Lock operators out of the HMI Forge editor with FANUC Password Protection (J541)

Locking down the teach pendant or Tablet TP is a good idea. I’ve known well-meaning operators and technicians who “tweak things in” while actually causing the system to degrade over time. The solution: lock everything down with FANUC’s Password Protection (J541) option.

I recorded a quick video showing how you can easily jump-start your Password Protection configuration with HMI Forge.

No J541? There’s a built-in lock

HMI Forge has its own lock feature so you can set a password on the editor and prevent unintended changes, but if you want more control over who can change what, J541 is the answer.

What J541 adds

FANUC’s Password Protection option is a complete access control layer you can drop into the robot operating system. It allows you to use configuration files to explicitly define who has read and/or write access to various teach pendant features: screens, softkeys, the function menu, editing, etc.

For HMI Forge, you can use the feature to prevent the lowest level user (Operator) from accessing the HMI Forge editor. You can also set it up so that the HMI Forge runtime is the Operator user’s default screen.

Setup can be tedious

Unfortunately there’s little to no user interface on the robot for configuring the Password Protection option. You have to manually dig up softpart and screen IDs and write XML files before importing them.

HMI Forge makes this a bit easier by generating the XML file directly onto a USB stick so you can import it to FANUC’s option in just a couple of key presses.

The generated file

HMI Forge will generate a passlvl.xml file that looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<PASSWORD>
	<!-- HMI Forge editor for operator user -->
	<SCREEN level="0" sp_id="381" scrn_id="401" access="0" rw_access="0" />
	<!-- HMI Forge runtime for operator user -->
	<SCREEN level="0" sp_id="381" scrn_id="402" access="1" rw_access="1" />
	<!-- make runtime the default screen for operator user -->
	<DEFSCREEN level="0" sp_id="381" scrn_id="402"/>
</PASSWORD>

The trick is getting those softpart and screen IDs (sp_id and scrn_id). Typically you navigate to a screen and look at the $TP_CURSCRN[1] system variable, but that’s difficult to do when you can’t run plugin screens in a dual or triple configuration on the pendant.

That’s what the diagnostics panel is for. HMI Forge records the editor and runtime screen IDs as you visit them, so it can generate the correct file automatically and also tell you the values in case you are doing a more complex configuration.

Configuring the controller

1. Menu > Setup > Passwords
2. Press ENTER to add an INSTALL user, set a password and confirm it
3. Login
4. > softkey then CONFIG
5. VERIFY to verify the XML file is valid
6. IMPORT to import the configuration

Testing

While logged in as the INSTALL user, you should be able to visit both the HMI Forge runtime and editor via Menu > Plugins > HMI Forge > Runtime and Editor.

If you log out via Menu > Setup > Passwords > Logout, you will find yourself immediately placed at the HMI Forge runtime if you chose the option to make it the OPERATOR user’s default screen.

If you restricted access to the editor, you should see a PWD-068 Menu access is not allowed alarm posted when you attempt to use it.

Already have a passlvl.xml file?

Just copy the two <SCREEN> tags and the one <DEFSCREEN> tag into your existing file.

The result?

Now you’ve got the HMI Forge editor locked down with FANUC’s Password Protection option without having to dig up any system variables or write any XML. The whole process takes about a minute.

HMI Forge is a plugin for FANUC CRX robots or any FANUC robot with the Tablet TP. It’s a full-featured HMI editor and runtime that allows you to easily create useful custom operator screens directly on the pendant. For more information, check out the HMI Forge website.