Installation Guide

April 2022
Copyright © 1997 - 2022 Siemens Industry, Inc., Siemens Power Technologies International
Information in this manual and any software described herein is confidential and subject to change without notice and does not repre-
sent a commitment on the part of Siemens Industry, Inc., Siemens Power Technologies International. The software described in this
manual is furnished under a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement and may be used or copied only in accordance with the
terms of the agreement. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, for any purpose other than the purchaser’s personal use, without the express written permission of Siemens
Industry, Inc., Siemens Power Technologies International.
®
PSS E high-performance transmission planning software is a registered trademark of Siemens Industry, Inc., Siemens Power Technolo-
gies International in the United States and other countries.
® ® ®
The Windows 7 and Windows 10 operating systems, the Visual C++ development system, Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Visual
®
Studio are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.
®
Intel Visual Fortran Compiler for Windows is a trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.
TM
The Python programming language is a trademark of the Python Software Foundation.

Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Table of Contents
Requirements ................................................................................................................................... 1
Hardware, Operating System, and Privileges ............................................................................... 1
Display Resolution .................................................................................................................... 1
Hardware Lock/Software License ................................................................................................ 1
Network License ....................................................................................................................... 2
Python ..................................................................................................................................... 2
CPU ......................................................................................................................................... 2
PSS®E Compilers ............................................................................................................................... 3
Overview ................................................................................................................................. 3
Compiler Installation ................................................................................................................. 3
Installation ....................................................................................................................................... 4
Support for Multiple Versions of PSS®E ...................................................................................... 4
Silent Installation ...................................................................................................................... 4
Complete Installation ................................................................................................................ 5
Preliminary Setup Screens ......................................................................................................... 6
Destination Directory ................................................................................................................ 6
Program Folder ......................................................................................................................... 6
Operating Frequency / Choice Confirmation ............................................................................... 6
PSS®E 35 Command Prompt ...................................................................................................... 6
Post PSS®E-Installation .............................................................................................................. 6
Example Files ........................................................................................................................... 7
SINCAL Installation ................................................................................................................... 7
Uninstalling ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Uninstalling PSS®E 35 ............................................................................................................... 8
Backing Up Files ............................................................................................................... 8
Running the Uninstaller .................................................................................................... 8
Uninstalling Python .................................................................................................................. 8
Uninstalling pywin32 for Python ................................................................................................ 9
Support .......................................................................................................................................... 10
PSS®E Manuals ....................................................................................................................... 10
World Wide Web ..................................................................................................................... 10
Technical Support ................................................................................................................... 10
Reporting a Problem or Requesting a Feature ........................................................................... 10
Request for Technical Support ......................................................................................... 11
Submitting Bug Reports and Feature Requests .................................................................. 12

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 Chapter 1
Requirements

1.1. Hardware, Operating System, and Privileges

The following are offered as baseline suggestions. Faster is always better, and a Solid State Drive, SSD, rather
than a rotating drive Hard Drive, is best.
th
• Intel® 4 generation Haswell chip or later. The Haswell generation of chips was released in May 2014.

• 16 GB or more of RAM is highly recommended. PSS®E 35 is now a 64-bit application and can take advantage
of additional RAM.

• Approximately 1 GB of free disk space is required for a full installation of PSS®E. Be sure to allow sufficient
room for working files.

• A Discrete Graphics Card compatible with OpenGL 3.0 is highly recommended. We have seen performance
issues with some of the integrated graphic cards/chips.

• Microsoft Windows® 10 x64 20H2 or newer, Microsoft Windows® Server 2016 x64 or Microsoft Windows®
Server 2016 x64. PSS®E 35 is a 64-bit application and will not run on a 32-bit OS.

• Administrative privileges are required to install PSS®E, but not to run the program. You must have admin-
istrative privileges on the target machine in order to install PSS®E. Setup will check for your privileges and
will stop the installation process with a warning if you do not have the necessary privileges.

1.2. Display Resolution

PSS®E is written for a minimum display resolution of 1024x768 pixels. In general, running with less than
1024x768 resolution will yield suboptimal results.

