Dentrix, Dexis, and CAESY Enter the Windows 7 Era
Over the past year I have had some old machines in the office that were having extreme difficulty with lack of speed and driver instability in Windows XP. With all of the "problems" with Vista, I delayed purchasing new equipment and upgrading my version of Dentrix for a couple of years. With the arrival on Windows 7 and several "final straw" events, I decided to replace two of my machines and upgrade my server with Windows 7.
The road over the past three weeks has been rocky, but as crazy as it may sound, it has been more rewarding finding out the caveats of new hardware and software than it was banging my head against a wall with the old equipment and abandoned, malfunctioning drivers.
The following is a guide based on the state of hardware and software as of Thanksgiving in 2009 (Windows 7 has been officially released for 1 month). I use Dentrix, Dexis, and CAESY as my main workhorses in the office. Hopefully the information here will help to guide you in purchasing or waiting to purchase specific hardware.
I’ll first begin with software, and how it performs on a myriad of both equipment and versions of Windows 7 in my office. Each software package has been installed on a 32-bit and a 64-bit machine. On the 64-bit machines, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 have been tested. Remember, you can install a 32-bit version of Windows 7 on a 64-bit machine, but you cannot install a 64-bit version of Windows on a 32-bit machine.
DENTRIX G4 (Power Pack 6)
32-bit Win7
- 32-bit machine – Dentrix seems to work fine with Win7 Pro and Ultimate on 32-bit hardware.
- 64-bit machine – This is my "server" and it is running 32-bit Win7 Pro. Things have been rocky, as the machine seems to not be able to handle 7 connections in the standard installation. The problem seems to have been corrected using the information in the "Networking Error…" section below.
64-bit Win7
- 32-bit machine – N/A
- 64-bit machine – Dentrix Patient Chart does NOT work currently in this environment. With two instances I was unable to get all of the submodules, especially the Treatment Planning module, to appear in the Patient Chart. The answer here, for now, is to use XP Mode, which only works on certain machines. (See XP MODE note below)
DEXIS 8.0.7
32-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine – Dexis and the PCMCIA-based sensor are working fine in this environment (Win7 Ultimate)
- 64-bit machine – Dexis software accesses existing chart images well. However the PCMCIA-based sensor seems to be a 16-bit device, and will therefore NEVER WORK ON A 64-BIT MACHINE. So, a 64-bit machine is not a current solution in an operatory where Dexis radiographs are obtained.
64-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine – N/A
64-bit machine – Dexis software did not install correctly in this environment. In order to use Dexis on this machine, it must be run in XP Mode, which only runs on certain machines. (See XP MODE note below). Also the PCMCIA-based sensor seems to be a 16-bit device, and will therefore NEVER WORK ON A 64-BIT MACHINE. So, a 64-bit machine is not a current solution in an operatory where Dexis radiographs are obtained.
CAESY
32-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine – CAESY installs without fail, launches correctly, and displays CAESY’s still artwork gallery, but is unable to launch Windows Media Player 10 to play videos. Therefore CAESY WILL NOT WORK in this environment.
- 64-bit machine – CAESY installs without fail, launches correctly, and displays CAESY’s still artwork gallery, but is unable to launch Windows Media Player 10 to play videos. The only way to make CAESY work in 64-bit Windows 7 is to run CAESY in XP Mode, which only works on certain machines (See XP MODE note below). (There are apparently Windows Media Player 9 "downgrade" solutions on the internet, but none of the sites offering the downloads seemed trustworthy, so I did not test the possibility of downgrading to WMP9.)
64-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine – N/A
64-bit machine – CAESY installs without fail, launches correctly, and displays CAESY’s still artwork gallery, but is unable to launch Windows Media Player 10 to play videos. The only way to make this work is to run CAESY in XP Mode, which only works on certain machines (See XP MODE note below)
* * *
In setting up these applications, I ran into several caveats in Windows 7 that perhaps others will face:
XP Mode
Windows 7 (Professional and Ultimate) can run XP Mode on certain newer machines. In order to test your hardware, use Microsoft’s tool posted at their XP Mode download page.
