Verify the installed HMI software version after an upgrade

What Help > About reports

Help > About reads the build number of the program open at that moment. It is the one check that travels with the window on your screen. The vendor's download page answers a different question: what you can download today. The readme answers a third: what was released and when.

In one workstation case, the download page offered two entries, 2.23 with Service Pack 1 and 2.42, while the readme named three builds, 2.40, 2.41 and 2.42. The readme listing 2.41 is release history; it says nothing about the software on that PC. Vendors keep an older line downloadable for sites that still need it and pull an interim build when a defect in it matters enough to withdraw it, which is why the two lists can disagree while both are correct.

Match the build you plan to install against the build already installed before you upgrade, as covered in HMI software upgrade prerequisites: match the installed build first. The editor's build is also separate from the panel's own firmware, which is read on the device as described in read an HMI panel firmware version for field maintenance.

What each symptom points to

• About shows 2.41 right after the 2.42 installer finished without an error. The window you read belongs to an older copy: a shortcut to a different installation, or an instance already open before the install.
• About shows 2.41 and the first install was interrupted. An installer closed early, one that errored out, or one that never showed its final screen left the old build in place. Run it again.
• About shows 2.42 but the readme still lists 2.41. No fault. The readme is release history and the running program verified itself.
• The download page shows 2.23 with Service Pack 1 and 2.42, and the readme shows 2.40, 2.41 and 2.42. The lists answer different questions. Install the entry labeled 2.42 and verify under About.
• Two shortcuts for the same software. Each can open its own installed copy with its own build number.

A version gap also bites when a project moves to another PC and refuses to open; that failure has its own write-up in HMI project seek failed after moving PCs: check the software version.

Checks, in order

1. Read the value first. Open the copy your team uses for real work, open Help > About, and write down the exact build, for example 2.41.
2. Read the installer, not the download list. Find the file you downloaded and read its name and any version label on its first screen. The label must say 2.42. A file sitting in a folder is not proof the setup ran; the installer's final screen is what shows the files landed.
3. Count the shortcuts. One shortcut is normal. Two or more means two possible copies, so read where each shortcut points before you trust either.
4. Close before you judge. After any install, close every open instance of the software, wait 30 seconds for the process to exit, open it again through the shortcut you use normally, and read About in that fresh window.

The fix

1. Record the current About value and the installer label before you change anything. Those two records turn a guess into a verified upgrade.
2. Go back to the vendor's download page and select the entry labeled 2.42 explicitly, by its label, not by its position in the list.
3. Run that installer and follow every prompt to the final screen. A typical run takes 5 to 10 minutes. If a Windows installer dialog hangs when the software starts, clear that first: Windows installer dialog hangs at startup. If the installer reports an error, stop and write the message down exactly.
4. Close the software and open it again with the shortcut you use for daily work.
5. Open Help > About and read the value. Expect 2.42.
6. Record 2.42 in the workstation's or the project's maintenance record, next to the 2.41 you wrote down first.

One boundary: do not delete folders, edit the registry, or copy files over an install to force the number to change. That damages a working setup and hides the cause from whoever helps you next. If 2.41 survives a completed 2.42 install and a fresh start through the usual shortcut, stop and hand the installer name, its last message, and the About value to the software vendor's support.

Recommendation: Treat Help > About as the only version check for the program you have open. When it still shows the old build after an upgrade, rerun the installer you selected by its 2.42 label, close the software, wait 30 seconds, open it again through your normal shortcut, and read About again. Escalate to the vendor only if the old build survives that sequence.

Example: 2.41 that would not change

A workstation is due for 2.42. First visit: the engineer downloads from the vendor page, runs what arrived, opens the software, and Help > About reports 2.41. The checks in order find one shortcut, whose target points at the install folder, and an installer file on the desktop with no 2.42 label. That is the wrong-or-incomplete-download branch. The engineer returns to the download page, selects the entry labeled 2.42, runs it to the final screen in 8 minutes, closes the software, waits 30 seconds, opens it again through the same shortcut, and reads About again: 2.42. The whole job, including writing the records, fits in a 15-minute maintenance window.

The lists were never the fault, and the arithmetic shows it: the readme names three builds, 2.40, 2.41 and 2.42, and the download page carries one of the three, so 3 − 1 = 2 builds the page has withdrawn, and the one it keeps, 2.42, is the one to install. A workstation reporting 2.41 is one build behind. Two records close the job: 2.41 before, 2.42 after, with the 2.42 installer label between them.

One build on record per workstation

Version checks pay off when the result is written where the next shift can find it. For each workstation, record the About value before and after the upgrade, the installer's label, and where each shortcut points if there is more than one copy: three entries, one line each.

If the line also needs a stand-alone screen for shift notes or andon counts, that screen is a separate decision from the editor's build. What we build for that job, with offline playback of your own content, sits in the shop-floor screens and andon boards category.

Questions