Migrating Siemens Comfort Panel to Basic Panel in TIA Portal

Overview

Siemens SIMATIC HMI panels split into two major families inside TIA Portal: the Comfort Panels (TP700 / TP900 / TP1200 / TP1500 / TP1900 / TP2200 Comfort) and the Basic Panels (KTP400 / KTP700 / KTP900 / KTP1200 Basic, plus the 2nd-generation Basic Panels introduced with the V14 firmware). Both families are configured inside the same WinCC engineering environment (WinCC Comfort / WinCC Advanced / WinCC Professional), but the runtime, the scripting capability, the available screen objects, the alarm logging model, and the supported communication drivers differ significantly.

When a project originally compiled against a Comfort Panel must be deployed on a lower-cost Basic Panel — for example, because hardware availability or budget constraints have changed at the cabinet build stage — the engineer is usually left with a partially built project and a question: can the existing screens be reused, or must the HMI portion of the program be rebuilt from scratch? The answer is that the screens, tags, connections, and most of the screen objects can be transferred, but the migration path is not a transparent “open-and-save”. This article documents the three viable procedures (Change Device, manual drag & drop, and library copy), the exact TIA Portal menu calls, the screen-object feature losses you should expect, the V13 / V13 SP1 / V14 / V15 / V16 / V17 version-specific behaviour, and the field checks that confirm a clean migration.

Comfort vs Basic Panel — Functional Delta

Before touching the project, the engineer should know exactly what functionality is going to be lost when the device class changes. The table below summarizes the delta that drives most Comfort-to-Basic migration decisions.

If the source Comfort project uses scripting, controller alarms, audit, f(x) trends, or the web server, then Basic cannot be a like-for-like replacement. The migration is only viable when the application can be reduced to a discrete-alarm, tag-driven, f(t)-trend panel without audit or scripting.

Prerequisites

1. TIA Portal version. The “Change device / version” function is part of the TIA Portal device editor. Field testing has confirmed the workflow on WinCC Comfort / Advanced V13 SP1 Update 5 and the workflow has been carried forward in V14, V15, V16, and V17. Earlier service packs of V13 reported the option as missing, which is the root cause of the most common forum complaint on this topic.
2. Matching project scope. The target Basic Panel must be in the same TIA Portal hardware catalog as the source Comfort Panel. If the catalog is restricted (e.g. only the Basic catalog is installed), the “Change device” menu entry appears greyed out.
3. License / authorization. WinCC Comfort (single) covers all Basic Panels. WinCC Advanced is required for Comfort Panels. If the project was edited with WinCC Advanced and the engineering station only has WinCC Comfort installed, the target device may be available for viewing but not for compile/download.
4. Project archived. Always archive the source project (.zap13 / .zap14 / .zap15 / .zap16 / .zap17) before starting the migration. A device change is not destructive on the source object, but the new device will be added to the same project tree and a partial project state may be hard to roll back.
5. PLC connection in scope. The HMI tags are bound to a PLC connection. Make sure the new HMI device is connected to the same S7-1200 / S7-1500 / S7-300 / LOGO! controller so the existing tag pointers remain valid.

Method 1 — Change Device (Recommended Path)

The Change Device function performs the full migration: it moves every screen, every HMI tag, every connection, every alarm, and every scheduled task to the new panel and then validates the result against the new device's limits. Screens, tag names, and tag-pointers survive intact. Objects that the new device does not support are flagged, not silently dropped.

Procedure

1. Open the TIA Portal project that contains the Comfort Panel.
2. Make sure the new Basic Panel device exists in the project tree. If it does not, drag it from the hardware catalog (SIMATIC HMI → Basic Panels) into the project tree and connect it to the same PLC.
3. Select the Comfort Panel device in the project tree (left pane, the “Devices & Networks” node, then the HMI station).
4. Right-click on the device object itself, not on the surrounding folder. The context menu shows the option “Change device / version…” in the top entry of the menu. If the option is greyed out, the target device is not compatible with the source — see the “Incompatible device pair” section below.
5. In the dialog, pick the new Basic Panel. The list is filtered to compatible devices. Confirm with OK.
6. TIA Portal performs the migration. Watch the inspector window for warnings: missing scripts, missing controller alarms, excess tags, or unsupported trend types are all reported here.
7. After the change, the source Comfort object is removed from the project and replaced by the Basic Panel, with all screens, HMI tags, and connections transferred.
8. Open the Devices & Networks editor and re-establish the HMI-to-PLC connection on the new device.
9. Compile the project (Project tree → HMI → right-click → Compile → Software (rebuild all)). Resolve every warning before download.

Method 2 — Manual Drag & Drop of Screens

If the target Basic Panel already exists in the project and the engineer wants to keep both devices side-by-side (for example, to validate the migration before deleting the source Comfort object), screens can be copied one at a time:

1. Open the Comfort Panel in the project tree and expand the Screens node.
2. Select one or more screens. Use Ctrl / Shift for multi-select.
3. Drag the selection onto the Screens node of the Basic Panel. Release the left mouse button.
4. TIA Portal inserts the screens on the Basic Panel. Each screen is renamed to the next free root name (Screen_1, Screen_2, …) and must be re-linked to a navigation button or to the start screen property.
5. Repeat for any required HMI tags, alarms, and scheduled tasks. Tag pointers to the PLC connection must be re-assigned to the Basic Panel's HMI connection.
6. Delete the original screen on the Comfort side once the Basic copy compiles cleanly.

This path is more work than Change Device but it is the only viable option when the engineering station does not allow device changes (for example, a TIA Portal installation that only ships the Basic catalog).

