Hack: Virtualized Siemens Software PLC using WinAC RTX 2010 and ESXi Hypervisor

To set up a fully virtual Siemens Software-PLC for testing purposes and rapid prototyping.

Requirements:
VMware Workstation or vSphere Server supporting at least virtualHW.version="9"
Windows 7 32bit Professional SP1
Siemens WinAC RTX 2010 SP1
Siemens Simatic NET 8.2

Step 1:
Set up a virtual machine with 2 GiB RAM, 1 CPU with 2 cores, 2 network interface cards. All other settings default.

Step 2:
Use custom BIOS, select specifc ethernet driver e1000e and add virtual HW version. The bios needs to be downloaded and placed into the same folder as the .vmx.

bios440.filename="FUJITSU211_314.ROM"
virtualHW.version="9"
ethernet0.virtualdev="e1000e"

This can also be done by editing the .vmx-file, for VMware Workstation, or first remove from inventory in vSphere then edit the .vmx-file through SSH. Re-add into vSphere using command.

Step 3:
Install Windows 7 32-bit. Upgrade using Windows Update.

Step 4:
Install WinAC RTX 2010 SP1, reboot when needed.
Install Simatic NET 8.2, reboot when needed.

There you go, it should now work as a SoftPLC with WinLC CPU. Realtime determinism is lost, but should still work well for testing.