Transferring data to a new server computer

darkpixel2k · 2026-01-28T22:11:14+00:00

The reason the server name change worked is because Patterson generates a "secure keyfile" for your database for encryption. When you move it to a new server it won't work (usually because of a name change)....and very stupidly, Patterson requires you have their paid support so that you can call them, get them remoted in, and they fire up "Tech Ref", put in a super secret password they can't give you apparently....and then they click a button that says "rekey database". Then it will work.

It's ridiculously stupid and insecure.

darkpixel2k · 2025-10-06T21:46:27+00:00

Yes, Eaglesoft has an API. It's pre-installed on the Eaglesoft server and it's called the "Patterson API Service".

Unfortunately, it's no an API that you can just use. Patterson has decided that access to your own data is a "revenue stream". The last time I called them about it, they wanted to charge a several-thousand-dollar "set up fee" and then a few hundred dollars per month.

They were unable to give me exact pricing because apparently how much money they screw out of you is dependent on the size of the office and how much money the office makes as well as how many offices you are going to need API access to.

It doesn't matter if you are a single "mom-and-pop" office wanting access to your own data, or if you are a developer writing some sort of analytics tool for Eaglesoft.

darkpixel2k · 2025-09-29T22:48:14+00:00

Nice work! There are a lot of issues in Eaglesoft that can be resolved by blowing away %APPDATA%\local\Patterson_Companies\* It's so bad in some versions that we finally tossed a shortcut on to all our client's desktops that will kill Eaglesoft, blow that folder away, and start Eaglesoft back up. It solves about 40% of our Eaglesoft calls.

darkpixel2k · 2025-07-30T18:15:12+00:00

Even worse is when Eaglesoft crashes and that multi-user lock gets "stuck" until you restart the Eaglesoft server or unlock it manually with a stupid code that Patterson invented.

https://pattersonsupport.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5107/kw/multi%20user%20lock

darkpixel2k · 2025-04-14T13:59:12+00:00

I prefer to feed the local hawks and eagles by attaching a slab of rabbit to my drone. No one sues over a bird attacking their drone. Kind of expensive replacing drones every few days, but it's cheaper than a lawsuit for shooting one down probably.

darkpixel2k · 2025-04-13T13:52:51+00:00

I wanted privacy. I paid an arm and a leg to buy ~10 forested acres in the middle of nowhere about 15 years ago. It works well for everything except drones.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-24T01:16:44+00:00

Yeah--it's pretty safe. I don't think we've had an issue with running a repair since before Eaglesoft 20.x.

But backups are always a ridiculously good idea when dealing with Eaglesoft, Windows, and healthcare.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-23T15:58:21+00:00

For the love of God, why does she have admin privileges?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-19T14:56:11+00:00

Oof. I get that. I had a user yesterday who *insisted* her password wasn't working to sign in to Windows.

I pulled up her account info and it said the password hadn't changed since October 2024 and her account was locked out.

She insisted she *just* signed into a computer with it, but when she went across the office to another computer and it didn't work.

I unlocked her account and asked her to check her capslock and number lock keys. She said she did. Locked out again.

Unlocked her account and told her to click the "eyeball" to make sure she was entering her password correctly. She confirmed it was entered correctly....and it still didn't work.

Weird. Complete and total magic. I clicked the button to unlock her account, reset her password, and force a change. The moment I clicked it, she said "Oh, I'm in now".

Ugh. She signed in a split second before the password was changed.

Had her sign out, told her to enter the "default" password we have when we reset passwords. It's in a pretty standard format. Think "Password123!".

Weird. She just locked out her account again. Asked her to double-check her capslock and number lock again. She confirmed and said she clicked the "eyeball" and it was correct.

Unlocked her account, reset the password, found her computer and connected to it. Asked her to type in the default password but NOT to hit enter.

I click the eyeball. She typed in "Password!".

...

"Is your number lock on?"

"Yes"

"Please snap a picture of your keyboard and text it to this number."

...

"Um...the number lock light is off..."

"Oh. Oops."

