ThingWorx Manufacturing Apps 8.1 Freemium is Available for Download!

[#1]

Key Functional Highlights	Patching & Upgrades Supports upgrading from 8.0.1 using the Manufacturing Apps Installer    Streamlined patch support for customer issues Updated the installer technology to align with ThingWorx platform App Improvements Fixed bugs with acknowledging alerts Added support for collecting feature data from National Instruments InsightCM product Controls Advisor Added ability to retrieve KEPServerEX connection information in case the connection is lost or deleted Minor UI improvements Asset Advisor Updated the UI for anomaly status Production Advisor Improved the status history widget to align with Asset Advisor Added synchronized zooming to the chart widgets
Compatibility	ThingWorx 8.1.0 KEPServerEX 6.2, 6.3 KEPServerEX V6.1 and older as well as different OPC Servers (with Kepware OPC aggregator) Support upgrade from 8.0.1
Documentation	ThingWorx Manufacturing Apps Get Started
Download	ThingWorx Manufacturing Apps Freemium portal PTC Smart Connected Applications

[jamesso]

I got the freemium edition for the purpose of working with the sigma tile.

I can't get the composer to run, the message says I am not authorized.

Any remedy for this?

[hchanana]

Greetings James,

In the Express/Freemium Manufacturing apps version access to ThingWorx Core is not included. Due to this ThingWorx Composer is not accessible.

You need to install Developer Edition for accessing ThingWorx Composer.

Please refer Understanding Your Express or Developer Edition License section in ThingWorx Manufacturing Apps Setup and Configuration Guide for Freemium for understanding License details.

Regards,

Himanshu

[jamesso]

I installed the Developer edition for ThingWorx server back in the spring and used up my 30 days then.

Is there a separate developer download for the Manufacturing Apps with a new 30 day clock? If so, where do I get it.

Also, I now have a paid academic license for ThingWorx and have a license.bin for that. But I don't expect I have an entitlement for the Manufacturing Apps piece. Is there a contact person I can reach out to?

[jamesso]

Replying to myself. I did find the developer kit download and I guess that the 30 day clock begins anew when I install this. I will have to uninstall the freemium edition first. Hoping that's not too difficult.

[vranganathan]

You should uninstall using uninstaller and install developer-kit. Let us know if you hit any snag.

Thanks.

[jamesso]

I did hit a snag -- installation fails.

I did un-install the freemium version first and then re-booted Server 2012 R2

Installation starts OK and then an alert pops up with the message:

ThingWorx Server is not running. Restart the ThingWorx Server

[jamesso]

Some images from later

[jamesso]

A snippet from an installation log:

[13:57:59] - Starting  thingworxServer

Starting Tomcat...

[13:58:01] - Started  thingworxServer

[13:58:01] - Ended executing tomcatInitialization Initialization...

Directory already exists: C:\PTC\ThingWorxManufacturingApps\validation

Unpacking files

Unpacking C:\PTC\ThingWorxManufacturingApps\validation\twxfoundation_validator.exe

Directory already exists: C:\PTC\ThingWorxManufacturingApps\PTC_Servlet_Engine\conf

Unpacking files

[13:58:01] - Started executing thingworxInitialization...

[13:58:01] - Verifying if ThingWorx Foundation is installed and running ...

[13:58:01] - Error: not able to kill process C:\PTC\ThingWorxManufacturingApps\tmp\scripts\twxfoundation_validator.exe

Executing cmd /c "C:\PTC\ThingWorxManufacturingApps/tmp/scripts/twxfoundation_validator.exe" http://localhost:9080/Thingworx

Script exit code: 1

Script output:

Verifying ThingWorx Foundation connection ...

Error accessing ThingWorx Foundation connection:  Get http://localhost:9080/Thingworx: read tcp [::1]:50346->[::1]:9080: wsarecv: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.

Script stderr:

Program ended with an error exit code

[slangley]

Hi James.

You will need to uninstall all previous versions of the freemium edition, as well as any separate ThingWorx installs for Tomcat, or PostgreSQL.  Please user the uninstaller for removing the freemium version.  You can remove Tomcat and PostgreSQL by selecting Programs and Features in the Windows Control Panel.

Be sure to review the Prerequisities on the Developer edition download page to ensure your machine is configured adequately:  https://www.ptc.com/en/thingworx/manufacturing-apps/Dashboard/Download-Developer-Kit

Please let us know if you still experience issues once you have attempted another install--ensuring that all previous remnants of the ThingWorx product are removed first.

Regards.

--Sharon

[jamesso]

I did uninstall the freemium version. There were no previous installs of any other versions of tomcat or postgreSQL. There are no programs to delete in the Programs and Features Control Panel related to tomcat, postrgesql or thingworx. I attempted two installs and they both failed identically.

The freemium install was successful at the same point that the dev kit one fails. I found older log files that show this.

[slangley]

James, I will create a case for this and contact you to assist with your install.

--Sharon

[mthakker]

Hey James,

This is a licensing problem.  A system that's out of license will attempt to start the ThingWorx server, which will then do a license check and shutdown if the license is out of date.  The install will fail as the platform wasn't up and running long enough to load the manufacturing app extensions.

Thanks,

Milan

[jamesso]

So that means you actually CANNOT upgrade to the dev pack version once trying out the freemium version. This restriction needs to be documented more explicitly. So the only hope is to rebuild the machine from the OS on up? Will this even work?

FWIW, I attempted to reinstall the freemium version and this failed in the same way.

SO, how does ThingWorx know/keep track of licenses that have been used. There is a system hash/value that is recorded? Making an attempt on a new machine allows you to start over?

[jamesso]

I did re-create my Server 2012 R2 from scratch and then the developerKit instance of the Manufacturing Apps did install. I suspect that some registry check is done to see if the machine has been tainted with a previous ThingWorx platform installation. I did notice some registry keys related to PTC that were empty after an un-install was completed. I checked with regedit after a successful install and there are some other keys and values related to PTC present.