Resolving TIA Portal V17 Showing Only Drives Category in Catalog

Resolving TIA Portal V17 Showing Only "Drives" Category in the Device Catalog

When a SIMATIC ET 200SP station appears correctly in the accessible nodes view of TIA Portal V17 (for example as cpu [192.168.0.1] under the Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller network adapter), but the "Add new device" dialog only lists the Drives category, the engineering environment is missing the STEP 7 Professional base package. This is a classic installation-architecture symptom: only the Startdrive add-on has been deployed, and Startdrive intentionally exposes a drives-only catalog. The remedy is a proper STEP 7 Professional V17 install followed by the matching Hardware Support Packages (HSPs) for the ET 200SP family.

1. Problem Description

Symptom set observed in the field:

• Accessible nodes correctly resolve the ET 200SP CPU at its PROFINET IP address.
• "Add new device" or "Add new hardware" dialog lists only the Drives folder.
• Standard Siemens catalog branches (PLC, HMI, PC Systems, Drives & Starter, Network components) are missing.
• Hardware Support Package installation aborts with: "STEP 7 Basic >= V17 must be installed."
• Issue reproduces on multiple engineering PCs, ruling out a single workstation corruption.

2. Root Cause: Startdrive Is Not TIA Portal

Startdrive is an optional add-on for integrating SINAMICS drives (G120, G120C, G120D, G120P, G130, G150, S110, S120, S210, V20) into a STEP 7 project. It is delivered as a separate installation medium, historically labeled CD2 in the TIA Portal media set. Running Setup.exe from that medium deploys Startdrive and registers a TIA Portal shell entry, but the shell remains functionally limited to drive commissioning.

Reference: Startdrive product note (Siemens Support, ID 109795276) documents the relationship between Startdrive and the TIA Portal base system.

The TIA Portal product matrix is built in layers:

When only layer 1 and layer 5 are present, the "Add new device" catalog is structurally restricted to drive devices, which is precisely the behavior reported.

3. Why the Error Message Says "STEP 7 Basic >= V17"

The HSP installer validates the registry hive HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation\InstalledSoftware\TIA_Portal\V17 for the presence of the STEP 7 base product. If STEP 7 (Basic or Professional) is not detected, the installer refuses to proceed and emits the message "STEP 7 Basic >= V17 must be installed." This is a deliberate guard to prevent partial catalogs that would reference module descriptions that the active base product cannot compile against.

4. Prerequisites for a Correct TIA Portal V17 Install

1. Operating system: Windows 10 (64-bit, version 1809 or higher) or Windows 11 (64-bit). Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 are supported for the runtime side; programming is generally performed on Windows 10/11 workstations.
2. Local administrator rights on the engineering PC for the entire install duration.
3. Anti-virus / Endpoint Protection temporarily disabled during the install. Real-time scanning of the %temp% unpack folder and C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation tree is a known cause of corrupted module descriptions.
4. Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 and Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) are pre-installed by the TIA Portal setup, but pre-existing corrupt versions must be repaired with sfc /scannow and the official redistributable repair installers.
5. Minimum 25 GB free disk space on the system drive (TIA Portal V17 with all options can exceed 20 GB installed).
6. 16 GB RAM minimum (32 GB recommended for projects larger than 50 devices).
7. Valid license key on a USB dongle, license file, or Automation License Manager (ALM) server, or the 21-day trial activation.

5. Step-by-Step Recovery Procedure

5.1 Confirm the actual installed product set

Open Control Panel → Programs and Features (or appwiz.cpl) and look for entries whose name begins with SIMATIC or Totally Integrated Automation Portal. The list should resemble:

SIMATIC STEP 7 Professional V17 (incl. TIA Portal)    17.0.0.0
SIMATIC WinCC Professional V17                         17.0.0.0
SIMATIC Startdrive V17                                 17.0.0.0
SIMATIC S7-PLCSIM V17                                 17.0.0.0

If only SIMATIC Startdrive V17 is present, the diagnosis is confirmed.

5.2 Uninstall the Startdrive-only shell

From the same Programs and Features view, right-click SIMATIC Startdrive V17 and choose Uninstall. Confirm the removal and reboot. This clears the TIA Portal registration without leaving dangling references in the Automation License Manager.

5.3 Acquire the correct installation media

Download the official TIA Portal V17 installation package from Siemens Online Support:

• TIA Portal V17 installation files (Siemens Support, ID 109784440)

The download page offers a 21-day trial that is functionally complete (no feature restrictions), and the same installer accepts a valid STEP 7 / WinCC license key. The package is split into multiple .zip archives that must be extracted into a single folder before launching Start.exe.

