# Logix and Windows 10



## Jhellwig (Jun 18, 2014)

Oil and water. Just got told today that they will not be making rslogix 500 comparable with Windows 10 and that maybe Studio 5000 version 30 will be comparable. That is a bunch of baloney. Tons of other software is compatable yet Rockwell is trying to force a system upgrade.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

They all do that. QB is notorious for that also-- at one point they took away a feature I had in order to make me upgrade--sucks. Hell windows is the same


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## Jhellwig (Jun 18, 2014)

I was already having a hard time with v11 of 5000 not being compatable with 64bit architecture. We still have one Plc on that. I read now on the internet that some people are having problems and some aren't. Our head control guy said he was told it wasn't compatable so now they are trying to get it to roll my new computer back to Windows 7. What a pain.


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## LuckyLuke (Jun 1, 2015)

Jhellwig said:


> I was already having a hard time with v11 of 5000 not being compatable with 64bit architecture. We still have one Plc on that. I read now on the internet that some people are having problems and some aren't. Our head control guy said he was told it wasn't compatable so now they are trying to get it to roll my new computer back to Windows 7. What a pain.


Our laptops that have Rockwell software are all windows 7 still, sadly these companies are lazy and cheap and don't want to put out new releases. Flir still forces you to use 32bit MS Word with Tools+ software which is ridiculous. Rslogix 500 is a pretty old software package but ya we still use it almost daily as not all our customers want to upgrade everything, we finally replaced the last PLC5 unit they had last year :blink:


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

Kicking and screaming, they have to drag me kicking and screaming to upgrade/update anything. I will walk on hot coals before I do another update just because of policy.




I lost a job over an "update" that a customer wanted just because it was an update and their policy was to "update". Well, I downloaded the update and after a complete backup I installed their update. At least I attempted to. I downloaded the file from the manufacturer's website (a two hour ordeal) and ran it according to their "read me first" and addendum to read me first instructions. It got about halfway through the install crap and up pops *Insert disk 2*.

:blink:

Are you freakin kidding me!!! Disk 2? I haven't seen that since 3 1/2 floppy days! We re-downloaded the file, another two hours, and burned a disk with the complete update. This took three hours because their IT was involved now and they wanted a shot at it to see what I was doing wrong.

*They* started the download and just as before, *Insert disk2*.


The version they were at was not compatible with Sequel Server 2008 they had to *upgrade* to 2012 which cost them a ton of money on their enterprise system. 
:whistling2:

Then something kept killing the cameras knocking them offline, (but I could PING them and I could see the cameras and configure them with the proprietary camera software), :blink: and after effing with it for a complete day trying to reset cameras, defaulting them and reconfiguring the IP addresses I finally called tech support. It was a known bug and they gave me a file over email I had to insert into the coding script. 

After that it worked fine. :furious: Why The F didn't they fix their known bug before allowing any further downloads?

The time involved and the time I was sitting waiting for the damn downloads caused great tension between me and the client mostly because the IT department kept screaming into his ear. I kept my mouth shut though and gritted my teeth keeping a positive attitude. Even after the SOB's called my boss. He wasn't going to fire me but his lack of any kind of backing me up after reading my report and agreeing with me I had had enough and quit.

Best decision I've made in a long time.


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## Jhellwig (Jun 18, 2014)

They still don't even have slcs in the obsolescence plan. 

Dumb thing is I have the free micrologix on Windows 10 at home.


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## KennyW (Aug 31, 2013)

VMware solved all of these problems for me about 4 years ago...


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

There are, no kidding, over 250 Rockwell employees assigned ONLY to Windows operating systems compatibility and development. Over 100 of them are located AT MICROSOFT, mostly at their HQ in Redmond, WA, working on nothing but Win10 development.

The problem you DON'T see is that from a global standpoint, errors can cost Rockwell MILLIONS, and there are a LOT of systems out there, many of them "validated" meaning once it is done, it CANNOT be changed. It takes time to rewrite code, compile it, debug it, test it, verify it, validate it, fix problems, repeat ad nauseum because then MS releases a "Service Pack" for Windows... 

When MS announced that Win10 was coming, the sigh from the Rockwell team still working on Win7 compatibility was audible around the world. In my office, we just lost one of our best field programmers to that team when the Rockwell / MS program team expanded to having an office in Silicon Valley, because that's where MS has some of their best and brightest.


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## Darr (Aug 19, 2016)

Why not just choose *Windows 7* on the Compatibility tab of the shortcut's Properties?


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## DesignerMan (Jun 13, 2008)

Jhellwig said:


> Just got told today that they will not be making rslogix 500 comparable with Windows 10


That sucks!
I purchased a seat of the RSLogix Micro a few months ago and was looking forward to moving it to my better laptop that runs Windows 10.
Looks like I'm stuck with my old laptop and still paying a ridiculous yearly contract fee for software that is not truly being supported.


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## Jhellwig (Jun 18, 2014)

Darr said:


> Why not just choose *Windows 7* on the Compatibility tab of the shortcut's Properties?


