Troubleshooting WinCC 7.0 Client Navigation Area Button Failure

Problem Overview

On a WinCC 7.0 distributed HMI/SCADA installation running the Basic Process Control option with one server and three clients, a single client exhibits a corrupted or inoperative navigation area. The top header bar of the runtime picture shows no text labels, the header navigation buttons are unresponsive to mouse clicks, and the footer navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen are equally inoperative. A clean reinstallation of WinCC on the affected client does not resolve the defect, indicating that the fault is not a local OS or installation corruption but a configuration, project, or licensing divergence between the server and that specific client.

This document covers the diagnostic procedure and remediation paths for the most common causes of this fault pattern. The single highest-probability root cause — confirmed in the field — is a language configuration mismatch between the server's published runtime and the client's computer properties. Secondary causes and their corrective actions are also documented for completeness.

Affected Environment

Root Cause Analysis

Primary Root Cause: Language Configuration Mismatch

WinCC 7.0 picture navigation bars (both the standard header and the Basic Process Control footer bar) are constructed at runtime from text resources and control elements that are filtered by the active runtime language. Each WinCC client maintains its own language setting under Computer Properties, and the server publishes a configured set of runtime languages in the project properties. When the client requests a runtime language that is not installed on the server's published list — or when the client falls back to a default language whose text resources are not present in the downloaded project package — the header and footer picture windows are instantiated empty: no captions render, and the underlying C-script button events fail to register, because the picture-tree node mapping is keyed to a language that does not exist in the local client cache.

Typical mismatch conditions observed in production:

• Client computer language set to English (USA) while server publishes English (UK) or German.
• Server's Runtime Language list excludes the language active on the failing client.
• Client OS regional locale is changed after the WinCC project was loaded, but the WinCC computer property is not re-synchronized.
• BPC picture tree is created with a language ID that is not enumerated in the client's text library (TextLibrary).

Secondary Root Causes to Exclude

Diagnostic Procedure

Follow this sequence before applying any remediation. The diagnostic takes less than 10 minutes and avoids unnecessary file system changes.

1. Capture the client-side log set. On the failing client, copy the following files to a working folder:
   • C:\Program Files\Siemens\WinCC\Diagnose\WinCC_Server_<ServerName>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.log
   • C:\Program Files\Siemens\WinCC\Diagnose\WinCC_<ComputerName>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.log
   • C:\Program Files\Siemens\WinCC\Diagnose\CCAgent_<YYYY-MM-DD>.log
   • Windows Application Event Log export (eventvwr.msc → Save All Events As…)
2. Verify the active client language. Open WinCC Explorer on the failing client and navigate to Computer → Properties → General → Language. Record the value.
3. Verify the server's published language list. On the server, open WinCC Explorer, right-click the project name, choose Properties → Graphics Runtime → Runtime Language. Record the enabled language IDs.
4. Compare. The client's active language ID must appear in the server's enabled list. If not, a mismatch is the primary cause.
5. Compare project state hash. On the server, choose Project → Check Consistency. On the client, choose Server Data → Check Project Consistency. The local project folder's picture set must match the server's published Package folder. Compare the MD5 of GraCS\<BasePicture>.pdl on both nodes.
6. Capture a screenshot of the failing header. Even if no text is visible, the screenshot confirms the picture window instance is loaded but unpopulated — a key discriminator from a failed load.
7. Capture a screenshot of the working header from one of the two functional clients for direct comparison.

Solution Path A — Language Mismatch (Most Common)

This is the remediation for the dominant root cause.

1. Open WinCC Explorer on the server.
2. Right-click the project → Properties → tab Graphics Runtime.
3. In the Runtime Language matrix, tick the checkbox for every language used on any client. Confirm that the failing client's language is enabled:

Runtime Language settings:
  [x] German (Germany)      - 1031
  [x] English (USA)         - 1033
  [ ] English (UK)          - 2057   <-- if client uses this, enable it
  [x] French (France)       - 1036

4. Click OK to commit. WinCC prompts to republish the runtime package.
5. Open WinCC Explorer on the failing client.
6. Right-click Computer → Properties → tab General.
7. In the Language dropdown, select the same language the server's BPC picture tree was authored in (typically English (USA) or German (Germany)). Do not select a language absent from the server's runtime list.
8. Click OK. WinCC writes Computer.properties locally and triggers a redownload of the package.
9. Stop WinCC Runtime on the client (Start → Programs → Siemens Automation → SIMATIC → WinCC → Stop WinCC Runtime).
10. Delete the local project cache directory to force a clean reload:
    • C:\Program Files\Siemens\WinCC\WinCCProjects\<ProjectName>\
11. Start WinCC Runtime. The header and footer text labels should populate and the navigation buttons should respond.

