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Why Won't the ABM Service Desktop App Install, Start or Update?

When the ABM Service desktop app will not install, start or update on a PC, it always says why, in its own window, a message box or its log files. This page is the IT person's checklist: what each message means, what to check on the PC, and which logs to send to your software supplier. Office staff's own help pages explain the same messages in plain terms.

Why did the ABM Service Desktop machine setup fail?​

When the ABM Service Desktop machine setup fails, its window shows ABM Service Desktop Machine Setup could not finish. and one sentence with the reason; Details has the full error and Copy for support copies it. The full record is in C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Desktop\install.log.

The reasons you are most likely to meet:

  • The Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is still unavailable after installation., or a download error in the first step — the WebView2 Runtime could not be installed. Install it yourself with Microsoft's offline installer, then run the setup again. Nothing of ABM Service was changed.
  • An earlier layout of the ABM Service Desktop machine components is installed at a folder — an early test build is installed in an old folder layout. Uninstall ABM Service Desktop Machine Components from Apps & Features first, then run the setup again. Nothing was changed. The same message about ABM Service Server means the server product is in the old layout.
  • The ABM Service Desktop machine components were installed, but the 'ABM Service Desktop' Start menu entry could not be created — the all-users Start menu folder could not be written, often because of a security product or a policy. Fix that, then run the setup again.
  • The part that needs an administrator stopped before it started. Nothing was installed. — the administrator half of the setup could not start. Run the setup again; if it repeats, right-click it and choose Run as administrator.
  • The installer payload is empty. or a message that the payload is missing a file — the setup file is damaged. Download it again and compare its SHA-256 fingerprint with the download page.

A file that is briefly in use while the setup copies it (for example being scanned by antivirus) is retried automatically. If the setup still fails on a file in use, close ABM Service on the PC and run it again.

What does "ABM is not installed on this computer" mean in the ABM Service desktop app?​

It means the ABM Service desktop app could not find ABM's (Advanced Business Manager) own settings on the PC, which it reads to find ABM's control database. The full message ends by naming the place it looked, ABM's registry key Advanced Business Manager under the local machine's Software key.

The ABM Service desktop app finds ABM's control database exactly as ABM does. It reads the ControlPath value ABM wrote when it was installed, then reads the file ABMServer.log in that control folder, which names the SQL Server and the control database. So:

  • ABM is not installed on this computer — no ControlPath value was found. Install ABM on the PC, or repair its installation, and check ABM itself opens.
  • ABMServer.log was not found in ABM's control folder — ABM is installed but its control folder has no ABMServer.log, or the PC cannot reach that folder. Check the folder named in the message is reachable by this Windows user.
  • This ABM installation still keeps its control database in an Access file — ABM Service needs ABM's control database on SQL Server. The control database has to be migrated to SQL Server before ABM Service can open the company.
  • ABMServer.log could not be read, ABMServer.log is malformed or ABMServer.log names no SQL Server on its first line. — the file is there but unusable. Check it with whoever looks after ABM.

A different message looks almost the same: ABM Service isn't installed on this computer., with Please ask your administrator to install it. in a message box titled ABM Service. Tell them apart by the word "Service" and by where they come from. ABM is not installed on this computer comes from the ABM Service desktop app, which has started, ends by naming the ControlPath value and the registry key, and means ABM itself is missing. ABM Service isn't installed on this computer. comes from the small launcher an ABM toolbar button or the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry runs, before any ABM Service window opens, and means the ABM Service desktop app is missing: run the ABM Service machine setup on the PC, as How to Set Up the ABM Toolbar Launchers explains.

Why can't the ABM Service desktop app reach the control database or the company database?​

A message such as ABM's control database is unreachable, ABM's control database could not be read, ABM's user list could not be read, ABM's company list could not be read or The company database is unreachable means the PC could not connect to, or read from, the SQL Server and database named in brackets in the message. On the ABM Service sign-in window the message comes with a Try again button. The ABM Service desktop app connects from the PC itself, with the same details ABM uses.

  1. Check that ABM itself can sign in to that company on the same PC. If it cannot, the problem is the network or the SQL Server, not ABM Service.
  2. Check that the PC can reach the SQL Server by the name shown in the message, through any firewall between them.
  3. Read the rest of the message after the brackets: it is SQL Server's own reason, such as a login failure or a timeout.

The foot of the ABM Service sign-in window shows Control database: with the server and database it is using, which tells you which ABMServer.log it read.

