Error Code: -2147467259 - Unknown error 0x80040200 when printing reports in Sage 300

2 minute read time.

We recently had a case where a customer got the below error whenever they tried printing any reports. 

Often when cases are first logged with support, not all the relevant detail is supplied and, as a result, the complete picture often only becomes clear after several interactions. So, to make this easier to read, I have summarised all the information gathered in the next paragraph.

In this specific instance, the issue occurred on a new standalone instance of Sage 300 2022.0 i.e. with no PU installed and a local installation of SQL. The users were able to create Journal entries, Purchase orders, AR invoices, etc. but were getting the error when attempting to print any reports.

The error is rather generic but usually related to a file such as a4wcrinterop.dll which has either not registered properly, or is not accessible, corrupt, missing, etc. indicating that something went wrong in the environment requiring a repair of the installation.

The partner confirmed that they attempted a repair via Control Panel > Programs and Features which did not resolve the issue.

 

 The error typically occurs if the installation and/or repair didn’t complete successfully e.g. wasn’t done “as Administrator” with full elevated rights on the PC. We therefore suggested they reach out to the customer's IT to ensure that all the Sage 300 folders and files are whitelisted to prevent any antivirus / malware solutions from interfering, or even temporarily disable them, failing which, a complete uninstall and reinstall might be necessary.

We also referred the partner to a Sage Community Hub post listing a number of things to check / try which others have tried and has resolved similar issues for them.

After some further troubleshooting, the partner confirmed that completely uninstalling and then re-installing SAGE 300 with full rights, as well as running RegAcc.exe to ensure all files were registered, resolved the issue. They believe IT had done the initial installation, which might not have completed successfully, thus causing the issue.

This case raised a few thoughts, and I would appreciate adding your own to the comments below.

  • Whilst IT teams are generally very capable of installing software, it does not replace the knowledge and experience of a certified Sage 300 consultant. How do you, as a consultant, ensure installs are done correctly when IT insists on doing the install?
  • How often are you as consultants hampered from doing these installs due to the IT team or businesses concerns regarding costs or security?
  • Working with IT teams and 3rd parties can sometimes be challenging, especially when needing to manage the ongoing relationship, navigating trust whilst wanting to get the customer up and running as efficiently as possible. So, when problems do occur, what strategies do you use to validate that the IT team has completed the troubleshooting steps correctly?

A lesson learnt from a support perspective is that one cannot assume that the consultant raising the issue, was in fact the one doing the install or accessing the system to troubleshoot. Any feedback to these questions in the comments will help us support you in such situations, and hopefully anyone else reading this faced with a similar scenario as well.

 

  • Thanks for your insights as well  . It echos what Tim said as having to first create these site specific docs, and then redo the process with IT, ends up consuming more time and often costing more.

  • Hi Dawie, great article and an important issue to consider when planning and quoting client upgrades.

    Firstly with the error itself, normally when this outcome occurs, an error is displaying during the install which on-site IT support may miss:
    "...a4wcrinterop.dll could not be registered successfully..."
    And the solution is to run the following command from an Administrator CMD or Powershell:

    C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\regasm /register \\<servername>\<ShareName>\Sage300Apps\runtime\a4wcrinterop.dll

    Where you replace the path in the example with your Sage 300 Apps path.

    If this doesn't work then a full install is required, and is probably good idea if there is low confidence in the install.  To comment on your questions, we find only a small percentage of installs, perhaps one out of ten, are performed by IT Support instead of us and this is usually only because its such a high security Government site that we are not allowed hands-on remote access.  In these cases we're still shadowing over Teams to ensure everything goes well.  When IT insists on doing installs by themselves via the manual or via written procedures we (reluctantly) provide, we write into our quotes "IT Support is performing the install of Sage 300 to lower the upgrade costs which we do not normally recommend.  As advised during pre-upgrade discussions, it is acknowledged if the install is unsuccessful and needs troubleshooting or re-installation by <insert consultant>, additional costs to this quote will apply which will be discussed at the time".

    When clients ask if there own IT support service can perform the install its very important to highlight to them that the actual installation makes up only a small part of the overall time required to perform an upgrade.  Configuring databases and ODBC connections, activating data, fixing custom report locations, updating templates and upgrading RDS server and local workstation installs makes up a much larger part of overall time, and these activities are almost impossible for local IT support to perform.  In the case the install is unsuccessful when not performed by a Sage 300 consultant, the time taken to troubleshoot the install will quickly negate any savings the client hoped to achieve by performing it themselves.

    The bottom line is your Sage 300 consultant should always perform these installs as its a significant, modular ERP system requiring specialist knowledge and not a simple monolithic product install like Microsoft Office, and it's very unlikely to save you money by performing the install yourself.  As a consultant I can assure you this isn't to charge extra time for the job - as above the actual install of software makes up an important but minor (time-wise) part of the overall job.  We hate projects going over budget or costing more than expected and our insistence on performing these aspects of the upgrade are simply to ensure the overall process proceeds in a trouble-free, orderly fashion so the job comes in on or under budget so you can focus your resources on implementing new features, automating business processes and solving new problems!

  • I create step-by-step, company-specific installation documentation )including screenshots) for IT teams that demand they do the installs. Regardless of the documentation, however, I am contacted on every installation because “it doesn’t work.” Every time I follow the documentation with the IT team member and inevitably get, “I did all the steps. Why does it work for you?” I suppose you cannot replace following instructions with the consultant/partner following instructions. LOL