Fix Unknown Shift Protocol Error in WinCC Flexible 2008

Problem Overview

WinCC Flexible 2008 is the legacy SIMATIC HMI configuration suite used to program OP 270, MP 270, MP 277, MP 377, TP 177, TP 277, and PC Runtime panels. Its alarm subsystem supports two distinct hard-copy modes: a paginated report (one alarm per page) and a continuous line-by-line print suitable for dot-matrix line printers. The line-by-line mode is the only acceptable workflow for plants that must produce a tamper-evident, continuous alarm strip chart per FDA 21 CFR Part 11, EU GMP Annex 11, or equivalent regulatory regimes, because every event is appended to a single continuous form rather than separated onto individual sheets.

During commissioning of the line-by-line mode, the most common blocking fault is the runtime popup reading Unknown Shift Protocol appearing inside the active print folder of the alarm view. The error halts every queued print job, no alarms reach the printer, and the print queue grows unbounded until the panel is restarted. The popup is misleading: it is not a printer driver failure, not a paper-feed issue, and not a cable fault. It is generated inside the HMI runtime by the report subsystem when it attempts to resolve a shift descriptor that the project has not defined.

Why the Error Occurs

WinCC Flexible 2008 binds every report to a shift schedule. Even when the operator does not consciously intend to use shift-based filtering, the report engine still queries the project's Shift Management table to determine the time band into which each alarm should be grouped, paginated, or printed. When the query returns a descriptor that the runtime cannot match to a defined shift name, the engine raises Unknown Shift Protocol and aborts the print job. The error is therefore a project-configuration defect, not a hardware or driver defect.

The four root causes observed in field deployments are:

Affected Versions

The error has been reproduced on the following WinCC Flexible 2008 builds (engineering view):

• WinCC Flexible 2008 SP1 (KOPF2008-SP1)
• WinCC Flexible 2008 SP2 (KOPF2008-SP2)
• WinCC Flexible 2008 SP3 (KOPF2008-SP3) on both ES and PC Runtime
• WinCC Flexible 2008 SP4 / SP5 on OP 270 6", MP 277 8", and MP 377 12" panels

The fault is independent of HMI firmware; transferring the same compiled runtime to a panel with newer firmware does not resolve it because the runtime logic is identical. The fix must be applied to the engineering project, not to the panel OS.

Prerequisites

Resolve the fault only after verifying the following:

• WinCC Flexible 2008 ES installed with at least SP2 and a valid Report option license. The Report option is enabled in Options > Settings > General > Options.
• Active project compiles cleanly (Project > Compiler > All returns zero errors and zero warnings related to alarm reporting).
• Target panel is a SIMATIC HMI from the OP 270 / MP 270 / MP 277 / MP 377 / TP 277 / PC Runtime family. WinCC Flexible 2008 is not the correct tool for Comfort Panels, Unified Panels, or OP 73 / TP 177A; for those, use TIA Portal WinCC.
• Printer is a line printer with continuous-form capability. Verified field units include TVS MSP 245 PLUS, Epson LX-300+II, Epson FX-890II, and Wipro exDMP 5215. The TVS MSP 245 PLUS uses the Epson ESC/P command set and exposes a Centronics parallel interface plus USB; in WinCC Flexible 2008, prefer parallel for deterministic timing.
• Continuous-form paper loaded with tractor feed engaged, and the top-of-form sensor correctly aligned. A misaligned sensor causes form feeds between every alarm and defeats the line-by-line output.
• Panel real-time clock is within ±60 s of the engineering workstation clock at compile time.

Step-by-Step Resolution

Apply the following sequence in order. Steps 1 through 4 fix the Unknown Shift Protocol error; steps 5 through 8 enable the line-by-line alarm print behavior the original project requires.

Step 1 — Enable the Report Subsystem

1. In the project tree, expand Alarm Management.
2. Open Settings.
3. Switch to the Alarm Settings tab.
4. Activate the option Report. If the option is greyed out, the project is missing the Report license; load the license via Options > License Management and retransfer.

Step 2 — Define at Least One Shift Record

1. Open Project > Shift Management.
2. Insert a minimum of one shift. Field-proven configuration:

Add a second and third shift (Shift2, Shift3) covering the remaining 16 hours of the day if the line operates continuously. Do not use non-ASCII characters in shift names; the runtime cannot bind Unicode shift labels to legacy report descriptors and silently raises Unknown Shift Protocol.

Step 3 — Bind the Report to the Defined Shift

1. Open Report > Alarm Report (or the custom report configured for alarm printing).
2. In the Layout column, ensure each row that prints an alarm references one of the defined shifts. If the layout references a shift named Default while the project only contains Shift1, the runtime cannot resolve Default and raises Unknown Shift Protocol.
3. Open the report layout editor, right-click the header, choose Properties > Shift, and select Shift1.

