Hello experts,

I ve seen a lot of threads regarding this issue but I ve tried everything and I am at my wit's end regarding this issue

I have a server PC with 4 client PCs in multiuser project without client projects.

Server PC unfortunately crashed so I reinstalled wincc and put a backup project that I had created using project duplicator.

I set up lmhosts to include all ips and computer names.

I can ping all client pcs both via ip and computer name.

The clients are in a domain while the server isn't on said domain.

I know that connectivity is guaranteed when in the same domain but having server PC in domain is an issue for my client and before server crash this setup used to work.

The server PC is on windows server 2019

Simatic shell of server sees  clients simatic shell of clients doesn't see server pc

I can see the shared folder from client PCs but when I try to open the project I receive the message server not available which should be logical considering I don't see server in simatic shell.

Please any help would be appreciated 

Hi Gdim93,

First of all, please check the points listed in the following FAQ in detail:

- "What has to be taken into account when downloading WinCC Runtime Professional from the Engineering Station to the Operator Station (Runtime PC)?": https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/es/es/view/88780011/en

I do not know if you are working with WinCC Classic or WinCC Professional, which one do you use?

If this does not work, I would like to receive the following additional information, in order to investigate the matter further:

- Do you have virtual machines running? Possible antivirus/firewalls that may block communication?

- Screenshots of the SIMATIC Shell properties on the Engineering Station (ES) and on the server.

- Are there any intermediate elements, e.g. router or switch? If yes, how many network hops are there between the devices?

- Are the redundancy bus (if there are redundant servers) with its network card, the terminal bus (WinCC server-clients) with its network card and the plant bus (PLCs, peripherals, etc.) with its network card separated?

- Is it a migrated project?

- Did you set up the hosts and lmhosts files as described in section '2. Name resolution' in the following link? What are the requirements for the use of SIMATIC WinCC in a Windows network? https://support.industry.siemens.com/cs/es/es/vix

- Have the clients been started, at least the first time, by right-clicking on the server project from the SIMATIC Shell in the client > "Interconnect"? This step is important.

I look forward to your answer and best regards!

Hello thank you for your response,

I am using winCC V7.5 SP1 Upd 4 ( i erroneously assumed you would expect me to post on the correct forum haha)

No virtual Machines are running both the client and server pcs are on their standard built-in OS.

I have completely disabled the firewall on the server-pc given that it is not in the domain the client pc i cannot do the same given that the firewall rules are set by the domain administrator.

The project has been migrated in the past from wincc v6.3 to 7.5 sp1 upd4 but that was 4 years ago with no issues.

The current project is from a duplicate project using project duplicator with the save as function that i did as a backup like 3 months ago.

The connection with one client for example is on the same switch and they share the same vlan so i would guess 1 hop.

i run the cmd command tracert with the client ip and returned 1 1ms 1ms 1ms.

There is no redundancy.

I cannot start via interconnect because as i said client doesnt see server in simatic shell while server sees client as you will see in attached images.

Hello Murof thanks for the reply,

I managed to get it to work by setting the server on the same domain as the client PCs at least on one PC so far.

I couldn't interconnect the projects without setting up encrypted communication though, while when i set up a password i could interconnect the projects any reason for that? The manual obviously states that a password must be set for the remote communication but i dont understand why it would not work when it is unencrypted.