How to Install Connected Components Workbench

Connected Components Workbench is the free development environment from Rockwell Automation for Allen Bradley Micro800 PLCs, PanelView Component HMI panels, Kinetix 300 servo drives, and PowerFlex 525 variable frequency drives.

I am a big fan of Connected Components Workbench and it is the development environment that I teach students to program PLCs with in my free PLC Bootcamp PLC programming course.

However, Rockwell Automation does not make it easy to find and install Connected Components Workbench, so I have put together this guide to help you navigate Rockwell's website and download the correct version of Connected Components Workbench.

Enjoy!

Download Connected Components Workbench

The Standard Edition of Connected Components Workbench is completely free to download and install from Rockwell Automation’s Product Compatibility and Downloads website.

On this page, click the link “Downloads by Product” to open the product search window.

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In the search bar, start typing Connected Components Workbench until it is listed in the Products List below the search bar. Be careful to click on the correct version of Connected Components Workbench - the other products listed are paid products or add-ons to older versions of Connected Components Workbench.

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When Connected Components Workbench appears in the product list, you can click on it to open the version selection list. Select the latest version from this list. At the time of writing, that is Connected Components Workbench version 13, but by the time you follow this course, there may be a newer version of Connected Components Workbench available. 

Connected Components Workbench version 13 is now added to your Downloads list. Click on the Downloads button to open the download summary page and continue downloading Connected Components Workbench. 

On the Download Summary page, click on the “Select files link” to choose which files to download for the Connected Components Workbench installation. 

At this stage, you will be prompted to sign in with your Rockwell Automation account. If you don’t already have one, you can sign up for free using the Create Account button on the right-hand side of the page. The signup process is quick and you only need to provide your email address, full name, and country of residence to create your account. 

If you already have a Rockwell Automation account, you can sign in using the sign-in form on the left of the page. 

Once you have signed in, the download configuration dialog box is displayed. This dialog box allows you to specify what files will be included as part of the Connected Components Workbench download. 

I recommend that if you have the space, then you download all of the extras along with the main Connected Components Workbench software. The extra software available here are:

• Software profiles for Allen Bradley PowerFlex Drives to make it easier to integrate PowerFlex drives into Connected Components Workbench 
• The ControlFLASH tool for updating the firmware of Micro800 PLCs. We’ll talk about flashing PLC firmware in the section of this course about working with physical PLC hardware
• Patches to improve the functionality of previously released Micro800 firmware 
• User manuals so that you can access Connected Components Workbench’s help system offline. 

Depending on how much space is available on your machine, choose the software that you want to download and click on Downloads in the top-right corner of the dialog box. 

After clicking Downloads, a Download Summary page dialog is displayed. In this dialog, you can double-check the software that you are downloading. Once you are happy that the right components are selected for download, click on the Download Now button in the bottom-right corner of the dialog box. 

Before downloading Connected Components Workbench, you must read and accept the Rockwell Automation end user license agreement that defines what you are and are not allowed to do with Rockwell Automation’s software. I have already read this agreement so I will just click “Accept and Download” in the bottom-right corner of the dialog box. 

The executable file for Rockwell Automation’s Download Manager should be automatically downloaded. When the file is fully downloaded, click on it to launch the Download Manager. 

In general, it is better to use a Download Manager when you are downloading very large files since the Download Manager allows you to stop and resume downloading without losing your progress. If you don’t want to use the Download Manager, then there is also a Direct Download link in the Download Information dialog box. You are free to use it, but I hope for your sake that you have very stable internet!

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The Download Manager launches and shows the progress of the Connected Components Workbench download. 

Install Connected Components Workbench

When the download is complete, head over to C:\RA to find all of the downloaded files.

The files for installing Connected Components Workbench are 13.00.00-CCW-INT-Std-DVD.part1.exe and 13.00.00-CCW-INT-Std-DVD.part2.rar, although this file name may change depending on the version of Connected Components Workbench you are installing.

 These files are actually compressed archive folders. To extract the contents, double click on 13.00.00-CCW-INT-Std-DVD.part1.exe.

Click Extract in the WinRAR self-extracting archive dialog box to begin the extraction process.

When the extraction has finished, you should see a new folder has been created in C:\RA called 13.00.00-CCW-Int-Std-DVD.

Open this folder and launch the Connected Components Workbench installer by double-clicking on Setup.exe.

When the Connected Components Workbench installer launches, click Install Now.

Once again, you have to accept the Rockwell Automation End User License Agreement to continue the installation of the Connected Components Workbench. I have already read the license agreement so I will go ahead and accept it

The installer will begin installing Connected Components Workbench. This process can take between 15 to 60 minutes depending on your laptop. 

During the installation, you will be prompted to select an Ethernet adapter for RSLinx. Select the Ethernet adapter for your machine and click OK. Don’t worry if you’re not sure what this means - we’ll talk about network adapters in detail in the hardware section of this course. 

This is a blocking dialog - the installation of Connected Components Workbench won’t continue if you do not close the dialog box.

Click Close to close the installer when the Connected Components Workbench installation process is complete.

Conclusion

In this post, we learned how to download Connected Components Workbench from Rockwell Automation's website and to install it on our machine.