Issue with OPC Advanced Driver and Kepware

[wwright20]

Hello,

I am having an issue with using the OPC Advanced Driver and Kepware KepServer.

The configuration is as follows:

GeoSCADA and Kepware are both installed on the same PC running Windows 11 LTSC 2024.

When I set up the Kepware OPC Server using the 'OPC - Simple Server' driver, this works correctly and with the connection mode set to "In Process".

However, I would prefer to use the OPC Advanced driver as there are some features in advanced that I require. When I set up a new OPC Advanced server with the connection mode set to "In Process", it does not work.

The only workaround I have been able to use to get the OPC Advanced driver to work in this setup is to change the Connection Mode to "Local Server", use the local windows username and password as credentials and this works correctly.

I would prefer to use an "In Process" connection rather than the local account credentials for security reasons. Is it possible to use Kepware with the OPC Advanced driver with the connection mode set to "In Process"?

[AndrewScott]

When it doesn't work (using in-process connection mode) what are the symptoms? What error message is shown? What does the driver log file show?

[wwright20]

Hi Andrew,

When the server is set to "In Process", when I view the status of the OPC Advanced Server object, the connection state is simply stated as being "Failed".

When I look at the "Events" related to the OPC Server, I get the following message:

"Connection state - Failed (Error creating instance of OPC DA server - Class not registered) - Alarm raised".

Looking at the driver log file, I get the following log entries repeatedly when set as "In Process":

25-AUG-2026 08:35:30.380 [~ Configuration.~ Comms.OPC ADVANCED.OPC KEPWARE DIGITAL.New Server] Starting server
25-AUG-2026 08:35:30.380 [~ Configuration.~ Comms.OPC ADVANCED.OPC KEPWARE DIGITAL.New Server] CLSIDFromProgID( IN: ProgID 'PTC.KepwareServer' )
25-AUG-2026 08:35:30.380 [~ Configuration.~ Comms.OPC ADVANCED.OPC KEPWARE DIGITAL.New Server] CLSIDFromProgID( OUT: ClassId {02371A38-DCF2-4A9B-A554-214AAC323E4E} )
25-AUG-2026 08:35:30.380 [~ Configuration.~ Comms.OPC ADVANCED.OPC KEPWARE DIGITAL.New Server] CoCreateInstanceEx( IN: CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER )
25-AUG-2026 08:35:30.380 [~ Configuration.~ Comms.OPC ADVANCED.OPC KEPWARE DIGITAL.New Server] CoCreateInstanceEx( OUT: hr 80040154 -> Class not registered )

To confirm, the copy of Kepware is installed on the same PC as GeoSCADA, and there is only one local windows account in use.

[AndrewScott · Accepted solution]

"Class not registered" is a standard Microsoft COM error.

It suggests that "PTC.KepwareServer" isn't an in-process OPC DA server.

This can be confirmed by checking the registry. The following key will exist if its an in-process 32-bit server:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{02371A38-DCF2-4A9B-A554-214AAC323E4E}\InprocServer32

The following key will exist if its a local 32-bit server:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{02371A38-DCF2-4A9B-A554-214AAC323E4E}\LocalServer32

Under these keys are the filename of the DLL (for in-process) or EXE (for local) that implements the OPC server.