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.