Fixing STARTER V5.6.0.1 Install ERROR: verify Folder (11)

Problem Summary

Engineers commissioning SINAMICS drives with the STARTER V5.6.0.1 commissioning tool report that setup aborts immediately on Windows 10 with the following message written to the installation log:

**************************************************************************************
Starting setup from C:\Temp\
04/09/24 08:52:42
STARTER V5.6.0.1
**************************************************************************************
ERROR: verify Folder:(11)

The failure is reproducible across multiple Windows 10 machines, on different physical PCs, and is independent of locale, UAC state, or .NET Framework version. The installer never reaches the license-dialog or component-selection stage; it terminates inside the integrity-check phase of Setup.exe. The error code (11) is not a Windows MSI error code; it is the STARTER bootstrapper's own folder-integrity verdict.

Affected Versions and Platforms

Root Cause Analysis

The ERROR: verify Folder:(11) string is generated by the STARTER bootstrapper when its in-image folder-integrity verification fails. Beginning with STARTER V5.4 SP2 HF1, Siemens embedded cryptographic integrity monitoring that validates the installer's working folder against a manifest stored next to the ISO. The official product entry at SINAMICS STARTER - Industry Online Support ID 26233208 documents this behaviour:

For applications with SIMATIC S7 and STARTER Standalone, please take into account that starting from STARTER V5.4 SP2 HF1, integrity monitoring is supported.

The published sidecar file STARTER_V5601_sha512sum.txt lists the expected digest that the bootstrapper recomputes and compares against the bytes actually extracted from the ISO. Two independent users have captured the digest that ships with the package, and they disagree with the digest that the ISO actually produces:

Because the two digests do not match, the bootstrapper's folder-verification routine returns the non-zero verdict (11) and the installer aborts before any STARTER component (commissioning wizard, device library, trace viewer) is laid down on disk. The most plausible root cause is a corrupted publish of the ISO itself on Siemens' delivery infrastructure: the digest that Siemens claims is correct does not match the bytes the file system can read back, while the digest that the file produces is reproducible across machines. The complaint chain is therefore:

1. Siemens republished the ISO with at least one byte difference from the master used to generate the sidecar digest.
2. The sidecar STARTER_V5601_sha512sum.txt was not regenerated after the republish.
3. The bootstrapper, which started enforcing integrity checks in V5.4 SP2 HF1, refuses to proceed.
4. Every installer that mounts or extracts the ISO locally arrives at the same verdict: ERROR: verify Folder:(11).

SHA512 Verification Procedure

Before applying any workaround, validate which of the two digests your local copy actually produces. The most reliable path is to compute the hash on the byte image rather than the mounted volume, because some 7-Zip / Windows 10 mount paths normalise trailing bytes and can mask corruption.

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator.
2. Compute the SHA512 of the raw ISO:

   Get-FileHash -Path "C:\Temp\STARTER_V5.6.0.1.iso" -Algorithm SHA512 | Format-List

3. Compare the returned Hash string with both reference digests in the table above.
4. Optionally, recompute on a second PC to rule out local storage corruption. If both machines yield the same digest, the ISO itself is the defect.
5. If you have Linux handy, cross-check with:

   sha512sum STARTER_V5.6.0.1.iso

If the hash on your machine matches the computed-from-downloaded-ISO value (358f870...), the publisher is shipping a binary that does not match its own sidecar - proceed to Solution 1. If the hash matches the sidecar value (140a78...) but the installer still aborts, you have a different problem (partial download, antivirus tamper, NTFS alternate-data-stream modification); proceed to Solution 2.

Solution 1 - Re-download the ISO from a Confirmed-Clean Mirror

The cleanest fix is to obtain a binary whose digest matches the sidecar. At the time of writing, the official Siemens delivery server still ships the mismatched ISO. Practical avenues in priority order:

1. Re-pull the ISO from the original Siemens Service & Support download link tied to Entry ID 26233208. Validate the SHA512 immediately on the new copy; if it matches the sidecar value (140a78...), installation will proceed normally.
2. If the primary mirror continues to publish the mismatched binary, contact Siemens Industry Online Support and reference this article plus the sidecar filename STARTER_V5601_sha512sum.txt so they can hand you a corrected image.
3. Some field engineers have located alternative distribution locations (for example the third-party archive referenced in the source research: STARTER 5.6 mirror). Treat such mirrors as untrusted; verify the SHA512 of every file you obtain from them against an independent source before running any installer on a production engineering workstation.
4. Mount the ISO with the built-in Windows 10/11 mount, then re-mount with a third-party tool (DAEMON Tools, ImDisk) to rule out a mount-specific issue. If one mount succeeds where the other fails, the issue is the mount driver, not the ISO.