1.3. Hardware Lock/Software License

Unless your work group has a PSS®E network license, each PC running PSS®E must be equipped with a hard-
ware lock (commonly called a dongle), which is shipped as part of the PSS®E installation package or a soft-
ware license. Depending upon your installation requirements, the lock may connect to the USB interface.

USB lock: Do not connect the lock until after PSS®E has been fully installed.

Make sure that appropriate lock has been attached or a software license collected before attempting to run
PSS®E.

See the PTILicenseManual.pdf for more information.

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Requirements Network License

1.4. Network License

If your work group has a CodeMeter network license for PSS®E 35, a locally installed license is not required.
Install PSS®E 35 and then refer to the PTILicenseManual.pdf for instructions to configure your client license
setup.

1.5. Python
PSS®E includes an embedded Python interpreter. Python is an open-source scripting language (http://
www.python.org). PSS®E also includes an extension module for Python that allows Python programs to ac-
cess the PSS®E API. The libraries for the Python interpreter are required to install PSS®E. Some of the Python
scripts provided with PSS®E installation require Python for Windows extensions (pywin32) and wxPython
modules. Instructions for the installation of Python are included in the PSS®E installer program. Python, Py-
win32 are included in the PSS®E 35 Complete installer.

wxPython is a third-party Python module that can be installed separately from PSS®E. To use PSS®E Utilities
that require wxPython, the "PIP Installs Packages" module (PIP) can be used to install wxPython via this com-
mand from the Windows Command Prompt (note that C:\Python39x64 is an example of where Python is
installed to and may differ for actual installation):

C:\Python39x64\python.exe -m pip install wxPython

For more information, or to download the package files manually, visit the PyPI wxPython page at https://
pypi.org/project/wxPython/

Note
An active internet connection is required to use PIP to install third-party modules. Note that Siemens
PTI does not maintain nor provide support for third-party modules and that installing such modules
is done at the user's own risk and without guarantee of full compatibility with PSS®E.

1.6. CPU
PSS®E 35 contingency and GIC analysis APIs have been optimized to take advantages of multiple processors.
Significant performance gains can be achieved in contingency and GIC analysis by using the multiple proces-
sor enabled APIs.

PSS®E 35 is now built as a 64-bit application; It can only run on 64-bit operating systems.

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 Chapter 2
PSS®E Compilers

2.1. Overview
If you plan to use certain advanced modules for PSS®E program options, you will need to obtain the Intel
Visual Fortran compiler for each system. The following list provides the combinations requiring the compiler:

• Dynamics (and you plan to compile and link the user written models or connection subroutines using
CLOAD4.BAT or the "createusrdll" facility).

• IPLAN (and you plan to create a custom routine using CLIPLU.BAT).

• Power flow (and you want to add a user activity using CLPSSUSR.BAT).

The Intel Visual Fortran compiler is available in several configurations. Please consult the PSS®E website for
guidance in choosing the compiler configuration that is right for you.

PSS®E will run without the Intel Visual Fortran compiler, but you will not be able to make system-wide mod-
ifications of PSS®E operation without it.

If you built any of the advanced modules noted above using a version of the Microsoft/Digital/COMPAQ com-
piler, you will need to recompile and relink them using the Intel compiler.

In case of difficulties, check to be certain that any batch file you are executing was supplied with PSS®E 35.
or, in the case of compile files, was generated by PSS®E 35 activity DYRE.

2.2. Compiler Installation

User-written software included with PSS®E (e.g. Conec, Conet, user-written dynamics models, programs that
call USRCAS) should be compiled with the version of the compiler used to create that version of the PSS®E
product. We cannot provide support for problems that arise when mixing code from different compilers.

If you need to compile files for use with older versions you will need to be able to correctly install and access
the Fortran compiler, possibly the C compiler, and also the linker associated with the particular version of
PSS®E. PSS®E 35 was originally built with IVF 19.0. Any version of IVF 15.0 or later can be used to build
extension libraries (for example dsamusr.dll).

If the IVF compiler that you use and the one used to build PSS®E 35 are different, it is required that the later
run-time libraries be used.

