Set up Siemens TIA Openness
User group, whitelist and first connection for TIA Portal V15 to V21
TIA Openness is the programming interface of Siemens TIA Portal. Before a program such as AnyAutomation Studio can read or write a project through it, Windows and TIA Portal need a few settings. This page lists the requirements and walks through the setup step by step.
TIA Openness for TIA Portal V15 to V21
Requirements and setup
1. System requirements
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit
- Siemens TIA Portal V15, V16, V17, V18, V19, V20 or V21 installed on the same machine
- RAM: minimum 4 GB, 8 GB recommended, 16 GB for large projects
- Hard disk: 2 GB free space
- Administrator rights for the installer
- Internet connection for licence validation, at least every 14 days (14-day offline tolerance)
- Internet connection for AI features only when a cloud provider is configured; local models work without one
2. Supported TIA Portal versions
- TIA Portal V15 to V21: project files .ap15 to .ap21 open directly
- TIA Portal must be installed, but it does not have to be running
- From TIA Portal V20: S7DCL export and import, and text search inside graphical blocks
- Several TIA Portal versions can be installed side by side; a project needs the TIA Portal version that matches its file extension
3. The "Siemens TIA Openness" user group
TIA Portal only accepts Openness connections from Windows users who are members of the local group "Siemens TIA Openness". The TIA Portal setup creates the group; membership has to be added by hand.
- Open Computer Management (right-click Start, then Computer Management)
- Go to Local Users and Groups, then Groups, then "Siemens TIA Openness"
- Add your Windows user (a domain account works as well) as a member
- Sign out of Windows and back in so the membership takes effect
On Windows editions without Local Users and Groups, run
net localgroup "Siemens TIA Openness" <user> /add in an elevated command prompt.
4. Openness confirmation dialog and whitelist
The first time a program accesses TIA Portal through Openness, TIA Portal shows a confirmation dialog and asks whether the program may connect. Programs on the Openness whitelist connect without that dialog.
The AnyAutomation Studio installer registers the whitelist entry during installation, so the dialog normally does not appear. If TIA Portal still asks, confirm the access once with "Yes to all".
5. First connection
- Start AnyAutomation Studio and sign in with your account
- Either attach to a running TIA Portal instance with the project already open
- Or open a project directly from file (.ap15 to .ap21); TIA Portal does not have to be open for that
- The project explorer shows the blocks, tag tables and hardware of the project
Both ways use the same Openness interface, so the user-group and whitelist settings above apply to both.
6. Install AnyAutomation Studio
Download the signed Windows installer, run it with administrator rights and start AnyAutomation Studio. Updates are found automatically after installation. Account sign-in, licence activation and hardware binding are described in the installation guide on anyautomation.ch.
7. Troubleshooting
- TIA Portal refuses the connection: check the membership in the "Siemens TIA Openness" group and sign in to Windows again
- The confirmation dialog appears on every start: confirm it once with "Yes to all"
- The project does not open: make sure the TIA Portal version matching the project file is installed
- Attach fails: start TIA Portal and AnyAutomation Studio in the same Windows user context
- Licence not recognised: check the hardware binding in your account under /profile
More solutions in the troubleshooting section of the documentation.