PowerBuilder 12.5 Classic does not start in Windows 10

[Former Member]

I recently updated my machine to Windows 10 having PowerBuilder previously installed. It does not get past the splash screen. I have attempted to uninstalled and re-installed with no success. Any ideas?

[Former Member]

Just installed PowerBuilder 12.6 in Windows 10 with a touch screen, I get the behavior you describe; however, if you go to Task View you can see that PowerBuilder is in fact open. 

You can either use the touch screen by swiping from the left edge to the right to open Task View or using your keyboard you can use the Windows key + the tab key to open Task View. Select the PowerBuilder task and you can proceed.

Note: I am not able to see the task using the old Alt + Tab key combination, I must use the Windows + Tab key combination to open PowerBuilder.

[Former Member]

Hi Joseph;

  I believe that you will need to turn off the Touch Screen Service before PB 12.6 IDE will appear.

Regards ... Chris

[Former Member]

I am not having a problem with getting to the IDE. I am stating that I can get to PB 12.6 IDE without having to turn off touch screen service by using the Task View feature of Windows 10. I can see the 12.6 IDE in Task View and once I select the IDE it opens normally...no need to disable the touch screen.

[Former Member]

To confirm though that its not the Touch Screen service interfering .... If you disable the touch screen service, does the PB 12.6 IDE appear right away at start-up on its own?

[Former Member]

Joseph, that is awesome.  I'll give 12.5.1 a try on a surface later this week to see if your swipe solution works on this version too.

[Former Member]

Joseph / Mike;

  If you have not already down so - please make sure that you log this problem with SAP Technical Support and open a ticket for this issue. If you do not have an SAP support plan - please use this alternative:  Report PowerBuilder 12.6 Regression Bugs

Thanks ... Chris

[Former Member]

You are correct, when I disable the 'Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service' then PowerBuilder starts up normally without having to use the Task View.

Additionally, we were encountering issues when opening a grid datawindow with a lot of rows and columns. After displaying the results promptly, the application would hang for another 10 seconds after retrieval.  This problem disappeared when the "Touch Keyboard..." service was disabled.

[Former Member]

   Yes, I thought that might be the case. Playing around with the Task Manager was only a poor workaround for the actual problem. For some reason, PB's IDE & PBVM do not interact well with those two services when active. It's a problem that I can remember being reported even back into PB v11.5.

    The problem with touch services also seems to affect the PB installation process as well. I also think that  these problems are Intel CPU related as I can't replicate these problems on my AMD processors. Very weird!

[Former Member]

zulmach posted on linkedin that he is doing something similar, using the windows key + D. 

this is what he posted:

"If you find your PowerBuilder Splash Screen is not closing on your touch screen laptop just right click on your taskbar click on ShowDesktop till your desktop shown, and do right click on your taskbar again, and click on Show Open Window. Woalaaaa.... your PowerBuilder IDE is showing. you can also use shortcut WinKey+D twice (first to show desktop second to show open windows)"

Joseph, are you still having problems with your grid datawindow?  I haven't had similar issues with any grid datawindows.  I'm running 12.5.1 on a surface 4.

The problem with DataWindow arguments (can't have more than one) is the big bug with handwriting service.

[Former Member]

I'm running Win10 with touch screens on a couple different PCs.  On the Dell Desktop with an HP Touch monitor I was able to use Joseph's Show Desktop/Show Windows trick.  It worked for a while, but then I started having issues.  It also didn't work on my Surface Pro 3 with Win 10.

What did work on both machines for me was to pop open the Task Manager, Right-Click the empty window under Sybase PowerBuilder 12.5, select Maximize.  The splash-screen goes full screen momentarily and then the IDE comes up.  Yet another Ugly Workaround, but it seems to work...

[Former Member]

Armeen has mentioned that when Appeon releases its first new version of PowerBuilder, Windows 10 compatibility will be part of it.

[Former Member]

Has anyone from SAP  or appeon sent microsoft a bug report about the Touch Keyboard service preventing start up of Powerbuilder?   It would be nice to know that microsoft at least knows about it from the developer.

I get that the best solution is to install PB 15 or whatever appeon calls the next version but since that is at least months away, it may be possible that microsoft will do what sap can't.

also, does anyone know whether this problem also occurs in old (PB 9 or prior) versions of powerbuilder?  I'm sure that i'm not the only one who has to use old versions of PB to get to old unconverted code to export it past the PB 9/10 unicode divide.

[Former Member]

The problem exists in PB 11.5.1 for sure.

