When the transfer is done, go back online with the Controller and download a program different from the one you used in step 1.
Cycle power to the Controller, go online, and verify the second program you downloaded in step 4 is still present in the Controller’s memory.
Open the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
Press the “Load” button to transfer Non-Volatile memory to Controller’s memory.
Go online with the Controller once more and verify the program in Controller memory is now the original program downloaded in step 1.

To test the “Load Mode” of “On Power Up” follow these steps:

In this test you’ll download a program to the Controller’s memory, then transfer it to the non-volatile memory with a load mode of “On Power Up.” Next, you’ll download a different program to the Controller’s memory to prove when you cycle power to the Controller it loads the original program from non-volatile memory.

Using RSLogix 5000, download a program to the Controller, go online and insure the Controller is in program mode.
Open the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
Change the “Load Image” setting to “On Power Up” and then press the “Store” button to transfer Controller’s memory image to Non-Volatile memory.
When the transfer is done, go back online with the Controller and download a program different than the one you used in step 1.
Cycle Power, go back online, and verify the first program has been reloaded on power up from Non-Volatile Memory.

The third and final “Load Mode” is “On Corrupt Memory” which can be a little tricky to test, but these steps should make it easier:

In this test you’ll download a program to the Controller’s memory, then transfer it to the non-volatile memory with a load mode of “On Corrupt Memory.” Next, you’ll reset the Controller to erase it’s memory to prove when you cycle power to the Controller and it detects no valid program that it loads the original program from the non-volatile memory.

Using RSLogix 5000, download a program to the Controller, go online, and insure the Controller is in program mode.
Open the “Controller Properties” window and select the “Nonvolatile Memory” tab.
Change the “Load Image” setting to “On Power Up” and then press the “Store” button to transfer Controller memory to Non-Volatile memory.
After the “store” process is complete, turn off the Controller and remove the non-volatile memory card (CompactFlash, SD, etc.)
To erase the program from the Controllers memory, follow step 6 if your controller has a battery, or step 7 if it does not:
For Controllers with a battery: Remove the battery and turn the Controller back on.
For Controllers without a battery: Turn power on while pressing and holding the “default comms” button below the key switch
Reconnect to the Controller and verify the original program is no longer loaded, and that the Controller has loaded the default blank program.
Note on step 8: When the Controller powers on and finds no program in memory, and no non-volatile memory, it loads a default blank program. This program is not considered invalid or corrupt which is why step 10 has you erasing the Controller’s memory again after you reinstall the non-volatile memory. Also note that if you try to connect to the Controller when it has the default blank program loaded you’ll find you can’t go online unless you download an RSLogix 5000 program.
Install the non-volatile memory card from step 3, and repeat steps 5-7 to erase the default blank program in the Controller’s memory to simulate a new out of box or corrupt memory condition
Reconnect to the Controller and verify the original program (stored to non-volatile memory in step 2) has been loaded back into the Controller’s memory after the Controller found no valid program in memory on power up.

Have you ever needed to test your non-volatile memory? Do you have additional thoughts or comments on the above procedures? If you do, please share them below using the “post a comment or question” link.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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ControlLogix, CompactLogix – Why your Controller’s Real Time Clock (DateTime) may be a few hours off

By

Shawn Tierney

-

July 2, 2013

A client recently called frustrated that the real time clock in his CompactLogix processor was always off by 4 hours. While I had heard this complaint in the past, since I hadn’t run into it myself I needed to do a little research to understand what this client was experiencing.

I found that prior to RSLogix 5000 version 16, using a GSV (“get system variable”) instruction to read the Controller’s WallClockTime object’s “DateTime” attribute was a popular way to get the actual time into Program or Controller tags. I also found that prior to v16 there had been no support for Time Zones (TZ) or Daylight Savings Time (DST.)

Note: You can listen to our companion podcast about why your Logix clock may be off a few hours HERE.

Then in RSLogix 5000 version 16 Rockwell added support for Time Zones (TZ) and Daylight Savings Time (DST,) both of which act as offsets from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When creating a new program, or importing an older program, the software defaults these new settings to zero which allows programmers to continue to use the “DateTime” attribute as they always had, without any consideration of the new TZ and DST settings.

