Installing S7-PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 on Windows 7: Complete Guide

Overview

S7-PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 is Siemens' final service pack for the V5.4 generation of the S7-PLCSIM simulation toolchain. Unlike its predecessors, SP4 is the only release of PLCSIM V5.4 that natively supports Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise editions only). Earlier PLCSIM V5.4 service packs ship with MSI installers authored for Windows XP/2003 and silently abort on Windows 7. This creates a chicken-and-egg installation problem: SP4 requires an earlier V5.4 release to be registered on the system, but no earlier V5.4 release will install on Windows 7 because its setup program enforces an XP-only OS compatibility check.

This reference documents three field-proven methods to bypass the installer pre-check, complete the installation, and license the simulator on Windows 7. The procedures were validated against STEP 7 V5.5 + PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 (HF1) on Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit and Windows 7 Professional 32-bit, and they apply equally to Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit. Engineers migrating off Windows XP after the April 2014 end-of-support milestone rely on these techniques to keep STEP 7 V5.x projects testable on modern hardware.

Problem Description

When launching the original setup.exe from the PLCSIM V5.4 SP1, SP2, or SP3 distribution on Windows 7, the installer halts with one of the following symptoms:

• Silent exit immediately after the splash screen with a blank or 0 KB log under %TEMP%\Siemens\Setup\PLCSIM_Setup.log.
• Pop-up dialog: "This program is not supported by your operating system" while the installer enumerates Windows version 6.1.7600 (Win7 RTM) or 6.1.7601 (Win7 SP1).
• MSI installer returns exit code 0x80004005 (unspecified error) after the OS version check fails inside the LaunchCondition table.
• MSI Error 1719: "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed" when the Windows Installer 4.5 redistributable is missing.
• Setup completes, but the S7-PLCSIM entry never appears in Start > Programs > Siemens Automation > S7-PLCSIM because the install transaction is rolled back.

PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 itself does install, but its setup first verifies that the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim exists with a base version string such as 5.4.0.0 or 5.4.2.0. If that key is absent, the SP4 installer aborts with the dialog "A previous installation of S7-PLCSIM V5.4 could not be detected." This dual dependency is the root cause of the install failure on Windows 7.

Root Cause Analysis

The PLCSIM V5.4 base installer (SP1 through SP3) uses an MSI LaunchCondition table row that targets the Windows version properties WindowsBuild <= 3790 and VersionNT = 5.02 (XP 32-bit) or 5.01 (XP 32-bit). Windows 7 reports VersionNT = 6.01, which fails the property comparison and triggers the MSI rollback. The installer never reaches the file-copy phase, so no PLCSIM components are written to disk and no registry hive is created.

The SP4 update installer, by contrast, was rebuilt against the Windows 7 SDK and uses the AppSearch action to scan for the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim key. Because the base installer never ran, the key is missing, and SP4's Condition action evaluates False and terminates. The dependency graph can be summarized as:

PLCSIM V5.4 < SP4  -->  Requires Windows XP/2003 (LaunchCondition fails on Win7)
PLCSIM V5.4 SP4    -->  Requires PLCSIM V5.4 base key in registry (AppSearch fails if absent)
                \
                 +--> Deadlock on Windows 7

Three solutions break the deadlock: (1) seed the registry hive with the base PLCSIM V5.4 keys from an XP installation, (2) install the bundled STEP 7 Professional 2010 DVD which contains a combined V5.5 + PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 media, or (3) modify the base MSI's LaunchCondition with the ORCA editor to relax the OS check.

System Requirements

Prerequisites

1. Verify the OS edition by pressing Win+Pause and confirming Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate/Enterprise, 32-bit. wmic os get caption, osarchitecture returns Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, 32-bit.
2. Install STEP 7 V5.5 SP1 or higher before PLCSIM V5.4 SP4. The PLCSIM setup registers a COM in-proc server S7WBEZS.DLL consumed by the STEP 7 SIMATIC Manager.
3. Disable UAC: Control Panel > User Accounts > Change User Account Control settings > Never notify. Reboot.
4. Install Internet Explorer 8 or 9 (32-bit). Even on 64-bit Windows 7 the Automation License Manager uses the 32-bit IE engine.
5. Ensure Windows Installer 4.5+ is present: msiexec /? should report version 4.5.5.0000 or higher.
6. Close all running STEP 7 components, SIMATIC Manager instances, and the Automation License Manager before setup.
7. Have the license medium (USB dongle, floating license server URL, or license file *.zip) ready for post-install activation.

Solution 1: Registry Export from Windows XP

This method uses any Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 host (physical or VM) to register PLCSIM V5.4 base, then exports the registry hive and imports it into Windows 7 before launching the SP4 setup. It requires a temporary XP environment but no STEP 7 DVD changes.

Step 1 - Install PLCSIM V5.4 base on XP

1. On a Windows XP SP3 machine, log in as Administrator and insert the PLCSIM V5.4 SP1, SP2, or SP3 distribution CD.
2. Run setup.exe from the CD root and complete the wizard. Accept the default installation path C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\PLCSIM.
3. Restart the XP host to ensure all services and COM registrations are active.
4. Verify the registry hive exists: launch regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim. Confirm a value named ProductVersion contains 5.4.x.0 and a value named InstallPath points to the install directory.

Step 2 - Export the registry hive

1. Open regedit on the XP host.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim.
3. Right-click the PLCSim key and select Export.
4. Save the file as PLCSim_Registry.reg with export range set to Selected branch.
5. If STEP 7 is not going to be installed on Win7 yet, also export the parent Siemens key and the Siemens\AUTSW sub-keys to preserve any related entries.

