Overview: LOGO!Soft Comfort in Educational Environments
Siemens LOGO!Soft Comfort is the engineering software for the LOGO! 8 (6ED1052-*) and LOGO! 7 (6ED1052-*) logic module families. The current release line targets LOGO! 8.3 / LOGO! 8.4 hardware and ships as LOGO!Soft Comfort V8.4 (6ED1058-0BA08-0YA1) and the newer V8.4 Update releases. The programming environment is a Windows desktop application (Windows 10 / Windows 11; 32-bit and 64-bit) and supports the full IEC 61131-3 function-block / ladder editor plus on-line/off-line simulation.
Higher-education institutions, FE colleges, and STEM outreach programs frequently need to place the same engineering tool on 40 to 200+ student-owned laptops. The default single-user, single-device license model creates a deployment problem: every installation requires its own activation key, and OEM/site licenses cover the campus machine, not student devices that rotate year-on-year. This reference documents the official paths Siemens exposes for educational use, the workarounds using the unrestricted demo binary, and the IT-side procedures (Group Policy, Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager) used by technical colleges to push the install to managed labs.
Licensing Model: Single License, Single Device
LOGO!Soft Comfort ships as a node-locked, single-seat license. The license key is generated by the Siemens License Server during the first online activation and is bound to the machine SID / hardware fingerprint of the host PC. The end-user license agreement (EULA) requires one purchased license for every installation that will perform a program upload to or download from a LOGO! hardware module.
| License State | Upload to LOGO! | Download from LOGO! | Offline Simulation | Program Edit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full (activated) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Demo (unlicensed) | No | No | Yes (full functionality) | Yes |
| Trial (30-day) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The EULA is enforced through the Automation License Manager (ALM) and the local Lservrc license keyfile stored under %ProgramData%\Siemens\Automation\Lservrc. Cloning a licensed installation to a new device invalidates the key on the original machine once it is re-detected by the ALM service.
%ProgramData%\Siemens\Automation to keep the license manager trigger clean.
Educational Deployment Requirements
A college or training-provider deployment has three constraints that conflict with the single-seat EULA:
- Volume count. Belfast Metropolitan College and similar institutions report class sizes of 40 to 100 students per cohort, across multiple year groups (Level 3, Level 4, Level 5 / Year 1–3 BEng). Buying one boxed license per laptop becomes uneconomic at the typical LOGO!Soft Comfort price point (the single-seat, single-user license is sold via the Siemens catalog as 6ED1058-0BA02-0YA1 in older revisions; current releases are 6ED1058-0BA08-0YA1 for V8.4).
- Device churn. Student-owned laptops are replaced every 2–3 years. A site license tied to a fixed host list has to be re-issued each year. The LOGO! 8 hardware lifetime is typically 10 years, so the tooling outlives the host hardware several times.
- Remote / hybrid learning. Post-2020 remote learning is now permanent in many FE colleges. Students must install the IDE on a personal Windows or macOS device and may do so off-campus with no admin rights granted by the college IT estate.
Path 1 — Demo Mode (Free, No Upload/Download)
Siemens publishes the LOGO!Soft Comfort demo as a free download with the same installer shell, the same editor, the same simulation, and the same firmware libraries. The only restriction is that the LOGO! → PC (download) and PC → LOGO! (upload / program transfer / run/stop) functions are disabled.
Workflow that satisfies most first-year / Level 3 syllabi:
- Student installs demo on the home laptop.
- Student authors the program (FBD or LAD), runs the on-screen simulation, and validates I/O logic against the brief.
- College provides a managed lab PC with a full license for the live transfer to LOGO! 8.3 BT hardware.
The demo binary is available from the Siemens product page for the LOGO! system: LOGO! Software overview. There is no registration, no activation, and no expiry. The download is a self-extracting setup (LogoSoftComfort_Demo_V8_x.exe) and can be silently installed with the /S switch for managed rollouts.
Path 2 — Volume / School License via Siemens Sales
Siemens does not publish a self-service educational volume SKU the way some vendors do. The documented channel is direct engagement with the regional Siemens sales office, which can issue:
- School / training license (20/40/100 seats) — site-licensed, transferable to student devices under a sub-license schedule. Pricing is negotiated per region; UK and Ireland orders route through Siemens Industrial Automation contact or the local Digital Industries sales engineer.
