Siemens COMOS Administration: comos.exe Access and Admin Login

Overview: Why "Comos Administration.exe" Does Not Exist

Engineers searching for a file named Comos Administration.exe on the Siemens COMOS installation media or under the installation root will not find one. The COMOS platform uses a single application binary, comos.exe, located in the bin directory of the COMOS installation. The "Administrator" or "Administration" capabilities of the platform are not delivered as a separate executable; they are menu states inside the main comos.exe process, gated by user functional rights and the database login context. The confusion is amplified because installation dialogs expose a "Comos Administration" feature checkbox, and the COMOS DokuPack references an "Administration" manual covering administrative workflows. Both lead engineers to expect a discrete executable that does not actually ship with the product.

This article documents the real binary layout, the role-based access control that activates the administrator menu, the /MD:v command-line switch that explicitly suppresses administrative elevation, the default @setup account in the iDB, and the "universal login" used to seed and manage a fresh COMOS database. The reference is intended for system administrators, plant engineers, and IT support staff who are commissioning COMOS for the first time or inheriting an installation from a previous owner.

COMOS Platform Architecture: Where the Binary Lives

COMOS is a client-server plant lifecycle management platform with three logical tiers: the COMOS application client (comos.exe and supporting DLLs), the COMOS database (typically an iDB on SQL Server or Oracle), and the COMOS file server (project documents, drawings, and the DokuPack). Only the client binary comos.exe is launched by the user; the rest of the platform is reached through that single process via menu navigation, dialogs, and COMOS-internal remote procedure calls.

The standard installation layout (default paths) is summarized below. Paths are platform-dependent and may be relocated during install.

The official COMOS Platform Administration Operating Manual (07/2019, V10.3.2) is the authoritative reference for the file layout, the iDB, the file server, and the application binaries that ship with a release. Refer to that PDF for version-specific path and registry key information.

The "Comos Administration" Installation Checkbox

During setup, the Select Components dialog of the COMOS installer does present an option labeled Comos Administration. Selecting it enables the administrative menu items, scripts, and DokuPack sections that are required to perform platform administration tasks such as user management, role assignment, database connection setup, and the import of vendor catalogs. Selecting it does not install a separate Administration.exe; it controls which features inside the single comos.exe binary are exposed to the user.

Common administrative entry points inside the running comos.exe process include:

• Extra > Administration (or the top-level Administration menu when rights permit)
• Extra > Database > iDB Administration
• Extra > User Management > Users and Groups
• Extra > COMOS > Import / Export / Update
• Extra > PAA (Plant Analysis and Administration) when the PAA module is licensed

If these menu items are missing or greyed out, the cause is not a missing executable; it is a missing license, a missing component-selection during install, or — most commonly — a missing functional right for the logged-in user.

User Functional Rights: The Real Access Control

COMOS uses a granular role-based access model. Administrative commands are protected by functional rights such as FB.ADMIN, FB.USERMANAGEMENT, FB.DBADMIN, and FB.PAA. These rights are assigned to users and groups inside the iDB, not at the operating-system level. Until the running comos.exe process has loaded a user identity with the required rights, the Administrator menu is hidden or disabled.

Functional rights are typically assigned in Extra > Administration > Users and Groups (or in legacy builds: Extra > User Management). Rights propagate through group membership; a user added to the @Admins group inherits every right assigned to that group. The @ prefix marks built-in system objects that the iDB ships with.

Command-Line Parameters: /MD:v and Switches That Affect Admin Mode

comos.exe accepts several startup switches that influence how the application starts and which menus are available. The most important for the administrator question is /MD:v.

The actual switch names and their availability depend on the COMOS version. Always verify against the manual for the installed release; the V10.3.2 Administration manual and the legacy Administration manual cover the switches in detail.

When troubleshooting "the Administrator menu is greyed out", first check the shortcut the user is launching. Many sites ship a pre-configured shortcut that includes /MD:v to lock down the operator workstation. Removing that switch — or creating a separate admin shortcut without it — is often the immediate fix.

Default Accounts: @setup and the Universal Login

A fresh iDB shipped with the COMOS installation media contains a single built-in administrative account: @setup. This account is the seed identity used to bootstrap the database: it can create the first real users, assign functional rights, set up the @Admins group, and configure the project structure. The @ prefix and the account name are reserved at the iDB level and should not be renamed or deleted, because COMOS itself looks for them during database verification and upgrade operations.

