HMI
Siemens WinCC Unified
Build HMI and SCADA projects in Siemens WinCC Unified, from screens and faceplates to alarms, JavaScript and panel transfer.
Siemens WinCC Unified is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation and control. It has 11 modules and takes about 19.5 hours, with written notes, a practice task per module, a practical project and a final assessment of 15 questions (pass mark 60%). Learning costs nothing and needs only a free account. The optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code, is a one-off US$23.99 for you; it is not a vendor credential. Updated 1 November 2026.
- Free
- Beginner
- 19.5 hours
- Self-paced
- Certificate optional
- Lab practice in your browser
No card, no trial. The course is free for good. Certificate US$23.99, optional.
- Who it is for
- Engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation and control
- Jobs
- Roles that use this skill: SCADA engineer, HMI developer, control room technologist and systems integrator. No course guarantees a job.
- Tools
- TIA Portal with WinCC Unified (trial) and PLCSIM Advanced. Hardware: none required. A Unified Comfort Panel makes transfer real.
- Updated
After this course you can
By the end you will be able to:
- Create WinCC Unified projects for PCs and Comfort panels
- Build screens with templates, navigation and animations
- Build faceplates with UDTs and pop-ups
- Configure alarms, events and trends
- Script in JavaScript and transfer a project securely
Who it is for, and what you need first
Who it is for
Engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation and control.
Level: Beginner. Beginner to intermediate. The free HMI design course is the ideal preparation.
What you need
Software: TIA Portal with WinCC Unified (trial) and PLCSIM Advanced.
Hardware: None required. A Unified Comfort Panel makes transfer real.. What to download, and how.
How this course works
Watch the lessons
Short video lessons, one module at a time, at your own pace.
Read the notes
Open the Reading tab for the written notes and diagrams of the module.
Practise in the 3D labOptional
Try the module in the free 3D lab, in your browser.
Check yourself
Answer the questions to see what stuck before you move on.
Final assessment
Pass the final once you have been through the modules.
Certificate, if you want oneOptional
Optional, with a page anyone can use to verify it.
What you learn
11 modules in order, at your own pace. 19.5 hours of video lessons, with written notes and a practice task in each module.
- 1What WinCC Unified Is: Project, Simulation and Download1h 28m
- 2Screens, Layout, Navigation and Templates1h 9m
- 3Tags, Buttons and Dynamisation, with lab practice: 1h 5m
- 4Text Lists, Visibility and Resource Lists50m
- 5Faceplates: Templates, Instances, UDTs and Popups2h 48m
- 6Faceplate Interfaces in Depth1h 6m
- 7Building the Complete HMI, with lab practice: 1h 23m
- 8Alarms, Events, Trends and Parameter Sets, with lab practice: 1h 36m
Show the other 3 modules
- 9JavaScript, PDF Web Control and Scheduled Tasks25m
- 10Users, Languages, Certificates, Transfer and the Unified Comfort Panel48m
- 11Final Assessment
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Show what to download (2 tools)
Required
- 01Free trial: 21 days
SIMATIC STEP 7 Professional and WinCC (TIA Portal) V21 Trial
Siemens
- Runs on
- Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise 64-bit (24H2), Windows 10 Enterprise 2021 LTSC, or Windows Server 2022/2025. Windows 11 Home is supported only for the Basic editions.
- Account
- A free Siemens account registered for Industry Online Support (SiePortal)
- Size
- about 8.1 GB for the main ISO, plus an optional 3.1 GB DVD 2 with hardware support packages
Siemens lets registered users download the V21 trial of STEP 7 (Basic and Professional), STEP 7 Safety and WinCC and test it for 21 days. The same package is used for the full product; after 21 days you need a purchased licence to keep working.
Steps
- 1.Open the Siemens trial page (entry 109989774) and sign in with your Siemens Industry Online Support account.
- 2.Download TIA_Portal_STEP7_Safety_WinCC_V21.iso (8.1 GB).
- 3.Download S7-PLCSIM_V21.iso (2.5 GB) from the same page: PLCSIM is a separate download.
- 4.Right-click each ISO, choose Mount, and run Start.exe as administrator. Install STEP 7 and WinCC first, then PLCSIM.
- 5.Follow the setup, accept the licence terms and restart the PC when asked.
- 6.Open TIA Portal V21 and create a new project to confirm it runs.
