Configuring WinCC Runtime PC Station in TIA Portal

Overview

SIMATIC WinCC Runtime (WinCC RT) turns a standard industrial PC into an HMI/SCADA node that runs visualization, archiving, alarm logging, and recipe handling independently of the engineering station. In a TIA Portal project, a WinCC RT PC is represented as a PC Station containing one or more SIMATIC HMI Application objects (WinCC RT) bound to a Communication Interface (PROFIBUS CP, PROFINET/Ethernet CP, or a standard Ethernet NIC designated as IE General). The catalog position, the RT flavor, and the connected CP all determine which tags, archives, and connections are available at runtime.

This reference walks through the engineering decisions, catalog selections, network bindings, licensing, and verification steps required to put a WinCC RT PC Station into service on a TIA Portal project running V17 or newer, with notes on V19/V20 differences where they apply.

WinCC RT Product Matrix

Siemens splits the WinCC runtime family by scope and by engineering tool. Selecting the correct variant up-front prevents missing function blocks at compile and avoids over-spending on licenses.

Prerequisites

1. TIA Portal installation with WinCC Engineering on the configuration PC. For WinCC RT Professional, install SIMATIC WinCC Professional; for WinCC RT Advanced, install SIMATIC WinCC Advanced. Without the matching engineering package, the corresponding RT catalog entry will not appear under "SIMATIC HMI Application".
2. Operating system supported by the chosen RT (Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019/2021 or Windows Server 2019/2022 for WinCC V8/RT Professional). See the current Siemens Product Support entry for the exact OS matrix per TIA Portal version.
3. PC Station hardware: industrial-grade x86-64 CPU, ≥8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended for Professional/Server), SSD storage for project and archives, dual NIC if redundant communication is needed.
4. Communication hardware on the PC: at minimum one on-board Ethernet port. For PROFIBUS or deterministic PROFINET IRT, a Siemens CP (e.g., CP 1628, CP 5612, CP 5613 A2, CP 5622, CP 5623) is required.
5. License medium: a license key on a USB dongle, a license file transferred via Automation License Manager (ALM), or an Online Software Delivery (OSD) license, depending on the procurement channel.
6. Project compatibility: all devices in the TIA project must be on a TIA version ≥ the RT PC Station version. A WinCC V8 PC Station cannot be loaded into a V16 project.

Adding the PC Station and WinCC RT in the Project Tree

Step 1 - Insert a New PC System

1. In the TIA Portal project navigator, right-click Devices & Networks and choose Add new device > PC Systems > SIMATIC PC.
2. Select SIMATIC HMI Application under the catalog on the right side. This catalog folder appears only when WinCC Engineering (Comfort/Advanced/Professional) or the legacy WinCC V7 option is installed.
3. Pick the exact RT version installed on the target PC, for example:
   SIMATIC HMI Application > WinCC RT Professional or
   SIMATIC HMI Application > WinCC RT Advanced or
   SIMATIC HMI Application > SIMATIC WinCC (legacy V7 tag-count variants).
4. Drag the chosen object into the PC System, or double-click it. A new device (e.g., PC-Station_1) appears in the project tree with the HMI Application as a child.

Step 2 - Bind a Communication Interface

1. Open the device view of the new PC Station by double-clicking the device in the project tree.
2. From the catalog, navigate to the appropriate Communication Interfaces subfolder:
   • PROFINET/Ethernet → CP 1616, CP 1623, CP 1628, IE General (standard on-board NIC).
   • PROFIBUS → CP 5612, CP 5613 A2, CP 5622, CP 5623.
3. Drag the correct CP into an empty slot of the PC Station. If the PC will use its onboard Ethernet port for routine S7/HMI communication and no PN IO controller function is required, use IE General. If the port acts as PN IO controller with deterministic update times or as OPC UA server peer, use a Siemens CP (e.g., CP 1628).
4. Wire the CP to the network (e.g., PN/IE_1) used by the PLC network. Click the CP's green port, drag the mouse to the matching green port on the connected S7 CPU. The connection line now represents the runtime S7 connection.

Step 3 - Configure the S7 Connection

1. Open Connections on the HMI Application node of the PC Station.
2. Create a new S7 Connection. Select the partner endpoint as the target PLC CPU; set partner address and rack/slot.
3. Set the local interface (the CP or IE General used) under connection properties. Wrong binding here yields "Partner not reachable" at runtime.