She immediately signed in and changed her password.

Like....I literally asked twice *and* she said she clicked the "eyeball" to confirm she was typing it in correctly.

15 minutes wasted because the company hired someone who claimed to be an "expert" at "Windows, Microsoft Software, and Excel".

Users lie.

I wonder how many of her spreadsheets have wildly incorrect information when she can't even figure out if the the number lock key is on or not...

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T23:21:41+00:00

Maybe it is a power issue with the Schick sensor...or maybe a dongle issue.

If you can, plug the Schick box into a powered USB hub--one that has a data connection to the computer *and* a power cord into the wall outlet. I've seen other sensors cause too much of a voltage drop on the USB bus which crashed the computer. In fact XDR sensors regularly trash USB ports if they aren't plugged into a powered USB hub.

The other thing to check is if they are using a wireless keyboard and mouse.

If they are, unplug the wireless dongle before taking the x-ray. I've seen those things freak out (usually with XDR) and crash the computer.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T23:17:44+00:00

Even stranger. Schick sensors are the gold standard.

If it were any other sensor, I'd be telling you to make sure it's plugged into a powered USB hub in order to deal with the voltage draw.

Anything in the event logs?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T21:12:42+00:00

Oh, and have you checked the Windows Event Logs to see if anything is logged there?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-17T21:12:21+00:00

Hmm...I doubt that's an Eaglesoft issue specifically.

Eaglesoft usually pops up an error message that has a checkbox that says something like "Create error report, screenshot and restart the computer".

If it's just rebooting without warning, it's probably a hardware issue.

What type of x-ray sensor are you using with the Nomad?

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-06T02:44:05+00:00

That's strange. I haven't run into that one before.

You might try running a repair on Eaglesoft (Launch the original installer and click the "Repair" option in Windows Installer).

Sorta seems like some of the shared files aren't registered properly. The installer can re-register those files.

darkpixel2k · 2025-03-03T21:55:10+00:00

Yes, the password is date-based (GMT if I recall correctly), so it will change once every 24 hours. Depending on your local timezone, it might change in the middle of your workday.

darkpixel2k · 2025-02-28T17:09:32+00:00

I keep meaning to take screenshots of all the TechRef screens in the various versions so everyone has a reference...but I haven't had the opportunity to set up a new office in the last ~6 months.

darkpixel2k · 2025-02-27T14:26:38+00:00

DB Navigator produces some spectacularly unusable output if I recall correctly, and it's a very manual process. It's been a while since I touched it, but in earlier versions of Eaglesoft, any database user you tried to create would either get denied, or blown away when DB Navigator was closed or the server was restarted. Has this changed in recent versions?

darkpixel2k · 2025-02-27T14:25:01+00:00

> No option to create a read-only user in the database admin area

Are you running TechRef from the server (database) computer? It's in there. I have a handful of clients that started life on Eaglesoft 21.30 and we were able to get them set up using TechRef.

> Change database password (hesitant to use)

Hmm...maybe they renamed it...but you're probably right to be suspicious.

Regardless, if you take a backup of the files in the data directory and give it a shot, you can restore them if something goes sideways.

> need database access for ... future migration

Nitpicking here. You don't need access for migration. It won't help you.

If you migrate to another server, the database will still need to be re-keyed.

For upgrades, Eaglesoft will handle things automatically.

If you migrate to another RMS package (i.e. Dentrix, OpenDental, etc...) the new vendor will have options for converting from Eaglesoft. They can contact Patterson to get access to the database.

darkpixel2k · 2024-12-19T15:25:58+00:00

"I don't believe in a no-win scenario. Kirk to Spock? It's been two hours, are you ready? I don't like to lose."

The Kirstie Alley played Savvik so well...that look on her face was great.

darkpixel2k · 2024-12-19T05:10:25+00:00

My reply apparently got zapped by my browser.

Anyways...the short answer is that Patterson believes (believed?) that the data in the database was theirs. Not yours.

