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Saturday, December 30, 2017

Making FRx work with unsupported versions of Dynamics

FRX opening screen
I know, I know, we should all be using Management Reporter. News flash! Not everybody wanted to change if I could get FRx to print the reports with their new GP versions. Let’s face it, getting that software installed and getting all of your FRx reports migrated is an expense many people would rather not incur. The secret to getting it up and operational is to find the compatible GPConn.dll you need to make it work. That file, by the way, is located in the following folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\microsoft shared\Dexterity\GPConn.dll
The trick is getting the right version of the GPConn.dll. I’ve read that you can run the C:\Program Files (x86)\FRx Software\FRx 6.7\FRxReg67.cmd file and it will create the correct GPConn.dll file. While it does create and register the files, it has not always been the file that has worked for me. It’s certainly worth a try, because it has worked now and again. Another discovery I made the other day is that two workstations running the same operating system needed different GPConn.dll to coax FRx to work.
I’ve collected several different versions of the GPConn.dll file and have posted them to my Box account along with a full install of FRx with SP 9. You'll also find SP12 of FRx available there. If you’re looking for an older version, give one of these files a try. You can access them HERE. Try running the FRxReg67.cmd first, but if that doesn’t work, give these others a try.
The combination that worked on my machine, which is running Windows 10 Pro and GP 2016 R2 build 0641 is this:
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro version 1709, Build 16299.371
  • SQL Driver: SQL Server (not any of the Native Clients)
  • GPConn.dll: version date 04/06/2006 (143 kb)
  • 32-bit ODBC using SQL Native Client 10
Other combinations may very well work and I ask you to please comment and let us know which combinations worked for you.
If you are getting the error 'The current version of the application could not be determined. The setup will now terminate'  You need to go to Control Panel's Programs and Features applet and then, in the upper left-hand corner select Turn Windows Features on or Off and turn on .Net 2.0, which also enables .Net 3.0. I also installed the Prerequisite named 'Microsoft Data Access', but I don't think that was the key to getting it to work.

Live the dream!
Leslie

10 comments:

  1. Leslie,

    Have you found a way to make FRx work when you have 2 monitors on Windows 7 or Windows 10? That seems to be the one thing I cannot get past, otherwise it works great.

    Thanks,
    Victoria

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  2. Hi Victoria,
    Do you mean using a notebook computer with two big monitors, or using a notebook and a single big monitor? I'm using my notebook's monitor and a big monitor, but I haven't tried two big monitors yet. I'll be out of town next week but I'll try to give it a shot. My windows 10 machine is only about a month old, so hopefully it will work.
    Leslie

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  3. Hi Leslie,
    See you note that you are able to get FRX installed onto a Windows 10 machine. Where you able to do a clean install of FRX on a Windows 10 machine running the latest Version 1709, Build 16299.402? I'm not able to get past the initial install (keep getting "The current version of the application could not be determined. The setup will now terminate.").

    Found other posts that say this became an issue with the Fall Creator Update. Also found you mentioned on another blog (https://www.gpug.com/communities/community-home/digestviewer/viewthread?GroupId=247&MessageKey=2814d329-64f5-4b78-ac91-3ecf734a8a82&CommunityKey=4754a624-39c5-4458-8105-02b65a7e929e&tab=digestviewer) that you were successful install FRX.

    Do you happen to know what version of FRX you are starting with?

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    Sincerely,

    Michael J. Nola

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  4. Hi Michael,
    I started the install with FRx 6.7 with SP 9.
    I did a clean install on Windows 10 Pro Version 1709, Build 16299.371
    I've installed it on two machines with the above configuration. Which one were you using?
    Leslie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Believe I have both the pre-SP9 version with a FRxSetup.exe date of 09/04/2002 and what I believe to be the SP9 version (FRx674GP10FullInstall) with a FRxSetup.exe date of 05/01/2007.

    Have attempted to install using various Compatibility settings (e.g. XP SP2, XP SP3, etc.) but no luck.

    I see that my Windows Build is 16299.402 which is slightly higher than yours. Will look to see if I can track down another station with a build closer to .371 for starters.

    Was able to get the SQL Server Native Client 10 & 11 in preparation to run a connection and am well aware of the GPCONN.DLL, so good there.

    Guessing, aside from possibly running the install using a Compatibility setting and possibly temporarily disabling any Antivirus software at the time, you didn't need to do anything special.

    Will let you know what comes of things and will also check back here in case you have any other additional insight.

    Thank you very much for your assistance here and on all your other various posts that have been extremely helpful and informative!

    Michael.

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  6. Hi Leslie,
    Wasn't able to find another Windows 10 station that was Build 371 or earlier. We did roll back two different windows 10 stations back to Build 371 but continue to have the same install error, no matter which installation version we use or compatibility/run as administrator combination we use.

    Can you think of any other prerequisites you might have installed on your Windows 10 machine (e.g. Older Version of .NET) that might be allowing you to install FRX. Could be wrong, but thinking maybe the 402 update (End of April Update) injected something onto our systems that breaks the FRX Installation, even though we've rolled the update back.

    Anything you can think of would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you again!

    Michael.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Michael,
    I'll keep my ears open. Just for the heck of it I reinstalled it on this machine (after having uninstalled it) and it ran once you got the right connector file and changed the ODBC to a lower level of SQL client (really no SQL client 'number')

    The end is coming, but on my end anyway, I've still got 2018 running with FRX. That's tough error message, I remember having received it in my travels, but do not recall how we got by it.

    If you find the solution, please add a comment to help us other poor souls too.

    Leslie

    ReplyDelete
  8. Michael,
    I think I have the answer for you. You need to go to Programs and Features and turn on .net 2.0, which will also turn on .net 3.0. After that, download the files from Microsoft Update. The system will need to restart. When you install FRx, install the Prerequisite named Microsoft Data Access Components. Restart the machine and you should be able to get through the FRx installation without the error. Be sure to change the GPConn.dll to the 143Kb version and you should be good to go.
    Live the Dream!
    Leslie

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm running
    Windows 10 Pro
    Version 1803
    OS Build 17134.48

    ReplyDelete
  10. Loving this thread, thanks! MR does a fine job if you haven't spent days/weeks writing complex financials in FRx. Happy to say I have supported many staying on it with MR as the backup for when we cannot find these work arounds. Appreciate the effort.

    ReplyDelete