Introduction

Total Visual Agent automates the system administration, monitoring, and repetitive tasks your databases need. Schedule a wide range of tasks such as nightly compacts, hourly data extracts, and run them in a fully automated and audited manner, including as a Windows Service. Create multiple events with different frequency, start and end times, and receive email alerts if anything goes wrong.

Symptoms

We recently received a few customer reports that after running Total Visual Agent 2016 for years, it:

1. Suddenly stops working.
   • No new programs were installed or permissions changed. Total Visual Agent just stopped performing its tasks.
   • The Total Visual Agent Manager won't run. This is the most basic process. The splash screen appears and hangs.
2. Uninstalling Total Visual Agent works but when reinstalling, the setup program freezes after specifying the installation folder:
   
   

Assessment: Microsoft Access Database Engine (ACE) is Damaged

Total Visual Agent is dependent on the Microsoft Access Database Engine (ACE) to manage Access databases. By default, it installs and uses the Access 2010, 32-bit version.

We suspect that a Windows Update put the Access Database Engine 2010 into an unstable state which prevents it from being loaded.

This also impacts the setup program which hangs when checking to see if ACE is installed. This is normally not a problem, but because the ACE DLL is failing, the setup program freezes. This is also why Total Visual Agent stops working.

Uninstall the Microsoft Access 2010 Database Engine

Fortunately, uninstalling and/or reinstalling ACE 2010 addresses the issue. The latest version of ACE 2010 is SP2 and was released on Dec 20, 2019. Though Total Visual Agent 2016 installed an earlier version of ACE, we have not verified that is the problem as it may also happen with the latest version. Regardless, uninstall and reinstall ACE 2010.

Follow these steps:

1. Exit from all programs that could be using Access databases (Access, Total Visual Agent, Total Access Admin, etc.)
2. Uninstall the Microsoft Access Database Engine 2010
   
3. Try to run the Total Visual Agent Manager.
   1. If your PC has Access 2016/365, 32-bit installed, it may now work by connecting to that newer version of ACE. You are done.
4. If Total Visual Agent Manager freezes and won't run:
   1. Download the Access 2010 Database Engine from Microsoft (free):
      https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13255
      • Select the 32-bit version (AccessDatabaseEngine.exe), not the 64-bit one.
   2. Reinstall it with the downloaded file.
   3. Retry and it should work.

Please let us know if this makes a difference.

Running Access 2016 May Corrupt ACE Again

If ACE 2010 is installed, launching Access 2016 (32-bit) may open with a "Preparing to install" dialog and corrupt ACE 2010 in the process.

We have not replicated this in our test environments nor identify which recent Windows/Office Update causes this change as ACE 2010 and Access 2016 should not overlap.

If you experience this, uninstall the Access 2010 Database Engine. Total Visual Agent should then use the version of ACE exposed in Access 2016/365 to avoid this conflict (steps 1 to 3 above).

Total Visual Agent 2021 is Shipping

Note that Total Visual Agent 2021 is available with many New Features. Existing customers can upgrade at a discounted price.