Stop and restart a runtime

Use Stop when you need to halt a running PLC program but plan to resume the same project later — for example during a planned maintenance window or when investigating a fieldbus issue. Start, Stop, and Restart are available from the device Actions section.

Stop a runtime

1. Open the Portal and navigate to Devices.
2. Select the device.
3. In the Actions section, choose Stop and confirm.

The runtime status changes to Stopped.

Note

Stop halts the PLC runtime process. Device-scoped services (for example Edge Admin and other device-level services) keep running, so the device stays reachable from the Portal and from the device interface while the runtime is stopped.

Restart after stop

1. In the Actions section, choose Start (or Restart).
2. Wait for the status to become Running.

The same project version starts up again without a re-download or reinstall — the installed build is preserved across stop/start and restart.

Note

While another operation (install, uninstall, reset) is still in flight, the Stop button is disabled — you cannot stop the runtime until the in-flight action finishes. Wait for it to complete, then stop.

License-triggered stops

If the license on an edge device expires, the runtime is stopped automatically to avoid running unlicensed software.

1. A license-stopped device shows a Stopped runtime status, and the license pill on the device card reflects the expiry (for a demo license, Demo · <product> · expired at <timestamp>).
2. The Activity log records the stop together with its reason — for example “License service reports license expired (‘<process>’); runtime will stop.” followed by “Runtime stopped: license expired (process ‘<process>’)” — so the action can be audited.

Note

The Portal and the device stay in sync on this state. If the device drops off the network briefly, the Portal reconciles automatically when it reconnects — you will not see “Running” in the Portal while the device is actually stopped.

To recover, renew or activate the license, then Start the runtime again. For license states and activation, see the Licensing section.