Problem Note 40409: The SAS® PC Files Server stops working when you use the EXCELCS, ACCESSCS, and PCFILES engines in SAS® Enterprise Guide®
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When using the ExcelCS and AccessCS engines with the IMPORT and EXPORT procedures in SAS Enterprise Guide, you can receive the following error in a separate Microsoft Windows message dialog box:
PCFSERVER.EXE has stopped working Check online for a solution and close the program
In the SAS Enterprise Guide log, you can see the following message:
Error: Failed to connect to server
In addition, if you use a LIBNAME statement with the PCFILES engine, you can receive this error:
ERROR: The PC Files Server process died before communicating with SAS.
These problems occur in SAS Enterprise Guide even when the same code runs without errors in Base SAS® software.
The problem can occur when SAS and the PC Files Server are running on the same machine. This is because the User ID is not in the Microsoft Windows Administrators group, which is normally required in order to spawn the pcfserver.exe executable under these conditions. When SAS and the PC Files Server run on the same machine, the PC Files Server uses AutoAuthentication and AutoStart on that service. Widows Services in this case use Windows Authentication, which runs the PC Files Server as the particular user ID that is connected to the workspace server.
Other causes occur because of the problem of timing with PC Files Server and the Microsoft Access Connectivity Engine itself.
To resolve the problem do one or more of the following depending on the cause:
- Place the user ID in the Windows Administrators group.
For more information about setting permissions on the ID see the following link: PC Files Server Administration in SAS/ACCESS® 9.2 Interface to PC Files: Reference, Second Edition.
- If the problem persists then apply the hotfix with this note and also update the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable components for Office 2010. You can find the components at this link. Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010 Redistributable
- Run the PC Files Server manually by stopping the service and running the SAS PC Files Server from the Start=>Programs=>PC Files Server. You need to specify the Server and Port parameters in your SAS code with this method.
Operating System and Release Information
* For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be fixed.Product Family Product System SAS Release Reported Fixed* SAS System SAS/ACCESS Interface to PC Files Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Datacenter 64-bit Edition 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise 64-bit Edition 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for x64 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 for x64 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Enterprise x64 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Home Premium x64 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Professional 32 bit 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Professional x64 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows 7 Ultimate x64 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3 Windows Vista for x64 9.2 TS2M2 9.2 TS2M3
A fix for this issue for SAS/ACCESS Interface to PC Files 9.21_M2 is available at:
http://ftp.sas.com/techsup/download/hotfix/HF2/C70.html#40409| Type: | Problem Note |
| Priority: | high |
| Date Modified: | 2011-01-26 14:05:57 |
| Date Created: | 2010-07-21 15:09:46 |