TIA PORTAL V11 Virtual Machine

Hi,


Yesterday I decided to try to download a program to device using my virtual machine which runs Windows 7 Professional and TIA PORTAL V11 but unfortunately with no success.


The problem is that when I choose my network adapter from Online Access, there is no "Update Accessible Devices" button there. I tried from "Accessible Devices" button in the ribbon to choose the network adapter but it was missing there as well, only PLCSIM Adapter is available.


Next I went to the PG/PC Interface Settings and tried to choose the network Adapter with TCP/IP Auto setting. When I press on it and click OK, nothing is saved. Next time I open PG/PC Interface Settings the active adapter is S7ONLINE.


My virtual machine is Oracle Virtual Box version 6.1.24. In the Network Settings I chose Bridged Connection for Adapter 1 and the network adapter I selected is my PCIE adapter.
I read on the Internet and some people say something about duplication MAC Addresses, I am not sure if this correct though - two devices with the same MAC Address.


I have my laptop plugged into the router via LAN cable.
My Virtual Adapter in the host operating system has and IP 192.168.56.1 and my guest operating system has and IP 192.168.1.17 which is in my local network and I have Internet access. I can ping devices such as computers, routers etc. in my local network.


Do I have to change anything in the PG/PC Interface of my host operating system as well or should assign the MAC address of the virtual adapter in the host operating system to the network adapter of the guest operating system so that they are the same?


Please, see the attached pictures.


Best Regards
Konstantin Kolev

Have you connected to the device before from that VM?

Does the device have an IP address?

Is the network adapter on the PC wifi or cat 5/rj45?

The network settings for the virtual machine look's good.

Have you tried pinging the PLC from the virtual machine?

If yes, did you get a response?

drbitboy said:

Have you connected to the device before from that VM?

Does the device have an IP address?

Is the network adapter on the PC wifi or cat 5/rj45?

Click to expand...

No, this is the first time I am using a virtual machine with TIA PORTAL.

The network adapter is a PCIE LAN adapter with RJ45 connector.

The device has an IP but I do not remember it.

Yacineg said:

The network settings for the virtual machine look's good.

Have you tried pinging the PLC from the virtual machine?

If yes, did you get a response?

Click to expand...

Well, since I could not get the PG/PC Intergace to work, I decided to disconnect everything like PLCs and Drives from the local network and just have my laptop, one server and a router.
I can ping them all but have not tried to ping any PLC since I do not see it in TIA PORTAL.

Just to imply that the Windows 7 Professional in the virtual machine is in Russian(Cyrillic letters), and in front of the name of the adapter I have something like "Desktop Network Adapter" but translated in Russian with Cyrillic letters.

Could this be the reason for not remembering the selection in PG/PC Interface?
As you can see in the picture in TIA PORTAL there is some space in front of the name of the adapter.
I also have the same space area in front of name in the PG/PC Interface Settings.

My experience with TIA on VirtualBox (VB) was this:

• Device was a new S7-1214; no IP address
• VM setup
  • Host was Ubuntu Linux
    • A laptop with a WiFi network adapter
  • Guest was Windows 10
    • Bridged adapter
    • TIA V14, IIRC
  • I don't remember for certain, but I think I created ("Added?") the network device in TIA
    • There is some obscure menu/checkbox/whatever in TIA to do this.
    • It was tied to the bridged adapter, not to PLCSIM as OP shows
• TIA in the VirtuaBox VM Guest could not find the S7-1214
  • I used tcpdump (sniffing tool, like wireshark) to watch the Ethernet (not TCP/IP) packets
    • The S7-1214 did respond, but TIA in the guest VM never indicated it received those packets
    • I.e. the S7-1214 did not show up in the search results
      • I forget the actual menu/dialog where this was
• Solution:
  • I had a USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle device
  • In VirtualBox USB settings, I was able to reserve(?) that USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle for the VM Guest Windows 10 system
    • So the VM Guest Windows 10 system had direct access to the Ethernet LAN via that USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle,
  • TIA was able to connect to the S7-1214 on the LAN using the USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle
    • And I assigned an IP address, 192.168.1.214, to the S7-1214
  • Once the S7-1214 had an IP address, I was able connect TIA to the S7-1214, without the USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle, using the VM Guest bridged adapter and the VM Host WiFi adapter.