Step 4 - Compile and Download

1. Right-click the PC Station → Compile > Hardware and Software (rebuild all).
2. Right-click the PC Station → Download to PC Station. TIA Portal will use the configured PG/PC interface and the Simatic Shell service on the target.
3. After a successful download, the target PC's Station Configuration Editor shows the same index assignments as in TIA Portal:

Runtime Activation and WinCCStart

On the WinCC RT machine, the Simatic Shell service deploys the project to a local folder (default C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\WinCC RT Professional\<project>) and stores system parameters for the auto-start sequence. The companion tool WinCCStart opens the project, enables runtime, manages autostart, and offers diagnostic summaries of installed components.

1. Open the project from WinCC Explorer or call WinCCStart.exe -project <project>.mc7 from the WinCC install path.
2. Use Activate Runtime to bring the visualization online. The HMI Application entry in Station Configuration Editor must show Running.
3. Configure autostart under Autostart settings if the RT must boot into the project without operator action after a restart. Both Computer boot and User login modes are available.
4. Inspect Diagnostics within WinCCStart to confirm which components (Graphics, Alarm Logging, Tag Logging, User Administrator, Redundancy, OPC UA server) are loaded and licensed.

More information on the tool interface and component list is given in the official Overview of WinCCStart (RT Professional).

Licensing Walk-Through

Common License Article Numbers

Look up the precise article number for your project in the Siemens catalog tool because license article numbers shift with each TIA Portal release and bundling decision. The SIMATIC WinCC V8 product page lists the current server-side options and bundles.

Network and Topology Best Practices

• VLAN separation: place HMI/SCADA traffic on a dedicated VLAN with QoS tagging (DSCP CS4 / DSCP 32) to keep alarm latency predictable.
• Redundant CPs: when using redundancy, add two CPs of the same family (e.g., two CP 1628) and bind them via a Software Redundancy component in the PC Station.
• OPC UA instead of S7: for non-Siemens PLC integration, prefer the OPC UA server of the HMI Application (since TIA V18) configured in the Properties of the HMI Application, "OPC UA Server" area.
• WinCC Server / Client split: with WinCC Professional, the Server station carries the project and archives; thin clients connect via Terminal Services or "WinCC Client" connections. Ensure each client PC has its own client license.

Verification Procedure

1. In the engineering project, compile the PC Station fully. Resolve all warnings; "file not found" or "missing reference" errors must not remain.
2. Download to the target PC. Validate indices in Station Configuration Editor against the project.
3. Start WinCCStart. Verify that the listed "Inserted components" include all expected options such as Graphics Runtime, Alarm Logging Runtime, Tag Logging Runtime, Reports, OPC UA Server.
4. Use the online tag diagnostics (WinCC Explorer → Tag Management → right-click connection → Status) to confirm green connection status for every S7 connection.
5. Force a tag from the PLC side and observe the HMI update. Update jitter under 1 s on PROFINET indicates a healthy CP binding.
6. Trigger one configured alarm end-to-end and acknowledge it from the WinCC RT screen. Acknowledge must round-trip in < 1 s over PROFINET, < 2 s over standard Ethernet.
7. Check the log directory (default C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\WinCC RT Professional\<project>\Diagnose) for the latest WinCC_S0_Startup.log; exit code 0 indicates clean start.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Notes on Modern WinCC V8 / SCADA

For new deployments on Windows Server 2022 and beyond, SIMATIC WinCC V8 provides an upgraded SCADA stack with redundant archives, integrated performance insight, and a re-architected OPC UA server. A WinCC V8 system typically hosts the server-side visualization and a separate WinCC Professional / Comfort RT environment for the operator panels, sharing licenses across the plant. If the new PC Station is intended as a SCADA client of an existing V8 server, install only the WinCC Client option on the client workstation and connect via Terminal Services or a WinCC native client connection.

Edge Cases and Field Notes

• Virtual machines: WinCC RT on a VM is supported only on specific hypervisor/hardware combos listed in the TIA Portal release notes. PROFINET IRT requires direct passthrough of a CP 1628.
• Multi-monitor: WinCC Professional supports up to 4 monitors per RT; each must use a single Window called by the picture's "Window" attribute or via the "Multiple monitors" mode in RT Properties.
• Image scaling: WinCC will create runtime files for the configured monitor resolution only. Changing resolution on the runtime PC after deployment requires a new "Graphics Designer" compilation.
• Time sync: drive the PC clock from the same NTP source as the PLCs when alarms are scheduled with millisecond timestamps; otherwise cross-system ordering of events drifts.
• User management: a "User Administrator" instance on the HMI Application node is mandatory before picture-level access control functions; an absent instance yields compile warnings, not errors.