Step 4 — Re-Align Panel Locale and Clock

1. On the panel, navigate to Control Panel > Regional Settings. Set language to English (United States), date format to MM/DD/YYYY, and time format to HH:MM:SS 24-hour.
2. Open Control Panel > Date/Time. Force a sync via the PLC area pointer Date/Time or via System > Set Date/Time. The panel clock must match the engineering workstation clock to within one minute to avoid the runtime flagging timestamps as outside any defined shift.

Step 5 — Mark Discrete Alarms as Reportable

1. Open Alarm Management > Discrete Alarms.
2. Right-click the column header and select Show/Hide Columns > Reported.
3. Set the Reported cell to ON for every alarm that must print. The cell behaves as a Boolean and accepts copy-paste from an external table, which speeds up bulk editing.

Step 6 — Configure the Line Printer

1. Open Project > Printer > Line Printer (also accessible via the panel's Control Panel > Printer at runtime).
2. Configure the following parameters:

Disable form feed at job end. If this option is left enabled, the printer issues an FF (0x0C) after every alarm, producing one alarm per page and defeating the entire purpose of line-by-line reporting. This is the same class of fault documented for other industrial alarm printers that automatically append form feeds after each message; the suppression flag must be cleared explicitly.

Step 7 — Assign the Printer to the Report

1. In Report > Alarm Report > Properties > Output, set Printer to the configured line printer.
2. Set Output mode to Continuous (not Page). Continuous keeps the print job open across alarm events; Page closes the job and triggers a form feed after every record.

Step 8 — Compile, Transfer, and Reboot

1. Run Project > Compiler > All (with errors only). Resolve every warning related to alarm reporting.
2. Transfer the runtime to the panel via Ethernet, PROFIBUS, MPI, or USB depending on panel capability.
3. Perform a controlled panel restart (Control Panel > OP > Reboot or cycle 24 VDC) to clear any cached shift-binding descriptors.

Verification

Confirm the fix before returning the line to production:

1. Trigger a test alarm from the PLC by forcing the assigned trigger tag. The discrete alarm must appear in the alarm buffer, on the alarm view, and on the printer within two seconds.
2. Confirm the printer output shows the alarm on a single line of the continuous form, followed immediately by the next test alarm on the next line, without an intervening form feed.
3. Open the panel's print folder (the on-panel file browser path varies by panel; on MP 277 it is \Storage Card MMC\Print, on PC Runtime it is the configured spool directory). The file list must not contain any entry named Unknown Shift Protocol.
4. Force the panel clock to ±24 h and back; confirm alarms continue to print rather than re-triggering the error after midnight rollover.
5. Power-cycle the panel and trigger one more alarm; confirm the print resumes without re-transferring the project.

Printer Hardware Specifics

The TVS MSP 245 PLUS is a 24-pin dot-matrix printer in the Epson ESC/P command family. Its 24-pin head produces crisper text than the 9-pin Epson LX-300+II alternative and is preferred for plants where the printed alarm strip is reviewed by quality assurance or regulatory auditors. Key parameters for WinCC Flexible 2008 integration:

When the USB interface is used, configure the panel's USB host for printer-class support. WinCC Flexible 2008 SP3 and later support USB line printers via the panel's native USB stack; on earlier SPs, use the parallel interface to avoid generic-text-only driver fallback.

Common Pitfalls and Field-Proven Caveats

Migration Considerations

WinCC Flexible 2008 reached end of life in 2014 and entered Product status: Phase-out / Discontinued shortly thereafter. Existing installations are supported under extended lifecycle contracts, but new projects must use TIA Portal WinCC. The alarm-printing workflow in TIA Portal WinCC differs in three respects:

1. Shift management is configured under HMI tags > Shift and day-of-week planning instead of Project > Shift Management.
2. The report subsystem is replaced by the Logging and Report editors in TIA Portal; reports are configured per data source rather than per alarm class.
3. Comfort Panels and Unified Panels support network printers natively; the legacy parallel interface used by the TVS MSP 245 PLUS is supported only through a USB-to-parallel adapter or a serial server.

When migrating, do not simply recompile the WinCC Flexible 2008 project in TIA Portal. The shift table must be re-created, and every alarm must be re-marked as reportable. After migration, re-test the line-by-line print workflow against the same acceptance criteria.

Related Alarm-Printing Concepts

Other industrial HMI/SCADA platforms solve the same problem with similar guard-rails. The AVEVA InTouch Alarm Printer utility, for example, prints alarm records stored in the alarm memory on an event-by-event basis from multiple nodes and is documented in the AVEVA InTouch HMI documentation set. The form-feed suppression behavior required for line-by-line output is common across vendors: any industrial alarm printer that automatically appends a form feed after each message will defeat the strip-chart workflow unless a suppress flag exists and is enabled.

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