Hardware requirements

ControlFLASH requires the following hardware:

• An Intel® Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.8 GHz or faster or another processor with equivalent specifications
• 4 GB or more memory of RAM
• At least 16 GB of available hard drive space

Software requirements

ControlFLASH has been tested on the following operating systems:

• Windows 10 64 bit
• Windows 10 Enterprise 2019 LTSC 64 bit
• Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC 64 bit
• Windows 11 64 bit
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows Server 2022

Rockwell Automation Test Environment

Rockwell Automation tests software products under a standard configuration of operating systems and antivirus software. For additional information, see the Knowledgebase Document ID: PN24 - Rockwell Software Products and Antivirus Software.

Additional software

One of the following communications software packages must be installed before running ControlFLASH:

• RSLinx® Classic Lite
• RSLinx Classic
• RSLinx® Enterprise version 6.31 or FactoryTalk® Linx 6.31

Supported browsers

The following web browsers have been tested and are supported for use with this release:

• Google® Chrome™ browser
• Microsoft® Edge™
• Mozilla® Firefox®

Security requirements

To help meet secure system design requirements, review these publications:

• Configure System Security Features User Manual (publication SECURE-UM001)
• System Security Design Guidelines Reference Manual (publication SECURE-RM001)
• Converged Plantwide Ethernet (CPwE) Design and Implementation Guide (publication ENET-TD001)

ControlFLASH version 15.07.00 has no new or enhanced features.

When flashing firmware for MicroLogix and SLC500 modules using the MicroXA driver, the following message may be displayed:

Unable to retrieve the required functions pointers from the DF1 driver library.

There are two use cases that may cause this error to occur:

RSLinx Enterprise is set as your RSLinx Edition. This occurs because RSLinx Enterprise does not support the MicroXA driver at the time of this release.

RSLinx Classic is set as your RSLinx Edition. This occurs because RSLinx Classic is not installed.

First reported in version 14.01.00. [Jira 203542]

To avoid this problem, make sure you have RSLinx Classic installed.

Cannot flash for 5069-L340ERM and 1769-L36ERMS controllers if ControlNet is in the communication path.

When flashing firmware for 5069-L340ERM or 1769-L36ERMS controllers, if ControlNet is in the communication path, the following error message may be displayed:

Failed to complete RSLinx service request. RSLinx has reported an error while servicing a request.

First reported in version 13.00.00. [Jira 42701, Jira 42703]

To avoid this problem, flash the controller directly over EtherNet or USB.

If you have ControlFLASH version 12.0 or later installed, installing MSI firmware kits built with ControlFLASH version 9.0 or earlier downgrades the existing version. At this point, installing any version of ControlFLASH or uninstalling ControlFLASH version 9.0 or earlier causes DMK files located in the ControlFLASH installation folder to be deleted.

If you have ControlFLASH version 11.0 or earlier installed, installing any version of ControlFLASH or uninstalling ControlFLASH version 11.0 or earlier causes DMK files located in the ControlFLASH installation folder to be deleted.

First identified in ControlFLASH version 9.00.00. [Jira 42646]

To avoid the DMK files from being deleted, save the DMK files into a different folder and then restore them in one of the monitored folders after uninstalling or installing ControlFLASH. We do not recommend that you store DMK files in the ControlFLASH installation folder.

Installing ControlFLASH version 9.0 or earlier causes ControlFLASH version 10.0 or later to be uninstalled. To download the latest version of ControlFLASH, go to Rockwell Automation Product Compatibility and Download Center.

If the serial port is used by another application, ControlFLASH fails to update the firmware for MicroLogix controllers (for example, ML1100) via the RSWho component.

First identified in ControlFLASH version 10.00.00.

To avoid this problem, close the application that occupies the serial port.

Earlier firmware kits appear to overwrite the newer version of ControlFLASH. For detailed information, refer to Knowledgebase Document ID: QA5521 - Earlier firmware kits appear to overwrite the newer version of ControlFLASH

First identified in ControlFLASH version 11.00.00.

There is currently no workaround for this issue.

ControlFLASH does not support flashing module from un-signed to signed using command line mode. You need to use the standard ControlFLASH interface or Firmware Supervisor in RSLogix 5000 to go from un-signed to signed.

