On a non-touch operator panel, password entry is a project setting. Select keypad style 2 in the lower left hand corner of the Configure password screen, download the project once, and the panel takes the password from its function keys at the prompt. Budget about 15 minutes for the edit, the download and the test.
A panel without a touch layer still takes a password. The entry route is a project setting, not a gesture on glass. In the project's password setup, on the Configure password screen, select keypad style 2 in the lower left hand corner. Save, download the project to the panel once, and the panel then takes the password from its function keys whenever a protected function asks for it. This page gives you the setting, the steps in order, the check that tells you the change landed, and a 15 minute plan for the stop it costs. It also flags the neighboring password faults that live on the same screen. They get confused with this one and have their own fixes.
How do you enter a password on a panel with no touch screen?
Set keypad style 2 on the Configure password screen in the project software, and download the project once. The panel then accepts the password from its function keys at the prompt, because on a non-touch panel the entry method is a project setting, not an on-screen tap.
The keypad you see on touch panels is a touch object: it needs a layer this panel does not have. The project therefore has to name the hardware route, and keypad style 2 is that name. A style value left anywhere else points entry at a keypad the hardware cannot show. That is why a panel that refuses every password attempt can look faulty while the project is simply set for the wrong style. The function-key bank itself is standard equipment on operator panels, from about 6 keys on the smallest text terminals to around 40 on larger membrane keyboards, so the hardware route is nearly always there. At the prompt, the panel's own display is the authority for which key enters which character, so follow it key by key.
What do you need before you open the project?
You need three things: the project file and the software that edits it, a working download path from the PC to the panel, and the name of the protected function or screen whose prompt started the problem. That last one lets you test at the same place afterwards.
Add a planned stop to that list, because the download and the test both need the panel out of production. The download path is whatever the project already uses, serial or Ethernet, since the change rides an ordinary project download and needs no new connection. And confirm the panel has its function-key row before you book the work. If the keys are absent, style 2 has nothing to drive, and the job turns into a hardware question about the panel itself.
Where does the keypad style setting live?
The setting sits on the Configure password screen, the same screen where the passwords themselves are set up, in the lower left hand corner. It is made while you edit the project, never at the runtime prompt on the panel, which only asks for the password.
Open the project in the editing software, go to the password configuration, and read the lower left hand corner before you change anything. The value there is the one fact this procedure turns on. The edit happens in the software, and nothing on the panel's own menus carries the style, so leave the panel alone until the download. If the Configure password screen is missing from the project tree, the project may be holding it behind a hidden setup screen, which has its own diagnosis in why taps never open a hidden setup screen. And if your editing screen shows no style selector in that corner at all, stop there. The interface in front of you is a different one, and guessing at a similarly named option edits something else.
Which steps put the entry on the function keys?
Six steps cover it: open the Configure password screen, read the current keypad style in the lower left hand corner, set style 2, save, download the project to the panel, and open the protected function so the prompt appears.
- Open the project in the editing software and go to the Configure password screen, where the passwords are set up.
- Read the keypad style in the lower left hand corner and write the value down, so you can show what changed.
- Set the style to 2. This is the value that hands password entry to the function keys.
- Save the project.
- Download the project to the panel. One ordinary download carries the change, and the panel itself needs no adjustment.
- Open the protected function at the panel so the prompt appears, and follow the display: it is the authority for which key enters which character.
The style changes how the password is entered; the password values are untouched, and the same keys keep their normal screen-navigation jobs away from the prompt. If function-key presses land on the wrong screens during the test, sort the navigation first, because that fault has its own fix in fix HMI function key screen navigation.
How do you check the entry works at the prompt?
The check passes when the same protected function that produced the original prompt accepts the password entered on the function keys and opens the screen it guards. Anything else means the style did not take, so reread the lower left hand corner before you question the password itself.
Run it twice. First immediately after the download, at the panel, on the function that raised the original prompt. Then again at the start of the next shift, on a panel the operators have started themselves, so the setting is checked after a power cycle. A panel that still refuses entry splits into two cases. A style showing anything other than 2 means the edit was not made or not retained; correct the value and download again. A style showing 2 with entry still refused points at the password value or the function's security assignment, and that is where you look next, keeping the password unchanged while you isolate the entry method.
