If you use ESET antivirus, the following error appears when you post the Nominal Link from Sage 50 Payroll into Sage 50 Accounts 64-bit:

'Unable to connect to the Sage Data service on machine'

This error prevents the nominal link from posting. When you click Retry, this error can also appear:

'The RPC server is unavailable'

Antivirus software

There are settings in ESET antivirus that can affect your Sage software. If you amend these settings, you can resolve the issue.

Consult your IT support before making any changes to your antivirus software, to ensure any changes are correct.

The setting you need to amend is changing the Web and Email SSL/TLS option to Interactive mode.

 NOTE: Sage technical support aren't able to help you change settings in your antivirus software. For support with this, contact your IT support.  

Check if you can now post the nominal link. If you post it successfully, you can change your ESET settings back if required.

If the issue persists after completing this, continue to the next section.

SDO and payroll.ini

Install 32-bit SDO service

Follow the steps below to uninstall the existing SDO service, and install the 32-bit SDO version. Only install the SDO on the computer that holds the Accounts data.

1. Click the search box in your windows taskbar.
2. Type 'add or remove programs', and click the control panel option with this name.
3. Find the SDO Engine and select the option to uninstall it.
4. Visit the download and install the SDO update article, and download the relevant 32-bit installer for your version of Sage 50 Accounts.

    

5. Open the downloaded .zip file and click Extract all.
   
6. Click Extract.
7. Once the extracted file opens, double-click the x86 folder.
8. Double-click Sage50Accounts_SDO.
9. Check the box to accept the licence agreement, then click Install.
10. If you're prompted to allow the app to make changes to your computer, click Yes or Allow.
11. Once the installation is complete, click Finish.
12. Browse to C:\PROGRAMDATA\Sage\Payroll.

Amend payroll.ini

Sage 50 Payroll needs to know which file to use to post your payroll information to Sage Accounts. To do this, your software uses the payroll.ini file.

There's typically more than one payroll.ini file. To ensure the nominal link works correctly, you must apply the same changes to each payroll.ini.

1. Check the following locations for a payroll.ini:
   
   • C:\ProgramData\Sage\Payroll
      TIP: Can't see the ProgramData folder? Make sure you can view hidden files and folders in your Windows. 
   • C:\Windows
   • C:\Users\\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Windows

1. Press the Windows  key then, in the Start Search box, type notepad.exe.
2. Right-click notepad.exe, then click Run as administrator.
3. Click File, then click Open.
4. From the file type drop-down list, click All Files (*.*).
5. Browse to and select the payroll.ini file, then click Open.
6. Under the [Payroll4] section, type the relevant line from the table below:

   Sage Accounts v32	SDOEngine=SDOEngine.32
   Sage Accounts v31	SDOEngine=SDOEngine.31
   Sage Accounts v30	SDOEngine=SDOEngine.30
   Sage Accounts v29	SDOEngine=SDOEngine.29
   Sage Accounts v28	SDOEngine=SDOEngine.28
   Sage Accounts v27	SDOEngine=SDOEngine.27
   Sage Accounts v26	SDOEngine=SDOEngine.26

7. Click File, then click Save.
8. Click File, then click Exit.
9. Repeat steps 2 to 6 for each payroll.ini.

Log in to Sage 50 Payroll as normal and check if you resolved the issue.

Change to Sage 50 Accounts 32-bit

If the issue still occurs, uninstall the 64-bit Sage 50 Accounts, and install the 32-bit version.

For help with doing this, follow the guides below:

1. For help with uninstalling the 64-bit version, follow our article on how to uninstall Sage 50 Accounts.
2. Use the 32-bit option in our Install Sage 50 Accounts article.

Test whether you've resolved the issue. If not, we recommend your IT support temporarily uninstall ESET and check if the issue is resolved, then reinstall ESET. If it works with ESET uninstalled, you need to troubleshoot your ESET settings.

 NOTE: If you temporarily disable ESET anti virus, it can still affect your software. We recommend you temporarily uninstall, test if this resolves the issue, then reinstall ESET.