I am receiving this vague error on the 2nd PC in a 2 PC P2P network when attempting to open the company data or sample\test company:

"A network error occurred while communicating with the Connection Manager. Please wait a moment and try again."

Both PCs are XP SP2.

On 2nd(client) I uninstalled SAP 2008, unistalled .Net2, restarted, installed .Net1 and .Net2, then updates to .Net 1 & 2. Then reinstalled SAP 2008, then installed update "C". Same error!

I can browse to the share, open and edit text files (Notepad) and save.

I have tried to open the data files from a mapped drive and from UNC; same error.

If I connect the ethernet cable from 2nd PC to my laptop(XP SP2) I can open the files without a problem.

I put a copy of the test data on the 2ndc PC and succcessfully opened it from the laptop.

I put a copy of the test data on the laptop and tried to open it from the 2nd PC, same error!

Where can I go and what I can I do to get some more information to try to troubleshoot and resolve this problem?

 

I am having the same issue.  It is really starting to cause a big back log in our work. 

 If anyone has fixed this issue please let us know ASAP. 

 Thanks!!

I am also having this problem. My system was working fine for several months, and all of a sudden this error message started to occur. I have no problem opening the program on our main computer, but my bookkeeper works on another computer and has been unable to get into Simply for the last 10 days. Have you found a solution?

 Yep, me too!

 I am trying to access my SA2008 file over the network.  After starting SA2008 on my laptop, I can see the file I want to open using the dialog box for opening a file, I select it and it pauses for about 20 seconds before the error pops up:

 A network error occurred while communicating with the Connection Manager.  Please wait a moment and try again.

To resolve this issue, consult the Help or our online Knowledgebase.

 Neither have been much help!

I have my accounting file on a shared folder on my main computer.  I have the connection manager running as well as mysql service manager.

Why has nobody from SA answered this post yet?  This is obviously an issue.

Has anyone else had much luck with solving this problem?

I got no help from anyone either, but found that if I turned off WIndows Firewall on the server that the other computer was then able to access the files. This was even though the Connection Manager had been set up as an exception for Windows Firewall to let through. The system had worked correctly for some time prior to this with firewall on, but now this is the only way I can access the files from my other computer. Hope this helps.

 In my experience, the Windows Firewall has been the culprit probably 90% of the time with this error message.  The problem is that it blocks ports which Simply Accounting needs.  Try adding ports 13531 and 13540 to the exceptions list in Windows Firewall.

To add ports to the exception list, open the Windows Firewall console in the Control Panel.  In the Exceptions tab you will see an Add Ports button.  Click on Add Ports and add these two port numbers.  The port names do not really matter, their purpose is to tell you why you have added these ports so just enter Simply Accounting in the name field.

Do this on both the server and the workstation.  I'm really interested to see if this fixes it for everyone so please let us know what happens.

I'm just now trying to update from 2007 to 2008 and now I know why I didn't back when it first came out. I tried this and it didn't work, I've tried every solution I could find here and in the knowledge base. Mind you I can't seem to find anything in the archives. I called up November 2007 and it said there was nothing there. ??? Was there a big forum flush out that I missed?

I've gone back to my 2007 so I could get some work done...not sure if I'll keep trying to upgrade or not, 2009 doesn't sound much better. 

 This is definitely a solvable problem but it's difficult to troubleshoot through a forum.  If the solution above did not work then please contact us at 1-888-522-2722 or through chat.

 The basic problem is that something is blocking those two ports.  This could be the firewall, the router or possibly another program which uses the same ports.

I've tried turning off Norton

turning off firewall

rebooting router

all suggestions that I've been able I found in the forum, knowlegebase and the archives

One shouldn't have to be a massive computer genius to install a program and do the books.

And, once I get this one working, if ever, I have to set up my other company that is on a different server/network and is accessed by me from my computer and another user on that network.  I thought for sure if I waited this long the bugs would have been fixed by now. I'm not hearing good things about 2009 either. I love, love my 2007 Pro and really don't want to have to give it up. I don't suppose SAGE would consider to continue to support it (payroll & updates) in 2009 and beyond?

 Also, what would be handy and to have a list of all the fixes one should try to get their d-base to work all in one place. If there is one, I've not found it.

BTW this is the error message I'm getting:
A network error occurred while communicating with the Connection Manager. Please wait a moment and try again.

 Turning them off may not be enough, we actually have to configure them

With ports, security software is designed in such a way that even if it's disabled, it would not open all the computers ports.  Imagine that a port is like a gate and the security software is a guard at the gate.  If the gate is closed, and we remove the guard, the gate would still be closed.  Instead of removing the guard, we need to tell him to open the gate.  

 The tricky part can be figuring out which guard needs to open the gate, the firewall or the router. 

On most computers, this is done automatically when you install but for some users we have to configure it manually.  If you have any trouble doing this on your own, you can always contact us and we can take care of the computer genius part :)

As for a single page with instructions, take a look at our installation page.  It's a good compilation of various instructions that should be followed when installing.  The page refers to 2009 but it all also applies to the 2008 version.

INSTALLATION PAGE 

I created a file folder directly on the Server's C drive called SimplyShare instead of using the current share_data file we have on there. I then copied all the files to the SimplyShare folder.

My new error message:

Simply Accounting cannot open the database because some database files are read only. Please ensure you have suffcient rights to the files, then try again.

I know I've seen something about this somewhere on my travels through the forums. *runs off to search*

 Damn, now I'm back to my original error message.

My solution is to stay with version 2007 and use CRA's online payroll calculator as suggested by someone else.  We are a small company with not alot of payroll so should be OK.  I would be willing to pay sage for payroll updates if they would do it for version 2007 but am stubornly refusing to update to versions 08 or 09 as I already installed and uninstalled version 08.  Sorry Sage I am not into being a computer tech...........just want to do my books the SIMPLE way.  Hope you get things up and running as I know how frustrating it can be!!!!!!         Linda

 If you can rule out any problem with the firewall, the next step is to determine whether this is related to network connectivity or possiblly shares from the main computer. Few things to check

1. Are you able to open simply on the main computer (computer that host the data file) using UNC?

2. Are all computer belong to the same workgroup/domain?  ( to check that, go to deskop, right click on my computer, properties, computer name)

3. What happens if you copy the file to a workstation computer, and share files there?

4. Do you see any error messages in event views under application or security? (to check that, click on start, type "eventvwr")