Solution Path B — Project Package Not Fully Synchronized

If language settings are correct but the failure persists, the project package on the client may be incomplete.

1. On the server, open WinCC Explorer → Server Data.
2. Right-click the client name → Server Data → Statically Configure (or confirm the client's Configuration shows Dynamic with the correct path).
3. Note the configured Project Path. The server's project path and the client's download path must be reachable and free of permission errors.
4. On the client, open WinCC Explorer → Server Data.
5. Right-click the server entry → Download Project. This forces a complete redownload of the Package folder.
6. Watch the CCAgent log for download completion. A successful download ends with:
   CCAgent: Package successfully transferred to client <ClientName>
7. Restart WinCC Runtime on the client.

Solution Path C — BPC Component or Licensing

If only the footer navigation bar fails (BPC-specific) while the standard header works, the issue is in the Basic Process Control component rather than the WinCC base system.

1. Confirm the BPC license is installed on the failing client. Open SIMATIC WinCC Explorer → Tools → License Analysis on the client. The WinCC/BPC entry must show valid license status.
2. If the license is pending or missing, install the BPC license key from the license file (<ProjectName>.zip) using Automation License Manager.
3. Verify the BPC picture tree is published. On the server, open WinCC Explorer → Basic Process Control → Picture Tree. Confirm that the tree is built, compiled, and that the Start Picture for BPC navigation is assigned.
4. On the client, verify the BPC picture tree download completed. Look for the file GraCS\BPC\PictureTree.pdl in the local project folder.

Solution Path D — User Authorization

If navigation buttons render but do not respond, the user lacks authorization to change pictures.

1. On the failing client, log out and log back in as Administrator (default user, level 999). Test navigation.
2. If navigation works under Administrator, navigate to WinCC Explorer → User Administrator on the server.
3. Edit the affected operator's authorization. Confirm Authorization for Picture Change (or the equivalent BPC authorization) is assigned at the correct level (typically 0–999).
4. Replicate the user changes to the failing client via the standard user-pluggable synchronization cycle.

Verification Checklist

After applying any of the above remediation paths, verify the fix on the affected client:

Preventive Measures

• Document the language matrix. Maintain a single configuration table listing every client, its required language, and the server's published language list. Review the table after any server-side project change.
• Standardize client configurations. Configure all clients with the same Computer Properties → Language unless a business requirement exists for per-client language variation.
• Use dynamic configuration for the client package. In Server Data, set the client to Dynamic rather than Static, so the client always pulls the current server picture set rather than a snapshot.
• Install licenses before commissioning. Defer the BPC and WinCC server license installation until after the project is fully built, to avoid intermediate states where a missing license causes the BPC footer to silently fail to load.
• Centralize log collection. Forward the CCAgent and WinCC_Server_ logs to a syslog or file share to enable rapid post-incident diagnosis.

When to Escalate

Escalate to Siemens Technical Support (SR / SIOS) if all four solution paths above fail to restore the navigation area, or if the CCAgent log shows package transfer errors such as:

CCAgent: ERROR 0x80070005 - Access denied reading package fragment
CCAgent: ERROR 0x800704CD - No network activity during package transfer
CCAgent: FATAL - Picture tree signature mismatch, aborting load

These errors indicate DCOM, firewall, or file-share permission problems that are outside the scope of WinCC-internal configuration. Provide the support engineer with the diagnostic file set captured in the diagnostic procedure above. The standard support request template is available on the Siemens Industry Online Support portal.

References to Official Documentation

• WinCC V7.0 SP3 - Working with WinCC: Configuration Manual
• WinCC V7.5 - System Manual: Distributed Systems (architecture principles still apply to V7.0)
• SIMATIC HMI WinCC V7.5 - Communication Manual
• SIMATIC HMI WinCC V7.5 - Basic Process Control Option Manual