What does the change look like in a worked example?
A filling line stops for the change: one setting edited in about 5 minutes, one download of about 10 minutes, 15 minutes of planned stop in total, and the maintenance supervisor opens the recipe screen by keying the password on the function keys.
The panel is a non-touch operator terminal on the filler with a 12-key function bank. The supervisor password guards the recipe edit function, and the prompt it raises is the one operators have been unable to answer. The times are estimates, and the download dominates them:
- Edit, about 5 minutes: open the Configure password screen, read style 1 in the lower left hand corner, set style 2, save.
- Download, about 10 minutes: one ordinary project download, and this step scales with project size and transfer speed, so a heavier project moves the total more than any other factor.
- Total stop: 5 + 10 = 15 minutes.
The test decides the job. At the recipe function the prompt appears, the supervisor keys the password on the function keys as the display directs, the guarded screen opens, and the line restarts on schedule. One safety point belongs here: the screens behind these passwords start and change machine motion, so the test runs inside the planned stop with the guards in place, and entry is shown working at the recipe function before production resumes.
When is function-key entry the wrong tool?
Function-key entry answers one problem, getting a typed password into a panel that has no touch layer. If the real complaint is that a password opens screens it should not, or a prompt appears after the passwords were deleted, those are different faults with their own fixes.
Three neighbors cause most of the confusion:
- A parameter edit password that opens every screen at once is a security assignment spread too wide; the fix is on the parameter edit password that opens every screen at once page.
- A password popup that appears on screen change after the passwords were deleted is leftover security on an object, covered in password popup on screen change after passwords deleted.
- A panel that loses its whole project after a power cycle takes the keypad style down with it; that fault is diagnosed in an HMI panel loses its project after a power cycle.
When the goal is to guard a screen that has no password at all, the method changes again: put the security on the object that opens the screen, and the panel asks before the screen opens. For several roles with different rights, set up user groups with different access levels and select the access level in the security setting.
Which guard method fits your panel and your staff?
For a panel with function keys and a password prompt at a protected function, set keypad style 2 and test. For guarding the screen itself, put the security on the object that opens it. For several roles, use user groups with access levels assigned in the security setting.
| Your situation | Method | Where it is set |
|---|---|---|
| Non-touch panel, prompt at a protected function | Keypad style 2, entry on the function keys | Configure password screen, lower left hand corner |
| Touch panel | On-screen keypad entry keeps working | Default entry, no style change needed |
| Screen should ask before it opens | Security on the screen-change object | The object's security setting in the project |
| Several roles, different rights | User groups with different access levels | User group and security settings in the project |
Guarding what each role may see is its own subject, and HMI screen access control for a protected operator view covers that side of it.
Recommendation: if your non-touch panel shows a password prompt at a protected function, set keypad style 2 on the Configure password screen, save, and send one project download, then test at that same function inside a planned stop. Budget 15 minutes for the edit, the download and the test, and leave the password values alone until the style reads 2 in the project.
Questions
Does setting keypad style 2 change the passwords themselves?
No. The style selects the input route, so the panel takes the password from the function keys when the prompt appears. The password values, their lengths and the functions they guard stay as configured on the same Configure password screen. If entry still fails after a download you watched complete, with the style reading 2 in the project, the fault sits in the password value or the function's security assignment, and those are checked separately.
Does every panel on site need its own download?
Yes. The style travels inside each project download, so a fleet of panels needs the edited project downloaded to each one, and a panel still running an older copy keeps the old style. If the panels run different projects, edit each project's password screen. The style value lives per project and is never shared between panels over the network.
How long can the password be?
The entry route sets nothing about length; the password configuration in your project software carries the limit, and it differs between panel families. Whatever the length, style 2 carries the same characters through the function keys. A longer password costs more key presses at the prompt and no extra configuration. Ask the panel supplier for the length limit when the project needs one beyond a few characters.
Can the keypad style be set from the panel itself, without the PC?
No route is documented for that: the style is project data, edited in the project software and delivered by download. Panels that offer runtime setup menus carry different settings, and the style selector described here sits in the editing software's password configuration. Plan the PC and the download path into the job.
Planning information, not legal or engineering advice. Rules differ by place: check codes and permits with your local authority and your licensed trades.