The 10.82.12 update contains numerous additions and refinements requested by our clients.  They will be apparent as you use the system and improve the natural flow of your work.  These include modifications to reports, clearer prompts, additional automatic procedures, and some clarity in presented data.  Although we did fix some errors in information shown, in no case was the actual data incorrect.

CRITICAL NOTICE:  This update will NOT create any problems with your workstations connecting.  If you should get an error that says you cannot connect to the Advantage Server, please read the previous bulletin.  That error is caused by updates Microsoft made to Windows 10 networking in their major 1803 spring update.  The details, and solution, are in the previous bulletin.

Sometimes people contact us about errors because they think ASW updated and created them.  If ASW has an error, we will identify the problem, fix it, and have a solution out within a few hours.  The vast majority of the time, we are finding the problems are the result of Windows updates.  These are not limited to ASW.  Right now millions of computers worldwide are dealing with problems from the 1803 updates, and it’s effect on a wide variety of software programs and especially networked servers from some of the largest companies in the world.  We will do our best to find the source of the problems and keep you posted in our bulletins if it might cause you problems.

If you experience any problems with ASW 10.82.12 please email us immediately.  We will check it out, call you if needed, and give you a written response as quickly as possible.  If you do not get at least a confirmation to your email within 2 hours, then we simply didn’t receive it.  If your system is setup for email, then under help you can select Email Tech Support and fill in the information.  If not, send an email to Support@MasterLinkSoftware.com and do expect a personal ( not automated ) response.

UPDATED:  If you encounter this problem, there is a workaround.  The problem is that Microsoft disabled network discovery services.  Thus the workstations cannot find the ADS server.  You can create a file and place it in your ASW10c folder on each workstation.  However, you may need the help of your hardware person to accomplish this:

1)  Your server needs to have a STATIC ( fixed ) IP address.

2)  Using Notepad, or some other editing tool, create a file called  ADS.INI and place it in the ASW10c folder.  It needs the following format, where SERVERNAME is the name you assigned in the network, and the IP matches the static one to which the server is set.  Use this format:

   [SERVERNAME]
  LAN_IP=192.168.1.xxx
  LAN_PORT=6262
  [SETTINGS]
  ADS_SERVER_TYPE=2

PREVIOUS:

If you are running Windows 10, your system will want to update to release 1803 automatically.  IF you are running the ADS client server software, DO NOT let any of your workstations do this update.  It will not allow that workstation to see data on the server any longer. 

THIS IS A MICROSOFT WINDOWS 10 BUG and not anything to do with Auto Shop Writer.  We cannot “fix it” … but we are trying to get answers from the very silent Microsoft engineers, 

IF YOU ARE RUNNING WINDOWS 10 and ADS:
Go into the Windows Settings, select Updates, and then Advanced Options.  You can see a button to stop updates ( for 30 days ).  Click on the right side to turn it ON.

IF YOUR SYSTEM ALREADY UPDATED TO 1803:
Go into the Windows Settings, select Updates, and then Recovery.  Select the middle option that lets you go back to a previous version.  Follow the steps to roll back to 1709.  It won’t take long, and you will be back in business.

We posted our concerns here over a week ago … anticipating problems with this major Windows release.  We are reaching out to ADS to see if they have a solution, and also to Microsoft higher echelon ( administrative staff ) to get answers.  It may take awhile to get a response from them.