Resolving Siemens WinCC RC/RT License Corruption: Recovery Steps

Problem Description: WinCC RC/RT License Corruption

When the Automation License Manager (ALM) on a Siemens HMI/SCADA station reports a corrupt license for WinCC Runtime Configuration (RC) or WinCC Runtime (RT), the runtime may refuse to start, default to a limited engineering view, or stop with a hard fault that interrupts the visualization process. The two license keys affected in the field report are:

• WinCC RC (65536 tags): License key SIFLA9WRC40700
• WinCC RT (262144 tags): License key SIFLA9WRT70700

Both keys share the SIFLA9W prefix, which identifies them as Siemens Floating Licenses stored in the standard OAM (Online Application Maintenance) datapool. The trailing two-digit groups (RC / RT) identify the WinCC feature (Runtime Configuration vs. Runtime) and the numeric suffix (40700 / 70700) is the Siemens-internal license stock-keeping identifier, not the count of licensed objects.

The 65536 and 262144 figures displayed in the Automation Manager are the licensed Power Tag counts for the RC and RT variants respectively. RC (Runtime Configuration) licenses are typically paired with engineering/test benches, while RT (Runtime) licenses run on production operator stations. A corrupted RC license blocks project commissioning, while a corrupted RT license brings the operator panel to a halt.

Affected Products and License Identifiers

The SIFLA prefix designates a Single/Single-User Floating License managed by the Siemens Automation License Manager service. The 9W substring maps to the WinCC family; older WinCC V6 releases use the 6AV or 6ES prefixes, while TIA-Portal-based WinCC Professional/Comfort/Advanced licenses are tracked in the same OAM datapool but may use the SIPLA family identifier.

Root Cause Analysis: Why WinCC Licenses Corrupt

WinCC RC/RT license corruption is almost always a symptom of an operating-system or disk issue rather than a defect in the license itself. Siemens license files are encrypted containers stored in the OAM datapool directory. Any of the following conditions can produce the "license corrupt" message in the Automation License Manager:

1. Unexpected power loss / BSOD during license write — The ALM service writes license transactions to a journal file in %ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation\OAM\datapool\ and to C:\AXVF\ (legacy). An interrupted write leaves the journal in an inconsistent state, and the next ALM start marks the license as invalid.
2. Filesystem corruption on the system drive — Bad sectors on the volume that hosts the OAM datapool corrupt the .lic container and the associated key.lic signature. Run chkdsk /f /r on the system volume before rehosting.
3. Antivirus or Endpoint Protection quarantine — Some security suites treat the ALM service (almservice.exe) and the *.lic containers as suspicious. Quarantining the file or blocking the service silently corrupts the visible license state.
4. OS image restore, rollback, or VSS snapshot replay — Restoring a Windows image to a state captured before the license was installed is the most common cause in VM-based test cells. The license is rolled back to a pre-installation state and the certificate still claims the seat is in use.
5. Hardware replacement without rehost — Single-User licenses are bound to the host fingerprint. Replacing the motherboard, NIC, or migrating to a new VM produces a fingerprint mismatch that the ALM reports as corruption.
6. Registry or permission damage — The ALM stores its service configuration under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation\OAM. If this hive is partially restored or its ACL is overwritten by a group policy push, the service cannot read the license even if the file is intact.
7. Reinstallation of a WinCC major version over a mismatched ALM — A WinCC V7.5 RT installation pushed over a WinCC V7.4 SP1 station without first upgrading the OAM datapool can leave orphan entries that the new ALM rejects.

Pre-Recovery Diagnostics

Before opening a support request, capture the following diagnostic data. This information is mandatory for the Siemens support team to issue a rehost or reactivation:

1. Open Automation License Manager (Start → Siemens Automation → Automation License Manager) and screenshot the corrupt entry. Note the exact message text, the license status icon (red triangle / yellow warning), and the Certificate No. from the original CoL (Certificate of License).
2. From the Help → About dialog, record the ALM version. WinCC V7.5 SP2 expects ALM 6.0.11 or higher; TIA Portal V17 expects ALM 6.0.12.
3. Open services.msc and confirm the ALM service (display name "Automation License Manager") is set to Automatic (Delayed Start) and is currently Running. Account should be LocalSystem.
4. Verify file existence: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Siemens\Automation\OAM\datapool\*.lic and C:\AXVF\*.lic (legacy). Note the file sizes — a zero-byte .lic is a strong indicator of an interrupted write.
5. Record the host fingerprint via cmd → almservice -fingerprint or by reading C:\Program Files\Common Files\Siemens\Automation\OAM\bin\almsrvfp.exe. Provide this fingerprint to Siemens support.
6. Confirm Windows event log entries under Application with source ALM or OAM. Errors with event ID 1, 10, or 20 indicate read/parse failures on the license container.
7. Run sfc /scannow and DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth to confirm Windows component store integrity, since a corrupted CBS can break ALM's signed service binary verification.

