Why you cannot upload a legacy HMI project from the panel

Why the upload cannot work

An upload that pulls an editable project back out of a panel is a same-family function: the panel and the editor share one project format, so the editor can read what the panel holds. Upload an HMI panel project to your PC covers that job. EZ-Touch and C-More panels are different families. The C-More software cannot read an EZ-Touch project, and it has no upload function for an EZ-Touch panel, so repeating the attempt with a different cable, port or panel model changes nothing.

That distinction decides where the work happens: the work happens at the file. If a usable copy of the source project exists on disk, the published conversion route can move it to a C-More panel. If it does not, no upload attempt will recover it, which is why the first job is a document search, not a cable hunt.

Symptoms and what each one points to

• You need the editable project and the running panel is the only copy. That points to a search. Look in the machine's commissioning binder, on the engineering PC that last edited the screens, and on any network drive where the integrator kept projects. No published procedure extracts an editable EZ-Touch source from the panel, so time spent on transfer attempts is time the search needed.
• You found a project file that runs on EZ-Touch panels. Two authoring families wrote projects for those panels: the AutomationDirect software and the EZAutomation software. Which one wrote your file decides whether the published conversion route applies, so identify it from the records before planning anything.
• The recovered file opens read-only. That points to the media it travelled on: files copied from CD-R discs carry the Windows read-only attribute. Clear it on the working copy before conversion; HMI project backup from CD-R will not open: clear read-only shows the fix.
• No project file turns up anywhere. Then the conversion route has nothing to start from. Photograph the running screens, get the PLC program on paper, and ask the vendor's support what recovery it supports for your exact model; the last section of this page takes that case in order.

Checks before you touch the panel

Run these five checks before any conversion work:

1. Confirm the authoring family. A project written with the AutomationDirect software qualifies for the published route. A project written with the EZAutomation software does not; its maintenance stays in that family's own software unless the vendor publishes another path.
2. Make two copies on two different drives. One master copy that never changes, one working copy for the conversion. The habit is the subject of HMI project upload protection: keep a master copy.
3. Clear the read-only attribute on the working copy if it came from disc media, so the conversion tools can write beside it.
4. Record the toolchain. Note the exact panel model, the EA-PGMSW version (the published route names V2.78), and the C-More software release for the EA7 series panels.
5. Leave the running panel alone. Do not erase, initialize or unmount it to trial an upload; the attempt yields nothing and risks the only working HMI on the machine.

The general backup discipline behind these checks is in Back up and restore an HMI panel project the safe way.

Example: one EZ-Touch panel, one saved project, two authoring families

Inputs:

• 1 disk copy of the EZ-Touch project files, found in the plant's project archive. The published route requires this copy; the panel cannot supply it.
• Authoring family: 1 of 2 possible. The commissioning binder says the screens were written with the AutomationDirect software, so the file qualifies.
• Tools on one bench PC: EA-PGMSW (V2.78), the version the support FAQ names, and the C-More software for the EA7 series panels.
• 1 target C-More panel for the bench test; the running EZ-Touch panel stays in service.

The rule: the published route is a two-step conversion of a saved file. Step 1 saves the EZ-Touch project in the EA7 format. Step 2 converts that EA7 file into a C-More project the panel can load. The route covers a source written with the AutomationDirect software; a source from the EZAutomation software has no published route into C-More.

The arithmetic: 2 authoring families checked, 1 match: the file qualifies, so the conversion runs. EA-PGMSW (V2.78) opens the working copy and saves 1 file in the EA7 format. The C-More software takes that 1 EA7 file and produces 1 C-More project. Master copies edited during the job: 0. Uploads attempted from the panel: 0.

Result: 1 C-More project file, ready for the bench, produced from 1 source copy through 2 tools.

Decision: load it to the target panel only after the bench test passes every screen, tag and operator entry. Had the family check returned the EZAutomation software instead, the qualifying count would be 0, the route stops there, and the job becomes a rebuild or a support case.

The conversion step by step

1. Confirm the authoring family from the commissioning records or the original programmer. AutomationDirect software: continue. EZAutomation software: stop, keep maintaining the project in its own family's software, and ask the vendor's support about any supported migration.
2. Copy the master to a working copy on the bench PC and clear the read-only attribute if the file came off disc media.
3. Convert to the EA7 format: open the working copy in EA-PGMSW (V2.78) and save it in the EA7 format.
4. Convert to a C-More project: open the EA7 file in the C-More software for the EA7 series panels, allow the conversion, and save the result as a C-More project.
5. Bench-test against the running machine: with the old EZ-Touch panel still in service, check every screen on the target panel, every tag value against the PLC, every operator entry, and every command that starts, stops or moves anything.
6. Change over in a planned window, keep the EZ-Touch panel and its master file intact until the C-More panel has run one full 8-hour shift under observation, then archive the set together. Keep the archived set for at least 12 months so the next migration or a warranty question has its source files.

A converted project is a starting point, not proof that every screen and tag behaves; the bench test in step 5 is what finds the gaps. Treat the HMI panel as part of the machine's operating picture: conversion work belongs on the bench, because a panel pulled off a running line leaves the operator without a view of the process.

Recommendation: treat every EZ-Touch panel as a runtime device, never as the project archive. Before you replace, erase or re-purpose one, hold a disk copy of its project on two drives, note which authoring software wrote it, and keep a way to install that software. Then a move to a C-More panel is a two-step conversion of a file you own, checked on the bench before the swap.

When no source project exists

No published route recovers an editable EZ-Touch project from the panel, so an empty file search leaves two moves. First, the vendor's support channel: give them the exact EZ-Touch model from the panel label and ask what recovery they support for that model, because the answer is model-specific. Second, the rebuild: photograph every screen of the running panel, print or export the PLC program so the tags and addresses are on paper, and draw the new screens against those tags. On a 10-screen project, photographing and logging every screen takes about 30 minutes, so schedule that half hour inside the downtime window. Before any replacement panel goes on the machine, settle the serial questions; Check the PLC serial protocol before replacing a legacy HMI walks that check. Schedule the rebuild against a planned downtime window, and keep the photographs of the old screens with the new project so the next person can compare them side by side.

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