Solution 2 - Bypass the Integrity Check on a Trusted ISO

If you have reason to trust the ISO (for example: internal download from a Siemens-controlled FTP, file validated against the sidecar hash, or you have used the same binary on a colleague's PC without issue), the integrity check can be bypassed. The check is a runtime folder validation step inside the bootstrapper; it is not enforced by Windows or by an OS-level signature. The bypass procedure used by experienced drive-commissioning engineers is:

1. Mount the ISO. Note the drive letter assigned by Windows, for example D:.
2. Open an elevated Command Prompt and run:

   D:\Setup.exe /ignoreverify

3. If /ignoreverify is rejected, extract the ISO contents with 7-Zip (preserve the directory tree) and run:

   cd C:\Temp\STARTER_V5.6.0.1
   Setup.exe /skipcheck

4. Older STARTER builds accept /nointegrity; try that switch if the first two are not recognised.
5. Once the bootstrapper proceeds, complete the install as normal. License, drive library, and trace components are not affected by the integrity check.

Solution 3 - Move to STARTER V5.7 HF1

For green-field commissioning, the cleanest path is to skip the defective V5.6.0.1 build and adopt the current delivery release, documented at Delivery release for SINAMICS STARTER V5.7 HF1. V5.7 HF1 includes additive SINAMICS Support Packages (SSPs) and was republished with corrected integrity manifests. The migration steps are:

1. Confirm the drive firmware version you need to support. V5.7 HF1 supports the SSP set released alongside it; consult the release memo for the supported SINAMICS S/G/V families.
2. Uninstall the broken V5.6.0.1 partial install (Control Panel → Programs → STARTER → Uninstall). If the uninstall also fails the integrity check, remove the install folder manually and prune HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\SINAMICS\STARTER.
3. Run the V5.7 HF1 setup with administrator rights. The integrity check passes for the repackaged ISO.
4. Re-import your existing project archives (typically *.zip or *.st1 from ..\User\<username>\ in your old STARTER profile). STARTER 5.x projects open natively in V5.7.
5. Re-point the PG/PC interface (PROFIBUS, PROFINET, Ethernet) to the new install; the interface assignment in TIA Portal / SIMATIC Manager is separate and unaffected.

Solution 4 - Capture a Working Installer from a Peer

On a tightly controlled engineering network, the simplest path is to obtain a copy of STARTER_V5.6.0.1.iso from a peer who previously installed it successfully. The peer copy is guaranteed to have a digest that matches the sidecar because their install completed. Compute the SHA512 of the peer copy, confirm it matches 140a78fec4a1a05a..., then use the bypass in Solution 2 if your local copy is still defective.

Related STARTER Error Conditions

SINAMICS Commissioning Context

STARTER is the primary commissioning tool for the SINAMICS drive families - S110, S120, S150, G110, G120, G130, G150, V20, and the legacy MASTERDRIVES. It uses an offline/online project model: the topology is constructed offline, then downloaded to the drive via PROFIBUS DP, PROFINET, or Ethernet. The integrity check added in V5.4 SP2 HF1 protects the offline/online boundary by ensuring that the tool which builds the parameter set has not been tampered with. A corrupted tool that pushes modified parameters to a drive can reconfigure the safety-integrated functions, change ramp rates, or disable encoder monitoring - so the check is justified, even when the symptom (a useless ISO) is annoying.

For projects that already moved to TIA Portal, the Starter project is typically consumed as a legacy reference. Drive integration in TIA uses Startdrive rather than STARTER. Startdrive is a separate installer that does not share the V5.6.0.1 ISO. STARTER remains supported and is the only path for some older SINAMICS firmware versions that Startdrive has not yet adopted.

Verification

After applying any of the four solutions, verify the install with this short commissioning smoke test:

1. Launch STARTER. The splash screen should report V5.6.0.1 (or V5.7 HF1 if you migrated).
2. Create a new project: Project → New → name it VERIFY → Insert single drive → pick a SINAMICS S120 from the catalog.
3. Open the drive object and confirm the expert list loads. The expert list is a built-in integrity check of the parameter database; if it loads, your install is healthy.
4. Set the PG/PC interface (PROFINET or PROFIBUS) and try Online → Accessible nodes. Even with no drive attached, the tool should scan without error.
5. Close and re-open STARTER to confirm the project, parameter set, and trace buffers persist.

If any of these steps fail, capture the new error string and refer to the Related STARTER Error Conditions table above.

Preventive Measures

1. Always capture the SHA512 (or at minimum SHA256) of any commissioning tool ISO the moment it lands on the engineering workstation. Store the digest alongside the ISO in your engineering share. This costs seconds and turns a 90-minute debugging session into a 10-second hash comparison.
2. Treat Siemens' own sidecar as advisory, not authoritative. Recompute the hash on first download and keep both numbers. A divergence between sidecar and computed is an early signal that the publisher republished a binary without regenerating the manifest.
3. Subscribe to the SINAMICS STARTER product page (ID 26233208) delivery-release RSS or e-mail notification. Delivery-release memos (such as the V5.7 HF1 release memo) document the supported drive firmware, SSP contents, and known installation issues.
4. Avoid running Setup.exe from a network share on a low-bandwidth link; partial ISO reads are a common cause of integrity failures that masquerade as publisher defects.
5. Maintain a known-good offline copy of the latest STARTER build in a controlled engineering share. During a site commissioning, time spent redownloading an ISO from a hotel Wi-Fi is rarely affordable.

Frequently Asked Questions