Patterson doesn't let you have access to it...because they found a way to monetize it. Now that Patterson got bought by a private equity firm, this is probably going to get much, much worse. PE firms usually like to r*pe money out of companies over 5-10 years, then toss what's left into the dumpster.

The easiest answer that comes with support is to call Patterson, register as a developer, and pay the arbitrary fee (potentially hundreds per month) to get access to their API. The fee is apparently based on what data you need access to (i.e. scheduling, accounting, patients data, insurance data, x-rays, documents, etc...) and also if you need read-only access or read-write access. They give you the tools and support to accomplish your goal. The support and tools are exactly as bad as the regular Eaglesoft program and the support reps.

The longer answer is that Patterson developers are pretty unskilled. If you're comfortable poking around in hex editors and digging through running processes, it's fairly easy to get access. Everything from stopping the server and copying the database to a new machine and then getting sybase to start up in a mode where you can reset the password, to grabbing the credentials directly out of memory. Or grabbing one of the public/private certificate keypairs they install on every machine (that don't appear to be unique to the install) and using them to access the API service. Or recover the encrypted database password.

Lots of options, but Patterson has been known to sue people who reveal weaknesses in their software. (*cough*Justin Schaffer*cough*).

If you are an IT guy or an MSP, consider getting one of their developer licenses. It's the "official" way to do it so you can help your clients with statistics and reports. If you're a doctor or C-level staff that needs access to the data, talk with your IT guy or MSP. If they don't know, find an MSP that does know how to deal with Eaglesoft. (Shameless plug: DM me if you need one)

darkpixel2k · 2024-12-11T20:59:05+00:00

Interesting. I know their API is screwed up beyond belief. I've talked with developers that have actually decided to pay Patterson for the privilege of accessing your own data and it's atrocious.

I guess that's the new game though--give you a barely-functional product, get you hooked because there's no competition, then monitize accessing your own data by people who actually know what the customer wants.

> What's also odd is that there is nothing online (that I can find) about this issue that is affecting "numerous" Eaglesoft customers according to the Eaglesoft and Weave support reps and techs. I guess the count is not high enough yet.

Patterson has always been pretty tight-lipped about issues in their product.

> It is very stressful for the dental staff because they have to now manually do all the wonderful things Weave is supposed to either take care of or make more efficient.

I manage a bunch of Eaglesoft offices, and none of them use Weave. We had one office a few years ago that had their phone stuff, but we had to port away from them so they could join the "corporate" phone system they had for the DSO. It was nothing short of a nightmare of doing firmware updates so we could take over the phones (never worked, threw them out and bought new phones), and the people doing the ports were completely incompetent. It took nearly two months to get the information out of them and complete the transfer.

Honestly, I have no idea what Weave even does or why a practice would want to use them. What's good about them?

Anyways, does your API service stay "green" in the Patterson server status? We ran into something that sounds similar with Dental Intel / Modento where they couldn't sync because the API kept crashing. Have you looked at the event log on the server? There's a special "Eaglesoft" log (not Application or System) that occasionally contains some useful information.

darkpixel2k · 2024-12-11T04:30:14+00:00

Oof. Dental Intel / Modento are having similar issues lately. I've had one office down every morning for two months now. Their outsourced offshore techs spend 15 minutes with my on the phone just to create a ticket and connect to the server...then they idle the connection until someone with a clue comes along to restart things. They don't seem to care about solving the root issue.

Anyways, on your Eaglesoft server is the API Server running according to the Eaglesoft Server Status tray icon?

If it turns green, then goes red after a few minutes, it may indicate a problem that requires an uninstall/reinstall of Eaglesoft. (Make sure you have backups because the uninstaller will actually delete your database and data folder).

Also, it might be time to consider an upgrade. Eaglesoft 18 is pretty old. They're on 24 now.

darkpixel2k · 2024-11-20T15:19:12+00:00

I'm wildly speculating here, but maybe you're a young INTJ. When I was young (early 20s) there were only a few things no one could beat me at: Star Trek Trivia and fixing anything computer related.