The exported .reg file will look like:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim]
"ProductVersion"="5.4.0.0"
"InstallPath"="C:\\Program Files\\Siemens\\Automation\\PLCSIM"
"CustomerCode"="0000000000"
"LicenseKey"=""
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim\S7-PLCSIM]
"Version"="5.4.0.0"

Step 3 - Transfer and import on Windows 7

1. Copy PLCSim_Registry.reg to the Windows 7 host via USB stick, network share, or RDP clipboard.
2. Log into Windows 7 as Administrator. UAC must be disabled.
3. Double-click the .reg file. Confirm the User Account Control prompt and the registry editor import dialog.
4. Verify the import with regedit at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim. If you are on 64-bit Windows 7, note that PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 reads the 32-bit registry view; the key still resides under the standard HKLM\SOFTWARE hive, not under Wow6432Node.

Step 4 - Run the SP4 setup

1. Insert the PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 update media or extract the SP4 ISO.
2. Navigate to the root folder and double-click setup.exe.
3. The installer now finds the registry hive and proceeds past the prerequisite check.
4. Accept the license agreement, choose Install, and wait for the completion dialog (typically 2-4 minutes on a Core 2 Duo).
5. Reboot Windows 7 to finalize the COM registration of S7WBEZS.DLL and WBEZSX.OCX.

Solution 2: STEP 7 Professional 2010 Bundle

Siemens' STEP 7 Professional 2010 DVD includes a unified setup that installs STEP 7 V5.5 and PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 in a single transaction. This is the cleanest path because the bundle installer registers the base PLCSim registry key as part of STEP 7 V5.5's automation software setup, and then layers SP4 on top.

Step 1 - Acquire the media

The bundle is part number 6ES7810-5CC10-0YA7 (STEP 7 Professional 2010, English). It is also distributed as 6ES7810-5CC10-0YA8 in German. The DVD is dual-layer and contains the directories STEP7_V55 and PLCSIM_V54_SP4 as separate setups but invoked from one master menu.

Step 2 - Run the unified setup

1. Insert the STEP 7 Professional 2010 DVD. Auto-run starts the setup.exe on the root.
2. Select the language and accept the licensing terms.
3. On the component selection screen, ensure both STEP 7 V5.5 and S7-PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 are checked. Optional components like S7-GRAPH, S7-SCL, and S7-PCT can be left checked if licensed.
4. Click Install. The setup runs STEP 7 V5.5 first (about 25 minutes), then PLCSIM V5.4 SP4 (about 4 minutes).
5. The PLCSIM installer will write the HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\AUTSW\PLCSim key directly because the parent STEP 7 install creates the Siemens\AUTSW namespace.
6. Reboot when prompted.

Step 3 - Activate the license

1. Open Automation License Manager from Start > Programs > Siemens Automation > License Management.
2. Plug in the USB license dongle (if using a hardlock), or import the floating license file via License Server > Connect.
3. Click Refresh. The S7-PLCSIM V5.4 entry should appear with status Valid.

If the license does not appear, verify the date/time on the PC. PLCSIM licenses are time-stamped and a system clock set before the PC build date will reject the license as Not Yet Valid.

Solution 3: ORCA MSI Modification

ORCA is Microsoft's free MSI table editor shipped as part of the Windows SDK Components for Windows Installer Developers. With ORCA you can edit the LaunchCondition row of the PLCSIM V5.4 SP1/SP2/SP3 base installer so that it accepts Windows 7, then install the base release directly on Windows 7 before layering SP4.

Step 1 - Install ORCA

1. Download the Windows SDK for Windows 7 from Microsoft and install the Windows Installer Development Tools component, which includes orca.msi.
2. Alternatively, extract orca.msi from the SDK ISO: msiexec /a orca.msi /qb.
3. Launch ORCA from C:\Program Files\ORKTools\Orca.exe.

Step 2 - Patch the base MSI

1. Mount the PLCSIM V5.4 SP2 ISO or copy the Disk1 folder to C:\Temp\S7_PLCSIM_V54_SP2\PLCSim\Disk1.
2. In ORCA, open setup.msi from that folder. The MSI may prompt to create a transform file; click No and edit in place, or click Yes to save a separate MST.
3. Navigate to the LaunchCondition table in the left pane.
4. Locate the row whose Condition column contains an expression similar to (VersionNT=501 OR VersionNT=502) AND WindowsBuild <= 3790. This is the OS check that blocks Windows 7.
5. Replace the condition with: (VersionNT=501 OR VersionNT=502 OR VersionNT=601) AND WindowsBuild <= 7601
6. Save the MSI (or save the MST to setup.mst).
7. If saving in place, also re-sign the package with signtool sign /a setup.msi if your shop enforces Authenticode.

Step 3 - Install the patched MSI

1. Run the patched setup.exe from the same Disk1 folder.
2. Complete the wizard; the OS check now passes and PLCSIM V5.4 SP2 registers itself.
3. Launch the SP4 update setup; it detects the base install and completes the upgrade.
4. Reboot.

Post-Installation Verification

1. Open SIMATIC Manager from Start > Programs > Siemens Automation > SIMATIC Manager.
2. Open a sample S7-300 project (or create a new one with File > New > Project).
3. Click the Start S7-PLCSIM button on the toolbar, or press Ctrl+I.
4. Confirm the PLCSIM window opens with the status bar reading RUN and the virtual CPU card displayed.
5. Download the S7 program via PLC > Download. PLCSIM should report Download successful and start executing OB1.
6. Force a bit (VAT table, address M0.0) and verify the indicator toggles in the PLCSIM status panel.
7. Open Automation License Manager and confirm the PLCSIM license is shown as Valid, not Trial or Missing.
8. Check the Windows Event Viewer under Applications and Services Logs > Siemens for any startup errors.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Frequently Asked Questions