ADS Control of TwinCAT Boot Mode

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Overview

This is a simple how-to guide, showing two possible ways to control the TwinCAT boot mode. I.e. The settings which controls if an IPC will boot in to Config, or boot in to Run following a power-on.

Using ADS

Boot mode can be changed by setting it's parameter using ADS. Writing either the 4-Byte value 5 (Run Mode) or 15 (Config) to ADS Port 10000, Idxgrp 220, IdxOffs 1.

// Example in C#
// -------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Create an instance of the AdsClient class
using(AdsClient adsClient = new AdsClient()) {

  // Connect to the target AMS address and port
  string amsNetId = "x.x.x.x.1.1"; // Replace with your actual AMS Net ID
  int port = 10000;
  adsClient.Connect(amsNetId, port);

  // Define ADS Index Group and Offset
  uint indexGroup = 220; // Index Group 220 (0xDC)
  uint indexOffset = 1; // Index Offset 1

  // Define the 4-byte value to write (e.g., 5 Run Mode or 15 Config Mode)
  int value = 5; // Change this to 15 if needed
  byte[] data = BitConverter.GetBytes(value);

  // Write the value to the specified Index Group and Offset
  adsClient.Write(indexGroup, indexOffset, data);
  Console.WriteLine($"Parameter set to {value}");

  // Ensure the connection is closed and resources are released
  adsClient.Dispose();
  Console.WriteLine("Connection closed.");

}

Using Powershell

# Get Registry value
$StartupState = (Get-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\Software\WOW6432Node\Beckhoff\TwinCAT3\System).SysStartupState

# Show the current state before the change
Write-Output "State: $StartupState"

# Set Registry value (Start in Run mode: 0x5, Start in Config mode: 0xf)
Set-ItemProperty -Name SysStartupState -Path HKLM:\Software\WOW6432Node\Beckhoff\TwinCAT3\System -Type DWORD -Value 15

# Show the current state after the change
$StartupState = (Get-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\Software\WOW6432Node\Beckhoff\TwinCAT3\System).SysStartupState
Write-Output "State: $StartupState"

Need more help?

Please visit http://beckhoff.com/ for further guides