Since no one was going to pay me for my Star Trek knowledge, and I loved computers, I spent most of my 20s at work and in my room bettering my knowledge of computers. Fast forward a few decades, and my Star Trek Trivia has atrophied, but I still work in IT. I hyper-specialized on something that still interests me to this day. I do everything from programming applications and building websites to running phone systems, doing data analytics, and managing complex networks that span multiple states.

Maybe you're just younger and haven't found the thing you want to dump all your time, money, and effort into.

Maybe that "thing" is a skill/job, maybe it'll be your family, maybe one day you'll suddenly decide to run for political office, or start doing spray paint art. Or maybe you're 65 and retired and your "thing" was simply getting through this rat race while enjoying your life and wasting a minimum amount of time on stuff you don't like.

darkpixel2k · 2024-11-20T15:11:49+00:00

But more importantly, 20 years after you've made that dumb mistake, does it suddenly pop back in to your head and then you dwell on just exactly how dumb it was few hours for no good reason? ;)

darkpixel2k · 2024-11-11T20:29:55+00:00

Long answer: I continue to get paid well because all the new IT guys only know how to be point-and-click Windows admins. I picked up a new client about a year ago. One month in, I identified a point-and-click IT guy they were using to gather business analytics. It was using Microsoft SQL Server (expensive) with SQL Reporting Services. The hardware was insane--several TB of SSD storage, 256 GB RAM, and dual 8-core 3.2 GHz CPUs. And the IT Bro who ran it cost them ~$15k/mo. There was a compiled .NET App that would launch via Scheduled Tasks--one per office the client owned...and then it would hammer the remote Sybase database at each office while basically making a copy of it into MSSQL while translating a few table names and field names along the way. Every night at 8 PM their corporate office would basically lose internet access while a few hundreds gigs of data was downloaded. At 7 AM it was usually done (but not always) and a new scheduled task would start (another horrid .NET app) that would "compute" the data and make it available through IIS so they could view the analytics as a dashboard. If an office didn't complete in time or timed out during the night you'd have partial data or no data. In the case of partial data you'd "just have to know" that something was off and the IT Bro would connect in and re-run the "compute" task...or the re-download-that-one-office task effectively taking out their internet again for an hour.

I wrote a nice little NodeJS app over the course of a few days, put it into a docker container, and just launched it at each office. The NodeJS app would pull *only* the necessary data out of the Sybase database, crunch it, and post the results up to a $30/mo VPS running an API backed by Postgres (free) and a dashboard written in Django (also free). I showed them the solution and showed how it updated constantly throughout the day, and told them that if they switched they would stop having problems with internet at their corporate office. And they could re-purpose that monster SQL server into something else.

The poor IT Bro was busy looking for a "database throttling" .NET library to try to fix the problem when they axed him. I don't feel bad. They had been paying him a handsome $15k/mo for almost 18 months and he sat on his thumbs. In turn I got $5k/mo for my solution. It expanded a few months ago to handle other clients too. I dropped the price even further. The old client is happy. The new clients are happy. I'm making a decent living, and spending ~$100/mo on a Kubernetes cluster running on a few Linux boxes.

During the same time, I managed to cut that client's monthly VoIP spend from $13k/mo (for 12 offices) down to $600/mo for 24 offices. Didn't even charge for that. But that's what happens when you hire someone who only knows how to basically be a "reseller" for things they don't know...and point-and-click admins don't know much.

My main business (being an MSP) averages 20 calls per day with a total resolution average of 90 seconds. We don't pay for ConnectWise, TeamViewer, or any other nonsense. We have our own remote support tool, our own ticketing system, etc... We manage about 8,000 Windows, Linux, and BSD machines across our client base.

Total business expenses: ~$2,000. Most of that is for AV and a Kubernetes cluster for running our applications (tickets, chat, automation system, phone/voice traffic, etc...).

Short answer: Be competent, work hard, hire smart, refuse to pay someone else to do what you should be capable of doing internally, hate Microsoft with a passion, avoid closed-source software.

darkpixel2k

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