- Install from a local drive with plenty of free space; Siemens lists 20 GB free as the minimum and the ISOs alone are over 10 GB.
- You only need DVD 2 if you want extra hardware support packages.
- If you cannot install locally, Siemens also offers a 21-day TIA Portal Cloud trial in the browser (one-hour sessions, not in every country).
Official download pagesupport.industry.siemens.comAlternatives
- TIA Portal Cloud trial: 21 days free in a cloud virtual machine, no install. Sessions are limited to one hour and it is not available in every country.
- 02Free trial: 21 days
SIMATIC S7-PLCSIM Advanced V8.0 Trial
Siemens
- Runs on
- Same Windows versions as TIA Portal STEP 7 Basic V21 (64-bit). Windows Home editions are not supported.
- Account
- A free Siemens account registered for Industry Online Support (SiePortal)
- Size
- about 1.0 GB (ISO)
Registered users can download S7-PLCSIM Advanced V8.0 and test it for 21 days. Siemens says the trial package is identical to the supplied product; for a longer test you must ask a Siemens sales contact.
Steps
- 1.Install TIA Portal STEP 7 V21 first (it simulates projects from TIA Portal V14 to V21).
- 2.Open the S7-PLCSIM Advanced V8.0 page (entry 109990051) and sign in.
- 3.Download SIMATIC_S7-PLCSIM_Advanced_V8.iso (1.0 GB).
- 4.Mount the ISO, run the setup as administrator and restart when asked.
- 5.Start S7-PLCSIM Advanced, create a virtual S7-1500 or S7-1200 G2 instance and download your TIA Portal project to it.
- Siemens recommends 16 GB RAM, 20 GB free disk and a Full HD screen.
- The S7-PLCSIM V21 install on the TIA trial page already includes PLCSIM Advanced V8.0, so you may not need this separate download.
Official download pagesupport.industry.siemens.com
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Practise in the 3D lab
Practise the HMI design you build in WinCC Unified: bind tags to an overview, use colour only for alarms and set limits and priorities an operator can act on.
- Read the P&IDProcess lab, about 20 minOpen in the lab (opens in a new tab): Read the P&ID
- Build an operator screenProcess lab, about 45 minOpen in the lab (opens in a new tab): Build an operator screen
- Alarm rationalisationProcess lab, about 50 minOpen in the lab (opens in a new tab): Alarm rationalisation
Optional. Skip it whenever you like: it never blocks your progress or your certificate.
Course project, about 18 hours
Dairy CIP station on WinCC Unified: faceplates, parameter sets, alarm classes and a wash report in JavaScript
Design, build, test and document the HMI for a dairy's clean-in-place station. It has a Unified Comfort Panel on the skid and a WinCC Unified PC runtime in the QA office. You build faceplates on the vendor's PLC data types, parameter sets for five circuits and three alarm classes. You add trends of each wash and a script that writes a wash report an auditor will accept. You deliver the project, your tag list, your FAT record and a backup note.
- 9documents in the pack
- 9steps to follow
- 6things to hand in
- 18 hof work, at your pace
- URSUser Requirements: HMI and Records for CIP Station CIP-1
- HMI specHMI Screen Hierarchy and Screen Specification: CIP-1 Panel and QA Runtime
- Tag listHMI Tag List and Naming Convention: Unified against DB CIP_HMI and DB CIP_Params
- Alarm listAlarm List: CIP Station CIP-1
- SDSHMI Software Design: Data Model, Faceplates, Parameter Sets, Report Script, Users
- Network architectureNetwork Architecture: CIP-1 Control Network and QA Access
The project is optional practice. The certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
After the course, your next step
Show what you can do, then keep going in the same field.
A certificate you can verify
Finish the modules and pass the final assessment (15 questions, pass mark 60%) and you can add a certificate with a public verification page. One-off, US$23.99 for you. It is not a vendor credential.
Want a free certificate? Do the matching Free internship: 4 weeks, nothing to buy, with a free certificate of completion.
SCADA and HMI
Eight short weeks of tags, screens, alarms and trends: notes, diagrams, a few videos and practice in LADX Mini and free web SCADA tools. Finish weeks 1 to 4 and the final, then claim a free Internship Completion Certificate with your real dates and study hours, and a QR code anyone can scan to verify it. Training, not employment.
