I don't see how using a consultant would have helped me avoid a bug in the Sage installation - it would have just been them in this forum instead of me.  I've been doing Sage updates here since 2016, the procedure isn't new to me. 

I wouldn't mind handing over to consultants the problems caused from vendor mistakes, except that gets me out of touch with keeping the systems up to date that I'm responsible for.  In this case, I'll be updating my "Sage Update Process" notes to indicate the database update was designed to work directly from the local user's permissions, rather than a server service (this is what I'm alluding to regarding client/server architecture - clients should merely need rights to use the service, while the service itself has the actual permissions to networks, data, etc.).

This is the latest and should work now: cdn-dlm.esd.sage.com/.../SA_20201CPUP1.exe

When i update the sample company, it fails always at 9/30 with "cannot open file", even with the download you provided above.  I am SUPER hesitant to work with live files if the Sage provided sample company fails to update properly.  i don't know what else to do?  My clients are pretty much at the limits of patience.  We do these updates all the time - i don't understand why this one is so difficult.... 

Me too!  Only one backup file with the underscore. 

See the posts by Jane Sun above, the work around seems to be:

1. Copy the SAI file and the SAJ folders to somewhere on your C: drive (or I'm guessing any "local" drive that you have full permissions to would work as well)

2. Run the database update against that local copy - it should get all the way through.  It probably would be best if you were logged in on the computer as a "Local Admin" as well, or if you are in a Windows Domain logged in as a Domain Administrator, and when you start Sage do it "as Admin" (i.e. instead of simply double-clicking your Sage program icon, right-click it and choose "Run as Admin")

3. If the database update finishes, I would first test trying to open that local copy of the company database

4. Copy back the updated SAI file and SAJ folders back to their original locations (first rename the old SAI and SAJ so there are no naming conflicts)

I was able to successfully upgrade a copy of my production database up to step 3 yesterday.  I plan to try the full process today as tomorrow we need to run payroll.

Hi Joe,

Thanks for the reply.  I tried that and as soon as I start to open it I get a 'required data file is missing' error. 

Were all your users logged out of Sage when you copied over files?

I think I would verify that you really did copy over all files, one way would be right-clicking the SAJ folder and choosing "Properties" and noting the Size and the Files and Folders count.  Then check if that matches the copied over folder.

Also, make sure you are an "Admin" on that machine, as all these troubles smell like permission issues to me.

Hi Joe, have you tried the update yet?  I'm still very scared to try it. I just need to do an update as per my above comment.  I have not attempted anything yet.  Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm doing our update in a couple of hours.  If you do what I plan, which is to run the update against a *copy* of your production data files on a local drive, and if that succeeds simply copy the updates back to the original location, there should be no risk.  Worst case scenario is that the update on your local copy fails - in which case your people keep using the previous version.  If you keep your previous data files in some backup location, you will have a "roll back" route in case of failure.

Just do your initial update on a computer that your accounting users don't use, so you are not changing anything in "production" until the update is proven successful.  And again, make sure you are logged in as an Admin on that computer.

I Have downloaded and installed the 2020.1 update.  after updating my file, I can open it and it seems to be OK, However, when I run the advanced database check, It fails. It does not get past the first popup window, and in the end tells me that this is not a valid file. I ran the check on the file before the update and all was well. Should I just ignore this and use my file?

Geez, you are making nervous about running this update again.  Obviously the only thing that could have "broken" the data file is the update itself, since you started off with a "clean" system.  The possibilities here are:

1. The update broke something that is being caught by the validator

2. The validator subroutine has not been kept in sync with the 2020.1 changes, and is reporting false negatives

I just ran this against my updated test system, and did not get as dire warnings as you did, although it did say it found "invalid" records in the following tables:  tbrtr, tprldpta, tpydet, tpydet1, tpydet.  Now I went back to my original 2020.0 database and ran the check, and I get the same invalid errors reported, so in my case this seems to be a "pre-existing" condition and not caused by the update.

Since I'm getting different results than you, I'm favouring possibility # 1.  I think you might won't to check with Sage support to see if there's some further checks they can do against your system.

I just finished the update and everything seems fine (my bookkeeper just logged on to her computer and is using it).  HOWEVER, my first attempt failed, I got stuck on "Overall Progress 12/30" for about 30 minutes, and finally ended with the error message about the update failing.  But I realized that I had forgotten to "Run As Admin" (I just did the standard double click on the desktop icon).  When I tried a second time I corrected this mistake and it all went very smoothly, only took a few minutes.

