Starting the program automatically

TwinCAT 3 offers the possibility to start selected programs automatically after startup. This is especially useful for programs where TwinCAT must be started before execution, e.g. visualization software.

To start a program automatically after TwinCAT startup, a shortcut of the program must be created in a special startup folder in the TwinCAT directory. The program itself must be installed locally on the same PC as TwinCAT. After the first activation of the Run Mode after starting the TwinCAT runtime system, the shortcuts in the Startup folder are executed.

The path <TwinCAT>\3.x\Target\StartUp leads to the startup folder. The designation results as follows:

<TwinCAT>	Installation folder of TwinCAT (default: \TwinCAT)
3.x	TwinCAT version (all versions of TwinCAT are stored in separate folders in the TwinCAT installation folder).
x	Placeholder for the build of TwinCAT, e.g. "3.1".

1. Save a shortcut to the program in the folder <TwinCAT>\3.x\Target\StartUp.
Starting the program automatically 1:

2. Make sure that TwinCAT starts in Run Mode.

3. In the TwinCAT project tree, double-click on SYSTEM and select the Settings tab.
Starting the program automatically 2:

4. Enable the options Run Mode (Enable) and Auto Logon.

5. Click Apply.