I came across an tough problem at work recently as we were upgrading and migrating our Act! installation to a new server. When I opened Act on the new server, I got the error: “Access to the path is denied.” This error box appears before you even have a chance to login, and when you click OK, Act closes. I was stuck on this problem for a while, but I finally came across some good information on another site that gave me a clue how to fix it. So here we go…
The Environment
- Central Act! database that is shared and hosted
- Act! Premium for Web on the server; workstations/clients running Act! Premium
- Upgrading from Act! v22 to v24
- Old OS: Server 2008 R2
- New OS: Server 2019
If you have any questions about the setup, feel free to leave a comment or contact me directly here.
Access Denied Error
Here’s what the error looks like. The error pops up when you would usually see the login box for your database:
Solution
Plain and simple: Right-click on the Act! shortcut and click Run As Administrator. After that, open it as usual.
Too easy, right?!
Attempted Explanation of Access Denied
I’m not 100% sure why or how this solution works. Maybe you can help me understand. I came across this article from Microsoft regarding their Microsoft Dynamics product, and it gave me the idea to run the program as administrator.
It looks like it could have something to do with User Account Control (UAC) preventing the program from doing some tasks that require administrative access. In the article above (remember the article is for Microsoft Dynamics, not Act!), here’s the reason they give:
“…This will start Integration Manager using the Administrator access token so the application will have sufficient rights to create the directory structure mentioned in the error message and write the default configuration file.”
Reference: Microsoft article
Whatever is happing (or not happening) in Act! with this error, it’s solved by running the program once as Administrator. After that, you’re good to go to open it as usual.
Tangential Stuff About Act!
At work, we’re running Windows Server 2019, which gave us some problems with the initial Act installation. Also, there was a round of updates, which may have led to this error. The last time I was logged into this system, before seeing this error, everything was working properly. The server was off for a couple of months as we were waiting on the upgrade project to be ready. When I started the VM back up, that’s when I encountered this problem (after Windows Updates too).
It’s possible Windows Updates changed something that caused or contributed to this problem. It also could have been the result of some of the installation problems. We used Server 2019 for another project, and I think we also had problems with permissions. It seems from my experience that Server 2019 handles things differently that Server 2008 R2 — most of our recent upgrades have been moving away from 2003 R2 & 2008 R2. That is not definitive…just an observation.
Final Thoughts
Over the years of working with the Act! CRM software at my job, I have learned a few quirks about how to run it from a centralized server (shared and hosted). If you have any questions or nagging problems of your own, I first recommend reaching out to Act’s Support online or by phone. I would start with a chat from their Support page here. Then, if they need to escalate it, they’ll let you know you can call their Support line. Their agents are very responsive and usually very helpful.
If you don’t have access to their Support, feel free to leave a comment below or message me directly, and I will do all I can to help you.
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