After I updated the local files, I then renamed the files on the server (prefixed them with "OLD"), then copied over the updated files.  Then I updated the server (thank god no reboot required), and after that I was able to open my multi-user database on the server like normal.

Just to see what would happen, I then did the upgrade to my test database that was still on the server (I didn't copy it over to a local drive first), making sure to use "Run As Admin".  This succeeded just as well, so this whole "Sage prefers to do updates on the C: drive" seems to be a red herring, the problem seems to have always been about running the EXE at an elevated level.

Something interesting to note, in my first failed attempt I found a log file that had been created which was named today's date and the time I was doing the install.  It contained meticulous entries of everything it was updating, i.e. every form, every database update, etc.  About a quarter way through it started listing SQL statements, apparently trying to get record counts of every table.  After each one there is an error about not being able to connect to any MySQL hosts.  After that it lists for every table an entry like "Table did not exist after upgrading to MySQL 5.7.27".  These entries covered about a half hour span of time.  Since the installation is obviously able to detect such errors, you would think it would start displaying error information to the user, or even just abort the install (some of those tables are obviously going to be crucial and there's no point in proceeding without them).  Instead it just displays a useless progress bar for 30 minutes, long after the update was doomed for failure.

Hi

I tried to update 2020.1 but still we cant open the company files. Need to do some payroll for clients. Can some one please help. Thanks

We downloaded 2020.1 and have been able to open some companies but not all of them.  It does the endless loop.  I tried calling Sage but was not able to get through, told to call back.  Is there another problem and if so is there a fix?

yeah, and thats why I refuse to use this up date until I see that everyone can install with no problems... I feel they should just do a whole new 2020 program with the payroll update already in it and label it 2020.2 This is just so very frustrating .... I will continue to use the govt online calculator and plug in the numbers into my payroll.... thanks for once again letting us know that Sage still doesn't have this fixed 100%!

Something I discovered in my initial "failed" update is a log file that gets created in the SAJ folder of the company that I was trying to update.  It's a text file that has is named with the date & time of when you ran the update.  It gives a blow by blow entry for every step of the update, and you can pretty much tell exactly where things went wrong because of the error messages logged in there.  In my case I could see it was having problems with connecting to the MySQL server (the amazing thing was seeing it try and fail the same thing over and over again - you would think they would write the install script that once a fatal error occurs, to stop trying at that point and report the error right away).

Anyways, that file might give you some clues as to where the failures are occurring.  If you ever get through to support, I would think it would be something they would want to look at.

This update (2020.1) has been an epically BAD update...in the Accountant's Edition at any rate it fails to update client files at least 3 out of every 4 times I try. It's a mess. It's hard to tell how much Sage cares about this (and those in the SAN) as this has been going on for months now with no resolution.

I've been using this forever and am not happy at all. Sage's way of telling us to move to their (poor IMNSHO) cloud product?

Hi Don: I am running 2020.1 Accountant's Edition, installed the .1 update when it first came out and have literally had no trouble with it. All of my data sets are stored on Sage Drive and I am back and forth with Sage Drive four or five times a day. Especially now that I am spending more time in my home office.

I would like to know more about the concerns you are experiencing so I can keep a watch for them. From what you have said in your message I have not experienced these problems nor have any of my clients.

I do not work for Sage. I am a big fan of Sage. I just try to learn as much about the problems others are experiencing for my own knowledge.  

I used to be a big fan of ... well, not exactly "Sage". I've used this program since it was built as "Bedford Accounting" back in the mid-1980s...and got taken over by progressively larger and less responsive organizations like Computer Associates (Accpac Simply Accounting) and now Sage (Simply Accounting > Sage xx).

There used to be an extremely vibrant Accountants Forum that gradually got watered down and deleted due to negative comments about the program and its lack of change/improvement/development over time. (Like we still can't auto-generate a GST amount in a GJ? Can't pull reports over year-ends? etc). These have been issues since the start and have NEVER been addressed in the desktop version.

Add to that the twice-yearly tax updates during which tweaks are made to data files. Well, sometimes those work and sometimes they don't. I just had to rebuild an entire group of files on a server because Sage 50 AE decided to trash the files. Still have no idea why.

Fortunately I have good backups.

Feedback from Sage has been minimal. While their HelpDesk has occasionally been useful in technical issues, the development team appears to have given up on the desktop version. The problem is that the "cloud" version is half-baked and simply (hah!) not suitable for public use as yet IMO (at least not for pros).

It still beats "Q", but only just. Still, it works, and all my Excel and tax stuff is geared towards extracted Sage TBs/data.