Help w/ Error: "AlteryxProcessManager::Start: Timed out in DataWrap2_ConnectNamedPipe..."

[ktipping]

Can anyone provide any color on what the error message means?

I have read other posts implying that simply disabling the firewall, or something similar, would do the trick. After testing the workflow with the antivirus software enabled and disabled, I'm confident that's not the issue.

For some context; my workflow has a macro that utilizes a dynamic input tool. This is the tool identified in the error. Unfortunately I can't provide a workflow or data as both are confidential.

Any information would be appreciated and I'm more than willing to field questions to help clarify anything.

Thank you!

[BrandonB]

Do you have multiple different file types or different schemas for the files? Can you copy and paste the tools in question into a new workflow and see if you can run it on its own? 

[patrick_digan]

@ktipping I just thought I would share our experience with 2020.4 and this error. We've run into an issue where some .xls files which have worked fine for years are not able to be read into alteryx designer 2020.4. It takes 30 seconds and then provides that timeout message that you're seeing. We're trying to figure out how big of an issue it is. For now, we just saved our xls file as xlsx and everything worked fine. 

EDIT: Here is the message we get when drag the offending xls file onto the canvas

[ktipping]

I received the same error message when I copy and pasted the tools into a new workflow and ran it. The file types are xls, I'm not sure on whether they have different schema.

[ktipping]

@patrick_digan I'll look into changing the file type.

[BrandonB]

Thanks for sharing @patrick_digan. Is the support team already engaged on this?  

[patrick_digan]

@BrandonB Not yet, I haven't figured out the scope yet. It seems to work sometimes but not others. And I'm not sure if it's just that file or all xls files. And I'm not sure if it's particular to my machine or if other folks at my organization are having the same issue. Once I do some digging and hopefully isolate the issue better, I'll turn it over to support.

[BrandonB]

@patrick_digan sounds good, I'm happy to help out if you need an extra set of eyes on it

[taxtechfl]

I upgraded to 2020.4.5.12471 and since then have been receiving the error as well when attempting to ingest an XLS file.  I will convert the XLS files to XLSX as a workaround, but I am very much interested in your conclusions from your testing.  Thanks!

[taxtechfl]

I just did some additional testing this morning, and now I am not getting the errors.  The workflow I created in the past with the XLS input files is now running without incident.  I am not aware of the installation of any additional patches or updates since I first encountered the errors, so unfortunately not only am I unable to pinpoint precisely what the root cause was that caused them initially, but I am also unable to determine what change resolved the issue. 

I attempted to keep a controlled environment in my testing (as much as that is possible), but some factors obviously changed such that the issue has unexpectedly resolved itself.  In following up with my colleague who was experiencing the same issues, he advises me that he is also no longer encountering the errors.  I am still interested in knowing a root cause, so I will continue to monitor this thread.  Thanks.