Virtual ShopFloor under Windows 10 using an NVIDIA graphic card

Last change: Feb 25, 2021

If you want to use the Virtual ShopFloor of SYMplus™ on a PC with Windows 10 and an Nvidia graphic card, unfortunately the problem sometimes arises that the software only shows a white screen and then cannot be used any further.

This incorrect behavior is due to a discrepancy between the corresponding driver for the graphic card and the corresponding component of our software, which has not yet been finally clarified.

We are still working on this problem, but we are currently unable to provide any specific information about the time of a final solution.

The malfunction has so far only been observed in this special combination of operating system and graphic card.
This problem has not yet been observed when using an older version of Windows or a graphic card from another manufacturer. It also does not occur with all graphic card or all driver from Nvidia.

One solution can be to change the graphic card driver, especially with older versions of the driver for Nvidia cards, this problem rarely occurs. However, such older drivers may be replaced by a current version via a Windows update. In this respect, using such an old graphic card driver sometimes does not lead to a permanent elimination of the problem.

A rather unusual way to circumvent this problem is to temporarily deactivate the graphic card in the device manager of the PC concerned:

Before starting the KELLER software, deactivate the graphic card in the device manager and activate the graphic card again if you have worked with the KELLER software. Of course, this is only necessary if you actually want to work with the Virtual ShopFloor.

Alternatively, you can use the following two batches to carry out this process:

Deactivating the graphic card:
@echo off
set gk=
for /f "tokens=2" %%i in ('pnputil /enum-devices /class Display /connected') do set gk=%%i& goto x
:x
pnputil /disable-device "%gk%"

Activating the graphic card:
@echo off
set gk=
for /f "tokens=2" %%i in ('pnputil /enum-devices /class Display /connected') do set gk=%%i& goto x
:x
pnputil /enable-device "%gk%"

These batches must be started as an administrator. Administrator rights are also required if this process is carried out directly in the device manager.

If you want to enable this process also for users without administrator rights (e.g. the students within a classroom), you can use the Windows task planning, for example:

You set up two tasks, which are carried out with the highest permissions under the account of an administrator. The only content of these tasks is the start of the respective batch, the tasks are e.g. "graphic off" and "graphics on".

Important note:
The batches to be started must be saved on the PC in a location where the normal user cannot change any files (and possibly no access at all). Otherwise the user could change these batches and gain unauthorized access to the PC.

Two batches are now set up for the user, which start the respective task with "schtasks / run / tn graphic off" or "schtasks / run / tn graphic on" and do not require administrator rights.