Note: There are many possible reasons for slow performance that are due to hardware or software issues on the network or operating system(s), virtualization settings, remote hosting issues, network or server traffic load, etc. Sage 100 Customer Support is not responsible for troubleshooting all of these issues. The following suggestions are provided as potential areas to examine because past experience has revealed that one or more of these areas have been causes of slow performance. If you exhaust these suggestions and still have issues, while Sage 100 Customer Support can perhaps offer more suggestions, they are not ultimately responsible for further troubleshooting and final resolution.

First, DEFINE THE PROBLEM and record results

Getting a report of "slow performance" is not helpful. Get details:

• Determine when the issue began occurring:
  • What was the date the issue was first reported, and who reported it?
  • When was this last working fine, or has it never worked properly?
• Determine where physically the slow performance occurs
  • At the server or on workstations, or even a specific workstation versus all workstations
  • For printing, does it happen during Preview or with Paperless Office printing, or with a specific printer or all other printers
• Determine where in the software and how, such as upon:
  • Start-up of Sage 100
  • Opening a specific task window (like Sales Order Entry) for the first time, and whether this occurs for task windows in other application modules (like Purchase Order Entry) or just one.
  • Lookup of things in a list, like Customers, Items, Invoices, etc., and whether this occurs for multiple things or just one.
  • Entering details in the Lines tab of a data entry task window
  • Previewing versus printing, and if printing, whether this involves Paperless Office or occurs only with one printer or multiple printers.
  • Working in a particular company code (perhaps there is a third-party enhancement, or there is quite a lot of company data) versus other company codes.
• Time the slow performance so you know how long a task takes at server versus workstation (or one printer versus another), and whether actions you take reduce the lag time, and whether the problem tends to occur at a particular time of day or when another process (like a backup) may be running.
• Test and record results - Sometimes, Sage 100 Customer Support is told that a KB article has been followed. Then upon further questioning, it appears it was only skimmed or reviewed, or assumptions were made about settings (rather than verified), or one or more suggestions were not followed. If you test something, note whether it made a difference or not, and what the result was (such as ping time, etc.).

Check for recent Microsoft Windows Updates or other software updates or changes:

• Especially if the slow performance or other issue only recently began occurring, there may have been a recent update installed that is causing interference. Examples include Windows Updates, antivirus or firewall updates that change or reset settings or scanning exclusions, changes to backup software processes or behavior, enablement of shadow copying, performance monitoring triggers, etc. If recent Windows Updates occurred, discuss the feasibility of rolling back the updates to see if the slow performance issue is repealed. It very unlikely that something changed in Sage 100.

Change the default printer to another physical or network printer and then test/check the performance:

• Sage 100 Advanced and Premium looks at the default printer on the server every time a task is launched.
• Sage 100 Standard edition checks the workstation's default printer.
• Network Printers:
  • Make sure all Network Printers are on-line
  • If a Network Printer is off-line and no longer needed, remove it from the workstation via Windows, Control Panel, Devices and Printers
  • Redirected printers for remote connections (Citrix/Terminal Services/RDS) have been known to fail to print, or print incorrectly, or print very slowly. Try disabling the redirecting of printers.

Check the path:

• For Sage 100 Standard, Workstation Setup should be installed from a mapped drive letter path, such that the shortcut to launch Sage 100 also has the mapped drive letter path. The drive letter must be mapped to a directory above "MAS90"
  • Note: For more information, see the Related Resource section.
• For Sage 100 Advanced or Premium, Workstation Setup should be installed from a UNC path, such that the shortcut to launch Sage 100 also has the UNC path. The UNC share point must be a directory above "MAS90"
  • Note: For more information, see the Related Resource section.

Check antivirus settings:

1. Verify the Antivirus program has been configured to exclude the following folders and files on server and workstations:
   • "..\MAS90" directory where Sage 100 is installed and where Workstation Setup is installed, and exclude the following executables as well:
     • "..\MAS90\Home\Pvxwin32.exe"
     • "..\MAS90\Home\pvxiosvr.exe"
     • "..\MAS90\Launcher\Launch32.exe"
     • "..\MAS90\Launcher\Launcher.old.exe"

   • "C:\ProgramData\Sage\Common Components"

   • "..\Crystal Reports*" directory
     • Example: "Crystal Reports 2016 for Sage"
   • "C:\Program Files (x86)\SAP BusinessObjects"
2. Verify that antivirus program has been configured to exclude the following files on both the server and workstations:
   • AUC, DCL, DD, DDE, DDF, EXP, LCK, LIB, KDF, M4D, M4L, M4P, M4T, M4X, PRM, PVC, PVX, RPT, SOA, XEQ
3. Disable Smartscan Technology (Norton) or any other aggressive (or "real-time", "constant", "on-access", etc.) scanning utilities that may interfere with operations
   • Note: If you are using Webroot antivirus, you may have to actually uninstall, as disablement does not seem to always work
4. Set the antivirus to scan ONLY when starting up the workstation, so that it does not interfere with normal operations
5. Set the antivirus to prompt for action rather than delete or rename the file
6. Disable the scanning of network drives
   • If the AV software programs are scanning network files and the workstation has drive mapping to the server, this will lock up MAS90. Deselect Network Scanning on all workstations.
7. If using Symantec:
   • Disable Tamper Protection
     • This has known to cause extreme lockups
   • Change the Proactive Threat Scanning from DEFAULT setting to once a day
   • Change the scan settings for files that have been modified rather than accessed
   • Avoid installing the Symantec End Point Client directly onto the server as the scans will slow all of the server processes
8. Consider temporarily disabling antivirus and firewall. See if performance improves significantly.
   • Note: With some antivirus products (such as Webroot), disabling the antivirus does not truly disable it. You have actually uninstall to test.
   • Note: Watch out for antivirus products installed on the physical server hosting a virtualized server running Sage 100 (if virtualized). And watch out for firmware-based (or other) antivirus that is installed not on the Sage 100 host server or on a workstation, but on routers, across VPNs, in the cloud, etc.

