Troubleshooting the error "Microsoft Dynamics GP has stopped working", causing the application to crash/close

In this document, we wanted to put together all the information for potential causes and resolutions, for when users are working with Microsoft Dynamics GP and get the message that “Microsoft Dynamics GP has stopped working” before the application then closes.

CAUSES

--Cause 1: Third-party products, customizations, VBA or corrupt modified forms or reports dictionary files. See Resolution 1.

--Cause 2: The modified forms and/or reports dictionary files may be corrupted. See Resolution 2.

--Cause 3: A antivirus or similar application is scanning files in the Microsoft Dynamics GP directory. See Resolution 3.

--Cause 4: The Dynamics.exe is not configured as an exclusion in Data Execution Prevention (DEP). See Resolution 4.

--Cause 5: The user launching Microsoft Dynamics GP is denied access to a file or registry location. See Resolution 5.

--Cause 6: VBA configured for Microsoft Dynamics GP on a Windows Server 2019 machine. See Resolution 6.

--Cause 7: Posting RM Cash Receipts causing Microsoft Dynamics GP to crash

--Cause 8: Dynamics GP crashing when attempting to open Workflow History on a workflow with over 130 steps, or so.

--Cause 9: Stuck records in the SY07250/SY07255 tables can cause Microsoft Dynamics GP to crash

--Cause 10: Docking/Undocking workstations

RESOLUTIONS

--Resolution 1: Use the following steps to get a ‘clean’ Microsoft Dynamics GP directory to rule out third party products, customizations, VBA and modified forms and reports dictionary files.

1. On a machine with Microsoft Dynamics GP installed, verify all users are logged out of that GP instance.
2. Rename the GP directory on that machine from something like this example >> C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP\ to something like this >> C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Dynamics\GP_OLD
3. Then, in Control Panel, click on ‘Programs’ then ‘Programs and Features’. Right-click on the Microsoft Dynamics GP instance and click ‘Change’.
4. In the Program Maintenance window that opens, click the ‘Repair’ option and run through the repair process successfully.

       This will re-create the entire Microsoft Dynamics GP directory we just renamed, including all folders and files, but without any third-party products, customizations, VBA nor forms/reports dictionary files.

5. At this point, login to this ‘new’ Microsoft Dynamics GP application using this new directory and see if the “Microsoft Dynamics GP has stopped working” error still shows or not.

        --If it does not, then we would first add back any third-party products, customizations, VBA, one at a time, testing Microsoft Dynamics GP after adding each one, to see if this issue returns or not.

           If the issue does return after adding one of these back into the application, then you may have the potential cause of Microsoft Dynamics GP crashing and you’ll want to investigate further.

           NOTE: Forms and Reports dictionary files may or may not need to be added back last, depending on whether there are any modifications of third-party products.

        --If the issue still shows, even without the third-party products, customizations, VBA, forms and reports dictionary files, then we’d want to continue with the rest of the potential causes in this document.

--Resolution 2: If you went through the Resolution 1 steps, this would’ve helped determine whether the modified forms and/or reports dictionary files are causing the “Microsoft Dynamics GP has stopped working” message or not.

   If you find these dictionary files are potentially causing the application to crash, the recommendation is to export everything into a package file(s) via the Customization Maintenance window, rename or move the forms and reports dictionary files from where the Dynamics.set file is looking for them, then import the package file back into the Customization Maintenance window, which will re-create the forms and reports dictionary files anew, at the same location.

  The following article has these steps we would use:

How to re-create the Reports.dic file in Microsoft Dynamics GP

  After the forms and reports dictionary files are re-created, launch Microsoft Dynamics GP and see if the crashing issue has been resolved or not.

--Resolution 3: The recommendation for antivirus applications and similar applications, is to configure the applications to have exclusions for the folders and files mentioned below, for Microsoft Dynamics GP:

1. The Microsoft Dynamics GP install directory as well as the Dynamics.exe file.
2. Any shared network folders storing the modified forms and reports dictionary files for Microsoft Dynamics GP.
3. These file extensions as well, which are used by Microsoft Dynamics GP:

        .cnk  -- These files are used when customizations or service packs are installed. These files should not be in a directory for a significant time.

        .dic and .chm -- These files are the Help files for Microsoft Dynamics GP.

        .set -- These files are the start files. These files contain information about the products that are installed and where the products are located.

        .ini  -- These files are the configuration files. These files hold information about which user logged on most recently, what data source is used and the paths.

        .dat  -- These files are ctree data files that are used with a Microsoft SQL Server database.

