Blank white screen appears when starting Sage 100 Advanced or Premium; or a screen flashes, then closes

Note: For Sage 100 Advanced and Premium, all users must exit the program, and you must stop the Sage 100 Application or Service, in order to perform any of the following:

A Pvxwin32 process may be stranded on the Sage 100 ERP server
1. At the server, stop the application server or service.
2. Open Task Manager, Processes
3. Select option to Show processes from all users
4. Sort column by Image Name and locate Pvxwin32.exe task
5. End all Pvxwin32.exe process
  - Note: An alternative is to have all users to log out of Sage 100 ERP (and for the Advanced or Premium editions, stop the Sage 100 ERP Service or Application), and then reboot the server.
If Terminal Server / Citrix (TS/Citrix) is used, the TS/Citrix session may have timed out or disconnected while Sage 100 ERP was still open.
- At the Sage 100 ERP server, end the Pvxwin32.exe task
System files may be damaged
1. Have all users log out of Sage 100 ERP (and for the Advanced or Premium editions, stop the Sage 100 ERP Service or Application)
2. In Windows Explorer, go to the \MAS90\MAS_System folder where Sage 100 ERP is installed
3. Rename the following files:
  - SY_Console.m4t
  - SY_Workstation.m4t
4. For Sage 100 ERP Advanced or Premium editions only:
  1. Go to the \MAS90\Home\Lib\ _Appserv folder also rename the following files:
    - Locate.pvk
    - Sessions.pvk
  2. Restart the Application Server Configuration and have someone log in. This will automatically generate the Sessions.pvk and Locate.pvk
  3. If Sage 100 ERP Advanced or Premium is normally run as a Service:
    1. Stop the Application
    2. Exit Application Server Configuration
    3. Start the Service
The port number used might not be active.
1. Open command prompt, run the following command
  - Netstat -a |More ("|" before "More" is the Pipe sign)
  - Verify the port used is listed as listening
2. The port number might be used by another program. Change the port
  1. Open Application Server Configuration. at the server
  2. Select Server tab
  3. Change the Socket number and click Apply. Make note of the current port number before changing in case this does not resolve the issue.
  4. At the workstations, change the port number with either of the following methods:
    - Uninstall and reinstall Workstation Setup and enter the new port number when prompted
    - Modify the Icon properties and the Sota.ini file
      1. Right click and select Properties on the Sage 100 ERP workstation client icon
      2. Change the port in the Target and click Apply. It should be listed after the Server Name or IP address.
        (ex. ..\MAS90\Home\pvxwin32.exe ../launcher/sota.ini *Client -ARG "ServerName" "10000" "Sage 100 ERP")
      3. Click Open File Location. This will open Windows Explorer in the Home folder where the client installation is located.
      4. Go back one folder to locate the Launcher folder
      5. Open Sota.ini
      6. Locate [Servers] section which is near the bottom
      7. Change the port which is listed just after the Server Name or IP Address. Save file and close.
        (ex 1=ServerName;10000;APS=SAGE;APPLICATION=Sage 100 ERP;Path=)
  5. Restart the Application Server service or application and test for error.
The User Logon may still have one or more tasks open in the Master Console though they are logged out of Sage 100
1. Make sure the User Logon (of the user experiencing the problem) is logged out of Sage 100
2. Access Sage 100 with another User Logon that possesses full role permissions.
3. Open Library Master, Main menu, Master Console
4. Select any tasks open for the User Logon (of the user experiencing the problem)
5. Click the Kill selected task (red "x") button
Close Session errors on Sage 100 ERP Server
1. Log into Sage 100 ERP server with Windows account running Sage 100 ERP Application service
2. Close all Sage 100 ERP Error windows

Note: If the port number is changed and the Application Server is being run as a Service. The Service must uninstalled and reinstalled to use the new port.

Firewall might be blocking access to the program
- Check firewall settings on the server and at the workstations
- Security settings may be too high or may not be allowing bidirectional communication
- Windows 7, Server 2008, and later operating systems may require Firewall Inbound and Outbound rules created
An open file might be blocking access.
- Close open files using Server Manager
  1. Right Click Computer, select Manage
  2. Open Roles, File Services, Share and Storage Management
  3. Under Actions select Manage Open Files
  4. Select only files that are open in the MAS90 folder
- Reboot Server to close open files if unable to locate file causing issue
Confirm that the sota.ini file is not blank or damaged on the Sage 100 workstation
- Right click and select Properties on the Sage 100 ERP workstation client icon
- Click Open File Location. This will open Windows Explorer in the Home folder where the client installation is located.
- Go back one folder to locate the Launcher folder
- Open the sota.ini file
- Locate the [Servers] section which is near the bottom
  - If Servers section is blank, then follow steps in Related Resources "no valid servers found" for information on fixing or copying a good SOTA.INI file
Confirm that an Antivirus or similar program is not scanning the local \MAS90 folder on Sage 100 workstation which can result in a blank sota.ini file or Error #12 message in the "white" box (ProvideX box) when launching Sage 100

Additional information

If upgrading from a Sage 100 version before 2020 to Sage 100 2020 and later, it is also possible that you can have issues if the workstation had Classic desktop chosen in older version and the user's Documents folder SAGE 100 folder is not renamed before installing Sage 100 2020 and later workstation (as Sage 100 2020 only supports Standard desktop vs. Classic desktop).