XP Mode installs a virtual computer on the machine that runs Windows XP SP3 in a window. Once installed, this virtual environment needs to be nurtured with updates and virus protection just like our old 2001 computers did, in addition to your care for the Windows 7 environment. What’s worse, is that XP Mode natively only runs in 16-bit color mode, which means that it is completely unusable for displaying images and videos (Dexis and CAESY). Don’t despair, though! A registry hack to enable 24-bit color in XP Mode is out there, and works great. It is applied to regedit in the XP virtual machine, not Win7’s regedit!
Therefore if one plans to run CAESY (at all), or Dentrix (in 64-bit Windows 7), one should install all three of the apps in XP Mode, and live in a virtual environment until CAESY and Dentrix can get their software packages running in Windows 7.
Networking Error In Windows 7
When my Dentrix Server was installed on a 32-bit machine running Windows 7 Professional (32-bit), the system seemed to work very well. After shifting some computers around to satisfy Dexis’ 16-bit hardware requirements, the "server" is a 64-bit machine running Windows 7 Professional (32-bit). Soon after completing this installation I began getting this error in my two operatories that are running Windows XP SP3 (could be a complete coincidence):
"Not enough server storage is available to process this command."
When the error notification appeared, both XP machines in operatories would lose their mapped drive connections to the server, but did NOT lose connections to CAESY, an old computer running an intranet in the office, or the internet. Since adjusting the IRPStackSize registry entry on the Server (Win7 Professional machine), the problem seems to be solved. More information on this change is available here: http://winhlp.com/node/40
* * *
Therefore, at this point there is no Windows 7 solution that currently will run all of Dentrix, Dexis, and CAESY correctly. The hardware restrictions put forth by Dexis’ outdated sensor technology will be a major problem for offices in the ensuing couple of years. We all thought that the sensors would eventually die a physical death, however most of these sensors will end up dying death of obsolescence.
When will these three get on board with the operating system that Microsoft released to developers over a YEAR ago? The best clues I have gotten from Dentrix and CAESY point to Microsoft’s SP1 timetable. All Dexis support would tell me is that they do not support Windows 7 and that I should not be using it. (This, along with attitude of the technical support advisor, will kept fresh in my mind when my sensor needs to be replaced).
Here is my setup:
-
RECEPTION – 64-bit machine running Windows 7 Professional (32-bit). This machine has a 500GB HDD which hosts all Dentrix and Dexis databases.
-
OP1 – 64-bit machine running Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit OEM). This machine has no x-ray head in the room, so we only need Dexis to view images. Because of Dentrix Chart and CAESY’s limitations, all three apps are run in XP Mode hacked for 24-bit color. This machine has a 500GB HDD and will host all Recorded TV for Windows Media Center.
-
OP2 – 32-bit machine running Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit). This machine takes films from a PCMCIA-based Dexis sensor. It cannot run CAESY, as it cannot run XP Mode.
-
OP3 – 2 year old 32-bit machine running Windows XP Professional. This machine takes films from a PCMCIA-based Dexis sensor, and because it is running XP, runs CAESY normally.
-
OP4 – 3 year old 32-bit machine running Windows XP Professional. Because it is running XP, it runs CAESY normally.
DR’S OFFICE – New 64-bit HP laptop running Windows Ultimate RC Build 7001 (32-bit). This machine runs Dentrix and Dexis fine, but won’t run CAESY videos, which isn’t important in my personal office.
The reason I am installing Ultimate in the operatories is to have Windows Media Center (the world’s greatest DVR) available for patients to watch recorded TV and internet TV on the overhead monitors.
Good luck with your setups! I hope this guide helps everyone to find a solution quickly and quietly. PLEASE contribute to the information here with your own experiences, because as far as I can tell, our specialty software vendors are being anything but aggressive in adapting their software to the needs of today’s new hardware customer.
I haven’t posted here in quite some time but I see that some people are having issues with Dentrix Image and Win 7 and Server 2008. Just to let everyone know it is officially not supported in these OS’s although it may work. As to the card reader issue posted by Felix, many new pc’s will not work with the Dexis PCMCIA card. The card reader will install but the board requires memory address space and resources from the host pc to let windows identify it and load the dexcard.sys driver. Due to limitations in the machine BIOS you will get a MTD-0002 error or an error indicating that this device cannot start. It is only resolvable with a BIOS update provided the manufacturer of the motherboard provides this feature in the BIOS update. Many new pc’s have only one PCI slot and it’s resources are very limited. Hope this helps.
