Summary
Cause
The error message "WindX client connection: Connection Timed Out waiting for your application to start" occurs or a blank white screen displays when opening Sage 100 Advanced or Premium tasks (for example: Sales Order Entry, Customer Inquiry, Invoice Data Entry, Purchase Order Entry). After this issue, Sage 100 is unresponsive. In addition, various error messages may occur at the server including "Pvxwin32.exe DLL Initialization Error". This issue occurs when a large number of users run Sage 100 concurrently.
By default, Windows Server operating systems are optimized for desktop applications over services. This means that more instances of a Windows program can opened as a desktop application than as a service. This issue surfaces frequently when the Sage 100 Application Server is configured to run as a service and there are at least 50 to 75 pvxwin32.exe tasks running at the same time.
Resolution


Note This document applies to Sage 100 Advanced and Premium only. To confirm this is caused by Desktop Heap limit, review Article How to Determine if Sage 100 Advanced and Premium Application service has reached the Maximum Desktop Heap size allowed by Windows OS
Warning! Make sure Windows Restore Points are in order, and have a backup of the Windows Registry before attempting to make changes. Failure to do so may result in an unrecoverable windows state.
If your system is optimized to run more instances of desktop applications over services; simply switching the Sage 100 ERP Application Server to run as a desktop application from a service will allow for a significant number of additional Sage 100 tasks. In most cases, this is all that is needed to resolve this issue. It is highly recommended you attempt this solution before attempting to edit the Windows registry as detailed later in this document.
Option I: Desktop Application Solution (run Sage 100 Application as Desktop Application)
Switching the Application Server from a Service to a Desktop Application
- Open Windows, Services, and stop the Sage 100 service
- Change the service Startup type from "Automatic" to "Manual". This is the reverse of the process detailed in the Configuring the Service" section of the Sage 100 Installation and Administration Guide.
- Start as a desktop application by running Application Server Startup from the Windows Start menu or by clicking Start from the Application Server Configuration, Server tab
- A user account that is a member of the Administrators or Domain Administrators group must now always be logged on to the server, directly at the server, and then start the Host program. Sage 100 Premium requires that the original account running the Host service is always logged on the server's desktop.
Option II: Windows Registry Solution (run Sage 100 Application as Service)
The following section provides information on the registry modifications needed to allow a greater number of processes to run simultaneously on a Windows Server. Use this procedure if running Sage 100 as a service or you are already running the Host as a desktop application and still need to increase the number of pvxwin32.exe tasks. Perform this procedure on the server where the Sage 100 application resides.
Warning! Modifying the registry incorrectly may cause serious damage to your system and require reinstallation of the operating system. Sage cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from modifying the registry incorrectly. Prior to modifying the registry, perform a backup of the registry by creating an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) and performing a full system backup or at least a backup of the Windows system state.
Warning! This registry modification affects all programs that run on the server along with Sage 100 Advanced/Premium. Some applications will be incompatible with certain values entered for the registry edit. Specifically, Backup Exec and Windows Task Scheduler have proven to be incompatible with the maximum value of 8192 assigned to the services heap value. It is your responsibility to verify that all your desktop applications and services start and run correctly with the registry changes.
Warning! Always review the Windows System log and Application log in the Windows Event Viewer and look for any error messages, especially those of services failing to start. If some applications or services do not start up or run properly after editing the registry, try lowering the third value in 512k increments and rebooting the server until you find a combination that works with all your programs. If problems do not occur, and you still need more concurrent pvxwin32.exe tasks you can raise the third value by increments of 512k to 8192. Increments at and beyond 8192 for the services heap size have caused issues in older Windows Server operating systems (Windows Server 2003, Server 2008 32bit);caution is advised when exceeding this amount.
Warning! If you are running VERITAS Backup Exec™ and must run the Host as a service and cannot tune the third value optimally to be compatible with both applications, consider running Sage 100 and Backup Exec on separate servers. The Backup Exec™ software will be loaded on one server and Backup Exec™ remote agent software will be loaded on the server running Sage 100. Please consult VERITAS or your hardware professional for more information. Sage Customer Support Services cannot provide assistance in this area.
Directions
- Edit the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems
- Right click the Windows regkey value on the right side and select Modify
NOTE: You may need to copy the contents to notepad to locate the following element "SharedSection=1024,20480,768". NOTE: values in this section vary by Windows Server version and configuration):- Locate "ShareSection="
- First Parameter value (i.e 1024) defines the maximum size of the Windows system-wide heap. Do not modify this value
- Second Parameter (i.e. 20480) defines the heap size for desktop applications
- Third Parameter (i.e. 768) defines the heap size for services
- If there is a 4th value; do not modify this value; this value controls the remote desktop heap size
If you are running Sage 100 as a service:
The estimated value to be entered into the third parameter of the “SharedSection=” segment should be based on the following calculation of:
(number of desired concurrent pvxwin32.exe processes) * 13.5 = (third parameter value)
Example: If the desired number of concurrent pvxwin32.exe processes is 85, then 85 * 13.5 = 1147.5, rounding up to a nice memory friendly value gives us 1536 as the third parameter resulting in the following update to be made to the registry value:
SharedSection=1024,20480,1536
For more information on the values contained in this key, refer to the following Knowledge Base articles located on the Microsoft Web site. Please note that some of these articles recommend settings that are different than the settings contained in this article.
- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/947246 (Windows 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2)
See: Error: "Windx client connection: Connection Timed Out waiting for your application to start" or "The server side process failed to start or respond"
See also: How to Determine if Sage 100 Advanced and Premium Application service has reached the Maximum Desktop Heap size allowed by Windows OS