However, many programmers began to enable the TZ and DST settings inadvertently when using the “Set Time” button in Controller Properties. In v16 and later this button not only sets the Controller’s clock to match the PC’s date and time, but also sets the Controller’s clock to match the PC’s TZ and DST settings.

Interesting enough, if you enable TZ and DST in my region, the result is a UTC offset of -5 for the Eastern Time Zone, and +1 for Daylight Savings Time, which combined gives you a UTC offset of -4, or exactly how much time my customer’s Controller was off.

The reason for this was that, with the Time Zone (TZ) and Daylight Savings Time (DST) settings in effect, the “DateTime” attribute no longer represented the current time, but instead represented UTC. So if you’re going to use the new TZ and DST settings, the “DateTime” attribute isn’t going to be of much use for representing local time.

Fortunately, when Rockwell introduced support for TZ and DST in v16 they also added a new WallClockTime object class attribute, “LocalDateTime.” This new attribute does take into account the controller’s TZ and DST settings, and provides an accurate representation of local time.

To demonstrate this, I created the program pictured in this article with uses GSV instructions to read both the WallClockTime’s “DateTime” attribute as well as it’s “LocalDateTime” attribute. Running the program with the Controller’s clock set to match my PC’s settings of a -5 Time Zone and DST on (as my client did) shows that the “DateTime” attribute will indeed be -4 hours from the “LocalDateTime.”

Have you run into the above issue? Do you have additional thoughts on this topic? If you do, please share them below using the “post a comment or question” link.

UPDATE: You can hear Shawn’s thoughts on “Why your ControlLogix time may be off a few hours” in Episode 6 of The Automation Podcast HERE.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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The case for virtualization: Does using VMWare or other virtualization software make sense?

By

Shawn Tierney

-

June 18, 2013

VMware9 on Windows 7 running virtual images of Windows 7 and Windows XP — Click on the above image to see our previous coverage on Virtual Machines

Have you ever installed a new program only to find an older program no longer works? Have you ever had the need to run two versions of the same program, but only one version can be installed at a time? Have you ever dreaded getting a new PC because of the time required to reinstall all the software you need to do your job?

Well, if you’re like me you’ve run into all of these issues! But if you’re willing to try something new (virtualization) you could say goodbye to them for good.

Note: You can listen to our podcast about virtualization HERE, or watch the first of our video series on virtualization HERE.

Virtualization software, like VMware’s Workstation product, allows you to run multiple “images” of “virtual PCs” on top of your existing “host” PC. It gives you the power to create as many of these virtual PC’s as you need, and once you have them running just right you have the ability to take “snapshots” to preserve the exact state of your virtual system which you can roll back to if something goes horribly wrong in the future.

You also have the ability to “clone” your virtual PC’s to allow for multiple running copies of the same operating system, on which you can install different versions of your applications. And when your new company computer finally arrives, to make the migration you’ll only need to install your virtualization software and copy your (albeit large) virtual PC images to your new PC. Your new system will be ready in minutes versus hours, and you’ll have avoided spending long periods watching installation progress bars slowly creep across the screen.

While all those benefits are appealing, there’s another more pressing reason for virtualization in industrial automation: the inability to get modern PC’s to run legacy operating systems. If you’re not familiar with industrial automation, hardware devices in this segment are designed to run for decades – well past the point that contemporary PC operating systems (like Microsoft Windows) are available and supported.

However, these hardware devices (like PLC’s, HMI’s and Drives) run mission critical systems like your local fresh water plant, power station, bridges, and even amusement park rides. So relying on a 25 year old PC and its hard drive can be quite risky. One false move climbing a staircase, or working near leaky pipes, and your antique Compaq Portable PC from the 80’s will be on it’s way to the dumpster leaving you with no way to connect to and maintain your legacy automation control systems.

But with virtualization, running every previous version of Windows (or DOS) isn’t a problem. In fact, with many virtualization software packages you can make a virtual image of an existing host PC. And hardware incompatibilities are a thing of the past as the virtual PC hardware has been specifically designed to work with all previous versions of popular operating systems.

So whether you maintain legacy systems, have the need to run multiple OS’s and software versions, or are fortunate enough to receive regular computer hardware updates, virtualization can go a long way to solving software and hardware compatibility issues as well as greatly reduce the time you spend installing or re-installing software.