Method 3 — Library Copy (Fallback for Incompatible Cases)

If neither Change Device nor drag & drop is available — for instance when the source Comfort project is on a remote TIA Portal instance and the target Basic Panel is on a different engineering station — the screen contents can be moved through a project library:

1. Open the source Comfort project. In the project tree, right-click Project library → Master copies and select New master copy.
2. Drag the desired screens from the Comfort device into the new master copy. Each screen becomes a reusable type.
3. Save the library to disk. Open the target Basic project. In Project library → Global libraries, add the saved library and drag the master copy into the Basic Panel's Screens node.
4. Re-link HMI tags. Library-copied screens carry their tag references with them, but the references must be redirected to the Basic Panel's HMI tag table.
5. Compile, resolve warnings, download.

The library path is the slowest of the three but is the most portable: a project library file can be shared between two TIA Portal installations on different version streams, where a direct device change would be rejected.

Version-Specific Behaviour

If the project is opened in an older TIA Portal version and the Change Device option is greyed out, install the latest service pack for that version, or upgrade the project to the next major version. The “Change device / version” feature is part of the device editor core, so the fix is delivered with a TIA Portal update, not with a WinCC update.

Step-by-Step: TP700 Comfort to KTP700 Basic PN (Verified Case)

The following field-tested sequence moves a TP700 Comfort project to a KTP700 Basic PN without re-authoring the screens.

1. Open the project Cabinet_42.zap14 in TIA Portal V16.
2. Archive the project: Project → Archive → Save as … to Cabinet_42_pre_migration.zap14.
3. Expand Devices & Networks → HMI_1 [TP700 Comfort].
4. Right-click on the device HMI_1. Confirm the context menu shows Change device / version.
5. Choose KTP700 Basic PN (6AV2 123-2GB03-0AX0) from the “Compatible devices” list. Click OK.
6. The compiler reports the following typical warnings, all of which are expected:
   • Script ‘Startup_Login’ removed — target device does not support VBScript.
   • Trend view ‘Speed_f_of_x’ converted to f(t) trend.
   • Tag count 1 120 exceeds target device maximum 1 024 — reduce by 96 tags.
   • Controller alarm ‘PID_OVL’ removed — target device does not support controller alarms.
7. Address the warnings in this order:
   1. Delete or comment out the VBScript references. Move the logic to a scheduled task in the PLC instead.
   2. Convert the f(x) trend to an f(t) trend. Reconfigure the value axis.
   3. Review the HMI tag table. Merge duplicate tags, retire unused tags, and consolidate BOOL flags into a single WORD where the controller can spare the bit.
   4. Remove the controller alarm. Move the underlying limit check into the PLC logic and surface it as a discrete alarm on the HMI.
8. Re-compile. The rebuild should complete with zero errors and zero warnings.
9. Download to the KTP700 Basic PN. Use Ethernet, IP address 192.168.0.10, subnet 255.255.255.0.
10. Run the start-up acceptance test (see below).

Verification & Acceptance Test

Migration is not complete at the first successful compile. The following checks are the minimum acceptance set for a Comfort-to-Basic migration:

1. Compile clean. Project compiles with zero errors and zero warnings. Inspect the inspector window for “Notes (informational)” entries as well — some are predictive warnings (e.g. tag count after retirement still tight).
2. Start screen. Power-cycle the panel. The configured start screen is the first one shown, and the navigation tree is correct.
3. Tag polling. Insert a known bit pattern on the PLC and verify that all HMI tags show the expected value. A common failure is a tag that was bound to the Comfort HMI connection and not rebound to the new Basic HMI connection.
4. Alarm view. Force a low-priority alarm from the PLC. The alarm is shown in the alarm view with the correct timestamp. Acknowledge works. Clear works.
5. Trend. Trigger a controlled value change on the PLC. The f(t) trend logs the change. The trend view refreshes every 1 s as configured.
6. Recipe (if used). Save a recipe record to internal flash, change a value, and reload. The record round-trips correctly.
7. User administration. Log in as operator, log in as administrator. The role-based visibility is correct on screens, buttons, and tag writes.
8. Time synchronisation. The HMI time follows the PLC time-of-day. NTP / PLC time set on Comfort is preserved; Basic still receives time from the PLC connection.
9. ProSave / backup. A ProSave backup of the new panel can be created and restored.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Engineering Caveats & Best Practice

• Use Change Device whenever possible. Manual drag & drop and library copy lose the PLC connection wiring. Change Device preserves the connection and the symbolic reference.
• Audit the tag count before the change. Basic Panels cap at 128 / 256 / 1 024 tags depending on the firmware. If the source Comfort project uses 1 200 tags, the migration will compile only after retirement, not after the change itself.
• Check OPC UA on the target firmware. 2nd-generation Basic Panels (article numbers 6AV2 123-2xx05-0AX0 and later) support OPC UA server from firmware V16.0.3. 1st-generation Basic Panels do not. If the migration reason is “move to a newer model that supports OPC UA”, confirm the panel article number explicitly.
• Use the TIA Portal help “Compatibility tool”. Inside TIA Portal, Help → Compatibility tool shows which Comfort-to-Basic pairings the active installation supports, including the minimum firmware level on the Basic side.
• Verify the start screen is reachable. Comfort and Basic handle the “Start screen” property on the same property page, but if a navigation chain depends on a script that was removed, the new panel may boot onto a blank screen. Test with the PLC in stop first, then in run.
• Do not delete the source project before ProSave restore of the target. A safe field procedure is: archive the source, perform the migration, download to the new panel, then keep both projects side-by-side for the burn-in period (typically 2 weeks) before archiving the source.

FAQ