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 Chapter 3
Installation
The following sections assume that a new installation is being performed. If a previous installation of PSS®E
35 is detected, a maintenance script will be started to allow you to remove the previous installation or install
another copy of minor version of PSS®E 35. See also Section 4.2, Manually Uninstalling PSS®E.

3.1. Support for Multiple Versions of PSS®E

PSS®E now supports installations of multiple Minor versions of the program at once. You no longer need to
uninstall PSS®E 35.0.0, for example, to install PSS®E 35.1.0. This allows you to "test" new versions of the
program before you move off the version you are currently using for production. Update releases, e.g. 35.0.1
cannot be installed separately and will need to replace the existing 35.0.0 installation.

3.2. Silent Installation

You can install PSS®E 35 silently by following these guidelines. Note that the prerequisite installers are not
included in this process (i.e. you cannot use the silent option to install the "Complete" installation of PSSE).
This silent installation directive only applies to the PSS®E application.

Once you perform the "Complete" installation, the PSSE installation located at C:\Program Files\PTI
\PSSE35 Installer Files\35.x\PSSE can be used to create a silent installation script. Each of the
executables located at C:\Program Files\PTI\PSSE35 Installer Files\35.x will need to be
installed separately. Not all of these executables can be installed silently and may follow a different method
for setting up a silent installation.

/r : record mode

In order to install PSS®E in silent mode, you must first run Setup.exe with the /r option to generate a response
file. Running setup.exe with the command Setup.exe /r will store data entered during the installation in a
file called Setup.iss. Setup.iss is created inside the system's Windows folder. You can provide an alternative
response file name and location by using the /f1 option. Example (Setup /r /f1"C:\pssetemp\PSSE_silent.iss")

/s : silent mode

The command Setup.exe /s runs the installation in silent mode. By default, the file Setup.iss will be used to
provide responses contained in a response file. Setup.iss must be located in the same directory as Setup.exe.
(Response files are created by running Setup.exe with the /r option.) You can provide an alternative file name
or location of the response file, use the /f1 option.

/f1 : specify response file name and path

The /f1 option allows you to specify where the response file is created and its name.

Example (Setup /s /f1"C:\pssetemp\PSSE_silent.iss").

The /f1 option is available when creating a response file (with the /r option) and when using a response file
(with the /s option).

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Installation Complete Installation

/f2 : specify log file name and path

The /f2 option allows you to specify the name and location where the log file is created.

Example (Setup /s /f1"C:\pssetemp\PSSE_silent.iss" /f2" C:\pssetemp\setup.log")

To silently uninstall, you must first create a uninstall response file. This will uninstall PSS®E 35. You can then
use this response file to uninstall other installations of PSS®E 35

Example (Setup /s /f1"C:\pssetemp\PSSE_silent_uninstall.iss").

Then use the command:

Setup /s /f1"C:\pssetemp\PSSE_silent_uninstall.iss"

3.3. Complete Installation

PSS®E 35 can be installed when you run the PSS®E 35 Complete installer. The Complete installer will install
Python, PyWin32, CodeMeter runtime, SINCAL, PSS®E Environment Manager, and PSS®E.

If an installer for SINCAL is found, you will be given the option to launch the SINCAL installer.

Selected programs will be installed or updated before PSS®E is installed or updated. SINCAL will be installed
last.

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Installation Preliminary Setup Screens

The Complete installer should be downloaded from the following PSS®E webpage:https://siemens-pss.com

3.4. Preliminary Setup Screens

1. Review ReadMe

The latest ReadMe Notes for PSS®E 35 will display. Read these notes very carefully, because they can
contain critical information that you should consider before installing PSS®E 35 on your system.

2. Review License Agreement

Siemens PTI requires that you accept the terms of our license agreement.

Note that this release of PSS®E has not been tested with versions of the Intel Visual Fortran (IVF) Compiler
runtime libraries greater than 2022.0.2.

PSS®E keeps the IVF Compiler runtime libraries in the PSSBIN folder. However, there is a potential hazard:
any user-generated code compiled with IVF greater than 2022.0.2 may not be compatible with the version
installed by PSS®E.

3.5. Destination Directory

Specify a destination directory for PSS®E. The default directory is C:\Program Files\PTI\PSSE35\35.x, which
should be satisfactory in most cases.

