Installation guide

Sinumerik 840D VNCK 4.7.4.0 for NX CAM

05.10.2016

1. Prerequisites
Before installing Sinumerik 840D VNCK (in the following just called VNCK) you should make sure that
the following prerequisites are met:
 A compatible version of the simulation application (see release notes) should be installed.
 Licensing for the simulation application should be set up correctly.
 You should have the required licenses for VNCK.
 Administrative privileges on the computer.
 The UDP-ports 49999 and 50000 must be available. For machines with two NCUs the UDP-port
50001 is required additionally. (For details see VNCK_Reference.pdf)
 The simulation application with VNCK (and HMI) has to be run at least once with administrator
privileges and boot the VNCK successfully to enable the access to the required ports.
If you already have a version of VNCK 2.6 SP1 installed and want to use it further on then it is required
that you install VNCK 2.6 SP1 HF1 before you install VNCK 4.7 and / or HMI sl 4.7. The setup and
installation instructions for VNCK 2.6 SP1 HF1 are available at the ftp-server at
Tecnomatix Products/Full products/Windows (32bit)/RealNC/RealNC_VNCK_2.6_SP1_HF1.zip.
If you want to use older versions of VNCK on them same computer then please install them in
chronological order starting with the oldest version first.

Warning: There is a bug in all VNCK setups with version numbers smaller than 4.5 (e.g. VNCK 2.6 and
4.4). Unfortunately that bug was detected after releasing the setup for VNCK 4.4 SP1 HF2. However the
bug has effect only when uninstalling VNCK on a machine where more than one VNCK is installed. The
uninstall process removes in general all HMI-Base services and removes not only the VNCK version it is
called for but corrupts also the chronological latest installed VNCK version.
As a workaround we recommend in case of an uninstall process to remove for safety reasons all
VNCKs and HMIs and then reinstall the needed VNCK and HMIs in the correct sequence.

2. Installation Siemens 840D VNCK 4.7.4 and HMI sl

To install VNCK please stick to this recommended order:
 Log on with administrative privileges.
 You can use other versions of VNCK e.g. 2.6, 4.4 or 4.5 without further effort in parallel to
VNCK 4.7.4 except the preparations mentioned in chapter 1. SRAM files that are created for
VNCK 4.7.4 are not compatible with other VNCK versions.
 Download from the ftp-server the file “VNCK_4.7.4.0.zip”, and unpack it. Enter the created
folder “04.07.04.00.024”, and execute the file “setup.exe”.
 Wait until the setup starts (may take some time).
 Accept the license agreement.
 Select the setup type “Custom” and install the following packages:
o VNCK
o SINUMERIK Operate Full Version
o SINUMERIK Operate Help Files (optional)
o VNCKView, Shortcuts, Menu entries
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 o SW-Documentation
o CryptoBox (only required if you received a special VNCK-dongle)
If you have received a dongle please determine precisely whether it is a VNCK-dongle (which
would require the CryptoBox package) that is used to license the VNCK.
 Then the setup will prompt you for a path for the SINUMERIK Operate. Please specify a path
that does not contain spaces or brackets and includes the version number e.g.
“C:\Siemens\Sinumerik\HMIsl\v4.7.3.2”. This path is referred in the remaining document as
<Operate_Install_Dir>.
 When the setup prompts for an installation directory for VNCK it is recommended to choose a
path that does not contain spaces or brackets but includes the version number e.g.
“C:\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4”. This path is referred in the remaining document as
<VNCK_Install_Dir>.
 If the setup requests to reboot your computer please do so.
 Copy the file “vnckLicense.dat” located in the folder “vnckLicense” from the unzipped download
file into the subfolder “C:\ProgramData\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4”.
Attention: Be aware that the path for the license file was changed since VNCK 4.4.
 Please check that the following path exists. If not please create it and replace <username> with
your user name.
“C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4”

3. Known issues and caveats

3.1 Checklist what can go wrong
In case that the simulation application and VNCK do not work properly you should go through the
following checklist:
 Make sure that the Windows service “Windows-Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)” is
running (you can see that by going to StartSettingsControl panelAdministrative
ToolsServices). If it is not running set the startup type to “Automatic” and manually start it.
On Windows 7 these services are split up into two. Please check the service “Internet
Connection Sharing (ICS)” and set it to “Automatic”.
 Make sure that the folder “C:\ProgramData\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4” contains the
correct “vnckLicense.dat” file (also with exactly this name). Pay attention, that the
“vnckLicense.dat” is different from version to version (i.e. VNCK 2.6, 4.4 and 4.5 need a
different one than VNCK 4.7.4). Be aware that since VNCK 4.4 the location of the license file
has changed compared to older VNCK versions.
 If you get an error message when booting an SRAM file that “The desired HMI is not
supported.” please check that the following path exists and if not please create it and replace
<username> with your user name.
“C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4”
 In case you could use the simulation application with VNCK for a simulation session
successfully, but for the next simulation (e.g. reloading the scenario) it doesn’t work anymore it
could be that there are orphaned VNCK processes. To kill all pending VNCK processes you can
use the tool “<VNCK_Install_Dir>\stopVNCK.exe” with a double click on the desktop icon
“StopVNCK4.7.4”.
Additionally the execution of the “<VNCK_Install_Dir>\register.bat” may help to solve the
problem. Deleting all files that reside in the folder
“C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4\tmp” might clean up
odd problems as well.

