# Gateway Control utility is missing in v8.0

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610>\
**Category:** Ignition Early Access\
**Created:** [March 26, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610 "2019-03-26T17:32:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 18\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chris.roys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@chris.roys](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/chris.roys)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/1 "2019-03-26T17:32:23Z")

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Hi  
I install igniton v8 in 2 different pc but there is no gateway Control utility.  
Is this utility is omit form v8.0?

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2019, 5:33pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/2 "2019-03-26T17:33:08Z")

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Yes, it’s command-line only now. You should have a `gcu.sh` or `gcu.bat` file.

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**Author:** ![grietveld](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/grietveld/32/6984_2.png) [@grietveld](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/grietveld)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/3 "2019-03-26T17:35:21Z")

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FYI, On my install it is gwcmd.bat

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**Author:** ![chris.roys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@chris.roys](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/chris.roys)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/4 "2019-03-26T17:35:32Z")

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Why? What’s the reason? It’s good way to reset service and backup and restart gateway.

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/5 "2019-03-26T17:50:29Z")

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> [@chris.roys](#):
>
> Why? What’s the reason? It’s good way to reset service and backup and restart gateway.

The gateway command line utility can do all those things, and doesn't suffer on non-Windows OSes, where previously you couldn't use the graphical GCU to restart the service, only take backups and thread dumps.  
It's also not new - `gwcmd` existed in previous versions ([Gateway Control Utility - Ignition User Manual 7.9 - Ignition Documentation](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC79/Gateway+Control+Utility#GatewayControlUtility-Command-lineUtility)) , we're just deprecating the standalone graphical tool

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**Author:** ![martinel3746](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@martinel3746](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/martinel3746)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/6 "2019-04-01T22:14:38Z")

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I’ve discovered / proven (through some painful testing) that the user account issuing a gwcmd command requires Full security permissions on the “Program Files\Inductive Automation\Ignition\data” folder.

If you are using the -b for backup, you also need full permissions on the “.\temp” folder and the folder where the backup file is being sent.

The default install (at least in my environment) does not grant Full security permissions to anything in or under “Program Files\Inductive Automation\Ignition”.

I’ve asked our Server Team to add a GPO for the necessary permissions but I wanted to document this for others who may run into the same problem.

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**Author:** ![zacslade](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/zacslade/32/3587_2.png) [@zacslade](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/zacslade)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/7 "2019-04-09T16:29:10Z")

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Wait… so since the GCU didn’t work well on Linux and Mac, we took it away from Windows? I imagine Linux users are accustomed to working with the command line, and I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest that Macs are probably a tiny minority of users, since I’ve never seen a factory where Macs were used to host SCADA. Why not just take it away from Linux and Mac?

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 4:56pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/8 "2019-04-09T16:56:02Z")

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The UI was poor and the GCU was a maintenance burden. There’s nothing you can’t accomplish without it, including service start/stop/restart.

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**Author:** ![PRAMANJ](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pramanj/32/66935_2.png) [@PRAMANJ](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/PRAMANJ)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/9 "2019-04-09T17:21:43Z")

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only thing is that you can't see the status of the server without GCU, unless the ignition main page is displayed.

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**Author:** ![grietveld](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/grietveld/32/6984_2.png) [@grietveld](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/grietveld)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/10 "2019-04-09T17:36:04Z")

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> [@prafull\_j](#):
>
> only thing is that you can’t see the status of the server without GCU

gwcmd -i should show the same information in terms of status that the GCU did

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**Author:** ![fixstuff555](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fixstuff555](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/fixstuff555)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/11 "2019-08-09T13:39:33Z")

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I call BS on this. In version 8, you have a launcher for the Designer and the Vision client, but didn’t create one for the Gateway Control Utility. Running the bat file requires escalating with Admin access - which some folks may not have.

I know everyone at Ignition is patting themselves on the back for removing this but it should be in there. Just throw together a little launcher like you did with the other two to run the bat file - and has the permissions set during install. Easy peasy.

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/12 "2019-08-09T14:27:59Z")

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I call BS on your BS. The GCU required admin privileges for most operations as well.

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**Author:** ![fixstuff555](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fixstuff555](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/fixstuff555)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/13 "2019-08-09T15:15:37Z")

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[https://www.inductiveuniversity.com/videos/gateway-control-utility/7.7](https://www.inductiveuniversity.com/videos/gateway-control-utility/7.7)

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**Author:** ![Paul.Scott](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul.scott/32/4578_2.png) [@Paul.Scott](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Paul.Scott)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/14 "2019-08-09T15:34:42Z")

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I hate to jump into the middle of this, but Kevin is correct: the CGU did require admin privileges to operate. We don't show that in the video, because we use an admin account on the OS of our recording computer(s), just so we can utilize some of these features (not to mention the User Account Controls popup gave our recording software some grief).

I apologize for the trouble that may have caused. For what it's worth, the User Manual for [7.8](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC/Gateway+Control+Utility) and [7.9](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC79/Gateway+Control+Utility) do state the following:

> **Note:** The Gateway Control Utility must run on the same machine as the Ignition Gateway and requires administrative privileges

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**Author:** ![JordanCClark](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jordancclark/32/83362_2.png) [@JordanCClark](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/JordanCClark)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 3:36pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/15 "2019-08-09T15:36:18Z")

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The GCU has needed elevated privileges since Windows 7, reflected in this post from 2013:

> [@Gateway Control Utility Status not updating](http://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-status-not-updating/6369/2):
>
> You need to run the gcu with elevated permissions. Run it as a administrator.

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**Author:** ![fixstuff555](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fixstuff555](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/fixstuff555)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/16 "2019-08-09T19:01:47Z")

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Ok, I was incorrect. It required Admin privileges. Super. Great. Wonderful.

That was really not the point of my first post.

I still think it’s a mistake to have command line only GCU.

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**Author:** ![JordanCClark](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jordancclark/32/83362_2.png) [@JordanCClark](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/JordanCClark)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/17 "2019-08-09T21:21:04Z")

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> [@fixstuff555](#):
>
> That was really not the point of my first post.

Perhaps it was lost in the diatribe.

The point Kevin's early posts is that the GCU was dropped because it couldn't effectively be made to be cross platform. It was a kludge on a good day, and changes in Windows (_and_ MacOS _and_ Linux _and_ {insertDistroHere} ) make such things that must interact with the OS nearly impossible to keep up. It's why the CLI commands exist.

I do, however, admire your commitment be angry and stay angry about it. It rather reminds me of Jeff Dunham's Walter character.

I'm done now raking you over the coals now, as it's not constructive, and generally not in my nature.

Back to constructive things!

I had given some thought on making a Windows-only graphical interface using [AutoIt](https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/). Unfortunately, I don't have the time, and that's not going to change any time soon.

Some things, I believe, can be community driven where it makes sense to do so. Therefore, if anyone else in the community wants to tackle it in the meantime, feel free.

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**Author:** ![Kevin.Herron](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kevin.herron/32/7259_2.png) [@Kevin.Herron](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Kevin.Herron)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/gateway-control-utility-is-missing-in-v8-0/23610/18 "2019-08-09T21:32:26Z")

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The GCU was also just very outdated and still written in Swing and dependent on a local Java install instead of the bundled one.

We didn’t have time to build a new one for 8.0, there were far more pressing issues, and there are still more pressing issues. It may come back one day. It may not. No real functionality is lost in the transition.