3.6. Program Folder

Specify the Program Folder (i.e., the name of the folder under Start>Programs>PSSE 35) that will be
used to contain all the PSS®E-34 programs installed on the system. Type a Program Folder name or highlight
an existing folder.

3.7. Operating Frequency / Choice Confirmation

Select the appropriate operating frequency for your studies. By default, PSS®E is set for 60 Hz, but you may
also select 50 Hz operation. If you are unsatisfied with any of your installation choices, you may also use
the Back button to move to the appropriate dialog and change your selections. Clicking Next will display an
installation progress screen.

3.8. PSS®E 35 Command Prompt

The PSS®E 35 Command Prompt should be used any time a PSS®E 35 command such as, CLOAD4,
CLOAD4NEW, PSSE, etc., needs to be run from the command line. Select the location for the shortcut PSS®E
35 Command Prompt, in the Start Menu or on your desktop.

3.9. Post PSS®E-Installation

If desired, review the Release Notes. At the end of the PSS®E installation, do not choose to restart the com-
puter if the SINCAL installation was chosen. If you do restart, you will need to launch the SINCAL installer
yourself with the file ..\SincalIns_15.0\Sincal\setup.exe.

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Installation Example Files

3.10. Example Files

When PSS®E 35 is first installed on a system, the contents of the current installation EXAMPLE directory are
copied to the users "Documents" directory like this:

C:\Users\[username]\Documents\PTI\PSSE35\EXAMPLE

This directory is NOT updated with subsequent installations of PSS®E 35.

Note that your "Documents" folder may be located in a different directory, check with your IT department
if you are unsure.

To update the user EXAMPLE directory with EXAMPLE files from the latest PSS®E 35 installation, start PSSE
and then select File > Reset Example Directory from the menu. This will update the user EXAMPLE directory
with the current contents of the installation EXAMPLE directory i.e. the latest set of EXAMPLE files.

3.11. SINCAL Installation

If the SINCAL installation is launched from the PSS®E 35 Complete installer, it will install the default options
needed for use with PSS®E. If you launch the SINCAL installer yourself, you can choose the options such as
Destination location and program options, add the argument " /z"PSSE" " after the SincalSetup.exe. Make sure
to install the options (PSS SINCAL and PSS NETOMAC). Run SincalSetup.exe from your download location ..
\SincalIns_xx.x.x\Sincal\ or ..\SincalUpd_xx.x.x\.

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 Chapter 4
Uninstalling

4.1. Uninstalling PSS®E 35

4.1.1. Backing Up Files
NOTE: Before uninstalling PSS®E 35, make sure you have saved any files in the PSS®E 35 installation directory
that you do not want deleted.

If multiple releases of PSS®E 35 are installed, files for each release being uninstalled should be backed up. If
only one release of PSS®E 35 is being uninstalled, other installation folders in the installation directory will
not be modified by the installer program.

4.1.2. Running the Uninstaller

PSS®E 35 can be uninstalled in one of two ways:

1. Going to Start>Settings>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs, selecting PSSE35.x

2. Attempting to reinstall a copy of PSS®E 35 minor version.

This next screen will ask you to confirm that you really want to uninstall the application and all features.

A status screen will show the progress of the uninstallation.

At this point, all the unmodified PSS®E 35 files will be deleted.

After you click Finish to exit from the uninstall program, any files which you added or modified AFTER the
installation of PSS®E 35 will still be present in your PSS®E 35 installation directory. Therefore, if you want to
completely remove PSS®E 35 you will probably need to manually delete the PSS®E 35 installation directory
and any files which still remain there.

4.2. Uninstalling Python

The installer program for PSS®E 35 will not automatically uninstall supported versions of Python from the
machine during the uninstallation process in order to preserve changes made outside of PSS®E 35

NOTE: Uninstalling Python may delete files that have been modified from their default state and/or remove
files that have been downloaded separately to the Python installation folder (including external third-party
modules that are not associated with PSS®E 35). Ensure that no other applications depend on Python and
these files before uninstallation and that the respective files are backed up prior to continuing.

To uninstall Python versions supported by PSS®E 35, use the Add/Remove Programs options from Control
Panel and follow the instructions in the following dialogs that appear from the Python installation program.