First identified in ControlFLASH version 12.00.00.

There is currently no workaround for this issue.

Disable anti-virus software before flash MicroLogix 1400. If anti-virus software is not disabled, flash may fail, because the anti-virus software can block TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) requests.

First identified in ControlFLASH version 12.01.00.

There is currently no workaround for this issue.

"Failed to Receive Initial TFTP Request from Target" error occurs during flashing MicroLogix 1400 when the initial TFTP request is not received. For detailed information, refer to Knowledgebase Document ID: BF15919 - MicroLogix 1400 : Failed to Receive Initial TFTP Request from Target

First identified in ControlFLASH version 13.00.00.

There is currently no workaround for this issue.

Micro800 devices do not support connected message mode. If you encounter errors when using ControlFLASH v12 or later to flash Micro800 devices, contact Rockwell Automation Technical Support. Refer to Micro800 firmware download sites at Micro810 firmware and Micro830 firmware.

First identified in ControlFLASH version 13.00.00.

There is currently no workaround for this issue.

When flashing devices over a USB port, you may experience the following error message:

Failed to communicate to the target device. An unknown communication error code was received from the target device.

This may occur at the end of a device flash operation while ControlFLASH is waiting for the device to restart and report its status. This seems to be related to a USB communications anomaly as the device’s firmware is normally updated correctly. First reported in version 14.01.00.

To avoid this problem, use Ethernet or other available communications networks.

The command line mode only supports modules using AB_ASA protocol drivers (for example, 1756-L63).

First identified in ControlFLASH version 10.00.00.

There is currently no workaround for this issue.

ControlFLASH version 15.07.00 has the following changes in functionality since the last release:

Change in operating system support

Beginning in this release, the product installer prevents installation on all 32-bit versions of Windows operating systems (for example, Windows 10, 32-bit) and any Windows 7 operating system (for example, Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit).

The following are the application notes for ControlFLASH version 15.07.00.

Unattended or silent install

Use command-line parameters to perform an unattended or silent installation of the software.

Command-line parameters

The following table identifies the installation command-line parameters. Command-line parameters are case-insensitive. However, if a specified value includes a space, be sure to enclose the value in quotation marks (for example, "value with spaces").

Examples

The following examples show how to use the installation commands.

• To install the software with no user interface using the default settings during the installation process. (Silent install)

                    Setup.exe /Q /IAcceptAllLicenseTerms

• To install the software on the D: drive and display the progress, error, or complete messages during installation and restart the computer if necessary. (Unattended install)

                    Setup.exe /QS /IAcceptAllLicenseTerms /AutoRestart /InstallDrive=D:

Error codes

The following table identifies the error codes that can be returned by an installation.

CIS Benchmarks test results

Rockwell Automation conducts tests using the computer configured according to CIS Benchmarks to help assure that software products perform as expected on computers that are hardened to industry best practices.

For more information about the guidelines and which products were tested against which CIS Benchmarks, see the Knowledgebase Document ID: QA63609 - Recommended guidelines for hardening software, computer, device, and network systems and infrastructure (CIS Benchmarks).

Note: If a product compliance with the benchmark is less than 100%, a link to a detailed spreadsheet is available. Download the spreadsheet to assist you in determining whether additional compensating controls are necessary.

DMK files location changed after installing ControlFLASH version 15.01 or later

The installation of ControlFLASH version 15.01 or later moves the DMK files located in the ControlFLASH installation folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\ControlFLASH for 64-bit operating systems or C:\Program Files\ControlFLASH for 32-bit operating systems) to the folder C:\Users\Public\Documents\Rockwell Automation\Firmware Kits, which is one of the default monitored folders. DMK files installed by Connected Components Workbench™ and Studio 5000 Logix Designer® are kept in this folder. This is because in some situations, the uninstalling of ControlFLASH causes its installation folder and the DMK files contained in it to be deleted. Keeping DMK files in the other monitored folder avoids the DMK files from being deleted when uninstalling ControlFLASH.

VeriSign Universal Root Certification Authority certificate

If the VeriSign Universal Root Certification Authority certificate does not exist on the local computer, the certificate is installed while installing Rockwell Automation software. Use Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to view the certificate in Console Root > Certificates (Local Computer) > Trusted Root Certification Authorities > Certificates.