Hi All,
I recently started a new role where I’m working with Biomeks for the first time in 5+ years. I’m running into an odd problem installing Biomek 5 software on my laptop for offline dev / simulations etc.
Everything installs just fine (I have local admin privileges on this machine) but when I go to edit the Hardware setup it has trouble creating and accessing the recovery file (it is never actually created when you check the directory).
A similar problem happens when running a simulation where it gives the same kind of error about creating and accessing the log file.
BUT: the software absolutely CAN save hardware setup changes IF I have it open an instrument file that sits at the C:\Biomek5\ folder level (not within a specific user\Documents directory).
Biomek 5 seems it will only write logs in the C:\Users\Public\Documents\Biomek5\Logs\ directory which it cannot write to on my system. I cannot figure out a way to configure it writing logs to a different directory but could swear you used to be able to do that in my FX(p) days.
TLDR: has anybody else run into something like this trying to get the Biomek 5 software running on their own (non-beckman provided) machines? Could this be a windows 11 non-compatibility thing?
Many thanks in advance to anybody who can help! I tried to track down registry variables to see if these things could be adjusted that way and came up empty aside from pointing the software at a default instrument file location which doesn’t help the default log directory situation 
Cheers,
-Scott
I figured out the fix here (It was an IT settings thing on my laptop): I had to log into windows with my local admin account and allow biomek.exe access to “controlled folders” (screenshot below):
Hopefully this helps someone else that runs into the same thing!
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Whatever happened to the Beckman forums? Did anyone archive the old posts?
Beckman took them down; can’t even access them on InternetArchive. There is a discord group growing with a few VERY experienced biomek users that help eachother out - there’s a link floating somewhere around in these forums.
Thanks for posting the solution. I ran into a similar issue creating my own log files and had to manually create a filepath for the save location. This solution is much more future-proof.
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Hi Russ,
Is this a recent change in policy? While I wasn’t trying to run on Windows 11 and haven’t had these kind of problems, I was told several years ago by Beckman Coulter that having an offline installation of this is not a problem. Are users expected to be locked into only working on instrument PCs for the foreseeable future?
If so, this is a really disappointing stance for Beckman Coulter to take. For high use devices, this would significantly hinder the ability to design new programs while the instrument is running. Is there a Beckman Coulter sanctioned way to accomplish the goal of programming off the instrument?
I understand if there are excess service hours associated with that, that Beckman could choose to charge for troubleshooting installation on those off instrument devices. Also, appreciate the heads up that a Windows 11 version is now available, very helpful for planning purposes. Thanks!
Hi Scott,
My apologies for promulgating some misinformation (deleted previous message). Historically, Biomek Software was only licensed to the instrument. However, since the epidemic that policy has indeed changed. We have allowed customers to install Biomek software on their own PC (not Apple) since then. There is an ammended EULA . We do not supply the software though. If the install media is lost; the software must be repurchased.