Sean:
I received that error swaping out XP lab stations with Win 7 lab stations using Dentrix Image 4.5 and G4 PP8. I cannot remember if I had to grant the user local admin rights or turn off UAC on the desktop. But when I did that everything worked. I called Dentrix and they wanted me to turn off UAC and have all users local administrators on their desktops. When I told them that was really bad, they just said they found that without doing that there were issues.If I remember right the main UAC issue was that if UAC was on the user would be prompted by UAC whenever opening modules of DEntrix such as Patient Chart. I’m hoping G5 will fix this requirement and we are also migrating to Dexis for imaging because DEntrix Image isn’t supported on 2008R2 server.
Where can you purchase additional Vipersoft PCI V (c) cards? I need one with a low/smaller profile.
Hi!
How to fix this problem: “Unable to initialize image database. Image features will be disabled” ?
This is a great thread, glad I found it. We are getting ready to update an office that is currently running Dentrix G4 / Dexis v8 to Dentrix G5 /Dexis v9. This office has 4 imaging stations (2 sensors that are shared with a pair of computers) and the plan is to run the server on Windows 7 Pro 32bit instead of buying a Server 2008. Ideally 2008 Foundation would be a great fit for them but the non-R2 version isn’t available any longer and anything after that isn’t supported with Dexis as everything is 64-bit only. Anyone see any issues with running the solutions on Windows 7 given the small environment?
OP, here. Thanks for the comment. This thread is a couple of years old and I’m a little out of date, to be honest. Are you saying that Dexis isn’t supporting 64-bit with V9? I’m scratching my head a little bit, because I am running Dexis 9.0.5 in a Windows 7 Home Premium 4-bit installation in parallels on a MacBook Air in my office.
We run 8 computers with Dentrix G4 (final service pack) and no version of Server. There is only one glitch, to be honest. In Document Center it sometimes doesn’t preview files, and sometimes charts aren’t refreshed quickly. I don’t think I’d put my livelihood on supporting this setup in others’ offices, but it does work OK for my needs.
Anyone running G5 know if they fixed a bug reported to them in Lab Case Manager? (when completing an edit of a case, the Lab Case Manager search results don’t automatically refresh, so stale information is displayed, making the user believe the changes were not saved.)
Thanks Dana. I noticed the age of the thread, but there iss some great information here. Yes, 64-bit Windows is not supported in v9 either. Sounds like utilizing the 32-Bit versions windows 7 for everything is the way to go.
Dave,
You are probably right that 32-bit is a safe way to go. I just looked at the Dexis 9 system requirements sheet and they state that: “For Windows 7, the 64-bit option is available only with DEXIS software, DEXIS Platinum Sensor, and DEXcam 3 intra-oral camera.” I’m completely lost regarding all of the other little imaging systems they have gobbled up over the years, so they probably aren’t extending those lifelines.
http://www.dexis.com/filebin/documents/support/DEXIS_9_System_Requirements.pdf
Just to note: Microsoft is dropping Windows XP support on April 8! So, just from a security standpoint, it sounds like all of those XP machines ought to be upgraded. (and there are only 3 more weeks left in this tax year!)
To Dana and Dave regarding your recent posts concerning Dexis version 9 and Win 7 64 bit. Hi, this is Mike Stauffer from Dexis field support, it’s been a while since I posted here but thought I might help to clear up the confusion regarding this 64 bit thing. We are fully supporting Win 7 64 bit in all versions of Dexis 9 and 10. The reason for the support of certain devices has to do with drivers, 32 and 64 bit are completely different. We do not write drivers for 3rd party devices of course. The problem with using 64 bit is that some hardware device may not have drivers written for it and may not work if it was used in Win XP. This has happened many times that the customer had perhaps an older camera and it will no longer work in 64 bit. The vendor does not have 64 bit drivers. We also have limited our backwards support for some older things. The safest thing is to use 32 bit versions of Windows 7 on the operatory machines and then most any hardware will work. There is no performance penalty for using 32 bit and you won’t run out of memory as some folks say. All these dental programs are designed to run in a 32 bit address space and that requires only 2.1 Gig of memory. That’s the reason Dexis runs in X86 in program files in 64 bit Windows. It is true that Microsoft is finally stopping support for XP, it has been a real trooper for many years. For those of you running Dexis version 9 earlier than 9.3 should upgrade as we made many improvements concerning networking and other things. We constantly improve our software and this is the reason we have so many sub version, i.e. 9.05 and such. Let me know if I can help with more feedback to mike.stauffer@dexis.com.
