Resolving WinCC Flexible 2005 Utah-SOM Error with STEP 7 V5.4

Problem Description

When a WinCC flexible 2005 installation is combined with SIMATIC STEP 7 V5.4 on the same engineering workstation, inserting an HMI station into a STEP 7 project can fail with a fatal dialog stating:

Utah-SOM-error! File: ObjCreator.cpp, Line: 1967. Text: the Utah-Inproc server for Step7 integration is not available. Integration do not work!

The dialog is non-recoverable from the STEP 7 SIMATIC Manager context. Closing it leaves the HMI station unlinked, and the WinCC flexible project cannot be opened or saved from inside the STEP 7 project tree. The error persists across both the default installation path and a defined installation with the "Integration in STEP 7" option explicitly selected.

The fault originates inside the Utah-Inproc server, the in-process COM server that WinCC flexible 2005 registers as the bridge object model between flexible.es (the WinCC flexible engineering shell) and the STEP 7 SOM (Siemens Object Model). When the Utah-Inproc server fails to register or is deregistered by a previous uninstall, STEP 7 cannot instantiate the COM object requested at ObjCreator.cpp:1967, which is the routine that creates the HMI proxy objects during project insertion.

Root Cause Analysis

The Utah-SOM error is a class of COM registration failure, not a logic bug in WinCC flexible itself. Several distinct root causes can produce the same dialog:

The reference to Utah is internal Siemens nomenclature for the COM/ActiveX layer that wraps the WinCC flexible project tree. It surfaces in the file ObjCreator.cpp of flexible.es, which is invoked whenever STEP 7 SIMATIC Manager requests a new HMI station object. Line 1967 corresponds to the CoCreateInstance call against the Utah inproc server GUID; failure of that call is what raises the dialog.

Affected Versions and Products

Prerequisites for Repair

1. Local Administrator account on the engineering workstation.
2. Original WinCC flexible 2005 installation media (DVD or ISO) with the correct hotfix level for the project being edited.
3. The Siemens WinCC flexible Cleanup Tool, available from Siemens Support entry 28465761.
4. STEP 7 V5.4 installation media with a matching service pack.
5. A full system image or at least a restore point taken before any repair attempt.
6. Read/write access to %ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation and to the registry hives HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens and HKCR\CLSID.

Diagnostic Steps

Before applying the full cleanup, run these checks in order to isolate the failure:

1. Verify the Utah inproc server registration. Open an elevated command prompt and run:
   reg query "HKCR\CLSID" /f "UTAH" /s
   A healthy installation returns multiple CLSID entries whose InProcServer32 points to flexible.es or to a DLL in %ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation\WinCC flexible 2005. A missing or empty result confirms the registration is broken.
2. Check for shadowed CLSIDs.
   reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID" /f "UTAH" /s
   Compare against the per-user hive HKCU\Software\Classes\CLSID. Mismatched CLSIDs under HKCU are a strong indicator of per-user registration caused by UAC.
3. Inspect the Windows event log. Look under Application for event ID 1000 (application error) and System for event ID 7034 or 7035 referencing S7UBTSTX.EXE or flexible2005.exe. Side-by-side (SxS) errors with manifest mismatches point at WinSxS corruption.
4. Test COM activation directly. From an elevated prompt:
   mmc comexp.msc /32
   Navigate to DCOM Config and look for WinCC flexible Engineering Station. Right-click → Properties and confirm the General tab shows a valid AppID and that the Security tab grants launch permissions to the engineering user group.
5. Run S7-PCT or another STEP 7 add-on tool. If those also fail with COM errors, the issue is system-wide and not specific to WinCC flexible.

Solution 1: Repair via the WinCC flexible Cleanup Tool and Reinstall

This is the officially supported remediation path from Siemens for this class of error.

1. Close SIMATIC Manager, WinCC flexible, and all Siemens background services (S7TraceSrv, CCAgent).
2. Open Control Panel → Programs and Features and uninstall SIMATIC WinCC flexible 2005.
3. Launch the Cleanup Tool from Siemens Support entry 28465761 with administrative rights. Confirm the product family WinCC flexible 2005 is selected.
4. Choose Complete cleanup with registry removal. The tool removes residual files, COM registrations, the Siemens Automation registry subtree, and any leftover DCOM entries.
5. Reboot the workstation. Do not skip the reboot; pending file rename operations during cleanup are finalized at startup.
6. Disable antivirus, HIPS, and any application-control software for the duration of the install.
7. Insert the WinCC flexible 2005 installation media. Right-click Setup.exe and choose Run as administrator.
8. On the Installation type dialog select User-defined installation. Enable the option Integration in STEP 7 and select the STEP 7 V5.4 path explicitly.
9. Complete the installation, then reboot again.
10. Launch SIMATIC Manager and verify a new HMI station can be inserted. The Utah-SOM dialog must no longer appear.