5.4 Install the STEP 7 base product first

1. Right-click Start.exe in the extracted install folder and run as administrator.
2. Select STEP 7 Professional V17 from the product tree. The install order is enforced: TIA Portal framework → STEP 7 Professional → optional products.
3. Accept the license agreement and enter the license key (or choose Trial).
4. Choose the install scope. For a single engineering workstation, select Typical. For shared lab environments, choose User-defined and set the project storage path to a non-system drive.
5. Disable the Participate in Siemens customer experience improvement program checkbox if the site policy requires it.
6. Click Install. Plan for 30 - 60 minutes depending on disk and CPU performance.
7. Reboot when prompted. The setup adds the Siemens Automation service and registers the ALM (Automation License Manager).

5.5 Reinstall Startdrive on top of STEP 7

Mount or extract the Startdrive V17 medium and run its setup. The installer detects the freshly installed STEP 7 base and registers the SINAMICS catalog branches under Drives & Starter.

5.6 Install the matching Hardware Support Packages

After the base install, deploy the HSPs for the ET 200SP family and any newer modules. HSPs are delivered as .zip files containing a *.hsp package descriptor. The standard delivery channel is the Siemens HSP download portal:

• Hardware Support Packages for TIA Portal (overview page)

To deploy an HSP inside TIA Portal:

1. Open TIA Portal.
2. Choose Options → Support Packages → Install from file system.
3. Browse to the .hsp file (do not unzip).
4. Confirm the license note and restart TIA Portal if prompted.

6. Verification

After the corrected install, perform the following checks in order:

1. Launch TIA Portal V17 and create a new project.
2. Open the project tree and double-click Add new device.
3. Confirm the catalog now contains at minimum: PLC, HMI, PC Systems, Drives & Starter, and Network components.
4. Drill into PLC → SIMATIC S7 CPU → ET 200 CPU → ET 200SP CPU and confirm the local CPU order numbers appear. For the IM 155-6 PN HF variants, the order numbers 6ES7155-6AU01-0BN0, 6ES7155-6AU30-0BN0, and 6ES7155-6AU30-0CN0 should be present in the standard V17 base catalog or in the matching ET 200SP HSP.
5. From the Online → Accessible nodes view, refresh and verify that the ET 200SP CPU at 192.168.0.1 is reachable. The network adapter Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller should be assigned an IP in the same subnet (for example 192.168.0.10 / 255.255.255.0).
6. Drag the discovered CPU into the project, perform Online → Compile and download with an empty OB1 to confirm the entire compile / link / download pipeline is functional.

7. Diagnostic Tooling: Installation Logs

If the install appears to succeed but the catalog remains drives-only, retrieve the setup logs to confirm which product line failed silently.

1. Open Windows Explorer and type %temp% in the address bar, then press Enter.
2. Sort by Date modified descending; the most recent SiemensInstall_*.log entries correspond to the latest TIA Portal install attempt.
3. Open each log and search for the strings STEP7, InstallResult, ReturnCode, and error.
4. A clean install shows ReturnCode=0 for each product; a partial install shows non-zero return codes tied to a missing prerequisite.

For deeper forensics, the consolidated log %programdata%\Siemens\Automation\Logfiles\TIA_Portal_V17_Install.log contains the full sequence of install operations across reboots.

8. ET 200SP Integration Checklist

After the catalog is restored, the ET 200SP station is integrated as follows:

9. Startdrive Catalog Behavior After STEP 7 Install

Once STEP 7 Professional is present, the Startdrive catalog moves from the top-level Drives branch into a structured sub-tree. Engineers can then add a SINAMICS drive either as a standalone device (via Drives & Starter → SINAMICS drives) or as a PROFINET IO device subordinate to a SIMATIC CPU.

For bulk parameterization, the EPISD (Edit Parameters In Several Drives) TIA Portal Add-In is available for V17 onward. Reference: EPISD Add-In V20 documentation (PDF).

10. Common Pitfalls and Edge Cases

• Mixing V17 and V18 media: The HSP error "STEP 7 Basic >= V17 must be installed" can also appear when an HSP for V18 is launched against a V17 install. Match the HSP version to the TIA Portal version exactly.
• User Account Control interference: Silent elevation prompts can leave the setup in a half-installed state. Disable UAC for the install session or run the setup from a fully elevated shell.
• Pre-released Software Update Packages (SUPs): A SUP that updates the TIA Portal shell to a later patch level can occasionally re-trigger the catalog visibility problem if the underlying STEP 7 install was already broken. Apply the SUP only after the base install is clean.
• Parallels / VDI environments: Virtualized engineering workstations can mask the network adapter from the TIA Portal online diagnostics if the hypervisor does not present a hardware-passthrough NIC. Use a dedicated bridged adapter to avoid intermittent "device not found" behavior.
• Multiple TIA Portal versions on one PC: TIA Portal V16, V17, and V18 can coexist only if the install order is strictly ascending. Reverse order breaks the shared TIA Portal component registration.

11. Quick Reference: Build a Working V17 Engineering Station

12. Frequently Asked Questions