See the internshipRoles that use this skill
- SCADA engineer
- HMI developer
- Control room technologist
- Systems integrator
These are the kinds of roles where the skill is used. We make no promise of a job or an interview.
Plain notes
- Free: the whole course, the notes, the practice tasks, the final assessment and support from practising engineers.
- Paid, and optional: the course certificate, and the Engineer-verified internship (the Free internship costs nothing).
- No job promise: the course teaches a skill. It does not place you in a job.
- Lessons by: PLC Programming, Control System Guru, AFS | Automation & Factory Solutions, PLC-Automations. Independent creators; the lessons stream from their own channels. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, practice tasks and assessments.
PLC Programming · Control System Guru · AFS | Automation & Factory Solutions · AFS | Automation & Factory Solutions · PLC-Automations. If you are one of these creators and want a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@edwartens.com.
Practise what you learn in the free 3D lab
Technical work is judged on what you can do: wiring, commissioning, finding a fault. Doing a task yourself teaches more than watching it a second time, and a lab lets you try it safely before you meet real equipment. It does not replace working on real hardware.
- Practise safely, so a mistake costs nothing.
- The lab checks your work like a site test, so you know when it is right.
- Free, in your browser, with nothing to install.
Why learn with EDWartens
What you get with this course, and what comes after it.
- Free from the first lesson to the final assessment.
- Practice in a free 3D lab in your browser, with nothing to install.
- Video lessons with written notes and a project.
- An optional certificate that anyone can verify online.
- Free internships to keep practising afterwards.
Common questions
Unified or Comfort?
Unified is the current platform for new panels and PCs; the HMI design course covers WinCC Comfort and Advanced for the installed base.
Do I need a panel?
No. The Unified PC runtime and the UCP simulation cover every exercise.
How much JavaScript?
One module. Most of the HMI is built with system functions, text lists and faceplates.
Is the Siemens WinCC Unified course really free?
Yes. Every module, practice task and assessment. You create an account so your progress is saved and the assessments can be marked. The certificate is the only paid item, and only if you want it.
What certificate do I get, and is it a vendor qualification?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, with a verification code anyone can check. It is not a vendor credential and is never described as one.
Who made the video lessons in the Siemens WinCC Unified course?
The creators named in the Credits block at the foot of this page, on their own YouTube channels. EDWartens did not make the videos and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
How long does the Siemens WinCC Unified course take?
Plan on about 20 hours in all, including the video lessons, notes and practice tasks. It is self-paced, so you work through the eleven modules at your own speed.
Do I have to use the lab?
No. The lab is optional practice. You can skip it whenever you like, and it never blocks your progress, the final assessment or your certificate.
Is the lab free?
Yes. Every lab level for this course opens in your browser, free, with nothing to install.
What topics does the Siemens WinCC Unified course cover, module by module?
The Siemens WinCC Unified course has 11 modules. It opens with "What WinCC Unified Is: Project, Simulation and Download", goes through "Screens, Layout, Navigation and Templates", "Faceplates: Templates, Instances, UDTs and Popups", "Building the Complete HMI" and "Users, Languages, Certificates, Transfer and the Unified Comfort Panel" and ends with "Final Assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.
What can I do after the Siemens WinCC Unified course?
After the Siemens WinCC Unified course: Create Unified projects, simulate and download securely; Build screens with templates, navigation and dynamisation; Use text lists, faceplates, UDTs and popups. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.
What software and hardware do I need for the Siemens WinCC Unified course, and does it cost anything?
For the Siemens WinCC Unified course, software: TIA Portal with WinCC Unified (trial) and PLCSIM Advanced. Hardware: none required. A Unified Comfort Panel makes transfer real. The course itself is free.
Is the Siemens WinCC Unified course suitable for me, and what level is it?
Siemens WinCC Unified is rated beginner. Beginner to intermediate. The free HMI design course is the ideal preparation. It is written for engineering students, apprentices, technicians and working engineers in automation and control, and takes about 19.5 hours at your own pace.
Which jobs use the skills from the Siemens WinCC Unified course?
Skills from the Siemens WinCC Unified course (for example: create Unified projects, simulate and download securely) are used in roles such as SCADA engineer, HMI developer, control room technologist and systems integrator, and in automation engineer work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.
Start free today
Siemens WinCC Unified, at your own pace. Add the certificate only if you want one.