C-Bus, License Dongle, for 2 Networks, Version 4 Homegate Software

This applies to a Headend PC that doesn’t have a USB port i.e a virtual machine that's running Homegate or Schedule Plus

The solution is to use a Network-Attached USB Hub

Please see link below for Network-Attached USB Hubs

https://www.digi.com/products/usb-and-serial-connectivity/usb-over-ip-hubs/anywhereusb

https://www.cnet.com/au/products/belkin-network-usb-hub/review/

This outlines how to set up HomeGate or Schedule Plus to start when Windows 10 logs in. The process of configuring this has changed since Windows 8.1 and now requires the installer to make modifications to the Windows registry.

To begin, have the HomeGate/Schedule Plus project open. Under the Tools menu, select Create Desktop Shortcut. This will create a shortcut icon on the desktop of the computer which launches straight to the project. Next, locate this shortcut on the desktop, right click on it, select Properties and modify the Target to have “ /cgate /operate” at the end, if it has not already been done for you.

You should end up with something similar to the following example:

C:\Clipsal\HomeGate\HomeGate.exe "c:\clipsal\homegate\projects\c-gate test\c-gate test.ctd" /cgate /operate

Upon completion of this, move this file to a convenient location on the computer.

For this example, the file will be moved straight to the root of the C:\ drive.

Lastly, open the registry editor, either by searching for it in the start menu or hitting the Windows key + R at the same time and typing regedit.

Once in the registry, navigate to the following location

"hkey_local_machine\software\wow6432node\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run"

Right Click in the main section and select New -> String Value. Provide a useful name to the new String Value, but do not consider the name important.

Upon naming the String Value, right click on it and select Modify.

Under the Value Data: field, provide the location and the name of the shortcut that you created in the previous steps. In this example, the project shortcut was moved to C:\c-gate test.lnk (.lnk is the extension type used to identify a file as a shortcut and will need to be included in the Value Data: field).

This is what it should look like by the time you have completed this.

Press OK and you will be left with your new entry in the registry, configured and ready to test.

Reboot the computer to confirm that HomeGate/Schedule Plus are starting when Windows boots and logs in.

The status of a Component's network can be displayed using the View | Component Label | Network Status menu item. An X indicates that the Component's Network is off-line and can not be controlled. A ? indicates that the Component's Network has been opened and that the state is not known but it may be possible to control the Group Address.

The status of all of the Networks can be viewed by selecting the View | Network States menu item. The possible network states are :

·New - the network has not been opened yet (usually caused by a failure to open the network)

·Open - the network has been opened, but the synchronisation process has not started

·Sync - the network is being synchronised (the progress will be shown *)

·OK - the network has been synchronised and is ready for use

·Error - the network has an error. (the cause of the error condition will be shown)

·Closed - network has not opened (usually caused by a failure to open the network)

·Operational - the network is open and can be used, but there are units not responding (see C-Gate Options). Note that this was previously referred to as the "degraded" state.

* For the Sync and Error states, it will show "unit x of y". This refers to the x^th unit out of a total of y units. It does not refer to the unit addresses.

Any units which are in error state will be listed. If any units are in error state, this should be investigated. If too many units are in the error state, the whole network will be put into the error state, and it will be unable to be used.