Well, I think I've found where the problem lies and it looks like it may be a bug in the software.
We removed all the McAfee VirusScan software, including Host Intrusion Prevention. We disabled the public and home firewalls. None of this changed the result that the cashier is not found (error 201).
I used SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to access the offline database and was able to perform reads and writes to different tables. I created an Access 2007 database with an ODBC link to the cashier table in the offline database. I was able to read and write to the table. All this showed me that nothing was blocking, even partially, access to the database or its tables. It also shows me that the database isn’t corrupted.
I went to another PC with RMS that has all the security in place. I disconnected it from the network and got the same result. This PC was pointed to our very first store and had an account named (Administrator) that is only used for admin stuff. We’ll this account is really secure with a user name of a single digit and a password of the same single digit. I tried it and was able to log in. I was shocked. It worked. I checked the network cable to make sure I was still disconnected. I was.
I exited RMS POS and tried it again and it still worked. I exited again and tried some of the credentials I had previous tried and they continued to not work.
From there I went back into SSMS to look at the cashier table. I deleted the password for one of the cashiers that wasn’t being found. Then I started RMS POS, while disconnected, entered the username, left the password blank and clicked OK. The cashier was found and I was logged in. I exited POS and restarted it. This time I entered the username and then clicked Change Password. I set the password to what it is when connected to the store database. I clicked OK and was presented with the login screen. I entered the username and the password I had been using all along and was able to successfully login.
At this point I went back the SSMS and refreshed the listing for the offline cashier table. I compared the offline encoded password to the encoded password on the store database. They were now different.
After I proved to my self that while I was offline I could repeatedly log in I exited RMS POS. I then reconnected to the network and started the RMS POS using the same credentials. It told me the store database was back on line and asked if I wanted to reconnect and upload my transactions. I said yes and the upload process completed successfully. All is well. Not quite, I then entered my opening and closing amount and performed a Z report. This results in a synchronizing of the offline database with data from the store database, including downloading the cashier table. This overwrites the password in the offline database with the one in the store database.
I disconnected again and tried to login again with the credentials that previously worked. It fails.
My conclusion is that it appears that the RMS POS software is using one algorithm to encrypt/decrypt the password while connected to the store database and a different one when in offline mode.
Could someone try this to verify what I found?
My agency regularly goes to different types of shows where they would use the offline mode. This needs a solution as we need to be able to do this.
A very ugly work around would be to create an Access (assuming Access is installed) database that has an auto execute macro that would run a pass through query, pointed at the local offline database. The query would issue a command to delete all of the passwords in the cashier table. Or possible and OSQL command to do it. Like I said, VERY ugly.
Terry
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