Troubleshooting TIA Portal V13 Installation Errors After

Problem Overview

Engineers and commissioning technicians frequently encounter installation failures when attempting to install TIA Portal V13.0 (Totally Integrated Automation Portal) after a previous TIA Portal V13.0 SP1 installation has been removed. The typical symptom is an interrupted setup routine that aborts during the prerequisite check or product deployment phase, often with a dialog sourced from the V13.0 SP1 (UPD1) updater still present in the system. The error dialog itself usually displays "An error occurred during installation" with no actionable detail visible to the user; the root cause must be derived from the setup log files generated in the temporary installation directory.

Because the TIA Portal V13 suite bundles STEP 7 V13, WinCC V13, PLCSIM V13, Startdrive V13, and the central TIA Administration tool, a partial uninstall leaves behind shared services (license server, ALM proxy, SQL Server instance, OPC UA discovery, .NET 4.5 assemblies, virtual adapters) that conflict with a clean V13.0 install. This article consolidates the documented recovery procedure, log analysis methodology, and prerequisite verification required to bring a workstation back to a known-good state without performing a full operating system reinstall.

Affected Products and Versions

Root Cause Analysis

When the setup fails, the displayed dialog almost always originates from the UPD1 (Update 1) updater module that remained on disk after the SP1 removal attempt. The most common underlying causes observed in field cases are:

1. Incomplete uninstallation of V13 SP1. The Windows Programs and Features (Appwiz.cpl) entry removes the user-visible TIA Portal product but leaves behind shared runtime services, the TIA Portal SQL instance, the Automation License Manager, registry entries under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation, and orphaned files in %ProgramFiles%\Siemens\Automation and %ProgramData%\Siemens\Automation.
2. Residual SQL Server instance. TIA Portal V13 creates a named SQL instance (default instance name: Siemens.Automation.PortalV13 or S7TIA). The named instance is not removed by the standard uninstaller and conflicts with the new installation's database creation step.
3. Stuck Windows services. The Siemens ALM service, Siemens S7DOS, S7TraceSrv, and TiaTraceSrv services may remain in Starting or Stopped state with a non-zero exit code, blocking new service registration.
4. Pending MSI / MSIX transactions. A previous aborted install leaves a Pending File Rename Operations registry key under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager. A reboot clears this; if the user has suppressed reboot, the next install fails early.
5. OS prerequisite mismatch. Missing .NET Framework 4.5.2 / 4.6, missing Visual C++ 2010 SP1 / 2013 redistributables, or a non-supported Windows edition (Windows 10 build 10240 was not yet certified at the V13 SP1 release date and produces setup aborts).
6. Installer signature / certificate issues. If the local security policy or SmartScreen blocks the Setup.exe publisher (Siemens AG, Oberschleissheim), the Windows Installer rollback fires mid-install and the user only sees a generic error.

Prerequisites for a Clean V13.0 Install

Before reinstalling, verify the workstation meets the documented TIA Portal V13 installation requirements:

Step-by-Step Recovery Procedure

Phase 1 — Capture the Current Failure

1. Launch the V13.0 setup Start.exe from the installation media.
2. When the error dialog appears, click the Open Logfile button (or Open Logfile Directory to open the parent folder).
3. The default log location is C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Temp\Siemens\Setup\ or %TEMP%\Siemens\Setup\.
4. Collect these files for analysis:
   • Siemens_TIA_Portal_V13_Setup.log
   • Siemens_TIA_Portal_V13_Setup_<timestamp>.log
   • MSI*.log (Windows Installer verbose logs)
   • SetupError.log (component-level abort reasons)

Phase 2 — Complete Uninstallation of V13 SP1

Perform the documented Siemens procedure to remove every TIA Portal V13 component. Do not skip registry and folder cleanup.

1. Open Control Panel → Programs and Features (or appwiz.cpl) and uninstall the following entries in order:
   1. Siemens TIA Portal V13 SP1 (all product variants visible)
   2. STEP 7 V13 SP1
   3. WinCC V13 SP1
   4. PLCSIM V13 SP1
   5. Startdrive V13 SP1
   6. Siemens Automation License Manager
   7. Siemens SIMATIC Logon
   8. Siemens TIA Portal HSP (Hardware Support Packages) — leave installed if needed
2. Reboot the workstation.
3. Stop and delete residual services:

   sc stop "Siemens ALM"
   sc stop "S7DOS"
   sc stop "S7TraceSrv"
   sc stop "TiaTraceSrv"
   sc delete "Siemens ALM"
   sc delete "S7DOS"
   sc delete "S7TraceSrv"
   sc delete "TiaTraceSrv"

