Updating Enterprise Portal from Dynamics AX 2009 Client fails on a 64bit Microsoft Windows Server

With Dynamics AX 2009 it is getting more appropriate to have the AOS and .NET Business Connector installed on a 64bit version of Microsoft Windows Server as both components are shipped also as 64bit (x64) versions. The Dynamics AX 2009 Client is however still a 32bit (x86) application.

In the context of Enterprise Portal this introduces an issue. If you have Windows SharePoint Services and the .NET Business Connector installed as 64bit versions, you cannot use the 32bit Dynamics AX Client to deploy or update Enterprise Portal sites.

The error message you are getting in the Dynamics AX 2009 Client when you try is:

The Dynamics AX Client is not able to find Enterprise Portal because in order to verify if Windows SharePoint Services is installed locally a Registry Key added by Windows SharePoint Services is checked for existence.

If a 32bit application is however accessing certain parts of the Registry on a 64bit Microsoft Windows Operating System the application is usually redirected to a different Registry location.

And exactly this is also happening for the Dynamics AX Client, that is looking for the Registry Key at the wrong place (see also: 32-bit and 64-bit Application Data in the Registry).

This information is more or less meant as explanation for the strange error message. Fixing the Registry Key lookup will not make deployment possible, because after ensuring Enterprise Portal is locally installed the Dynamics AX Client is loading several other DLLs. Unfortunately a 32bit process cannot load any 64bit DLL (see also: Running 32-bit Applications) which would be needed in our case.
 

So you might wonder now: How can we update an existing Enterprise Portal site then?

With Dynamics AX 2009 Service Pack 1 a new command line utility AxUpdatePortal.exe is installed in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Dynamics AX\50\Setup folder that serves this purpose.

You can execute the utility with the following command line parameters to update all local Enterprise Portal sites:

Note:
On Windows Server 2008 make sure you run AxUpdatePortal.exe from an elevated command prompt. To open an elevated command prompt, click Start, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator. For consequences not running in an elevated context see AxUpdatePortal.exe does not update Enterprise Portal when not running from an elevated command prompt.
 

But what if you don’t have Service Pack 1 installed and/or you dont want to use axupdateportal.exe utility?

In that case you can run the Dynamics AX 2009 Setup again as follows and it will still update your portal site with contents from the AOT:

1. Launch the Dynamics AX 2009 Setup from the Dynamics AX 2009 DVD 


2. Click Next


3. Select Add or modify components


4. Click Next


5. Check the Role Centers and Enterprise Portal check box


6. Click Next


7. Enter the password for your Business Connector proxy account


8. Click Next


9. Select the Enterprise Portal site you want to update from the drop down list


10. Uncheck the Configure for Windows SharePoint Services check box


11. Uncheck  the Create Web site check box (see attached screenshot)


12. Click Next


13. If you untick the option “Restart IIS after installation is completeted” then ensure you Restart IIS later on before using EP


14. Click Install


15. Wait until the setup is finished with the status Installed


16. Click Finish

UpdatingAnEpSiteUsingAXSetup.PNG