Installation

System Requirements

Installation

AnyAutomation Studio for Windows ships as a digitally signed installer: AnyAutomationStudioSetup installs system-wide for all users of the machine and requires administrator rights. The download is available on the AnyAutomation Studio releases page on GitHub.

1. Download the installer
2. Run it and follow the setup steps
3. Launch AnyAutomation Studio

Installed this way, the application keeps itself up to date automatically — see the Updates section below.

Portable archive: Alternatively, a portable archive can be extracted to a folder of your choice (e.g., C:/Tools/AnyAutomationStudio) and started via AnyAutomation Studio.exe without a setup step. A portable copy does not receive automatic updates.

Note: The application bundles everything it needs to run, including the runtimes used by its background helpers. TIA Portal must be installed separately on the system for the Openness features to work.

Choosing Components

During installation, the setup shows a component selection page where you decide which optional features are installed alongside the core application. The core application is always included; each component can be ticked or unticked individually.

Accept the preselected components with a click on Next, and tick the box next to any additional component you want.

Adding a Component Later

Simply run the installer again. The component selection page comes pre-filled with your previous choice; tick the missing component as well and finish the installation. When a feature in Studio needs a component that is not installed, the application tells you and offers a download link.

Automatic updates keep your chosen selection; you do not need to reselect components after an update.

For Administrators (Unattended Rollout)

For automated deployment, the setup supports command line switches. A full install with every component:

AnyAutomationStudioSetup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /TYPE=full

To install specific components, use /COMPONENTS with a comma-separated list:

AnyAutomationStudioSetup.exe /VERYSILENT /SUPPRESSMSGBOXES /NORESTART /COMPONENTS="forge,codesys,unittesting"

Valid component names: forge, codesys, unittesting, hwsim, eplan, codebaseindex, clirunner.

On an upgrade, do not pass /COMPONENTS, so the user's existing selection is kept. If /COMPONENTS is used on an upgrade anyway, the list must always carry the complete desired selection, because it fully replaces the previous choice.

TIA Portal Openness Setup

Your Windows user must be a member of the "Siemens TIA Openness" user group. Without this, TIA Portal will deny the connection.

1. Press Win + R, type lusrmgr.msc, press Enter
2. Click Groups on the left side
3. Double-click "Siemens TIA Openness"
4. Check if your user is listed. If not, click Add, type your username, click Check Names → OK
5. Click Apply → OK
6. Log off and log back in for the change to take effect

Windows 11 Home: lusrmgr.msc is not available. Use an elevated command prompt instead:

net localgroup "Siemens TIA Openness" %USERNAME% /add

Launching the Application

Only one instance of AnyAutomation Studio runs per Windows session. Opening a file or folder from Windows Explorer while the application is already running activates the existing window and opens the item there, instead of starting a second copy. Double-clicking the application icon or launching the executable a second time also just brings the running window to the front.

In the rare case that another program on the system blocks startup, the application refuses to launch and shows a warning. Close the other program (or sign out and back in) and try again.

Signing in

The first time you launch the application a Sign in to AnyAutomation Studio dialog opens before the main window. Click Sign in via Browser — your default browser opens account.anyautomation.ch/sign-in, where you sign in with your email and the 6-digit code we email you. The result is handed back to Studio automatically over a local connection, the dialog closes, and the application unlocks.

You stay signed in across application restarts; the next launch goes straight to the main window. The license is anchored to your account, not to a specific machine. You can sign in on up to three different machines per 30-day window.

If your activation code is already linked to your account (for example, you bought your subscription on the website and then opened the application for the first time), the subscription is detected automatically after sign-in — no additional steps are required. Your plan switches from Trial to your purchased tier within a few seconds, which you can see on the license badge at the right of the Status Bar. If detection fails (network hiccup, server outage), the application falls back to the Trial display; opening the licensing dialog (license badge, or Manage License from the Command Palette) or restarting retries the detection.

To sign out, click the license badge in the Status Bar (or run Manage License from the Command Palette, Ctrl+Shift+P) to open the licensing dialog. Its management section shows the email address you signed in with, your plan and status, and a Sign Out button. (You can also use Sign Out of AnyAutomation from the Accounts menu on the Activity Bar.) Pressing Sign Out signs you out immediately and releases the current machine's binding so a teammate can pick it up. The application requires an active sign-in to be usable: immediately after signing out, the sign-in dialog re-opens. Sign in again to continue working, or close the dialog to exit the application.

If sign-in fails repeatedly, check that your network can reach anyautomation.ch. Corporate firewalls that intercept TLS may need an exception (see "Cert pin bypass" in the troubleshooting section).

If the licensing server is unreachable when the application starts (no internet, VPN not connected, server outage), a dialog appears with three choices: Retry re-attempts the connection, Continue offline opens the application using the cached license and the 14-day grace period (some features may be unavailable until the next successful sign-in), and Close App exits. Continue offline never grants more rights than your last successful online check; subscription access is capped at 14 days, and you cannot start a new trial or activate a new license while offline.

Updates

AnyAutomation Studio keeps itself up to date on Windows. With the default settings, the application checks for new versions shortly after startup and then about once an hour, and downloads and installs updates in the background while you keep working.

When an update is ready, a number badge appears on the gear icon at the bottom of the Activity Bar. Open the gear menu and click Restart to Update to apply the new version — the application restarts and comes back updated. With the system-wide installation, updates are installed when you quit the application.

How often the application checks — or whether it checks at all — is set under Settings → General → Startup (Ctrl+,); the Check Now button there checks immediately at any time. The four modes are described in Settings.

For a manual (re)installation, the AnyAutomationStudioSetup installer is digitally signed and available on the AnyAutomation Studio releases page on GitHub.