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Uninstalling Uninstalling pywin32 for Python

4.3. Uninstalling pywin32 for Python

The installer program for PSS®E 35 will not automatically uninstall the pywin32 Python module from the
machine during the uninstallation process due to possible external dependencies.

NOTE: There may be several instances of pywin32 listed; take note which version of Python that the pywin32
module belongs to before uninstalling and select accordingly.

To uninstall the pywin32 Python module, use the Add/Remove Programs options from Control Panel and
select the version of pywin32 to be removed. Follow instructions in the dialog/window that appears from
the installation program.

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 Chapter 5
Support

5.1. PSS®E Manuals

The PSS®E Program Operation Manual (POM), the PSS®E Program Application Guide (PAG), the PSS®E GUI
Users Guide, and the PSS®E Command Line Interface (CLI) Users Guide provide detailed information on how
to work with PSS®E.

5.2. World Wide Web

If you have access to a web browser, you can check our web site for the most up to date information and
FAQs. Just point your browser to www.siemens.com/power-technologies. Besides information on PSS®E, our
web site contains information on the whole range of PTI products and services.

Please visit the Siemens PTI Web Site at www.siemens.com/power-technologies and the PSS®E User Software
Delivery Platform https://siemens-pss.com for more information and product downloads.

Please note that access to the latest releases of PSS®E on the PSS® Software Delivery platform and to
technical PSS®E support are only available to those users whose companies have purchased or renewed their
PSS®E maintenance and support agreement for the current calendar year.

5.3. Technical Support

For fastest response to any questions, please send your questions/comments to:

https://siemens-pss.freshdesk.com/support/login

Alternatively, you can use the "Request for Technical Support" fax transmittal sheet on the following page. For
telephone support between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) Monday through
Friday, address your calls to the PSS®E support staff at 518-395-5075.

5.4. Reporting a Problem or Requesting a Feature

Whenever you report a problem with PSS®E, please provide as thorough a description as possible. Use the
form included on the next page to help you provide the necessary information.

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Support Request for Technical Support

5.4.1. Request for Technical Support

PSS®E Support
Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution, Inc.

Power Technologies International

Fax Number: 518-346-2777

For a prompt reply to your technical support questions, complete this form and fax it along with any addi-
tional information to Siemens PTI.
Name:
Company:
Phone:
Email Address:
PSS®E Version:
Date:
PC Manufacturer/Model:
CPU Type:
Operating System/Version:
Amount of RAM Installed:
Describe your problem as completely as possible, including all steps needed to replicate the problem:

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Support Submitting Bug Reports and Feature
Requests

5.4.2. Submitting Bug Reports and Feature Requests

Bug reports should be submitted directly to PSS®E support at:

https://siemens-pss.freshdesk.com/support/login.

Please provide as much detail as possible. If submitting a report for a potential bug please include the steps
taken, along with pertinent data files and scripts so that we may accurately reproduce the problem. If an
issue does turn out to be a program bug, one of the following priorities will be assigned to it:

• High priority is given to issues that cause the program to crash or produce incorrect results with no pub-
lished work around.

• Medium priority is given to issues that cause incorrect functionality, however the problem can be remedied
by a published work around.

• Low priority is given to those issues that do not fall into the above categories, or are purely cosmetic in
nature.

Every effort is made to address high and medium issues in a PSS®E point release. Some low priority items
may also be include in a point release although this cannot be guaranteed.

Feature requests should be submitted directly to the PSS® Ideas Portal at:

http://siemens.com/pss-ideas

The Siemens PSS® Ideas Portal provides the PSS® community an easy and transparent way of having a voice
into the product development roadmap. The entire community can view, vote and comment on Ideas created
by any user. If your request already exists in the portal from another user, please vote on the existing idea
rather than creating a new one. If you request doesn’t already exist, please create a new one and provide
your detailed user requirement. If you have more than one request, please create separate Ideas rather than
group them all into one. Popular Ideas will be given priority in the features roadmap. Additionally, developers
may provide direct feedback by commenting on Ideas and updating their development status. If you don’t
already have an account, please request access via support.

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