The SQL Server, database and login in The company database is unreachable come from the company's entry in ABM's control database, the same entry ABM uses for that company. So if ABM opens a different company on the PC without trouble, or the company database has moved, check that entry in ABM names the right server. A different message, beginning Unable to locate company, means ABM's control database has no such company for that ABM user; check that the ABM toolbar button passes the right company, and that the user has been given it in ABM.

A window titled The database is being updated whose sentence says and it could not be brought up to date., followed by which step failed and SQL Server's own reason, means the ABM Service desktop app could not add its own tables to the company database, almost always because the login in the company's entry in ABM is not allowed to create tables. Where ABM connects to the company with Windows authentication, it is the Windows account of the person who opened it that needs that permission. Nobody can use that company in ABM Service until a database administrator grants that permission; then press Try again. What ABM Service Changes in the Company Database lists the other sentences that window can show.

Why does the ABM Service desktop app close saying it could not start?​

A message box beginning ABM could not start its display component. says The Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is missing or damaged on this computer. Run the ABM Service Desktop machine setup again: its first step reinstalls the WebView2 Runtime when it is missing. If it is present but damaged, repair it from Apps & Features (it is listed as Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime) and try again.

Other start-up messages:

  • ABM could not start its application server on this computer: followed by a reason — the desktop app could not start its own background part for that company. Try again once; if it repeats, send the user's desktop.log to your software supplier.
  • ABM could not open its sign-in window on this computer: or ABM could not start the application: followed by a reason — the same kind of failure, from the ABM Service Desktop Start menu entry. Try again once; if it repeats, send the user's desktop.log.
  • The running ABM window for this company did not answer and could not be replaced. Close it (the tray icon's Exit) and try again. — a copy already running for that user and company is stuck. Choose Exit on its tray icon, or end ABM.Service.Desktop.exe for that user in Task Manager, and open it again.

Why isn't a PC getting ABM Service desktop app updates?​

When a PC stays on an old version of the ABM Service desktop app, it is usually because it cannot reach the update address, or because a window has been open somewhere the whole time. Check these in order:

  1. Choose Check for Updates… on the File menu. If a newer version exists and can be downloaded, it is offered. ABM Service is up to date. is shown both when there is nothing newer on this PC's channel and when the update address could not be reached, so it does not prove the PC can see the update address.
  2. Check the PC can reach the update address, updates.abm-portal.com, over HTTPS; the full address is in FEED_URL.txt, in the ABM Service Desktop program folder. In the user's desktop.log, a line with updates: check against and failed means it could not.
  3. Check whether the same Windows user has ABM Service open in another session on the PC, for example a disconnected Remote Desktop session. The update waits while windows are open there; pressing Close my windows on the offer then says ABM Service is open in another signed-in Windows session on this computer, so the update cannot install yet. It will install once that session has closed it. The update offer on the sign-in window is different: its Close my windows closes the windows in the other session too.
  4. Close every ABM Service window of that user. With nothing open, a downloaded update installs by itself.

Other messages when an update is started by hand: ABM Service could not confirm that nothing else is running from this install, so the update was not installed., The update could not be installed now., and Another ABM Service window did not close, so the update was not installed. Try again in a moment. The first two end by saying it will be applied the next time ABM Service starts. At that next start the ABM Service desktop app tries the downloaded version before its first window opens, but only when no other copy of ABM Service is already running for that Windows user, and the attempt can itself fail. If the app still opens on the old version, look in the user's desktop.log for a line saying the staged update could not be applied at startup and send that log to your software supplier.

Which log files should I send when the ABM Service desktop app goes wrong?​

Send the log that belongs to the part that failed. For the machine setup and its uninstaller, that is C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Desktop\install.log. For one user's first start, the app or its updates, it is that user's files in %LocalAppData%\DP Systems\ABM Service.

  • install.log in C:\ProgramData\ABM Service\Desktop — every run of the machine setup, including the failure reason. Details on the setup's finished or failed page shows its location. If the part of the setup that needs administrator rights never started, the file named there is setup.log in the ABM Service\Desktop folder of your own %LocalAppData% instead.
  • install.log in the user's %LocalAppData%\DP Systems\ABM Service — that user's first-run installation.
  • desktop.log in the same user folder — every start, sign-in, window and update check of the desktop app for that user.

Type the folder path into File Explorer's address bar while signed in as that user to open it, then send the files as they are.