A few weeks ago, I finally solved this installation problem and I thought I'd share my fix so others don't have to bang their heads against the same wall that I did. I wasn’t able to get SAS EG to connect to the SAS server on one of my three computers. The problem, at least in my case, appeared to be that every last trace of previous SAS EG installations must be removed from the computer before the newest installation will connect to the SAS server. It appears that the server searches the machine for traces of previous installations and if it finds any leftover traces, the connection to the server is blocked and an error message is returned. However, instead of just saying, “There are leftover bits of previous SAS installations on your machine and we won’t let you connect to the server until you remove them,” the error message was cryptic to the point of being meaningless. I’ve always uninstalled previous versions of SAS before installing new versions of SAS but it appears that my normal uninstall procedure isn’t sufficient anymore. The first hint that left-over bits of previous installations was the issue was an error message about out-of-date registry entries that I got when I attempted to use a program called “SAS Integration Technologies Configuration” to configure my computer’s connection to the SAS server. Using “SAS Integration Technologies Configuration” didn’t solve the server problem, but the error message about the registry did eventually lead to a solution. I hate fiddling with the registry—scary things happen if the wrong entry is deleted. However, I used CCleaner to find and delete the offending registry entries. Most of them were “ActiveX com issues” and most were clearly from previous version numbers of SAS. Fortunately, deleting these didn’t affect the functioning of Windows 7. Next, I used two uninstaller programs, CCleaner and Revo uninstaller, to iteratively search for and uninstall every SAS-related installation file (not project or program files, only installation files) that I could find. Several of the items were quite well hidden and it took several searches using both uninstallers to find them all. Then, I manually searched for SAS installation files by using the Start button>”Search programs and files” and I deleted everything that I found. The last thing I did was to restart the machine. I downloaded a new client and installed it and VOILA!! SAS EG connected to the server. Headache cured. I still don’t know why using CCleaner to uninstall, as I normally do, left bits of earlier SAS versions on my Dell XPS machine, which wouldn't connect to the server, but appeared to remove all earlier installations on my ASUS laptop and desktop machines (all Windows 7), on which SAS EG readily did connect to the server. As I found left over files on the XPS, I went looking for them on the other machines and the files weren't there. I think I can live with that mystery, as long on SAS is functional on the XPS. However, this suggests that my fix might not work in all situations. I hope this information is helpful to others.
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