4. Remove the TIA SQL instance (if present) using SQL Server Configuration Manager or:

   Setup.exe /ACTION=Uninstall /FEATURES=SQL /INSTANCENAME="S7TIA" /QUIET

5. Delete residual folders:

   rmdir /s /q "C:\Program Files\Siemens\Automation"
   rmdir /s /q "C:\Program Files (x86)\Siemens\Automation"
   rmdir /s /q "C:\ProgramData\Siemens\Automation"
   rmdir /s /q "C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Siemens\Automation"

6. Clean registry keys (export first as backup):

   reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation" /f
   reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Siemens\Automation" /f
   reg delete "HKCU\SOFTWARE\Siemens\Automation" /f

7. Clear the MSI pending-reboot key (only if no other installers are in flight):

   reg delete "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager" /v PendingFileRenameOperations /f

8. Reboot once more before re-running setup.

Phase 3 — Reinstall TIA Portal V13.0

1. Insert the TIA Portal V13.0 DVD or mount the ISO; do not copy Start.exe to a network share with limited rights.
2. Right-click Start.exe and choose Run as administrator.
3. In the setup language selection, choose English (or the operationally required language).
4. Accept the license agreement; verify the destination paths are empty.
5. On the product selection screen, choose only the products required for the project (STEP 7 Professional, WinCC Comfort/Advanced, PLCSIM, Startdrive). Selecting the full suite increases failure surface.
6. Set a check mark on Restart computer automatically if required; do not interrupt the post-install reboot.
7. After setup completes, install the matching HSP (Hardware Support Packages) from the Siemens online support portal via TIA Portal → Options → Support Packages.
8. Install the Automation License Manager and restore the license keys.

Phase 4 — Verification

1. Launch TIA Portal; the start screen should display Version: V13.0 in the title bar.
2. Open Help → About and confirm: TIA Portal V13.0, Build identifier consistent with the media label.
3. Create a new project, add an S7-1200 / S7-1500 device, compile, and download to PLCSIM V13 to verify the engineering chain end-to-end.
4. Verify SQL instance: sqlcmd -L should list S7TIA.
5. Verify services running:

   sc query "Siemens ALM"
   sc query "S7TraceSrv"

   Both should report STATE: 4 RUNNING.
6. Open Automation License Manager and confirm the license stick is visible.

Setup Log Analysis Cheat Sheet

The TIA Portal setup writes verbose diagnostics. Common fault strings and their meanings:

Troubleshooting Matrix

Compatibility with Later Releases

TIA Portal V13.0 is a generation-1 release that is superseded by V14, V15, V15.1, V16, V17, and V18. If the workstation has 16 GB of RAM and a current Windows build, upgrade to V15.1 or V16 to receive long-term support and to avoid the well-known V13 SP1 certificate chain issue (expired root CA). When upgrading, the official Siemens project migrator must be run; V13 projects require no conversion, but V13 SP1–only features (e.g., the S7-1500 CPU firmware V2.0 password protection) need a project save-as upgrade.

The Siemens compatibility tool lists every supported Windows build, SQL Server build, .NET version, and CPU firmware for each TIA Portal release. Use this tool before any major change to validate that the project engineering chain remains supported.

Safety and Operational Considerations

During the uninstall / install cycle, the workstation cannot be used to commission or service live automation systems. Schedule this work during a planned downtime window. Back up active projects from C:\Users\<USER>\Documents\Automation to a network share or removable media before Phase 1. Verify the integrity of archived projects by opening them in a read-only TIA Portal instance or by using the Project → Archive → Retrieve function.

Field-Proven Caveats

• Some pre-V13 SP1 media images shipped with an unsigned Setup.exe. Siemens replaced these with a re-signed binary in 2015; verify the digital signature by right-clicking → Properties → Digital Signatures → Signer: Siemens AG.
• Installing TIA Portal V13 on Windows 10 build 10240 / 10586 works in most cases but is not officially certified; later builds of Windows 10 (1607+) require TIA Portal V14 or later.
• Hyper-V and VMware virtual machines are supported for engineering use; for production HMI Runtime (WinCC RT Professional) the host must have a fixed CPU affinity and the VM must have a dedicated core set, otherwise the runtime will fault on startup.
• The TIA Portal Setup creates the local group Siemens TIA Portal Users. Adding an operator to this group is required for the operator to run the WinCC Runtime client. Do not grant local administrator rights to operators as a shortcut.
• If the workstation has Microsoft Office 365 Click-to-Run installations of Access 2016, the TIA Portal setup may mis-detect the Access runtime version and abort. Uninstall the Access runtime component or use a separate workstation for engineering.

FAQ