I was forced to rollback to 8.1 after I have stumbled upon that issue.

I wish some sort of fix could be issued either by SAP or MS. Setting touch off is not a solution.

I know PB 11.5.1 is not supported for Win 7/8/10 but...c'mon!

[Former Member]

try to deactivate windows service touch keyboard in win10.

by some reason this service does not enable to start Pwb

[Former Member]

Hi Edson,

where can I find the option to set disabled?

André Rust

[Former Member]

run: "compmgmt.msc" to access Computer Management and in the services find "Touch Keyboard" to Disabled and confirm if ok.

note that current service disabe Touch Keyboard in the Windows.

B.Regards,
Edson.

[Former Member]

Hi Ediso,

I have found it but my Windows 10 On-Screen Keyboard is disable a long time ago.

André Rust

[Former Member]

Hi all.

I have an Asus machine with touch screen and this weekend upgrade to Windows 10 and stopped working PB 12.6.He is always starting in the spash window.

If I end the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Service Panel process; PB12.6 starts without problem. The same happens when you create DataWindow Object with two or more arguments; if I end the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Service Panel process I can aggregate and use as many arguments need in the Query but if the service is active I can't have two o mor arguments in the query.

[Former Member]

Hi Juan;

  This is a known issue to Sybase and now SAP since PB 11.5 on W7 (and higher) based PC's. I believe that there is a support ticket open for this as well. Yes, various touch pad, touch screen, RDT, etc MS-Windows Service(s) can cripple the IDE in the way you describe.

   The only solution (work around) for now is to disable these offending services.

PS: This problem seems to only happen on INTEL based machines and not AMD from my experiences (weird or what)!

Regards ... Chris

[Former Member]

We just put together a new development machine based on the latest intel processor and  Samsung SSD's..  Needless to say it is quick

We installed pb 10.5 successfully on the machine and also plan to install our 12.6 - as we have products that require both.  I set pb 10.5 to run in comparability mode for Windows XP2.  It seems to startup and work normally except that for some reason the compiles hang for extraordinary amounts of time in the wrting phase.

Looking at the task manager it looks as if it is going through some slow cycle or processing followed by IO and then sleep.   At first I thought it was permanently hung - but if I wait it eventually returns successfully.

Any ideas would be appreciated?

[Former Member]

Hi

I discovered that after stopped 'Touch keyboard and handwriting panel' service , Powerbuilder starts! I cannot realize why such service hangs start of PB.

[Former Member]

Hi Alfonso;

  Ahhhh ... that sounds exactly like the age old problem with PB since v12.0 running on W7 and higher where the DataWindow Painter refuses to allow two or more retrieval arguments on certain PC's. The problem was traced back to running various Windows Services like you encountered that were hampering the PB IDE - in particular the DW Painter. The solution was to shutdown unnecessary services until the DW Painter worked. I have even heard that other 3rd party software like TeamViewer also created this situation. Again, any software that runs as a "service" could affect PB in that way. Sounds like W10 has just "heightened" that situation.

  Interestingly enough, the PC's I have running W10 with PB v12.0/12.5.1/12.6 are all running great with these type of services active. However, all my PC's are AMD based CPU's and not Intel. I run TeamViewer and all sorts of touch pad, finger print recognition, etc based services with no issues. Even back in W7 with TeamViewer, I never got the DW Painter issue. I'm personally still convinced that it has something to do with the Intel CPU chip architecture and whatever the PB IDE is doing that utilizes that hardware somehow differently than AMD.

Just my $0.2.

Regards ... Chris

[Former Member]

Hi Chris...

Your license allows you to use PB through Remote Desktop? If yes, can you test if it's working?

Andreas.

[Former Member]

Hi Chris,

my PB is running on W10 perfect. But when you install PB on a clean W10 PB crash ramdomized.

I have reinstall PB 12.5.2 and 12.6. Same problem.

booth tested with compatible mode or not.

André Rust

[Former Member]

Hi André;

  All my W10 PCs with PB 12.1, 12.5.1 & 12.6 are running "solid". However, are all the machines use AMD processors not Intel. Also, I run my PB IDE's in "administrator" mode.

BTW:

1) What DBMS and in particular DB Client are you using?

2) Is the PB IDE always crashing after running an application?

HTH

Regards ... Chris

[Former Member]

Hi Chris,

after Upgrade from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 all works fine on my PC.

After a hard disk replacement I install a clean Windows 10. At  this time PB doesn't run stable in the development environment.

I have a intel Core i5-2400, 16GM RAM on x64 OS.

