# OPC Browser Won't Display

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [March 13, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080 "2020-03-13T19:23:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tabre.perez](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tabre.perez/32/13811_2.png) [@tabre.perez](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tabre.perez)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/1 "2020-03-13T19:23:08Z")

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In past sessions I’ve been able to use the OPC browser without any issues, but now, no matter what I try, I can’t seem to get the OPC Browser to display in Designer. As far as I know, nothing significant has changed, other than my monitor configuration (I’ll explain why I think that may be significant at the end of this post). Ignition version is 8.0.9. The Ignition Tag Browser shows the Ignition OPC UA Server is connected.

![opc_state](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/2/234ea3a2a38e97589ccf7a9db5a05b34a237ce43.png)

Here is what I’ve tried so far:

- Clicking the OPC Browser button on the Tag Browser panel
- Clicking the OPC Browser button on the Vision Main toolbar
- Clicking View \> Reset Panels, then View \> Panels \> OPC Browser
- Restarting Designer
- Restarting Ignition Gateway Service
- Restarting my PC
- Reinstalling Ignition Designer Launcher
- Clearing my Java cache

The panel for the OPC browser just never appears. I’m speculating that the panel is actually running, but positioned outside of my viewable screen space and not resetting with the View \> Reset Panels menu option. I think this because when I click the OPC Browser button, the main Ignition Designer window loses focus. Any help would be appreciated.

_ **UPDATE** _  
I unplugged one of my three monitors and I was able to get the OPC Browser to appear that way, so I docked it and plugged my monitor back in. After the next time I reset panels, the same problem from before began to recur and I was unable to get the OPC Browser to appear. I’m still seeking help for a permanent fix for my monitor setup.

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**Author:** ![christopher.berg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/67e7ee/32.png) [@christopher.berg](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/christopher.berg)\
**Post date:** [March 13, 2020, 7:42pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/2 "2020-03-13T19:42:34Z")

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I’m having the same problem. Any response from support would be appreciated.

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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 13, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/3 "2020-03-13T22:53:44Z")

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> [@christopher.berg](#):
>
> Any response from support would be appreciated.

Well, you should probably contact support, then 🙂  
It should be clarified - the forum is an _unofficial_ support venue. Yes, obviously, there are IA employees here, but if you actually need an answer, you should always go directly to [support](https://support.inductiveautomation.com/).

That said, try deleting the `windows.layout` file in (if Windows) `%UserProfile%/.ignition/` and relaunching the designer. That should reset all windows to their default position, which includes having the OPC browser docked.

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**Author:** ![jespinmartin1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/jespinmartin1/32/57175_2.png) [@jespinmartin1](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jespinmartin1)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2020, 4:56am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/4 "2020-03-14T04:56:24Z")

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Reseting Panels shouldn’t open the OPC Browser by default, Instead try to open manually in  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/d/d07eedf7c2e000d29aa7ca81c07a79d544e3fe74.png)  
or  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/9/9959fceb634c38d81d8951241160e4e99be43bfa.png)  
My guess is that the OPC Browser is opening but is appearing in the first monitor where designer launched just make sure to find it maybe in behind the designer, which is very rare. Maybe the size of it is just too small. Or, Probably is been set to a toggle auto-hide  
 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/2/222d9f86005ea6f115a6c42200526d2e72b07069.png)  
Try connecting one monitor at ones and see what happends after the connection.  
I’ve had issues with this, keep me online.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tabre.perez](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tabre.perez/32/13811_2.png) [@tabre.perez](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tabre.perez)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/5 "2020-03-17T12:50:56Z")

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This fixed the issue. Thank you for your help.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tabre.perez](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tabre.perez/32/13811_2.png) [@tabre.perez](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tabre.perez)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:52pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/6 "2020-03-17T12:52:27Z")

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Thanks for the response, but as I stated in my original post, I had already tried to start the OPC Browser panel in the way you are describing. PGriffith’s solution solved the issue for me.

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**Author:** ![JeremyAdair87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c89c15/32.png) [@JeremyAdair87](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/JeremyAdair87)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/7 "2020-07-14T19:04:49Z")

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I had the same problem today and found this post from google so I apologize for necroing this thread. My issue came from undocking the OPC server window.

I would Undock the OPC and Tag windows for easy drag and drop of tags. For some reason the OPC window would not open.

My solution was to create another login. For some reason when I logged in under my account it would not fix the designer, but if I logged in as the admin account the OPC window would open in a floating window.

Then all i had to do was dock the OPC window back into the designer and my other login would work correctly. I

It is definately a bug on the ignition side, and I am running a test server in a VMware VM.

It may be late but hopefully this helps the next google searcher.

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**Author:** ![BultsmaNicholasD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@BultsmaNicholasD](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/BultsmaNicholasD)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/opc-browser-wont-display/33080/8 "2020-12-09T16:11:18Z")

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I was able to view OPC Browser tags by deleting all items from C:\Users\USERNAME.ignition folder and relaunching the project. Deleting only the windows.layout file did not work I had to delete everything in the folder.
