Lacerte or DMS stops responding or freezes in Windows 10

In Windows 10, when your database is using a Windows server and you're using the group policy to map network drivers, you may experience the following issues:

• When Lacerte logs a user out for inactivity, the program locks up or hangs at the sign-in screen.
• The Lacerte client list is duplicated by whichever client is the first in the client list. (This is a refresh issue and data nor clients are lost. Closing and reopening the program will correct the issue.)
• The appointment manager fields on the client are blank. (This is a refresh issue and data nor clients are lost. Closing and reopening the program will correct the issue.)
• Lacerte loses its connection to the network drives and the following message appears:
  • The shared system file path is currently not available. You have been disconnected from the network. The Lacerte program cannot start without a valid system file path. Would you like to work offline using the options and settings on this computer?
• DMS freezes up around every 90 minutes.

Make sure you're using a supported version of Windows

Make sure your computer meets the Lacerte system requirements:

How to resolve response issues and freezing

This requires modification of the Windows Registry. Serious problems may occur if the registry is modified incorrectly. Intuit strongly recommends having an IT professional make these changes if you are not comfortable with editing the registry. It's also strongly recommended to make a backup of the registry before proceeding. See here for further instruction.

To change the NoBackgroundPolicy key:

1. In your Windows Taskbar, enter Registry Editor, then select OK.
2. In the Registry Editor window, select the following file path:
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   • SOFTWARE
   • Microsoft
   • Windows NT
   • CurrentVersion
   • Winlogon
   • GPExtensions
   • {5794DAFD-BE60-433f-88A2-1A31939AC01F}
3. Change the value NoBackgroundPolicy to 1.
   • If NoBackgroundPolicy isn't listed:
     1. Right-click and hover over New.
     2. Select DWORD (32-bit) Value.
     3. Name the new entry, NoBackgroundPolicy, and repeat step 3.
4. Reboot your workstation.

In some cases, your admin may need to take ownership of the registry to add or change the NoBackgroundPolicy value.

To take ownership and gain full permissions of the {5794DAFD-BE60-433f-88A2-1A31939AC01F} key:

1. Download and install psexec from sysinternals.
2. Use the System Account to run Regedit: psexec -i -d -s c:\windows\regedit.exe in the command line
3. Change permissions and modify the NoBackgroundPolicy key.

If the network admin can't change the permissions on the registry key to allow the change:

1. Right-click the {5794DAFD-BE60-433f-88A2-1A31939AC01F} key and select Permissions.
2. In the Permissions window, select Advanced.
3. Next to the field Owner: field, select Change.
4. In the Enter the object name to select field, enter the user ID of the user that needs to take ownership.
5. Select OK.
6. On the Permissions tab, select the Add button, then Select a principal.
7. Enter the user's user ID again in the Enter the object name to select field and select OK.
8. Select OK, then OK. 
9. Try to modify or add the NoBackgroundPolicy key.