TwinCAT-BSD-VM-creator

the script creates VirtualBox Virtual Machine from Twincat BSD image provided by Beckhoff Automation. You can find lots of useful information in the documentation.

Using the batch file

Download TwinCAT BSD image from Beckhoff automation website; Extract the zip file in the same directory where the script is located. the image file will be xxxx.iso open the script and modify the line 3 the "TCBSD-x64-12-40411.iso" to match your image name

SET sourcefilename="new image name.iso"

Using PowerShell script

Run Create-TcBsdVM.ps1 where the first parameter is the virtual machine name and the second is the TCBSD image file that you will need to download and unzip the working folder.

The script will also verify the VirtualBox installation at the location Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox on the same drive where the working folder is located. If you have the VirtualBox installed in some other location, provide the path to that folder at the third positional parameter of the script.

The virtual machine folder will be created in the working folder.

Usage

PS C:\YOUR_FOLDER\.\Create-TcBsdVM.ps1 MyLovelyTcBSD TCBSD-x64-12-40411.iso

Using the bash script

The included bash script create_tc_bsd_vm.sh will generate a VM with the following specifications:

• 8GB OS primary OS (SATA) disk image
• 1GB of RAM
• One network adapter (NAT -> may require reconfiguration; see below)
• The bootable TwinCAT BSD installation media connected as the second SATA drive
  • This will boot until the installation is complete. It can be removed after installation is done, but it will not interfere with TC/BSD from booting post-installation even if it remains.

In order to use it, you must:

• Download TwinCAT BSD image from Beckhoff first. Place it in the same directory as the script.
• Run ./create_tc_bsd_vm.sh your_plc_name_here [/path/to/tcbsd.iso]

Notes:

• If you only have a single TCBSD ISO in the same directory, the script will find it and use it automatically. In that case, you will only need to specify the PLC name.
• VBoxManage is expected to be on the PATH prior to running the script.
• After creating a VM, a file browser will be opened to the path where the generated image is.
• The script will register the VM with VirtualBox. If a VM already is registered with the same name, it will give you the option of unregistering the old one.

Setting up the network interface

If VMs network defaults to NAT, you may not be able to connect to the PLC. Therefore you should set the virtual network either to Host-Only Adapter if you are working with the PLC only from the host computer; or Bridged Adpater to set up a physical connection to the outside network.

Solving route creation issue

If you are having issues creating route to your VM, the reason could be that you are trying to create unsecured ADS connection. Unencrypted ADS connections are dissabled by default. To fix this issue, either use an encrypted route or update the rules in your VM's firewall. To do this, connect to your VM through WinSCP.

To start WinSCP with root rights, edit connection settings and click on Advanced. Update entry for SFTP server with entry doas /usr/libexec/sftp-server and click OK and SAVE.

Finally to update firewall rules, navigate to file /etc/pf.conf and add entry pass in quick proto tcp to port 48898 synproxy state. Save file and reboot your VM.