I can't create a version in PB or if I run PB after back to development environment PB crash.

Everything with and without compatibility mode. Also not in administration mode.

André Rust

[Former Member]

I wonder in your case ... if installing PB in MS-Windows SAFE mode might help the situation?

[Former Member]

Hi Chris,

I check this.

André Rust

[Former Member]

1) What DBMS and in particular DB Client are you using?

2) Is the PB IDE always crashing after running an application?

[Former Member]

Hi Chris

I have checked this. Same crash no changes.

PC crashes even if I want to build an .exe.

1) Which particular DBMS DB client are you using?

• I use Oracle 12c.

2) Is the PB IDE always crashes after running an application?

• Yes, every time I started the development environment. One started EXE generates no crash.

Currently I use a Windows 7 PC to develop in the hope that soon PB works.

André Rust

[Former Member]

FWIW: An unstable DB CLient driver can take down the PB IDE faster than anything else. So can an SCM (Source Code Manager). Other than this, the PB IDE is normally rock solid (unless its layout registry entries become damaged).

So the last suggestions that I have for you are:

1) Try an older Oracle client

2) If an SCM is active, try copying the development folder(s) over to a new structure and then run the PB IDE without connecting to any SCM.

3) Reset the PB IDE layout by deleting the "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Sybase\PowerBuilder\12.6\Layout\Default" section in the MS-Windows registry. Note: replace 12.6 with your PB version.

4) Try shutting down any MS-Windows services that deal with touch pad, touch screen, RDT, etc features.

Other than that, I am at a loss to explain your current instabilities. 

[Former Member]

Hi all.

I have an Asus machine with touch screen and this weekend upgrade to Windows 10 and stopped working PB 12.6.He is always starting in the spash window.

If I end the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Service Panel process; PB12.6 starts without problem. The same happens when you create DataWindow Object with two or more arguments; if I end the Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Service Panel process I can aggregate and use as many arguments need in the Query but if the service is active I can't have two o mor arguments in the query.

[Former Member]

Hi Juan;

  This is a known issue to Sybase and now SAP since PB 11.5 (and higher) on W7 based PC's. I believe that there is a support ticket open for this as well. Yes, various touch pad, touch screen, RDT, etc MS-Windows Service(s) can cripple the IDE in the way you describe.

   The only solution (work around) for now is to disable these offending services.

PS: This problem seems to only happen on INTEL based machines and not AMD from my experiences (weird or what)!

Regards ... Chris

[Former Member]

That's helped me too. Disable TabletInputService.

[Former Member]

I would be interested to know why some people are having problems and others aren't... before I try.

FWIW I have seen other applications that need to be reinstalled after a W10 upgrade.  (They fail until they're reinstalled.)

So it might be an uninstall, a W10 upgrade, then a reinstall.  Has anyone tried this?

[Former Member]

Hi Jeff;

  Just upgraded my W7 HP Pavilion AMD A8 based PC to W10 64 bit yesterday. Everything seems to be working great. I have now tested PB 12.1, 12.5.1, 12.6, ASE 15.7, SS2014, SA 16, and Appeon 2015 (Web & Mobile). No issues what so ever.

Regards ... Chris

[former_member1333806]

I have this problem on multiple PB versions, including 12.6. Reinstall hasn't solved anything, nor has anything else suggested so far.

From monitoring, it looks like it's in the middle of something related to Sysam, although the log looks like Sysam has already given a green light.

I recall this happening before, and it was something like a cryptography DLL or a firewall port, but I can't find my notes and I'm stumped too.

[Former Member]

Hi Everyone;

  FYI .. I just upgraded my 2nd PC - an HP Pavilion Laptop - to W10 with no issues. Again, all my PB IDE's, Appeon Web, Appeon Mobile, SA, ASE, SS, etc software is working 1st class. I have also been able to build, compile, deploy & run applications from all of my PB & Appeon environments.

Note1: All my PC's are real devices

Note2: All my PC's thus far are AMD based CPU's

HTH

Regards ... Chris

[Former Member]

Thanks Chris, I'm feeling better about taking the plunge!

[Former Member]

Note3: I was upgrading from W7 to W10 on both PC's where I have tested the W10 installations.

[Former Member]

hey chris,

are you able to run your appeon applications in the edge browser?

[Former Member]

Hi Mike;

  No. It looks like Appeon tries to install the Mozilla plug-in but then just hangs.

