Ranger Account Manager Diagnostics

Question

How do I put Ranger Account Manager into debug mode?

Symptoms

Ranger Account Manager appears to be stuck in a loop, in order to close the program you have to end the task

When creating or modifying a user on a client or server installation of Ranger Account Manager the program appears to hang as if it is stuck in a loop.

Before creating a debug file check the following articles for known problems and solutions.

If the RAM works for administrators but not for staff check that you have added the users into the account operators group.

Cause

During the account creation or modification process Ranger Account Manager has to perform a number of complex operations for example interrogating Active Directory, creating user home folders, creating shares and setting the permissions on these folders.

In addition to the complex nature of the program, RAM is used in many complex environments with different network configurations, different account creation options all of which results in hundreds of possible scenarios. Sometimes the combination of all these options can result in RAM trying to perform an operation which is unexpected or not supported by the operating system therefore causing the program to loop as it retry's to successfully complete its task.

Resolution

If you have reviewed the KB articles and have not found a solution to the problem or been instructed by your dealer or by one of the technical support team at Sentinel Products to generate a RAM debug file, you can follow this KB article turning on RAM's debug mode which instructs RAM to log every action / decision into a text file.

Instructions

Create a shortcut to ram.exe in the root of the Ranger directory and then modify the shortcut, at the end of the target add /debug then run the shortcut.

If you are experiencing problems when RAM is in staff mode then leave the staff mode switch in place and add /debug to the end.

Run the shortcut and make sure the RAM splash screen starts with the text debug mode.

Testing

Run RAM in debug mode, reproduce the error and then browse to c:debug. You will then find ram.txt which you can then email to technical support.