# Best practice to handle many softwares in Laptop



## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

If those softwares are used often then I would make a folder on the desktop and move all those shortcuts for the programs into it.


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## oliquir (Jan 13, 2011)

some software loads a lot of drivers, virtuals ports,, (AB and siemens are the worst for that), you can install them in the same windows but i would disable their service by default and enable them only when needed. or install one windows for each brand. i have seen laptop with about 30-40 of different plc softwares and it takes 5 mimutes to load and gives a lot errors/confilct between softwares


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

I use a front end from GE called Proficy Change Management that calls whatever program is needed to launch a particular PLC program. Makes dealing with the individual software products (and remembering which one to use) seamless and invisible. Does all your automatic backups, keeps a revision history, etc.

You can almost get rid of drive exec and drive explorer if your drives are plc connected and just install the drives AOP's and talk to them right from Logix.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Upgrade your A-B software to Studio 5000, it will eliminate the need for 3 through 9. Logix 5 and 500 are likely so seldom used now, I would put them on a VMWare virtual machine, which you might need now anyway because I don't think 5 is compatible with Windows 8 and above. You will also need CCW now if you want to use the Micro800 PLCs, but it too eliminates the need for Drive Exec and Drive Explorer, so long as you are not trying to work on old 1336 or 1305 drives. If you are, those should be scrapped and replaced anyway, they are no longer supported.


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## sparkiez (Aug 1, 2015)

RSLogix 5000 1-13 needs to be on a Windows XP VM. Those softwares do NOT like anything above XP due to some compatability issues. I had to deal with that when doing firmware upgrades.

I would put RSLogix 500 on the XP virtual machine

RSLogix 5000 13-21 on a Windows 7 Virtual Machine.

RSLogix 5000 21 and above can all go on a windows 10 machine, or into a VM if you prefer

Put your various PLC software manufactures in their own VM's. You can make one base VM, install the updates, then just make a copy for each new VM.

The drives software can all go on the host OS, and I would suggest installing licensing servers on the host OS and pointing the guests to those licensing servers so that you don't need multiple licenses.

It takes a LOT of time, but keeps everything playing nicely together. It also requires a nice amount of disk space. I have a 1TB SSD in my laptop and a 512 M.12 SSD I run the OS from. It works quite well. You also would need a laptop with a dedicated graphics card, so you may have to modify the approach a bit (but you really do want to put RSLogix 500 on the windows XP machine with RSLogix 5000 1-13).


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## paulengr (Oct 8, 2017)

Run Linux such as Ubuntu for the base OS. Why? Better compatibility since all VM stuff uses a Linux core. Better performance too by far. Linux also freely does 64/32 bit mixing unlike Windoze. And doesn't hit you with hours of "don't shut off computer" or "starting up whenever I feel like it" locked up messages. It's not the So it of the internet either...no need for virus checkers, ever. If you run virtualization software it doesn't add a separate RHEL Linux core just to do it..It's native to the Linux cores.

Use a big (512 GB+) SSD. Use at least a core i5 processor.

Use Virtualbox. Why? Half the image sizes of VMWare and works better for non bare metal conditions. The early Sun bugs are gone too.

Keep each program in its own VM. Most PLC crap even from the same vendor is trouble.

Use XP or Win 7 32 bit. Win 7 64 bit in a VM is unstable. If you need 64 bit go to Win 10 IoT.

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk


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## ElectroBuff (Apr 8, 2018)

So much misinformation in this thread...

1. The absolute best way to manage the software packages you've mentioned is through a Rockwell managed server. They can install a Server instance which would host all the software with appropriate licenses. Each technician at the plant would then get access to the server from which they can launch any of the software. This is done on many sites I've worked at and all I need is server info. Many companies have a private network which requires you to authenticate if you are off-site.

2. DO NOT use any Windows XP or Ubuntu (Linux) machines unless absolutely necessary (RSLogix 5000 v13 and lower); in 99% of the corporate environments, you will quickly get questioned by IT as it "poses a safety risk" since those are not supported. Rockwell has a list of which software is supported on which windows OS; use that as much as possible.

3. VMs are great for different packages. Even some of the RSLogix 5000 versions do not work well on the same machine (Below v12 does not like to be with 13+, etc.). Run separate VMs for different instances as needed.

Cheers


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