To log in as @setup for the first time:

1. Launch comos.exe.
2. In the login dialog, click Universal Login (sometimes labeled Universal or Generic Login) instead of selecting a specific Windows / SQL user.
3. Enter @setup as the user name. The default password is empty or as documented in the iDB seed file shipped with the release — confirm the current default in the release notes before relying on it.
4. Select the target iDB instance and the project to open.

After the database opens, the @setup user will have full administrative rights and the Administration menu will be active for the rest of the session. The "greyed out by default" behavior observed before opening the database is by design: COMOS does not know which database or which user's rights apply until the login completes, so the menu is suppressed until that context is resolved.

Activating the Administrator Menu: The Decision Point

The decision tree for whether the Administration menu is active, hidden, or greyed out inside comos.exe can be modeled as a small state machine. The state is determined at session start and recomputed after database open.

The critical path is: launch → read switches → resolve /MD:v → show login → open iDB → load user functional rights → enable or grey out Administration menu. If any step in the middle fails, the menu stays inactive.

PAA: The Dedicated Administration Module

Many users looking for a standalone "COMOS Administration" executable are actually looking for PAA — Plant Analysis and Administration, an optional module of the COMOS platform that adds enterprise-level administration, reporting, and analysis features. PAA is licensed separately, installed via its own component checkbox in the setup dialog, and activated by a separate functional right (FB.PAA). It does not ship its own .exe either; it integrates into the comos.exe menu tree under Extra > PAA.

Functional differences between the base Administration menus and PAA:

When a colleague refers to "COMOS Administration", confirm whether they mean the base comos.exe Administration menu or the PAA module. The remedies differ: missing base menus point to a rights / install-component problem; missing PAA menus point to a licensing / module-installation problem.

Version-Specific Notes and DokuPack

COMOS has shipped under several major version lines (V9.1, V10.0, V10.1, V10.2, V10.3.x, V10.4). Each release has its own Administration manual. Always consult the manual that matches the installed version; the location of user-rights dialogs, the names of the functional-right flags, and the exact command-line switches can change between releases.

• COMOS Platform Administration, 07/2019, V10.3.2 (PDF) — current reference for the V10.3 line.
• COMOS Platform Administration, legacy release (PDF) — covers earlier 10.x builds.
• COMOS Platform Administration, general edition (PDF) — version-neutral overview.
• COMOS Administration (PDF) — includes reference to Comos.XIF.exe, the data exchange utility for SIMATIC integration.
• COMOS Portfolio — Integrated Plant Software (Siemens product page) — high-level module map and licensing.

The DokuPack installed on the COMOS file server is searchable from inside comos.exe via the Help menu. Searching for "administration", "functional rights", or "user management" in the DokuPack will surface the version-correct procedure.

Troubleshooting: Admin Menu Missing or Greyed Out

Verification Checklist After Restoring Admin Access

1. Confirm the Comos Administration component is installed: re-run setup in modify mode and inspect the components list.
2. Launch comos.exe with a shortcut that does not contain /MD:v.
3. Click Universal Login and log in as @setup with the rotated password.
4. Open the target iDB and project.
5. Verify the Extra > Administration menu is active (not greyed out).
6. Open Users and Groups and confirm the @Admins group exists and contains the expected service accounts.
7. If PAA is licensed, verify Extra > PAA appears and the relevant reports are accessible.
8. Log out, log in as a normal end user, and confirm the Administration menu is greyed out — proving the rights model is working.
9. Document the admin shortcut, the @setup password location, and the license server for the next engineer.

Field Notes and Common Pitfalls

• Searching the wrong media. Many Siemens downloads split the installer into multiple parts. The Administration component is in the same package as the main client, not a separate download. If you only see the base client files, you may have downloaded the runtime-only package.
• Confusing COMOS with SIMATIC. Comos.XIF.exe (referenced in the older COMOS Administration manual) is a SIMATIC <-> COMOS data-exchange utility, not the administration tool. It exchanges tags and I/O lists between the two worlds.
• Assuming admin rights in Windows imply admin rights in COMOS. They do not. The COMOS rights model is enforced inside the iDB; local or domain admin privileges are not relevant.
• Working in a copy of the iDB. Restoring @setup on a copy for testing is fine, but never reuse the production seed password on test systems that may be backed up to shared storage.
• Skipping the DokuPack. The DokuPack on the file server contains the most version-accurate procedures; the manuals on Siemens Support are time-stamped snapshots.

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