Step-by-Step License Recovery Procedure

1. Stop the ALM service. Open an elevated command prompt and run net stop "Automation License Manager". Wait for the "stopped successfully" confirmation. Stopping the service ensures the journal is flushed and no process holds a write-lock on the datapool.
2. Back up the datapool. Copy the entire folder C:\Program Files\Common Files\Siemens\Automation\OAM\ and, if present, C:\AXVF\ to a safe location. The OAM folder typically contains the bin, datapool, and log subdirectories. Preserving the existing state allows rollback if a rehost fails.
3. Run a filesystem check. Execute chkdsk C: /f /r from an elevated prompt, scheduling the scan for the next reboot if C: is the system volume. Re-run the scan after reboot until no further errors are reported.
4. Re-register the ALM service. From an elevated prompt, run "%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Siemens\Automation\OAM\bin\almservice.exe" -register followed by almservice -unregister && almservice -register. This rebuilds the service entry under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\almservice without touching the license files.
5. Start the ALM service. net start "Automation License Manager". Re-open the Automation License Manager GUI and re-check the status of the RC and RT entries.
6. If the license still reads corrupt, perform a clean rehost. The recovery path requires a reactivation code from Siemens. To obtain it, follow the support request procedure in the next section. Once you have the reactivation code, return to the ALM, right-click the corrupt entry, and select Reactivate License. Enter the new code and the corresponding SIFLA9WRC40700 or SIFLA9WRT70700 certificate number. The reactivation writes a fresh container in the datapool.
7. Restart WinCC Runtime. Open WinCC Explorer → Computer → Properties → Runtime, then click Activate or use the start button. Watch the ALM journal: a healthy start logs "License validated: SIFLA9WRC40700" within the first 5 s.
8. Verify tag visibility. Open the WinCC tag management (or the project's Power Tags overview) and confirm that the configured count (≤ 65,536 for RC, ≤ 262,144 for RT) is accepted. If a higher count is configured, the RT will start in demo mode with a watermark even with a valid license.

Support Request Submission Procedure

A reactivation code for a corrupt SIFLA9W license can only be issued by Siemens Industry Online Support. The user cannot generate it locally. The standard procedure is:

1. Navigate to Siemens Industry Online Support and sign in with a Siemens Support Account. A free registration is available; corporate accounts should use the registered customer/admin identity.
2. Open a new support request and select the product line SIMATIC HMI / WinCC → WinCC V7 (or WinCC Professional / Comfort, matching the installed variant) and the sub-product License / Authorization.
3. Attach the following documents:
   • Screenshot of the corrupt ALM entry (showing the certificate number and the error message).
   • Export of the host fingerprint (output of almservice -fingerprint).
   • Copy of the original Certificate of License (CoL) PDF delivered with the USB stick; this lists the SIFLA9WRC40700 and SIFLA9WRT70700 license numbers.
   • Windows version, build, and architecture (32-bit vs 64-bit); WinCC is a 32-bit application on Windows 10/11 x64.
   • Output of almservice -version and reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation\OAM" /s.
4. Describe the timeline: when was the license first installed, when was the corruption first observed, and what changes were made to the system (Windows updates, hardware swap, antivirus change, power event).
5. Set the priority to P1 (production stop) only if a runtime HMI is offline; otherwise P3 (general request) is appropriate for RC reactivation.
6. Siemens typically responds within 24–48 hours for P1 and 3–5 business days for P3. The reactivation code is delivered as a text string (long alphanumeric) that must be entered into the ALM "Reactivate License" wizard together with the matching license number from the certificate.

Local Siemens representatives (Siemens AG, Siemens Industry Inc., regional SI partners) can also initiate the request on the customer's behalf if a company has no active SSI support contract.

Prevention and Best Practices

• Image with care. Never deploy a Windows image containing an installed WinCC license to more than one machine without rehosting. If you must template WinCC stations, install the license after the image is applied to each unique hardware.
• UPS on engineering stations. A 5-minute UPS is sufficient to cover the 1–2 s ALM write transactions and prevents journal corruption from brownouts.
• Whitelist the OAM paths in antivirus. Exclude %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Siemens\Automation\OAM\, %ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation\WinCC\, and C:\AXVF\ from real-time scanning. Configure the ALM service as a permitted process.
• Disable Windows VSS restore of the datapool. Group Policy → Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → Windows Components → File Server VSS → set "Revert" operations to ignore the OAM folder.
• Maintain a license archive. Keep the original CoL PDF, the SIFLA9WRC40700 and SIFLA9WRT70700 certificate numbers, the host fingerprint at install time, and the ALM datapool backup in a secure repository. The combination is sufficient to recover any seat without a support call.
• Document the host fingerprint at commissioning. Run almservice -fingerprint > host_fp.txt and store host_fp.txt in the project documentation. This single command saves a support cycle when a motherboard is replaced.
• Use the CoL's online portal at Siemens Certificate of License portal to track remaining rehost credits and current host assignment. The portal is the authoritative source for rehost credit balance.

Verification and Final Checks

For a permanent fix, repeat the verification after two cold reboots and a 30-minute runtime soak test. If the corruption reappears within that window, the underlying cause is hardware (disk or RAM) and the affected media should be replaced before redeploying WinCC.

Troubleshooting Matrix: Common Errors vs. Fix

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