Mike,
Thanks so much for your reply. It is great to hear from a real person at one of these companies! I have a couple of questions:
* How can I get the 9.3 upgrade? Do I have to call support to get temporary access to a secret download folder each time I want to upgrade? (doesn’t this generate a lot of cost on your end?)
* I’ve poked around DentalTown, and it is good for people wanting information from other dentists about clinical issues. However I don’t think it is a good forum for pearls about installation and software. Would y’all be interested if I set one up? It seems like it would save a lot of time if we had a forum or Wiki where installers could post their solutions for getting around drive mapping issues in Windows 7, for example. Would you want a Wiki or a forum?
* Mike, I love Dexis’ Integrator for Dentrix because it puts an image preview tab in the Dentrix Patient Chart. How did y’all do that? Dentrix won’t tell me, and I want to develop a third party solution for a completely separate part of the chart, but I want it to display as an additional tab, right next to the Image tab.
{rant}Dentrix should organize all of their little modules into two master modules: Clinical and Administrative. The Clinical Window would be the Patient Chart with all of the Alerts, Forms, Continuing Care, Office Journal, and Treatment Plan information as tabs alongside Clinical Notes, Progress Notes, and Image. The Administrative Window would be the Office Manager with tabs for Office Journal and Family File. It makes no sense that Medical Alerts and the Continuing Care alert systems are not in the Patient Chart module! After moving this information to two main Windows, they would then have a logical organization that could be transcoded to Windows 8 Style apps. At this point they look like they are entrenched to desktops with no tablet functionality; this could be a big problem for them in the next decade. {/rant}
How do I convert the database of Dentrix 10.5 to that of Dentrix 11.0? ( I would like to do it myself.)
Just purchased new hardware, windows 7. I use Easy Dental. Upgrading from EasyImage imaging software to Dexis as well. I currently own 3 EVA sensors in good working order. I called prior to installation to make sure this combination would work. ImageWorks (EVA) and Dexis both said that this combination of Imaging software and sensors would be fine as long as I used a TWAIN so that they could work together. Unfortunately when we try and use it, Dexis will not function the way it is supposed to. Specifically, it will not put the radiographic images on the computer screen in the positions it is supposed to automatically place them. The way it is currently functioning is pretty much useless as it is. The Dexis rep that was training us said it was a TWAIN issue. My question is, can this issue be resolved by simply getting the correct TWAIN? Or is there another issue to this? Anyone out there in the know about this? Any advice would help, as I am not a computer person, and I cannot afford to just discard and replace $20,000 worth of sensors. Thanks
Dan,
Thanks for posting your question here. (I hope everyone is still keeping an eye on this thread so you can get an answer!)
What version of Dexis software are you using?
Having an issue with Images not always displaying all. Take 4 images and 3 of 4 show, the 4th says cannot display image. Dentrix Enterprise and Dexis.
Hello all,
I have an operatory that had a Windows XP machine running Dentrix G3, with Dexis 9.0.4 and using Dexis Integrator for Dentrix. The device worked flawlessly. Unfortunately the device failed and we have replaced it with a Windows 7 Pro machine and installed everything as it was on the XP machine. We can see images, manipulate them. Everything but the ability to take an Xray. I attached a Dexis Platinum Sensor and I see it install in Windows, I click the Sensor icon in Dentrix the Dexis Application opens, the DeXray Icon turns yellow/orange, but no dialog box opens that allows me to choose the locations to xray or to take the xray. Any help would be great.
Reg
Has anyone moved to Windows 8 yet? any issues using Dexis XRay software on 8?
regards,
Gary
Scanx images have poor quality after dentrix operating with widows 7. Does anyone know how to resolve this issue?
currently using Dexis 6.0 on older laptops with pcmcia readers. Am not looking forward to laptops one day crashing as PCMIA slots not available any longer. Are there adapters available (pcmia to usb) that will allow me to continue using perfectly functioning sensors?
Am getting poor quality panoramic images acquired from Scann x. Windows 7 operating system, up to specification computer, using Dexis imaging program. Scanner checks out fine as does Gendex panoramic unit. Worked fine previous with Dentrix. Poor help from Dexis techs. Is anyone else experiencing similar problems or have any solutions? Thanks for any responses. Have had enough of passing the buck.
