2010-05-10

Simply Accounting cannot connect to database / files read-only / connection timeout

Version:
SAGE Simply Accounting 2010 B

Symptoms:
"Simply" starts, opens the company selection dialog. After a company is selected, it displays an error message, which could be about "read-only" files or about "connection timeout" or "cannot connect to database".

Clarification about the error messages:
Their content changes depending on the stage of your "fight" with Windows and Simply.

What help did I get from Simply (program's "Help" and online Knowledge Base):
Simply says that the problem lies in .NET Framework (version 2! - KB looks very outdated)

Steps that were pretty useless:
  • Reinstalling .NET 3.5
  • Installing .NET 1.1
  • Attempt to install .NET 2 (does not work on Vista)
  • Reinstalling .NET 3.0 (tricky: has to be done via "OS Features" in Control Panel / Programs and Features)
  • Removing old versions of Simply
  • Attempt to install Simply over existing installation
  • Playing with read-only attributes of files and permissions
What helped:
  • Uninstall Simply completely
  • Download Simply from SAGE website (they give the latest release, so I did not need to upgrade to release "B" after installation)
  • Remove old folder containing unpacked installation files
  • Install, run and feel happy
What was the real reason:

Simply Accounting 2010 uses MySQL ODBC connector 3.51
A separate installation of MySQL, not related to Simply, was recently upgraded to 5.1, with ODBC connector 5.1. Old ODBC 3.51 was removed.......

Now both versions of ODBC are installed. Simply feels happy.

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