Do you have an opinion on virtualization in general, or on specific virtualization software like VMware? If you do, please share your comments with us below using the “post a comment or question” link below.

UPDATE: You can hear Shawn’s thoughts on “virtualization” in Episode 5 of The Automation Podcast HERE.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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View Studio Site Edition – Alarm and Events: Resolving an Area Issue

By

Shawn Tierney

-

March 6, 2013

Fresh Water Plant Under Construction Featured Image

A good client recently asked me to visit a site with him to help troubleshoot an odd issue he was having with FactoryTalk Alarm and Events. The site had redundant high-end Dell servers, each with FactoryTalk View Site Edition Server, RSLinx Enterprise, and FactoryTalk Alarm and Events running in redundant configurations.

My client had designed the application with each software service (FTVSE, RSLE, and FTAE) in their own areas, much like you see Rockwell do in RSTechED Labs, View SE samples, and on the Rockwell Knowledgebase.

Strangely though, after running in this configuration for several weeks some of the binary “BITS” in certain arrays stopped triggering FTAE alarms, even though the same BITs were correctly animating graphic objects. Stranger still, other BITS in the very same DINTS still continued to trigger FTAE alarms…?

The only way the engineers found to get these non-responsive alarm BITS to work again was to copy their existing alarm definitions into new alarm definitions. When this was done the new alarm definition would work, albeit in most cases only for a limited number of days. This behavior also followed the project when it was copied from the server and run on the engineering laptop.

We spent much of the morning on the phone with Rockwell Tech Support, and tried many different product software patches and settings, but nothing we tried resolved the issue. It was at this point I recommended we move the FTAE server into the same area as the RSLinx Enterprise server. It was a stretch to be sure, as I could find no documentation stating this is how the system should be designed. In fact, I found many examples of FTAE in being located it’s own area. But as soon as we made this change all the alarms which previously had stop working began to work.

If you’ve run into a similar problem, or can add some insight to the above situation, please use the below “post a comment or question” link to add your comments to this article.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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Point I/O – Large rack communication issue

By

Shawn Tierney

-

February 15, 2013

I was recently called into a “consumer goods” plant to look at a communication problem with Point I/O. The night before I was told all the Point I/O, which had been successfully tested overseas, was no longer working. However, when I arrived on-site the problem was limited to just four of the many racks.

The on-site engineer described the problem as a lack of communications between the Point I/O and ControlLogix. The symptoms included flashing red network indicators on the Point I/O adapters, and error messages displayed in the RSLogix 5000 I/O tree. Initially they suspected the Point I/O Ethernet adapters had failed, but when they were swapped with known good units the problem persisted. They then called Rockwell Tech Support and were told (among other things) that they needed additional 1734-EP24DC power modules based on the vertical installation of the Point I/O, but even with the additional modules installed the problem remained.

It was at this time they began to consider the large number of I/O modules in the Point I/O racks not communicating. Each of these racks had forty or more Point I/O modules, several more than the many working racks. To test the theory that the problem had to do with the number of I/O modules, they re-sized one of the racks down to 34 modules, changed the RSLogix 5000 program to match, and when they put the system back into run mode the new smaller configuration worked.

Below is a picture of the Point I/O rack mentioned above with several modules removed to reduce it’s size to 34 modules (the picture is rotated horizontally to better fit on this page:)

Next, we headed to the engineering office to join a pre-scheduled conference call with Tech Support. After introductions were made and the history of the situation was repeated, Tech Support began going down their list of likely causes.

When the question of firmware arose, the customer said they didn’t upgrade any firmware because the Rockwell Compatibility Website clearly showed which firmware was compatible with which versions, and that the newest firmware for the Point I/O adapter module and the 1756-EN2T Ethernet Bridge Module (acting as the Ethernet I/O Scanner) were not compatible with the version of RSLogix5000 they were using on this project.

It was at this point when a Tech Support lead, who was new to this situation, spoke up. He informed the customer and techs that they had been misreading the compatibility site and that the versions listed are not the “compatible version,” but the “lowest compatible version” (we later went back and confirmed that the compatibility website does not state anything of the sort.) He also went on to say that they must upgrade the firmware, especially on the 1756-EN2T, because it is a known issue that it will not communicate to racks of Point I/O with forty or more I/O modules without the latest firmware.

