There was an unknown error executing the application.

Question

I am a Curator & can run a workflow on our Alteryx server fine.

I have an end user that is set up as an Artisan & she gets the following error:

There was an unknown error executing the application. The engine reported status Error (Toolid: -1).

Any ideas what could be wrong?  She can run it from her desktop without any problems.

Thank you in advance!

STEVE_JASTER · Answer

Thank you for all of the comments.  The issue has been resolved.  The user had an old password stored in her Alteryx server profile.  She recently changed her Windows password & the Alteryx server profile password was not updated.

When she ran the workflow on the server, the workflow requires the end user to use their own credentials.  The password is grayed out in this scenario so she just tried to run the workflow.

We figured it out when my IT administrator showed me the actual error message in the server log.

Question for Alteryx:  Is there a clearer error message than "There was an unknown error executing the application.  The engine reported status Error (Toolid: -1)" for when it is simply a password issue?

gautiergodard · Answer

@STEVE_JASTER have you checked to ensure that your server account has access to the shared folder(s) being referenced in your directory/input tools?

STEVE_JASTER · Answer

We have the AMP Engine enabled on the Alteryx server but I do not have it enabled in the workflow.

The Toolid is "-1" so that is not in the workflow.  I just read a post where the user copied all of the tools into a new workflow & then saved to the Alteryx server.  That did not clear the issue.

I am not doing anything too fancy with the workflow - using the Directory Tool to read two Excel .xlsx files & using the Sample Tool to read in the latest ones.  Using Formula, Select, Filter, Dynamic Input, Union, Join & Output Tools in the workflow.  I am also using the Run cmd.exe Tool to stagger / delay writing to the output files but I was encountering the problem before that.