        .idx  -- These files are ctree index files that are used with a Microsoft SQL Server database.

        .vba – These files are used if there are Microsoft Visual Basic for Application (VBA) modifications for Microsoft Dynamics GP.

        .log -- These files are used by a to troubleshoot error messages in Microsoft Dynamics GP, such as the Dexsql.log.

--Resolution 4:  Add Dynamics.exe as an exclusion in DEP:

1. Log onto the Windows server or workstation as an administrator.
2. Go into Control Panel and click on ‘Systems’.
3. In ‘Systems’, click on ‘Advanced System Settings’.
4. In the System Properties window that opens, in the Performance section, click Settings.
5. In the Performance Options window, click on the ‘Data Execution Prevention’ tab
6. Select ‘Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select’.
7. Click the Add… button.
8. Browse to the Microsoft Dynamics GP directory folder and select the Dynamics.exe file, click Open.
9. Click Apply to save your changes and click OK to close the window.
10. Launch Microsoft Dynamics GP and see if this resolves the issue with the application crashing.

--Resolution 5:

For users launching and using Microsoft Dynamics GP, we recommend a minimum of ‘Read’ permission to the following:

1. The Microsoft Dynamics GP directory where the application is installed.
2. Any shared network directories holding forms/reports dictionary files for Microsoft Dynamics GP.
3. The user’s own TEMP directory on the machine where Microsoft Dynamics GP is installed.

  If the user has these permissions, as a test, you can try Full Control permissions to see if that resolves the issue.

  If Microsoft Dynamics GP is still crashing and it appears to be permissions related, we would want to use Process Monitor to capture the user launching and logging into Microsoft Dynamics GP, to then verify whether any ACCESS DENIED messages exist, for any files or registry settings.

--Resolution 6: Microsoft Dynamics GP will crash/close when accessing any email/outlook functionality for any Microsoft Office version newer than 1810, when VBA is also configured for the Microsoft Dynamics GP application.

Microsoft Dynamics GP crashes/closes when emailing after Office Update - Microsoft Dynamics GP Community

Microsoft Dynamics GP and VBA: Future Considerations - Microsoft Dynamics GP Community

--Resolution 7:  While less common, we’ve seen Microsoft Dynamics GP crash when posting RM Cash Receipts and the batch would go to recovery due to having security for the window set to ‘Project Accounting’ alternate version of the window and the client didn’t have that feature installed for Dynamics GP.  Setting the window back to the default ‘Microsoft Dynamics GP’ version in the Alternate/Modified Forms and Reports window, resolved the issue.

--Resolution 8: With workflows that have approximately 130 steps or so, when attempting to view the Workflow History for that workflow, Microsoft Dynamics GP will crash.  The only workaround would be to use the Workflow History report to view that workflow’s history. The exact number of steps that cause GP to crash may be different depending on the environment.

   The report can be found under Administration > Reports > Company > Workflow History, in Microsoft Dynamics GP.

--Resolution 9: The SY07250/SY07255 company tables capture data for the status reports on the navigation list which would normally clear/empty from these tables.  After a while, if these records are not removed by default or manually be the user, what can happen is a large buildup of records in these tables can cause Microsoft Dynamics GP to crash when the user attempts to open a specific navigation list view.

   When this happens, we have to delete the records manually when the users are logged out of Microsoft Dynamics GP, replacing XXX in these scripts, with the actual User ID that is having the issue:

1. Delete SY07250 where USERID = ‘XXX’
2. Delete SY07255 where ActionStatusID not in (select ActionStatusID from SY07250)

--Resolution 10: Docking and undocking a workstation, with Microsoft Dynamics GP open, can cause not only display issues within the application to occur, but we have also seen where it can cause Dynamics GP to crash as well. The recommendation is to have users log out of Dynamics GP before docking/undocking workstations, to prevent this from occurring.

Other potential causes of the “Microsoft Dynamics GP has stopped working” messages/crashing:

--The server or workstation that Microsoft Dynamics GP is installed onto is pending a reboot from a Microsoft or Windows update. Rebooting the machine allows for those changes and update to be completed.

--When the system requirements for Microsoft Dynamics GP are not met on the machine that the application is installed onto, specifically the amount of ‘available’, not ‘total’, RAM and CPU processing, to begin with.

This is just a start of the most common causes we see cause the Microsoft Dynamics GP application to crash/close when working in it.

The plan is to keep updating this blog as other causes become apparent to us in order to keep this blog relevant in the future as well.