Working with TwinCAT 3 license dongles
 | TwinCAT 3 licenses for non-Beckhoff IPCs If you use an IPC from a manufacturer other than Beckhoff (TwinCAT 3 platform level >= 90), a TwinCAT 3 license dongle is always required for licensing TwinCAT 3. |
| Supported operating systems The use of a TwinCAT 3 license dongle always requires the TwinCAT Runtime (XAR), even if only one engineering function is used. The operating systems supported by the TwinCAT Runtime can be found here. (Please note: Windows Server 2012 is not supported by the Runtime!) |
| TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4022 or higher With a TwinCAT 3 license dongle, TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4022 or higher should be used, in order to have the full functionality available. |
| Several system IDs A TwinCAT 3 license dongle has no platform level of its own. This is dependent on the platform level of the connected computer. Since the platform level of the computer goes into the system ID of the dongle, a TwinCAT 3 license dongle can have several system IDs. |
See also: System ID of TwinCAT 3 license dongles
TwinCAT 3 license dongles with memory function for the TwinCAT 3 license file are the default option for TwinCAT 3 licensing, as they can be used flexibly and are not tied to a fixed license configuration or customer-specific hardware. A TwinCAT 3 license dongle makes it easy to replace the control computer, as the new IPC does not have to be licensed.
The minimum version for the use of TwinCAT 3 license dongles is TwinCAT 3.1 Build 4018.26.
A TwinCAT 3 license dongle can be an EL6070 License Key Terminal or a C9900-L100 license key USB stick.
For technical reasons, the current TwinCAT version does not yet offer fully automatic detection of a license dongle. A license dongle must therefore always be configured in TwinCAT 3 Engineering. The configuration is saved in the project.
| TwinCAT root directory <TwinCAT_ROOT> Up to and including TwinCAT 3.1.4024: C:\TwinCAT |
Creating a local working copy of the license file
TwinCAT 3 does not work directly with the License Response Files on the license dongle, but with a "working copy" of the files on the hard disk of the IPC (directory: <TwinCAT_ROOT>\3.1\target\license).
| Do not deactivate automatic download of license files The license files must be downloaded manually or automatically once when starting the TwinCAT 3 Runtime (if required). Automatic download is preconfigured in TwinCAT 3 Engineering and should not be disabled. The name of the license files downloaded from the TwinCAT 3 license dongle in the license folder begins with "Cache...". If automatic downloading is configured in TwinCAT 3 Engineering, TwinCAT 3 checks at Runtime startup whether there are license files on the dongle that are not yet present in the license working directory of the IPC (<TwinCAT_ROOT>\3.1\target\license). If this is the case, the files are copied from the dongle into the license directory of the IPC. The Runtime must then be restarted to validate the newly copied license files. |
Initialization and position of the License Key Terminal in the EtherCAT bus
The License Key Terminal is not automatically detected in the current TwinCAT version. It must be initialized and set as license device once in the project.
The License Key Terminal must therefore always be positioned at precisely the location in the EtherCAT bus that was configured for the respective project.
Build initialization and slot for the license key USB stick
The license key USB stick is not automatically detected in the current TwinCAT version. It must be initialized and set as license device once in the project.
However, the license key USB stick is not tied to a specific USB slot.