Run Agilent AC-source GUI on Windows VISTA or Win 7 system

[Cheh]

Agilent AC source GUI software is a free tools to run on PC, and could be used to control 681x series AC power supply. Unfortunately, the software has been stopped for years and it could not run on windows vista and win 7 system as they described here:

http://www.home.agilent.com/agilent/software.jspx?ckey=1000000730%3Aepsg%3Asud&lc=eng&cc=CA&nid=-11143.0.00&id=1000000730%3Aepsg%3Asud

Minimum PC Configuration

• 486DX33 or faster (Pentium 100 is recommended)
• 8 MB of RAM
• 2 MB of hard disk space
• Windows XP operating system (does not work on Vista or Windows 7)

Recently, we had one customer told us he had successfully ran the software on windows 7 with some change on his PC as following shows: 

1. Right-click the application shortcut or the application icon to open the menu.

2. Click Properties from the menu that appears

3. Click to activate the Compatibility tab in the Properties dialog box.

4. Add a check mark to Run this program in compatibility mode for:

5. Click the drop-down menu containing the list of Windows operating systems and choose Windows XP Serve Pack 2.

6. Click OK to save the changes.

7. Copy sicl32.dll from C:\Widonws\system 32 to replace the same file in C:\Program Files (x86)\Agilent Technologies\AC Source GUI

Then run the application again. 

We were confirmed by another customer said it works with windows 7 now. 

[Cheh]

Here is another suggestion from Rumen on this application: 

Hi Cheh

I managed to make it working under Win7_x64 using your instructions below. 

I added one more condition that improves in my opinion the connectivity - In the Agilent connection expert under Tools - Agilent 488 - enable GPIB cards. I am not sure about the exact words here because the your adapter is in the lab, but this option basically makes Agilent adapter more compatible with National GPIB adapters.

Now I can connect to 6813B under win7 in most of the cases. When I can't I have to either run first the Agilent's connection expert and refresh the ports, or restart the computer. Not very convenient, but at least I can have a connection with 6813 under Win7 without running virtual WinXP.

Regards

Rouemn