That's what happened to me; my brother had a similar setup (Ubuntu Linux VM Host; Win 10 VM Guest; Bridged and WiFi adapters), and was able to connect to the S7-1214 without and IP address normally.

I have since moved my TIA licenses to a Windows 10 desktop, with a wired Ethernet(RJ45) adapter, so I cannot test the setup anymore. aveat: everything above is from memory.

Check Task Manager inside the VM and kill any process related to PLCSIm. If Portal thinks PLCSim is running, it prevents use of other adapters.

A PCIE LAN adapter with an RJ45 connection is used as the network adapter.

I use VM all the time.
Use a USB Ethernet adapter.
No problem with NAT and so on….

drbitboy said:

My experience with TIA on VirtualBox (VB) was this:

• Device was a new S7-1214; no IP address
• VM setup
  • Host was Ubuntu Linux
    • A laptop with a WiFi network adapter
  • Guest was Windows 10
    • Bridged adapter
    • TIA V14, IIRC
  • I don't remember for certain, but I think I created ("Added?") the network device in TIA
    • There is some obscure menu/checkbox/whatever in TIA to do this.
    • It was tied to the bridged adapter, not to PLCSIM as OP shows
• TIA in the VirtuaBox VM Guest could not find the S7-1214
  • I used tcpdump (sniffing tool, like wireshark) to watch the Ethernet (not TCP/IP) packets
    • The S7-1214 did respond, but TIA in the guest VM never indicated it received those packets
    • I.e. the S7-1214 did not show up in the search results
      • I forget the actual menu/dialog where this was
• Solution:
  • I had a USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle device
  • In VirtualBox USB settings, I was able to reserve(?) that USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle for the VM Guest Windows 10 system
    • So the VM Guest Windows 10 system had direct access to the Ethernet LAN via that USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle,
  • TIA was able to connect to the S7-1214 on the LAN using the USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle
    • And I assigned an IP address, 192.168.1.214, to the S7-1214
  • Once the S7-1214 had an IP address, I was able connect TIA to the S7-1214, without the USB-Ethernet(RJ45) dongle, using the VM Guest bridged adapter and the VM Host WiFi adapter.

That's what happened to me; my brother had a similar setup (Ubuntu Linux VM Host; Win 10 VM Guest; Bridged and WiFi adapters), and was able to connect to the S7-1214 without and IP address normally.

I have since moved my TIA licenses to a Windows 10 desktop, with a wired Ethernet(RJ45) adapter, so I cannot test the setup anymore. aveat: everything above is from memory.

Click to expand...

I have tried to follow your steps but with no success, I could not find the obscure menu or checkbox that you are talking about above.
I still could not change the adapter in the PG/PC Interface Settings.

RVaughan said:

Check Task Manager inside the VM and kill any process related to PLCSIm. If Portal thinks PLCSim is running, it prevents use of other adapters.

Click to expand...

I have already did that, there is no PLCSIM process running. I have read this on the Internet and checked it first.

sonalford said:

A PCIE LAN adapter with an RJ45 connection is used as the network adapter.

Click to expand...

Yes, that is correct. I am using a built-in PCIE adapter with an RJ45 connector on my laptop.

Pjolle said:

I use VM all the time.
Use a USB Ethernet adapter.
No problem with NAT and so on….

Click to expand...

Well, this was my very last option.




Now I have some updates for you and for people that might have such a problem in the future.

I created a new virtual machine with Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit Service Pack 1 English Language Pack. The network settings as the same as above - Bridged Connection to the physical LAN adapter on the laptop. Then I installed TIA PORTAL V11 - STEP7 and WinCC Service Pack 2 Update 5.

Everything is working flawlessly now. I am able to change the PG/PC Interface Settings and the changes are saved when I open the PG/PC Interface Settings again.
In TIA PORTAL V11 I can change the adapter from PLCSIM to the LAN Adapter in the Virtual Machine.

Apparently the problem was with the Russian Language Pack and Cyrillic letters in the name of the adapter in the virtual machine. I mentioned it in my first post but I did not expect that this is causing the struggle.

Since I do not have a PLC laying around but I have a SINAMICS PROFINET Drive, I tried to detect the drive and I was able to see it when I pressed "Update Accessible Devices" button under the LAN adapter of the virtual machine.

I will test the virtual machine with a PLC and make a new update on the topic.

Thank you all for your help and cooperation.

Best Regards
Konstantin Kolev