??? Explain please. I have no idea what you are talking about.

Edit. Now I see. We can't even get that far. It won't install.


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## triden (Jun 13, 2012)

I have a VM for every kind of programming software. There is nothing better than drivers for all the PLC programs fighting each other on the same machine.....


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Jhellwig said:


> ??? Explain please. I have no idea what you are talking about.
> 
> Edit. Now I see. We can't even get that far. It won't install.


Yes, that's the problem, you have to be able to install it first.

In case you don't understand the references to 'VM", that's short for 'Virtual Machine". VMWare is a software program you can buy that installs under whatever operating system you have, and allows you to create a "Virtual Machine" on your PC, essentially a another PC _within _your PC. That other VM can then be configured as whatever operating system you want it to be; Win7, WinXP, WinNT, Win 3.0, Linux, even DOS (at least it used to, haven't tried in years). That VM then runs almost independently from your main OS, other than if you shut down the main OS, you shut down the VM too. It's the go-to solution for OS version incompatibilities. It's not free, but it's less expensive than buying another PC and if you end up with multiple required configurations, you link them all to VMWare instances, then make icons on your main desktop that launch them with one click. We do it even if the software is compatible (IT will not allow us to go to Win10 yet), because along with picking your OS, you can configure port assignments and other things that can give you headaches when you use the same machine for different tasks.

The only drawback is that you MUST be fastidious about your file storage discipline, which in the PLC programming world is a must-have skill anyway. I also find it helpful to turn off any applications that are running on the main OS first as well, because some will grab and hold on to port assignments, which gives you trouble right when you can tolerate it least.

If you get VMWare and nobody in your workplace already knows it well, I suggest bundling it with the training too.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Planned obsolescence, it comes down to making money from upgrades..


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## Jhellwig (Jun 18, 2014)

JRaef said:


> Yes, that's the problem, you have to be able to install it first.
> 
> In case you don't understand the references to 'VM", that's short for 'Virtual Machine". VMWare is a software program you can buy that installs under whatever operating system you have, and allows you to create a "Virtual Machine" on your PC, essentially a another PC _within _your PC. That other VM can then be configured as whatever operating system you want it to be; Win7, WinXP, WinNT, Win 3.0, Linux, even DOS (at least it used to, haven't tried in years). That VM then runs almost independently from your main OS, other than if you shut down the main OS, you shut down the VM too. It's the go-to solution for OS version incompatibilities. It's not free, but it's less expensive than buying another PC and if you end up with multiple required configurations, you link them all to VMWare instances, then make icons on your main desktop that launch them with one click. We do it even if the software is compatible (IT will not allow us to go to Win10 yet), because along with picking your OS, you can configure port assignments and other things that can give you headaches when you use the same machine for different tasks.
> 
> ...


I know there are several options on how to get around it but our IT doesn't work that way. It takes a blessing from God just to get administrative privileges on our computers just to be able to do several of the required tasks that need to be done in Rockwell software. Luckily our IT is still supporting windows 7 so they are going to roll it back to that.

It took me 6 months to get my email working when I started here. It took me a year to get a USB flash drive and the permissions to write to removable media and dissable bitlocker for removable media.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

The new trend that we were just told is taking effect immediately: No more USB flash drives are allowed to be connected to any work PCs. The next PCs they give us will supposedly not even have USB ports, although I find that hard to believe because we use them for other things too (like interfacing our cell phones). More likely they will install some sort of software that will not allow a USB thumb drive to be even looked at, let alone copied from.


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## Electrorecycler (Apr 3, 2013)

I just recently installed Logix500 and 5000 as well as Studio 5000 on my windows 10 computer. 500 and Studio 5000 ran without issue. Logix 5000 on the other hand, well, it installed but would produce a fatal exception error (unknown operating system, how 'bout that?) every time I tried to open it. After pounding my head against my desk for two days, I finally disabled Windows Defender and Logix 5000 finally worked. Now it works every time with or without defender running. Go figure.


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## gnuuser (Jan 13, 2013)

LARMGUY said:


> After that it worked fine. :furious: Why The F didn't they fix their known bug before allowing any further downloads?
> 
> .


called planned obsolescence and planned tech support.
ive seen this a lot and its expected with win-hosed based software.
forcing upgrade issues makes them more money as well.
calling out a tech for on-site support allows them to really @$$ rape your wallet
(example :the tech who services the code printers on the line gets in excess of 3,000 per machine, per-diam, and mileage )
many service functions are proprietary and cannot be done by our own people

you find this a lot with equipment bought under a procurement contract!
and far too many managers fail to understand them


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## oliquir (Jan 13, 2011)

thats why i still keep my old dell laptop with winxp and a real rs232 port, it is compatible with old dos software also (i still use lm90 ge fanuc one :laughing


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## sdgates (Nov 13, 2015)

Every company has to keep moving forward. RSLogix 500 is being phased out because RSLogix 5000/Studio 5000 is the bigger/better programming platform that they've been moving to for 15 years...

If companies didn't phase out software they would get blown away by the companies that are continually improving their PLCs and software.


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