  I hear that Appeon is very close to releasing Appeon 2015R2 in the next week or two that will address W10 & the new Chrome plug-in architecture. I don't know if this release will fix the new browser though. We'll just have wait & see.     😉

Regards ... Chris

[former_member190719]

No. It looks like Appeon tries to install the Mozilla plug-in but then just hangs.
I hear that Appeon is very close to releasing Appeon 2015R2 in the next week or two that will 
address W10 & the new Chrome plug-in architecture.

Technically they're called NPAPI and PPAPI.  As far as I know, Chrome (and possibly Opera) will be the only browsers to support PPAPI.  Edge and Mozilla will not.

[Former Member]

Hi Terry, I tested in diagnostic mode and it seems to work good, so there's a service or driver that is blocking Powerbuilder starts, have you found any solution ?

[Former Member]

The "splash-screen" issue comes when you are running Windows 10 in a laptop that has touch screen functionality.

I have done several tests with PB 11.5.1.

In PCs without touch-screen it plays like a dream. Wherever a touch screen is involved, I cannot get past PB splash screen.

[Former Member]

I haven't had any issues with PowerBuilder on Windows 10. Even PB 6.5 seems to work OK.

The only problems I noticed with Windows 10 are:

The program Calc was re-written and has a bizarre new look. After running it twice, it no longer will open. I installed Microsoft Calculator Plus which is from 2004 and is still on their website. The default view is really weird but in Classic view it looks just like the Calc everyone is used to.

Some new apps like Edge Browser require UAC to be turned on. Internet Explorer v11 is included and the WebBrowser ActiveX control still works which is a good thing.

The Window Titlebar color is now White and there isn't an easy way to change it.

[Former Member]

Great feedback Roland .. thanks!  

[Former Member]

I just found that the Windows 10 upgrade turned off sharing of the printer connected to my server and turned off the 'without password' security option.

[arnd_schmidt]

Hi Roland,

so you have the UAC turned off?

[Former Member]

Yes.

[Former Member]

Hi James,

Have you installed the Microsoft runtime files:

• The Microsoft Visual C++ runtime libraries msvcr71.dll, msvcp71.dll, msvcp100.dll, msvcr100.dll, and the Microsoft .NET Active Template Library (ATL) module, atl71.dll

PB 12.5 has dependencies on them and they are not part of the operating system.

Randy

[Former Member]

Hi James;

  FWIW, I am not surprised. My best advise if you really need to use/play with PB on W10 is to try PB 12.6 which is at least certified for W8.1. Other than that, you may have to wait until Appeon (who SAP are currently turning PB over to) release a W10 compliant version.

  I still don't understand why software vendors like SAP though would not have participated in the W10 betas and be aligning their products to the new O/S to then release a compliant version in parallel.

Regards ... Chris

[former_member202249]

Hi All,

PB engineering did test PB 12.6 against Windows 10 preview. 

/community/developer-center/powerbuilder/blog/2015/01/29/using-powerbuilder-126-on-windows-10-techni...

Pat

[Former Member]

Hi Patricia;

  That is what I thought ...  PB 12.6 might stand a better chance on W10 as its W8.1 compatible. Thanks for posting the link.

Regards ... Chris

[Former Member]

We have seen this same issue trying to run PB 12.6 in Windows 10 general release.  The splash screen appears and the pb126.exe hangs indefinitely.

Starting the OS in a diagnostic startup does let the IDE start.  Some service or windows component is preventing the IDE from completing its startup.

[ricardojasso]

Try running a program like regedit.exe from the search box while PowerBuilder is hanging to see if it opens. I did this and it worked on a test machine in which I had installed Windows 10 from scratch and PowerBuilder 12.5 afterwards.

I found this by mere accident and I don't know why it works. Maybe a service is preventing PB from opening and releases it when regedit runs.

By the way, this was done on a 64 bit version of Windows 10.

[Former Member]

Hi..

Are you on a RDP connection to that win10 clients?

Andreas.

[CobyKako]

Another info I found out on an incompatibility between VS 2010 and Windows 10 (which are however products from same company...):

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30381602/cant-install-visual-studio-2010-on-windows-10

Try to see if running the setup.exe from the PowerBuilder125 folder is better than running the one from the root PB125 install media.

HTH,

Jacob

[Former Member]

Thanks,

Going through your links now. I'll advise if anything yields results.

[CobyKako]

One tip you can test: http://windowsinstructed.com/clean-boot-windows-windows/

HTH,

Jacob

[CobyKako]

At this time, Windows 10 is not in the list of supported platforms and you can easily know the reason why.

Anyway, any errors or screenshots to share with?

Are you running the setup as Administrator?

Jacob