comm help with new laptop and older plc's

[jschmitz]

I need help with this problem. We have a lot of older PLC's running that only have serial comm ports. I have a new laptop the is a 64 bit machine running win7 and has no serial comm port. Also many or all of the applications will only run on a 32 bit machine. So I guess there are 3 issues to my problem. 32-64 bit, win7 and no serial comm port. Most of our plcs are CTC(control technology corp.), Keyence, some ab micrologics 1000's and a couple of others. Any advice or info is greatly appreciated.

[Crossbow]

First, get yourself a copy of VMWare Workstation. Then get an OS to install on it, like Windows XP or Windows 2000, make sure it's 32-bit. Then, for a serial adapter, the one Mitsubishi recommends has always worked for me. Keyspan USA-19HS. Install it to the HOST OS. Then when you start your virtual machine, it use the host configured serial port. The virtual machine has no real idea it's a USB adapter, and this has worked well for me, even with old DOS based software.

[RussB]

If adding or getting an OS license is an issue, Windows 7 Pro or better come with "XP Mode" and includes an XP license. This has been working well for me.

[Joe E.]

Also, you don't need to buy the paid version of VMWare Workstation. The free VMWare Player will let you create a new virtual machine and install your OS on it. You just need the OS install media and license.

[TimWilborne]

I'm actually starting to use my first laptop without a serial port, although I admit I'm carrying my old one with a serial port just in case. It is also Windows 7 64 bit. I'm running the same setup as Crossbow suggest only I run Windows XP 32 bit in Virtualbox instead of VMWare. I think this is just a personal preference but Crossbow may correct me. In addition to Mitsubishi it also works with Omron and AB. Will be testing it with Siemens this weekend.

[jschmitz]

I got vm virtual box running xp with the keyspan usa-19hs. Its works with the ctc but I'm not having any luck with the Keyence.

[bits'bytes]

Yeah, I also thought I would be happy with this configuration. Until I had to use an USB Dongle. It seems VirtualPC (VM of Microsoft, used for XP Mode) has a kind of "strange" implementation of the USB handling (it could not handle USB at all in older Virtual PC versions). Anyhow, no chance to get the USB Dongle working. I had to install VirtualBox which was just fine and was working OK with the USB Dongle. But - as I was using the virtual image of Virtual PC of XP-Mode, it would tell me that it is working only 30 days. My tests have been finished after 3 days, so now it is all gone br bb

[RussB]

Windows "XP Mode" is just that. If your USB device needs an OS other than XP you are SOL.

[bits'bytes]

No, USB device does not need other OS than XP. It is just that Virtual-PC does not support USB Dongle, Windows XP on e.g. VirtualBox (Oracle) works just fine.... br bb

[jschmitz]

I'm using virtual box, xp and the keyspan usb to serial. So far everything I tried is working. Thanks for all the help

[TimWilborne]

Siemens Microwin works when connected to a S7-200 with a USB PC-PPI on a Windows 7 64 bit machine running Windows XP 32bit SP3 in Virtualbox. Should be testing the new TIA portal on a S7-300 and S7-400 soon.

[kolonelvonklink]

Hi I'm trying to connect my keyence KV-40R PLC with my HP laptop (windows7) trough an USB-serialconverter (prolifictechn inc) but..... my story: I installed virtualbox(+usb) than installed xp in it: no problem downloaded the USB serialconverter driver and installed it in virtualXP: no problem So I startup laptop> virtualbox> xp, than I connect the PLC with USB-SERIAL with laptop. I hoover on the usb icon rightbelow in virtualbox and get a popup "No USB device connected" I rightclick the usb icon rightbelow in virtualbox en hoover on PROLIFIC TECHNOLGY INC. USB-SERIAL CONVERTER CONTROLLER[0300]. and get a popup: supplierID 067B;productID 2303;revision 0300;status:available so I click it So it gets a V and hoovering it, it says status:captured In XP nothing seems to happen. no message "found new hardware"? (wich it does on my XP desktop so the device is OK) So, starting ladder builder, I can't connect my PLC working with a USBstick on "virtual XP" gives no problem Can Somebody help me with this please?

[Joe E.]

It's been a while since I played with VirtualBox. I don't remember having any trouble getting the Keyspan adapter to work. Make sure you've installed VirtualBox Guest Additions. This helps integrate the VM with the host OS. Just as a test, have you tried connecting a USB flash drive to the VM?

[kolonelvonklink]

I've been trying to make connection and came to this point, but somewhere, the PC was wrongfully communicating with hte PLC. The used chipset in the USBserialcontroller was from Prolific and on there site I found the remark that there drivers were not compatible witch the "brandless" controllers which is probably Chinese crap. Although I bought my controller by Velleman there isn't any name or Icon on the controller and on the velleman site there 's very litlle technical info so I guess .... I'll be searching for a decend brand of controller.

[panic mode]

I have used VirtualBox with several different USB converter and they all worked fine, but one need to be aware of how VirtualBox handles removable peripherals. Basically you have two quite similar options ( maybe there are others too): 1. Install usb device in host system (Win7 or whatever) and use appropriate drivers. Once you verify that this works, start VirtualBox, highlight VM you wish to use and click Configure (do not start it yet) and map serial port of your host OS to VM. When you start VM, if 'new device found" does not show up, you have to run hardware detection wizard or manually add new hardware. when done correctly you will see COM port in Device Manager. Note in this option, you need drivers for host operating system (often Win7 these days), not for guest (XP). 2. Configure USB Device Filters (in VirtualBox). This option allows you to specify if connected removable hardware is to be handled by Host or by VM. I didn't play much with this option yet but I would like to explore it more (as soon as I get some free time). If device is connected, then in VM Settings, USB, when you click on '+' to add new filter, you will see list of all connected USB devices. If you use filter to assign device to VM, it will be IMMEDIATELY lost in host OS (watch for data loss if you are copying something back and forth on USB drive). Since any USB device is only detected wehn connected, you may need to unplug and plug it in again to be detected in guest. All of this is explained in more detail in the VirtualBox help.