topic sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module in Administration and Deployment

sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module

TimR — Sun, 20 Oct 2024 23:59:46 GMT

Hi all,

I attempted to migrate from SAS 9.4 M6 to SAS 9.4 M8. The update dialogue hit a brick wall when attempting to update Base SAS 64-bit English. The error log showed the complaint of "sashost.dll The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process". This was odd in that I rebooted the system just prior to initiating the upgrade, and I did no SAS work between the reboot and initiating the upgrade. I tried it multiple times with the same bad result. I also installed Windows systernals ProcMon to check if there was any obvious SAS modules in memory that might be causing the block -- I did not see any. I've opened a ticket with SAS and, based on my research, am proposing two things to implement during my "preboot" before my next attempt:

1) Turn off endpoint/anti-virus scanning to ensure it doesn't grab the dll and hold it

2) Temporarily set all of the SAS services to 'Manual' so they do not summon or load any modules that might be branching to and locking sashost.dll

Can y'all think of any others?

Thanks!

TimR

Re: sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module

picardda — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 13:39:35 GMT

I've had this issue when uninstalling SAS 9.4 on desktop pc. I renamed sashost.dll and was able to delete it. Not sure why I was able to renamed but this worked for me.

Re: sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module

TimR — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:22:32 GMT

Thanks picardda -- it's weird that would work, but I will put that in my "to try" list!

Any other ideas out there on a Monday morning?

Thanks!

TimR

Re: sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module

TimR — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:33:02 GMT

Hi picardda -- Did you rename sashost.dll, reboot, and then start the install or did you just rename sashost.dll and jump right into the install?

Re: sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module

ronf_sas — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 15:39:05 GMT

You don't need to reboot. Just rename the file and hit Retry on the SAS Deployment Wizard.

Re: sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module

JuanS_OCS — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 09:31:15 GMT

So it was resolved for you @TimR ?

Re: sashost.dll “in use”, blocking the UIP install of the new base SAS (English) module

BrNiel — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 19:43:34 GMT

We've helped others with the same issue - the sashost.dll is read from and/or replaced several times during various Update-in-Place processes, and this can lead to brief locking of the file by on-demand security endpoint software scanning. As you found, if you've verified that all SAS Client/Service processes were stopped prior to the update attempt - and there are no locks being held on that file - renaming it to .old or _old.dll, etc. and hitting "Retry" in the SAS Deployment Wizard is a possible workaround.