Fix TIA Portal V18 Set PG/PC Interface Missing in Control Panel

Fix TIA Portal V18 Set PG/PC Interface Missing in Windows Control Panel

After installing TIA Portal V18 (or V18 Update x) on a Windows 10/11 engineering workstation, the legacy Set PG/PC Interface applet sometimes fails to register as a Control Panel item. The executable still exists under Siemens Automation in the Start menu, but the only network adapter it lists is a generic picture with <none> next to it, and no interface can be selected, added, or assigned to an online access point. This article documents the root cause, the recommended Siemens-supplied fix (PC_Identifier), and the surrounding configuration steps needed to get a CP (PROFINET/Industrial Ethernet) interface online again.

1. Problem Summary

2. Root Cause Analysis

The Set PG/PC Interface tool is a Win32 Control Panel applet (CPL) registered during TIA Portal / STEP 7 setup. It depends on two registry-controlled artifacts:

1. Registrable CPL file — Siemens.TIA.PGPCInterfaceCPL.cpl or the legacy s7epaepaaxx.cpl, registered under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Control Panel\CPLs.
2. PC station configuration data — the PC_Identifier registry hive that maps installed Siemens PC modules (e.g. CP 1616, CP 1626, CP 1628, Softnet, S7DOS) to logical PC interface names such as S7ONLINE and IE PG/PC interface.

If the PC_Identifier hive is missing, corrupted, or was never created (typical on a clean Windows 11 image where the installer ran with a stripped-down user profile, or after a partial uninstall/reinstall), the applet starts but has no PC station data to populate. The visual placeholder card with <none> is the result.

3. Affected Versions and Environment

4. Solution Overview — Install PC_Identifier

Siemens ships a stand-alone repair tool called PC_Identifier that re-creates the missing PC station registry hive and re-registers the Set PG/PC Interface CPL. This is the manufacturer-recommended fix and is documented in Siemens Support Entry 109812676 — "PC Identifier: Information on the function and installation of the PC Identifier".

5. Step-by-Step Procedure

5.1 Prerequisites

• Local administrator rights on the workstation.
• All running TIA Portal instances closed (Siemens.Automation.Portal.exe and S7EPAEX.EXE not running).
• Approximately 50 MB of free disk space for the unpacked installer.
• Working internet access to support.industry.siemens.com for the initial download.

5.2 Download PC_Identifier

1. Open a browser and navigate to https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/ww/en/view/109812676.
2. Locate the Downloads table at the bottom of the entry.
3. Download the file PC_Identifier_Vx_x_x.exe (latest revision is recommended; it is backwards compatible with TIA V14 and newer).
4. Verify the SHA-256 checksum published on the Siemens entry against the downloaded file using Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell.

5.3 Install PC_Identifier

1. Right-click the downloaded .exe and choose Run as administrator.
2. Accept the licence agreement.
3. Leave the default install path C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\PC_Identifier unchanged.
4. Click Install. The tool creates the registry keys under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation\PC_Identifier.
5. Click Finish and reboot the workstation. The reboot is required because the TCP/IP service trigger and Winsock catalog are touched.

5.4 Verify the Set PG/PC Interface CPL

1. Open Control Panel > All Control Panel Items. The Set PG/PC Interface icon should now be present.
2. If still missing, manually launch the applet from C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\SetPgPcInterface\SetPgPcInterface.cpl (file name varies by version).
3. Confirm the Interface Parameter Assignment Used field shows at least one entry (e.g. Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I219-LM <TCP/IP>) instead of <none>.

6. Configuring the PG/PC Interface Once Restored

After the applet is functional, the access point that TIA Portal uses by default is S7ONLINE. Configure it as follows:

1. Open Set PG/PC Interface.
2. Under Access Point of the Application, select S7ONLINE.
3. Under Interface Parameter Assignment Used, select the physical or virtual PROFINET/Industrial Ethernet adapter that is wired to the target CPU, e.g.:
   • Intel Ethernet I219-LM <TCP/IP> — for onboard NICs.
   • CP 1616 NDIS <TCP/IP> — for the CP 1616 PC card.
   • Siemens Softnet <TCP/IP> — for the Softnet-S7 software interface.
4. Click OK and confirm any prompts to take the bus offline momentarily.

Optional entries that are also useful for V18 mixed topologies:

PROFINET IO RT

7. Alternative Solutions if PC_Identifier Does Not Resolve It

Run the following in order if the symptom persists after the reboot.

7.1 Re-register the CPL manually

Open an elevated PowerShell and execute:

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\SetPgPcInterface\s7epaepaaxx.cpl"
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\SetPgPcInterface\Siemens.TIA.PGPCInterfaceCPL.cpl"

Then re-check the Control Panel.

7.2 Repair TIA Portal V18

Control Panel > Programs and Features > Siemens TIA Portal V18 > Repair. This forces the installer to re-emit the registry keys. A second reboot is required.

7.3 Clear the cached user profile

If the CPL appears for other users but not the current one, delete the cached state under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Siemens\Automation\PGPCInterface and re-launch.

7.4 Firewall / Winsock corruption

TIA Portal installs a Winsock LSP (WinSock Catalog) entry for S7DOS. If a third-party security suite has stripped it, reset the catalog:

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /flushdns

Reboot after running the commands.

7.5 Clean re-install of the TIA Portal PC station

1. Uninstall TIA Portal V18 via the Setup installer (not via Programs and Features — the Setup installer also removes the PC station).
2. Delete the residual folders C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation and C:\ProgramData\Siemens\Automation.
3. Run CCleaner or the equivalent registry cleaner only as a last resort (manual deletion of HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation is safer).
4. Reboot, then re-install TIA Portal V18, then re-install PC_Identifier.

8. Verification & Field Checks

After the fix is in place, run the following checks to confirm the interface is fully functional before returning the workstation to production.

9. Common Related Error Codes and Messages

10. Field-Proven Best Practices

• Always run the TIA Portal V18 setup as a local administrator, not as a domain user with temporary elevation, to avoid UAC virtualisation issues on Windows 11.
• Pre-install the .NET Framework and Visual C++ runtimes listed in the TIA Portal V18 readme before launching the Setup, especially on freshly imaged Windows 11 24H2 workstations.
• Capture a baseline of the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens hive with reg export once the system is known-good — invaluable for fast roll-back if a Windows update resets the hive.
• For laptops that dock/undock, mark the wired adapter as priority in the Set PG/PC Interface dialog and disable the auto-fallback that TIA does on wireless interfaces.
• Disable PC Sleep and USB selective suspend in the Windows power plan to prevent the CP 1616/1626 from being marked as <none> on resume from sleep.

11. Frequently Asked Questions