Sage 100

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  • 1.  Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 02-26-2026 22:21

    The message title says it all. I spent 4+ hours today on the phone with a client in a panic because nobody in their warehouse to could access Sage 100. They were having two ISVs install a minor enhancement. During this process the installation crashed - and hosed the providex data dictionary file in the \MAS90 folder.

    For those of you unlucky to have experienced this the result is the Sage 100 splash screen appears then disappears. 


    And, nope, there was no "quick and dirty backup" made before the process was started.

    And, Yes, we did go to IT (MSP) and they restored files from backup - which took 1.25 hours during which the owner was staring at all the warehouse workers sitting idle and not able to ship orders.

    In this case the customer's \MAS90\ folder was 50 GB. That's really not convenient to quickly copy/paste to another area on the server. And when I move huge folders like this I'm always afraid that I'm going to cause an "out of disk space issue" either right away or in a day or two should I forget to remove the backup copy once the crisis is over.

    Which started me thinking - does anyone have a list of critical files that could be backed up via a batch file that could be placed one level above \MAS90. This wouldn't be a guaranteed fix but having the most critical files copied via backup which might take under 2 minutes is a lot better than no backup.

    For example, a batch file could xcopy key files without which you may have problems starting or using Sage 100:

    \MAS90

    Providex.kdf 
    Providex.ddf
    Providex.dde
    Providex.prm
    Providex.auc
    Providex.dcl

    \MAS90\MAS_SYSTEM

    *.M4T

    \MAS90\SOA

    *.SOA

    \xx\custom ( the customizations folder - if existing - for each module )



    What other files am I overlooking ( aside from the data files themself)?



    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz
    wayne@s-consult.com
    Schulz Consulting
    (860) 516-8990
    Connecticut
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 02-27-2026 10:06

    Hi Wayne,

    Recently, I encountered an issue during an upgrade. The migration kept crashing, which corrupted the new installation. Restoring the MAS90 from backup did not resolve the error. We discovered that the files which helped us avoid uninstalling and reinstalling or rolling the system back each time were located in the Windows directory. 

    When the migration crashed, we restored the window files after each migration attempt.  This is from Carmen Cruz documentation from the SQL class she did. We did select only the sage files below. 

    a. ProgramData directory:

    • We copied the C:\ProgramData\Sage folder

    b. Windows directory:

    • SysWOW64: contains PVX*.* files required by Sage copied all of these
    • System32: contains PVX*.* files required by Sage copied all of these

    Might be an overkill but saved us hours of work. 



    ------------------------------
    Tina Leonard
    RKL eSolutions, LLC
    AZ
    ------------------------------



  • 3.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 02-27-2026 10:40

    Thanks, Tina. This is exactly the type of info I'm looking to accumulate! 



    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz
    wayne@s-consult.com
    Schulz Consulting
    (860) 516-8990
    Connecticut
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 03-02-2026 11:28

    Any more suggestions of critical files where having a backup really saved you from doing a complete restore? I'm looking to add this to our upgrade session at MOTM this week. 



    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz
    wayne@s-consult.com
    Schulz Consulting
    (860) 516-8990
    Connecticut
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 03-02-2026 11:59
    Edited by David Overholt 03-02-2026 12:01

    MAS90\CM Folder (custom office scripts should be in that folder) Additionally you could use the custom office utility to export out EVERYTHING custom office related and you could import that back in if necessary

    MAS90\Reports folder 

    MAS90\LINKS folder (master developer links if there are any) 

    MAS90\DDICTS 

    MAS90\BIExplorer (BIE views) 

    MAS90\Uninstall folder (although I'm not sure if that would be useful) 

    At one time (and I may be showing my age here) some of the Payroll tax tables information was stored somewhere outside of the MAS_XXX company folder. but that might have been changed since Payroll 2.x came out (or maybe it is now in MAS_SYSTEM folder). Maybe someone more versed in payroll knows the correct answer to that. 



    ------------------------------
    David Overholt
    Programmer/Project Manager
    DWD Technology Group
    Fort Wayne IN
    (260) 399-8655
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 03-02-2026 13:39

    For a Premium system, before installing a PU or enhancement, I always take a backup of MAS90... and the MAS_System SQL database. 

    The Sage installers don't touch the company databases (that stuff happens during the conversions), so there is no real need to back those up for patches / enhancements, but a crashed installer means you need to restore MAS_System and the MAS90 folder.



    ------------------------------
    Kevin Moyes
    Technical Systems Analyst
    Munjal White Consulting Co.
    Toronto ON
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  • 7.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 03-02-2026 14:45

    Didn't I already give you full documentation with everything that needs to be backed up?



    ------------------------------
    [Carmen] [Cruz]
    [Sage 100 Division Manager]
    [P. 503.620.3484 x313] / [ E. carmen@benpor.com]
    [Bennett/Porter & Associates, Inc.]
    [Tigard,] [OR]
    [benpor.com]
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 03-03-2026 08:09

    @Carmen Cruz - I don't see anything in my notes. I have two sets of moving Sage 100 Premium notes but can't find the critical files to backup. I'm looking for the quick and dirty "can't wait 1.5 hours to copy /MAS90" or "can't wait four hours for IT to respond" because the client doesn't have a backup.

    Ideally I'd like to create a batch file, place that batch file directly below the \MAS90 folder and have the batch file copy the relevant files into a quick and dirty backup folder.



    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz
    wayne@s-consult.com
    Schulz Consulting
    (860) 516-8990
    Connecticut
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Suggest some critical files to backup when a full system backup isn't practical

    Posted 03-12-2026 10:26

    ALE Lookups - may not be easily recreated without reinstalling modules which may be difficult to do quickly for modified systems:

    ..\mas90\Soa

    Backup:
    SY1Q01.soa,

    SY1Q02.soa,

    SY1Q03.soa,

    SY1Q04.soa,

    SY1QDD.soa

    See also:  How to replace the ALE (Advanced Lookup Engine) query files



    ------------------------------
    Wayne Schulz
    wayne@s-consult.com
    Schulz Consulting
    (860) 516-8990
    Connecticut
    ------------------------------