The old Dual Port Ethernet Device issue with Single Port Ethernet Devices.

When Rockwell released it’s new products with dual Ethernet ports, I began to receive calls from customers using these new products to communicate with the older single port devices. What they would experience, and I confirmed in the lab, was the single port remote Ethernet I/O would repeatedly connect and disconnect from the parent PLC if a new dual port Ethernet device was being used as the master/scanner. The fix for this condition was to simply flash the firmware on the new dual port Ethernet device to the latest version, which also turns out to be the same fix for the above problem with large remote racks of Ethernet Point I/O.

If you’ve run into similar Ethernet I/O issues, or would like to add your own insights to the above, please use the below “post a comment or question” link to add your comments to this article.

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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Welcome to “Insights in Automation”

By

Shawn Tierney

-

January 28, 2013

Shawn Tierney at Worcester Water Trade Show 2002

Here you’ll find thoughtful insight into the world of industrial automation, including solutions to common (and not so common) problems, “how to” information, and first hand reports from my time in the field working with controls engineers implementing PLC, HMI, SCADA and MES solutions.

Please feel free to join in the conversation by taking advantage of this site’s “post a comment or question” feature at the bottom of each article, or get in touch with me directly by using the site’s “contact” form.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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RSView32 Water Bottling Demo

By

Shawn Tierney

-

February 28, 2005

This RSView32 project is an updated version of my famous old Juice Bottling demo.

It was updated to simulate a portion of a water bottling plant for the purpose of providing data for RSSQL, Historian, and PlantMetrics.

New in this demo is a Labeler and Printer.

Requirements:

RSView32 Version: 7.0
Additional Requirements: 1024×768
I/O Size: 0
File Size: ?.?MB
Uploaded on: 02/28/05
Developed By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download link: Shawn’s RSView32 Horizon Water Bottling Demo

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

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Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

RSLogix 500 Program for PanelBuilder32 Demo Compilation

By

Shawn Tierney

-

March 16, 2004

RSLogix-500-Program-for-PanelView-Demo-Compilation-Fi

This SLC-500 project was compiled from four separate ladder programs, each independently developed for four PanelView projects.

Requirements:

RSLogix 500 Version: 6.0
Additional Requirements: None
File Size: 60 kb
Uploaded on: 03/16/04
Modified By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: SLC-500 Program for PanelBuilder32 Demo Compilation

Note: The accompanying PanelBuilder32 file can be found here

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

(no views)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com

PanelBuilder32 Demo Compilation Project

By

Shawn Tierney

-

March 16, 2004

This PanelBuilder project is the “compilation” of 3 Rockwell projects and my own “Providence Beer” application.

The Rockwell applications include the standard PanelView product and features demo, as well as the factory’s slot machine and black jack apps

Note: The demo appears to cheat at Black Jack.

Requirements:

PanelBuilder32 Version: 3.80
Additional Requirements: None
File Size: 296 kb
Uploaded on: 03/16/04
Modified By: Shawn Michael Tierney

Download Link: Shawn’s PanelView Demo Compilation.zip

Note: The accompanying RSLogix 500 file can be found here

Until next time, Peace ✌️

If you enjoyed this content, please give it a Like, and consider Sharing a link to it as that is the best way for us to grow our audience, which in turn allows us to produce more content 🙂

Shawn M Tierney
Technology Enthusiast & Content Creator

Support our work and gain access to hundreds members only articles and videos 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.

Author
Recent Posts

Shawn Tierney

Shawn Tierney is a lifelong Technology Enthusiast who began programing in the early 80's on the Apple II and VIC-20 personal computers. After earning a degree in Electronics, he worked as a Certified Controls and Information Automation Specialist for 25 years before launching The Automation Blog and School in 2013.

Latest posts by Shawn Tierney (see all)

A.I. Tech Talk with Emil Soerensen of Kapa.ai (12/04/25) - December 4, 2025
Innovation Summit Las Vegas 2025 Recap (P254) - December 3, 2025
New Features of Ignition 8.3 with Travis Cox (S2E37) - December 2, 2025

(no views)

Note: This article was previously posted on the author's original websites, www.ShawnMichael.com and www.ShawnMTierney.com