- Classroom kit (LOGO! 8 starter set + bundled software) — the LOGO! 8.3 Starter Kit (6ED1057-3BA00-0AA8) and the LOGO! 8.4 sets include 1 single-seat software license per kit, not per student.
- Site License (Floating) through ALM — large campuses can deploy a Siemens Automation License Manager server on the campus network and serve floating licenses. This is the path used by universities and is significantly more expensive per seat but lets a 100-seat lab support 100 concurrent users with as few as 20–30 purchased seats.
For the deployment scenario described in the source — 100 students across three cohorts — a floating ALM server is the most economic pattern, with the demo binary covering the home-laptop theory work and the floating license serving the on-campus lab machines.
Path 3 — Silent Install and Group Policy Deployment
For college IT estates, the standard Windows deployment toolkit supports unattended installation of the LOGO!Soft Comfort setup. The procedure below uses the official Microsoft Group Policy software-distribution mechanism documented at Use Group Policy to remotely install software.
Prerequisites
- Windows Server 2019 / 2022 with Group Policy Management Console.
- Domain-joined lab PCs (or BYOD managed by Microsoft Intune).
- Software distribution share (
\\DC01\Deploy$\LogoSoftComfort\V8.4) with read access for the Domain Computers group. - Extracted MSI: run the
LogoSoftComfort_V8_4.exe /extractswitch to drop theSetup.msiand the language packs.
Step-by-Step
- Create a Distribution Point in
\\DC01\Deploy$\LogoSoftComfort\V8.4containing theSetup.msi, theSetup.ini, and theProgramData\Siemenslicence keyfile (for licensed builds only). - Open Group Policy Management → create a new GPO LOGO!Soft Comfort V8.4 — Lab PCs and link it to the Lab-Computers OU.
- Edit the GPO: navigate to Computer Configuration → Policies → Software Settings → Software installation. Right-click → New → Package → browse to
\\DC01\Deploy$\LogoSoftComfort\V8.4\Setup.msivia the UNC path. Select Assigned deployment. - On the next policy refresh (
gpupdate /force), each lab PC installs the package under the SYSTEM context, which writes the program files to%ProgramFiles%\Siemens\LOGO!Soft Comfort V8.4and registers the COM automation interfaces. - For Intune-managed BYOD laptops, upload the same
Setup.msias a Win32 App with the install command:msiexec /i "LogoSoftComfort.msi" /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress ADDLOCAL=ALL
Lservrc keyfile contains the node-locked licence. If you push the keyfile as part of the MSI transform, every PC cloned from the same image will fight for the same key. For a real seat-per-device deployment, distribute the keyfile via a per-device logon script that copies from \\DC01\Deploy$\LogoSoftComfort\Keys\%COMPUTERNAME%.txt.
Verification (Group Policy)
On a target PC, run rsop.msc to confirm the LOGO!Soft Comfort V8.4 package is listed under Software Installation. Reboot once; the application should appear in Start Menu → Siemens Automation → LOGO!Soft Comfort V8.4. The product version under Help → About should read V8.4.0.x.
Path 4 — Free / Low-Cost Educational Alternatives
Where budget or licence complexity is a blocker, several vendor platforms explicitly target FE/HE PLC education with free or heavily subsidised per-seat software:
| Platform | Student-Device Software | Hardware | Home Upload | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Siemens LOGO! (demo) | Free | LOGO! 8 BT | No (lab PC only) | Full editor + simulation |
| Crouzet Millenium 3 + M3 Soft | Free download | Millenium 3 | Yes (no licence key) | Commonly used in UK FE; no online activation |
| AutomationDirect Do-more Designer | Free | CLICK / Do-more | Yes | No licence gate |
| Schneider Zelio Soft | Free demo / licence per seat | Zelio Logic SR3 | Demo = no upload | Similar model to LOGO! |
| Codesys + Raspberry Pi / Wago PFC | Free (open IEC 61131-3) | Raspberry Pi, Wago 750 | Yes | Industrial-strength; steeper ramp |
The deployment problem in the source is the same on every vendor platform: the programming software must live on student-owned laptops for remote learning to be viable. Crouzet Millenium 3, AutomationDirect CLICK, and Codesys are the three platforms that ship a fully-functional, license-free Windows installer suitable for student BYOD.