Solution 2: Re-register the Utah InProc Server Manually

Use this path when the install is otherwise healthy but COM registration was lost (for example after a Windows feature update that deregistered legacy inproc servers).

1. Open an elevated command prompt.
2. Locate the Utah inproc DLL. Typical paths:
   %ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation\WinCC flexible 2005\UTAH_Inproc.dll
%ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation\WinCC flexible 2005\hmi_es\UTAH_Inproc.dll
3. Re-register the COM server:
   regsvr32 /u "C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\WinCC flexible 2005\UTAH_Inproc.dll"
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation\WinCC flexible 2005\UTAH_Inproc.dll"
   A successful unregister shows DllUnregisterServer in <filename> succeeded; the register call shows DllRegisterServer in <filename> succeeded.
4. If the registration reports a missing dependency, run the same sequence on every DLL in the same directory that ships with the WinCC flexible engineering shell.
5. Reboot and re-test HMI station insertion in STEP 7.

Solution 3: Restore the System from a Known-Good Image

When the above steps fail, the engineering workstation COM+ catalog or WinSxS store is most likely corrupted. A clean image is the only deterministic fix.

1. Capture or restore a system image taken before the first failure. Recommended tools: Symantec Ghost, Acronis True Image, or Veeam Agent for Windows.
2. Apply the image to the workstation, boot, and re-apply Windows updates to the same patch level that was validated for the engineering toolset.
3. Re-install WinCC flexible 2005 and STEP 7 V5.4 in the order prescribed by Siemens: STEP 7 first, WinCC flexible second, both with administrative rights and with security software disabled.
4. Immediately capture a fresh baseline image once the combination is verified to work.

Solution 4: Migrate the Project to WinCC (TIA Portal)

WinCC flexible 2005 and STEP 7 V5.4 are end-of-life. The long-term remediation is to migrate the project to a current engineering platform.

1. Open the WinCC flexible 2005 project and perform a project save as a backup.
2. On a TIA Portal engineering workstation, use Project → Migrate project in WinCC (TIA Portal) to convert the WinCC flexible project.
3. Follow the device and version upgrade procedure described in Siemens Support entry 77430539, which covers migration of a WinCC flexible project integrated in STEP 7 V5.x to WinCC (TIA Portal) and upgrading the operator panel version after a TIA Portal change.
4. Recompile the STEP 7 V5.4 program into the TIA Portal project using the TIA Portal migration tool to avoid carrying the old SOM dependency forward.
5. Validate the migrated project on the target panel or on a TIA Portal simulation (RT) before downloading to the operator panel.

Verification Procedure

1. Open SIMATIC Manager and create a new STEP 7 V5.4 project.
2. Right-click the project, choose Insert New Object → SIMATIC HMI Station. The Utah-SOM dialog must not appear.
3. Open the new HMI station in WinCC flexible 2005, modify a screen, save, and re-open the STEP 7 project. The HMI station must open from the STEP 7 tree without prompting for a standalone project file.
4. Compile the WinCC flexible project and download it to a target panel or to the WinCC flexible RT simulator. A successful download confirms that the inproc server, OPC routing, and panel connection are all functional.
5. Close and re-open the project twice to confirm the registration survives a session boundary.

Preventive Measures

• Install engineering tools in the order STEP 7 first, WinCC flexible second with both installers launched as administrator.
• Disable antivirus HIPS and any application-whitelisting product during the install; re-enable after the first successful project round-trip.
• Maintain a known-good system image taken immediately after a successful combination install. A 30 GB partition image restores in roughly 10 minutes and eliminates hours of COM troubleshooting.
• Apply WinCC flexible Hotfixes in order; mixing HF levels across machines on the same project can re-introduce registration drift.
• Avoid installing WinCC (TIA Portal) on the same workstation that hosts WinCC flexible 2005 with STEP 7 V5.4; the two COM layers are not designed to coexist and can overwrite each other's CLSIDs.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Key Registry and File References

FAQ