3.2 Communication with VNCK in frozen state

If the VNCK enters a frozen state the HMI sl shows quite fast (approximately after 2 seconds) a
communication failure instead of continuing to display the last received values. This behavior can be
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81739 München Fax: +49 89 969793-10
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dramatically improved by setting in the user-specific “theVNC.ini” (see also chapter 3.5) in the section
[HMI] the following line:
activateBTSSwhileFreezing=1
With multi-NCU machines this setting is not recommended since it can prevent to boot the VNCK
successfully.
Inserting the following line in the user-specific “theVNC.ini” at the section [GLOBAL]:
btss_ignore_state=1
will improve the retrieval of BTSS variables if the VNCK is in frozen state. So you may consider to add
that setting as well.

3.3 Mouse Cursor Movement during boot process

In order to prevent the jump of the mouse cursor during the boot process of an SRAM please set in the
file „<Operate_Install_Dir>\user\sinumerik\hmi\cfg\slguiconfig.ini“ in the section [GLOBAL]the entry:
[Global]
MoveMouseCursor = false
In case that the file does not yet exist please create it.

3.4 Restrictions and known issues

For additional restrictions and known issues please refer to the document “VNCK_Restrictions.pdf” that
resides in the “doc” folder either in the “<VNCK_Install_Dir>” or in the folder where the setup is. This
document explains also further issues when uninstalling VNCK or interferences with other software
products.

3.5 Trace-Files
In case your simulation application with VNCK still produces errors (e.g. during the boot phase, or
during simulation) it is recommended to send the exact error message to the Siemens Industry Software
hotline. In general it is helpful to produce additional trace files with detailed information about what is
going on. VNCK 4.5 and following versions offer this by creating so called vncATrace-files. To activate
the trace you should follow these guidelines:
 Locate the file “<VNCK_Install_Dir>\theVNC.ini” and open it in an editor (e.g. notepad.exe). In
case that your account has not the required access rights to save that file you may also edit /
create the “C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4\theVNC.ini”
instead. All settings there will dominate all settings from other “theVNC.ini” files.
 Identify the [GLOBAL]section in the file (marked red):

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  Add the following lines to the [GLOBAL] section:
trace_target=1
trace_vnck=1
trace_server=ffffffff

 Save the file.

 Start „<VNCK_Install_Dir>\ATraceGui.exe” in order to define the location and size of the trace
files.

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81739 München Fax: +49 89 969793-10
Deutschland www.siemens.com/plm

Siemens Industry Software GmbH; Anschrift: Franz-Geuer-Str. 10, 50823 Köln

Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung; Geschäftsführer: Urban August, Daniel Trebes
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 With “start Writer” you can start/stop the tracing.
 Start the simulation application and do the necessary steps to reproduce the problem. In
contrast to the old vncTrace the new ATrace has only minimal effect on the performance.
 Either close the simulation and / or use “<VNCK_Install_Dir>\stopVNCK.exe” to terminate
VNCK immediately.
 Please send us all the ATrace-files from the folder as defined above e.g.
“C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4\tmp”
Please pay attention that you also deactivate the tracing again, since it creates rather big files. To
deactivate the tracing do the following:
 Locate the theVNC.ini file as mentioned above (e.g. “<VNCK_Install_Dir>\theVNC.ini”
respectively
“C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Siemens\Sinumerik\VNCK\v4.7.4\theVNC.ini”) and open
it in an editor (e.g. notepad.exe).
 Comment out the three lines for the trace using a semicolon and save the file.

Siemens Industry Software GmbH Otto-Hahn-Ring 6 Tel.: +49 89 969793-0

81739 München Fax: +49 89 969793-10
Deutschland www.siemens.com/plm

Siemens Industry Software GmbH; Anschrift: Franz-Geuer-Str. 10, 50823 Köln

Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung; Geschäftsführer: Urban August, Daniel Trebes
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Köln; Registergericht: Amtsgericht Köln, HRB 84564
Siemens Industry Software GmbH Otto-Hahn-Ring 6 Tel.: +49 89 969793-0
81739 München Fax: +49 89 969793-10
Deutschland www.siemens.com/plm

Siemens Industry Software GmbH; Anschrift: Franz-Geuer-Str. 10, 50823 Köln

Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung; Geschäftsführer: Urban August, Daniel Trebes
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Köln; Registergericht: Amtsgericht Köln, HRB 84564