Field-Proven Deployment Pattern (Recommended)
Combining the four paths above into a single architecture that satisfies 100+ Level 3–5 engineering students:
- Student home laptop (BYOD) — install LOGO!Soft Comfort demo from the Siemens product page. No licence cost, no admin rights required, no activation. Students author and simulate all programs off-campus.
- College lab PC (managed) — deploy LOGO!Soft Comfort V8.4 (single-seat license) per workstation via Group Policy. Site license is floated through a local ALM server so 20–30 purchased seats support 100 lab PCs.
- LOGO! 8.3 BT hardware — each lab bench holds one LOGO! 8 starter kit (6ED1057-3BA00-0AA8). Students move from demo (home) → licensed lab PC (campus) → real hardware in the same week.
- Annual reset. Because the demo is license-free, no de-activation or re-issue is needed when students graduate. The lab PC licences are bound to the college estate, not the student.
Licence Cost Matrix (UK 2024 List Price, Approx.)
| Option | Per-Seat Cost (£) | 100-Student Cohort Cost (£) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-seat boxed (V8.4) | ~70 | ~7,000 | One licence per device |
| Volume / school licence (negotiated) | ~25–40 | ~2,500–4,000 | Through Siemens UK sales |
| Demo (full editor) | 0 | 0 | No hardware transfer |
| ALM floating licence (20-seat) | n/a | ~3,500 + server | Serves 100 lab PCs |
Pricing is list-only and varies by region and channel. Confirm current pricing with the local Siemens Digital Industries distributor or the Siemens Industrial Automation contact page.
Troubleshooting Matrix
| Symptom | Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Install prompts for activation key on every student PC | Single-seat licence pushed via image | Push demo MSI, or generate per-device keyfile via ALM |
| "PC → LOGO!" button greyed out | Demo build is installed | Expected; transfer programs from a lab PC with full licence |
| Licence invalidated after PC re-image | Hardware fingerprint changed | Re-activate via Siemens License Server; pre-stage keyfile post-image |
| GPO install fails on Windows 11 24H2 | MSI requires elevated context; newer OS blocks legacy per-machine MSI | Repackage as Win32 app in Intune, or use msiexec in a Computer startup script |
| MAC address change breaks dongle-less activation | Virtualisation / VPN reassigns NIC MAC | Disable MAC randomisation, or activate on a stable physical NIC |
| Student cannot install on BYOD (no admin) | MSI requires elevation | Push demo; demo is a single-user install with no admin write to ProgramData |
Verification Checklist
- Demo install on a clean Windows 11 student-laptop profile → editor opens → FBD program compiles → on-screen simulation runs against virtual I/O.
- Lab PC GPO deploy → reboot → application present in Start Menu → real LOGO! 8.3 BT detected on Ethernet → PC → LOGO! transfers program and runs.
- ALM floating license → 100 lab PCs can simultaneously open and run LOGO!Soft Comfort with 20 purchased seats → check
almstaton the license server. - Annual cycle: graduate laptops leave the cohort → next-year laptops receive demo → lab GPO re-evaluates → no de-activation required.
FAQ
Can I install one LOGO!Soft Comfort licence on 40 student laptops?
No. The single-seat licence is node-locked to the host machine's hardware fingerprint. Installing the same licence on multiple devices violates the Siemens EULA and will be detected and blocked by the Automation License Manager.
What is the difference between the LOGO!Soft Comfort demo and the licensed version?
The demo includes the full editor, the full FBD/LAD library, and the on-line simulation. The only restriction is that the demo cannot upload to or download from a real LOGO! 8 hardware module. Program transfer requires a licensed copy.
Does Siemens offer an educational / school volume licence?
Yes, but it is sold through regional Siemens sales offices, not the online store. Contact the UK/IE Digital Industries team via the Siemens contact page to negotiate a school or floating ALM licence for cohort sizes of 20 seats and above.
Can I push LOGO!Soft Comfort to lab PCs with Group Policy?
Yes. Extract the MSI from the setup executable and deploy it as an Assigned package under Computer Configuration → Policies → Software Settings → Software installation, following the procedure at Use Group Policy to remotely install software. For BYOD laptops managed by Intune, deploy the same MSI as a Win32 app.
What is the cheapest way to put a Siemens-compatible PLC on 100 student laptops?
Use the free LOGO!Soft Comfort demo on every student-owned device for home simulation, and run the live hardware transfer on a smaller pool of campus PCs covered by a negotiated school or ALM floating licence. This keeps the per-student cost to zero while preserving real-hardware lab time.