Unable to start ProSeries 2021. Write access to the application directory is needed

[LJHCPA]

I ran a search on the error message above and found several posts with the same problem, but no one had any solutions in all the responses I read.

I have ProSeries 2021 installed on a network drive and the program has been working fine up until today. My server is running Windows Server Essentials 2019 and just completed an upgrade last night, so I wonder if that upgrade caused the problem.

I checked my security settings for that network drive and it is set to all users with full control, so I don't think my Permissions are not set to allow write access.

My workstation is the Administrative Console. Should I run Workstation install again from this workstation? I tried running ProSeries "As Administrator" but still got the same error.

How can I fix this mess?

[LJHCPA]

This mess is getting worse. I googled this problem and tried a couple of the "solutions" mentioned.

One suggestion was to run the Program "Connected Customer". When I do that it goes through getting updates then trying to license my products. This results in this error message: "ProSeries failed to license products. Error storing the local entitlement cache." This process eventually terminates with noting "Nothing is licensed".

I ran the program in the ProSeries 2021 directory called "Tools-Repair Updates". That appeared to download and reinstall all prior updates, but then I get the same loop as running "Connected Customer" did above.  

Is my only solution to contact Intuit Technical Support by phone?

[TaxGuyBill]

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@LJHCPA wrote:

. My server is running Windows Server Essentials 2019 and just completed an upgrade last night, so I wonder if that upgrade caused the problem.

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I think the first thing I would do is try to "roll back" that update to see if it works.

[LJHCPA · Accepted solution]

This turned out to be a Microsuck problem. It may have been the server update that caused it, but the disk which ProSeries was installed on was set to write protected.  I didn't do that, Microsuck did it without my knowledge or permission. I had to run Dispart on the server and manually clear the readonly attribute. ProSeries now works as before, but I wonder how often I'm going to have to run the Diskpart utility if MS keeps setting the attribute to read only