Has anyone succeeded in getting a DenOptix QST (USB) working with Dentrix G4/Dentrix Image 4.5 running under Windows 7 Pro 64 bit? Win 7 sees the device and says it’s working properly, but when we click on the icon to scan the plates, nothing happens, no pop-up window, no nothing.
G4 and Image 4.5 work fine under Win 7 Pro (and even Win 8.1 with Bing) for our operatory workstations, but we’re still stuck with one old Win XP machine to run the DenOptix.
Hi Toby,
Getting a Denoptix into Dexis should work, but it will take some work.
My friend Justin Shafer wrote up a guide on how to do it, you can check it out here http://justinshafer.blogspot.com/2014/05/gendex-denoptix-single-speed-scsiusb.html
You can also check us out for any support services or dental x-ray sensor repair http://sodiumdental.com
Hope this helps some!
[…] Dana’s Mixed Bag » Dentrix, Dexis, and CAESY Enter the … – Dana, I used to work for DEXIS, It took a long time before they started supporting windows vista, but they’ve changed the certification process so official windows … […]
I have been happily running Dentrix G4 and Image 4.5 on Windows XP for quite a while until Dentrix mandated that they would not accept eClaims from a XP machine.
We are a small office with just 2chairs; I use a XP PC for a server and have 3 XP workstations in all. I have had no problems at all to date but one never knows.
I bought a 32 bit Windows 7 PC today to try to migrate my dentrix / image / eclaims to this new machine but I am not sure if Image 4.5 is supported on Windows 7 32 bit. Anybody knows?
Is it possible to run Image on its own server (separate from Dentrix?)
Above points aside, can I run eclaims on a Windows 7 machine and keep the rest of the setup as it is today?
Thanks in advance for any ideas.
I have a totally unrelated note of caution for you: Last week I called Dentrix about upgrading to G6 from G5 and they subsequently ran a routine on all of my computers to check for minimum hardware and OS requirements. 6 out of 7 computers failed for various reasons. Two of those 7 machines are running 32-bit Windows 10 (free upgrade program from Windows 7; ended at the end of July ’16).
If you can buy Windows 7 or Windows 10 in a package that includes the 64-bit and 32-bit discs, do it and hold on to the 64-bit disc in case you upgrade your hardware. Point is, the sun is setting sometime in the moderate future on Dentrix’s supporting 32-bit machines.
To answer your last question, we have been running our office on a Windows 7 (then 10) 32-bit OS and had no problems with Dentrix eClaims submissions. I don’t run Dentrix Image, so I don’t know the answer to that question.
Hi Dana.
I’m runnin a Windows Server 2008 on my wired network that feeds six xp pro PCs with Dentrix 11 non usb sensors.
I also run a pc wth windows 7 at my desk. Recently after an windows update (automatic) my server path drive label changed from F: to Z: I have no idea how this happened but it was at a time I installed Quickbooks Pro 2018 at this windows 7 pc. It took the intuit tech 3 hours remoting in to locate my QB 2013 data path and data on my server for that to work but then I found Dentrix would not open. I figured out how to change the data path on Dentrix ( C:\Program Files\Dentrix then search for ep or ep.exe or ep.dll, click and you can change the drive loacation) but I also found that DEXIS 6.0 which ran as admin on this ofc would not open either. Here I did not need to open a patient file chart in Dentrix first to open a patient’s x-rays but I found the Dexis.INI file to change the location find the server drive as in Dentrix yet still DEXIS will not open even with a patient file chart. Any suggestions would be most appreciated
When you state that Dexis “will not open”, do you mean that you cannot even get the Dexis administration window (the one that usually lists all the patients on the right view) open or you get that window to open but the patient view doesn’t populate? It’s been a while since I’ve dealt with Dexis mapping, but if that Dexis application opens, unpopulated, definitely click the wrench icon and look for the path part of that form.
If you cannot even get the application to open, is there an error message? Can you navigate to the Dexis data folder with Windows Explorer (without having to give a password)??
An aside, I worry about any instances of Dentrix 11 running these days as that version doesn’t meet current HIPAA recommendations for unique usernames, passwords, and privileges.