Sage 200 Professional - Workspaces not loading in Sage 200 Professional 2013 and above

When trying to access any of the workspace screens within Sage 200 Professional 2013 and above, the workspaces may show an error message.

• Sage unauthorised - This often shows in large Times New Roman font, accompanied by the message 'We're sorry but you do not have access to this feature. Please contact your system administrator to review your access privileges.
• A problem occurred trying to load this workspace - This manifests itself as a red banner within the workspace screen and is followed by four bullet points suggesting possible causes of the problem.
• An internal server error has occurred - This appears in a red message box on some workspaces in the top-right corner of the screen.
• Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site... -  This appears as a standard Windows dialog box.
• Navigation to the web page was cancelled

Please follow the steps below in order, before attempting to reload the relevant workspace again after each step.

1. On the affected Workspace set the Page Size to 25
2. Right Click any Column Heading Click Add Column to the Right then add any column
3. Repeat Step 2 until the Workspace loads

It may be quicker to add all columns rather than trying to establish which of the columns is the root cause.

Ensure Microsoft Hotfix has been applied if applicable

Users of IIS 7.0 and 7.5 must have Microsoft Hotfix KB980368 applied. The absence of this update is a common cause of the 'Sage Unauthorised' error message appearing within the workspace. Refer to the following points to ensure this has been applied to your system if applicable.

NOTE: You must be logged on as an administrator to install this update. A server restart may be required where applicable.

Browser security settings not applied

Page 14 of the Deployment and Installation Guide explains how to change your browser settings so you do not have to log on to the browser when accessing workspaces from the Sage 200 Desktop. Ensure the following settings have been applied in accordance with the browser you are using.

* If you are unable to select the 'Custom Level' option, you will need to disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration (ESC). This can be disabled in the 'Configure IE ESC' section within Server Manager.

Check the Sage 200 Self Service application pool

Ensure the Sage 200 Self Service application pool is running in 'Integrated' Managed Pipeline Mode rather than 'Classic'. To change it, select the application pool > select Basic Settings from the Actions panel > change Managed pipeline mode to 'Integrated' > OK.

In the Connections panel on the left, browse to Sites > Sage 200 Self Service > Sage200SelfService > Authentication. Ensure 'Windows Authentication' has a Status of 'Enabled'. If not, highlight Windows Authentication and select Enable within the Action panel.

NOTE: You will need to reset IIS if you need to change any of the above settings.

Ensure your browser version is supported

Please refer to page 8 of the Deployment and Installation Guide for a complete list of tested browsers for viewing workspaces. In particular, please note that only versions 9 and 10 of Internet Explorer are supported.

Missing XML files

Workspaces use XML files to display their contents - if the files are not present, the content cannot load. If the error 'A problem occurred trying to load this workspace' appears, one or more workspace XML files may be missing. This is usually caused by an incomplete core components deployment.

Note: It is strongly recommended you backup the Sage 200 Configuration database before carrying out the following steps.

If you are running a test installation of Sage 200 Professional 2013, we recommend you delete the configuration database from your SQL instance after closing System Administrator and then re-opening it. System Administrator will prompt you to create a new database. This will install a new set of core components and should install any missing files. You will need to re-apply the roles and features to the users as required.

If you have a large number of users and roles set up, you may be able to uninstall and reinstall the Sage 200 Accounts Compiled Model core component. This can be done without having to remove the full configuration database and in turn, you will not need to reassign roles and features to your users. To uninstall the component, right-click on the component and select Remove. Close System Administrator and then re-open it. If the component does not re-install automatically, you should remove and reinstall the Sage 200 Accounts core component also. Close and re-open System Administrator and the components should re-install. If the components do not install or there is an error during installation, you should create a new configuration database as per the steps above.

NOTE: You will need to reset IIS after following the steps in this section.

Windows user does not have a password

You may receive a '401.0 - Unauthorized' error when viewing workspaces when logged as a Windows user that does not have a password assigned to their account. Every Windows user accessing Sage 200 Professional 2013 must have a password. Please refer to page 42 of the Deployment and Installation Guide for further information.

Missing IIS features

The installation and feature set of IIS must be set up as per the table on page 13 of the Deployment and Installation Guide. Use Server Manager to ensure the features listed for the relevant version of IIS have been installed. Note in particular, the features highlighted in bold that are new for Sage 200 Professional 2013 and also, for IIS version 8 users, that HTTP Activation is required within the .NET Framework 4.5 Features.

NOTE: You will need to restart IIS should you make any changes to the features installed.

Ensure the Self Service port is allowed through the firewall

By default, the Sage 200 Self Service website uses port 10444 via a secure connection. You can confirm which port is being used by selecting the website in the Connections panel within IIS - the port will show in the Actions panel on the right. This port must be be available via the firewall otherwise the following message may be displayed...

Ensure there is only one self-service web.config file

In a rare case, 500 Internal server errors were produced if there is a web.config file in the incorrect location. The web.config file for self-service should be located in C:\inetpub\Sage 200 Self Service\Sage200SelfService, however, if the config file is showing in C:\inetpub\Sage 200 Self Service, this could be the cause of the problem. Make sure to stop IIS, delete this file, restart IIS and test.

If the problem still persists...

When encountering an error, there is a log file that can be investigated to help identify the cause of the problem. Primarily, 'Sage 200 Self Service' generates a log4net log file based on the logging settings in System Administrator.

The level of logging set will determine how much is recorded in the log. Most of the relevant workspace errors that trigger a notification issue will be shown in the log when set to the ‘Error’ level. Where  more detail is required or nothing relating to the error is shown in the log, use the ‘Debug’ level while replicating the problem.
 
The log file can be found in the Sage 200 Self Service Log directory which is normally found in the following location on the web server:
 
C:\inetpub\Sage 200 Self Service\Sage200SelfService\Log

If you are unable to obtain sufficient information about the problem, change the logging level in System Administrator to 'Debug'. Re-open the workspace again and then re-check the log file. If you are still unable to identify the cause, please call Technical Support. Ensure you have the log file to hand and can confirm you have followed the above steps first.

NOTE: We strongly recommend you return the logging level to 'Error' if you amended it previously. Leaving this set to 'Debug' will cause the log file to grow at an extremely fast rate and may take up valuable disk space.

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