Add-In Initialization Error when launching Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 – Follow up

If you read my previous article on some table open operation issues I was faced with at a client, you know by now that it’s important to have the proper writer permissions on the local %temp% folder. What I did not mention in that article was an issue we were also facing with the new Dynamics Online Services application.

Upon launching Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 we were also receiving an add-in initialization error as shown below:

Add-In Initalization Error

Since last month I wrote an article about this same issue, I wanted to make sure I kept this topic separated from the table open operation issues, even though they are directly related by the solution. As it turned out, writing permissions (or the lack thereof) on the %temp% folder caused the Dynamics Online Services application to fail as well with an add-in initialization error message. This error popped up a large window (shown above) detailing the nature of the problem. However, after re-enabling access to the %temp% folder the error no longer presented itself — Another one bites the dust!

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/

An open operation on table XXX failed because path does not exist

Who hasn’t come across this error? If you have been long enough in the Microsoft Dynamics GP world, you will probably even have a prescribed set of steps to address this issue:

1. Restart the SQL Server service to clear all tempdb database tables from memory
2. Clear out the local temp folder
3. Making sure the temp folder actually exists
4. Making sure the %TEMP% environment variable exists
5. Making sure your anti-virus software is not placing some sort of restriction on the folder

And then some more…

Just recently I ran across this issue with Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 and I thought, how bad can this be? I started by walking through the prescribed steps as mentioned above, but still could not resolve the issue. I also remembered that my friend Allan Cahill over at Developing for Dynamics GP had blogged about this in his article Unexplained Temp Table Errors so I went checking his findings. In his case the issue had to do with the Anti-virus software interfering with the temp directory during scanning for viruses. So, we did the same at the client with no positive outcome.

I then remembered that my also friend David Musgrave had written a more recent article on the issue and in his article he detailed that the same issues could occur if the user lacked write permissions to the folder specified by the %TEMP% environment variable. I went inquiring with the client’s IT department and it turned out they had just rolled out some new Group Policies which inadvertly disabled access to the %TEMP% folder.

The client proceeded to make the necessary adjustments via Group Policy and had all users reboot their computers. Now Microsoft Dynamics GP was happy! No more errors! It’s amazing how complex things have become since my first days with v3.15 and Windows 95. There’s sure much more involved today and much more to look out for. If you don’t believe me, read my last month’s article Microsoft Dynamics GP – More than just Program Files!

Following this post, I will also publish an issue that we found as a result of the permissions issue on the %TEMP% folder.

Until next post!

MG.-
Mariano Gomez, MVP
Maximum Global Business, LLC
http://www.maximumglobalbusiness.com/