Check permissions:

• To launch Sage 100, right-click the Sage 100 shortcut, select Run as Administrator.
  • Note: It is possible to set the Sage 100 shortcut to always Run as Administrator
    1. Right-click the Sage 100 shortcut
    2. Select Properties
    3. Access the Compatibility tab
    4. Under Privilege Level, select the checkbox: Run this program as an Administrator
    5. Click OK to save change and close
  • Note: Compare performance to when the shortcut is not Run as Administrator
• Set Data Execution Prevention to "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only" at workstation and server:
  1. in Windows, Control Panel, System, select Advanced system settings
  2. In the System Properties window that appears, access the Advanced tab, click Settings in the Performance section/pane
  3. In the Performance Options window that appears, access the Data Execution Prevention tab
  4. Select the radio button: "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only"

Check PING timing:

• According to current Supported Platform Matrix documents: "When running Sage 100 Advanced/Premium over a local area network (LAN) environment, the ping timings will vary depending on the speed and configuration of the network. Typical ping timings with 1,800 bytes of data should be 20-30 milliseconds or faster. Unacceptable ping speeds are over 40 milliseconds." A classic issue would be where performance is fine on the Sage 100 server but slow at workstations (because of the network speed).
  • Example: PING servername -l 1800
    • Note: The letter in the "-l" part of the command is a lower case L. The 1800 is the size of the packet in bytes. The system will send 4 packets.
    • Note: Performance is along a spectrum, so even a 20 ms (milliseconds) response time may have a noticeable impact compared to 1 ms. 40 ms is considered unacceptable.
  • Example: PING servername -t
    • Note: the letter in the "-t" part of the command is a lower case T. The system will continually send small packets until you enter the commmand: Ctrl+C to end it. Any packets lost would indicate some data is not getting through (timing out).
  • NOTE: as noted above, PING times listed here are for Advanced/Premium, for Sage 100 Standard these required response times would be 1ms - 2 ms'.  and also an Additional Information section "It has been reported by IT teams that they have encountered issues with Windows 11 machines defaulting to use WIFI even though ethernet connection is available (if WIFI is not disabled).  And also issues reported with Windows 11 machines expectantly not being on the same network as the Sage 100 server and Windows 10 machines (not experiencing issues with performance/response).  Please consult your IT team if you are having issues specifically with Windows 11 computers and Windows 10 machines are working as expected.  

Check for possible interference from the Sage Product Enhancement Program:

1. Log into Sage 100 as the Administrator user to access the Administrative Tools panel
2. Select Sage Product Enhancement Program to open the Sage Product Enhancement Program window
3. Deselect (uncheck) the Participate in Program checkbox
4. Click OK
5. Click Close to exit the Administrative Tools panel

• The Sage 100 host server should be a dedicated server. Having other applications running, such as Microsoft Exchange, another accounting or sales product, etc. affects performance.
• Customers who have Sage 100 hosted remotely and/or hosted on a virtual machine may encounter slow or degraded performance or hanging due to lag time/distance or the additional layers and complexity involves with simulating a virtual operating system. There may be multiple virtual servers on a physical machine, of which only one of is the Sage 100 server. Other servers may be actively taking up processor time, memory, and bandwidth - or there may be insufficient resources allocated to the Sage 100 server. Unfortunately, Sage 100 Customer Support cannot troubleshoot such issues.
  • Note: For more information, see the Related Resources section for more information on "What virtual platforms or virtualized operating systems and environments are supported for Sage 100?"
• Customers with VoIP telephony also have reported bandwidth issues. Also, according to the Supported Platform Matrix, "Workstations from remote sites are supported only through Remote Desktop Services or Citrix. Running Sage 100 Standard over a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and/or a Wide Area Network (WAN) or through any other remote means is not supported".
• WiFi connections are not supported.
• Shadow Copy (otherwise known as or Volume Shadow Copy Service, or Volume Snapshop Service, or VSS), incremental (or continuous) backup, Microsoft OneDrive synching, and SQL Mirroring can delay read, write, and file lock/unlock attempts. This can cause slow performance or hanging/locking.
  • Microsoft OneDrive should not be synching the "Sage 100" folder that is stored in machine's "C:\Users\\Documents" folder. You should also avoid redirecting the "Documents" folder to another device (such as a network-attached storage device).

If running Sage 100 on Windows 2019 Server in Hyper-V Environment try one of the steps below:

Option I:

• Disable RSC for IPv4 traffic on the workstation client using PowerShell: Disable-NetAdapterRsc -Name $nic -IPv4

Option II:

1. Check a Hyper-V vSwitch's current RSC status using PowerShell: Get-VMSwitch | Select *RSC*
2. Disable a Hyper-V vSwitch's RSC in full using PowerShell:
   Set-VMSwitch -Name $vSwitch -EnableSoftwareRsc:$FALSE
   NOTE: This will not impact existing vSwitch connections

Again, if you exhaust these suggestions and still have issues, while Sage 100 Customer Support can perhaps offer more suggestions, they are not ultimately responsible for further troubleshooting and final resolution.