TIP: You can find help to locate your Sage data on your network in our network guide.

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Restart Data Services

Stopping and starting your data services can help resolve this message if your Accounts data is stored locally on the PC you're seeing the message on. For more information on how to restart your services, see our Stop and restart the Sage Data and Control Services article.  

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Data stored on a network

This can happen on a network where the network connection is unavailable. To resolve this, open Computer or My Computer and double-click the relevant network drive. If the drive opens, close Sage 50 Accounts and try to open it again.

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Use a UNC path instead of a mapped drive

Sage 50 Accounts supports the use of UNC paths to connect client computers to the data stored on the server computer, this can resolve this issue. Read more >

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If the Select Company window path is correct

You must ensure the software is not set to run in compatibility mode.

• From the Desktop, right-click Sage 50 Accounts then click Properties, click the Compatibility tab and ensure the Run this program in compatibility mode check box is clear.

You should try browsing to the ACCDATA folder using the path specified in the Select Company window. Someone may have deleted, renamed, or moved one of the folders. You can manually create a missing folder and restore a backup in Sage 50 Accounts.

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Create the path manually

 EXAMPLE: The path specified in the Select Company window is C:\Program Files\Sage\Accounts\Company.003 but the Company.003 folder is missing.

1. Browse as far as you can - in this example you would browse to C:\Program Files\Sage\Accounts
   
   

   NOTE: When you manually browse the path, it may bring up a network password that needs to be turned off - Read more >

2. Click File then click New and click Folder.
3. Enter the name of the missing folder, for example, Company.003.
4. Double-click the new folder then click File and click New then click Folder.
5. Enter the name of the next missing folder, for example, ACCDATA.

Once the ACCDATA folder exists, open Sage 50 Accounts and complete the ActiveSetup Wizard. You can then restore your last backup.

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If the Select Company window path is incorrect

If the path points to the wrong path in the Select Company window, you need to correct the path. You can find help to locate your Sage data on your network in our network guide.

NOTE: When following the steps below, if the ProgramData or Application Data folders don't appear, you may need to show hidden files and folders.

1. Browse to the following folder:
   

   Version	Folder
   Sage 50 Accounts v30	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2024
   Sage 50 Accounts v29	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2023
   Sage 50 Accounts v28	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2022
   Sage 50 Accounts v27	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2021
   Sage 50 Accounts v26	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2020
   Sage 50 Accounts v25	C:\ProgramData\Sage\Accounts\2019

2. Locate and double-click the COMPANY file then click Open with Notepad.
3. Amend the relevant line in the COMPANY file accordingly then click File and click Save.
4. Click File then click Exit.

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Activate Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5

The Invalid directory path message has been seen after recent Windows updates disables Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5.

1. Hold down the Windows key  and press R.
2. Type appwiz.cpl and click OK.
3. Click Turn Windows features on or off.
4. Clear the  Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or 3.5.1 check box then click OK.
   If the check box is already cleared, continue to step 5.
5. Click Turn Windows features on or off again.
6. Select the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or 3.5.1 check box, so it shows as  or  .
7. Leave other settings as they are and click OK.
8. If prompted, click Download files from Windows Update then, if required, click Restart now.

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