Error 1315: Unable to write to specified folder when performing an MYOB upgrade or repair

This support note applies to:

AE Tax Series 6 & 8 (AU)
AE Tax (AU)
AE Tax (NZ)
AE Document Manager (AU)
AE Document Manager (NZ)
AO Document Manager (AU)
AO Document Manager (NZ)
AO Tax (AU)
AO Tax (NZ)
AO Classic (NZ)

Article ID: 51806321

When performing an upgrade or repair to an MYOB application (such as installing the 2020 FBT Install), you might encounter the following error:

Error 1315: Unable to write to specified folder
<folder path and name listed>.

This error only occurs if your Windows installation has the most recent updates from Microsoft (since March 2020)

We've identified this error may affect a very limited number of practices, that meet very specific requirements.

Below, we've outlined the cause and scenarios in which this could occur, and instructions on how to resolve the issue.

What is the cause?

In March 2020, Microsoft released a number of hotfixes across multiple versions of Windows Operating systems, that made changes to the SMB Protocols.

Subsequent to this March 2020 series of updates, a number of cumulative updates have been released, that include these hotfixes.

At the bottom of this article, we have listed the KB's that we are aware of (at the time this article was published) that we know to cause this - should the other fixes outlined below not resolve the issue, you can remove the relevant Microsoft Hotfix.

MYOB does not recommend removing Microsoft Windows Hotfixes. This should be considered only as a last resort, and you should make yourself aware of the consequences.

How do I fix it?

Choose the relevant section based on what appears in the error:

Error mentions a full UNC path (such as \\servername\AENET\MYOBAE\AESQL\....)
Error mentions a drive letter (such as M:\MYOBAE\AESQL\....)

If you encounter these errors, don't attempt to install to a different path other than what the installer selects. Follow the steps below.

Installing to an incorrect path will create larger issues which will take much longer to be resolved.

My error includes full UNC paths

Where the error indicates a UNC path such as \\servername\AENET\MYOBAE\AESQL\example_folder, This will indicate a permissions issue.

The error indicates that the installer is not able to write to the UNC path. While it might have worked prior to these particular Windows updates, we have seen a small number of sites with restrictive access control levels (Such as only having "Domain Users" being granted access) set on the UNC share.

For the install to work:

On the Server where the share is shared from, open the share properties
Modify the permission for the share
Ensure that Everyone has Full Control.

Depending on your folder permissions, you might also need to set appropriate permissions for that path as well.

You can set it from the AESQL (for AE) or AOSQL (for AO).

Permissions will need to be set to Everyone having Full Control. (In some instances, you might be able to use the user System rather than Everyone)

You can choose to remove these permission changes once the install, upgrade or repair has completed, if necessary. However, future installs might also run into the same issue.

My error includes a Drive Letter such as M:

Where the error points to a drive letter, such as M:\ or S:\, this is generally caused by older installation options that have been upgraded over time. Since the March 2020 Windows hotfix updates, these mapped drives are no longer accessible by the Windows installer.

Give our support team a call and mention this article and our team will be able to assist.

Our support team will need access to your server via Teamviewer to resolve this.

What Windows hotfixes are related?

There may be situations where neither of the above resolutions are not suitable, or you may want to check before installation which hotfixes are related to this.

We've included below the list of hotfixes related for our supported operating systems. Expand the relevant section.

Depending on when you install your updates, there might be one or more of the hotfixes listed for your Operating System.

In addition, the 'original' hotfix might have been superseded by one or more new cumulative hotfixes. We've included lists to the Microsoft Windows Update Catalog to allow you to see what hotfix(es) supersede these hotfixes.

Windows Server 2012 & Windows 8