A client had an issue after converting a machine with MFE 3.0 installed from a physical to a virtual (VMWARE) machine. After completing the conversion to a virtual machine they were unable to start the MFE IDE and received the error:

Runtime Error!

Program: C:\\mfe\\mfide\\bin\\MFE.EXE

Abnormal program, termination

They had set the appropriate environment variables to be able to start CICS from the command line, which in MFE 3.0 is done via the createnv.bat batch file. They tried to start CICS from the command line, and initially the CICS region seemed to be starting ok, but then suddenly shut down. An example of the log file below initially shows that the region was starting correctly:

110220 19275257                     TXCD0100I TX Daemon Initialized (Ver TX 3.0.00) 19:27:52

110220 19275458                     TXCD0120I REM created for region ONCL, process-id = 03036 19:27:54

110220 19275558       3036 ONCL     TXSI0000I REM initialization started 19:27:54

110220 19275608       3036 ONCL     TXSE0011I Region is running with Resource security disabled. 19:27:55

110220 19275708       3036 ONCL     TXSI0001I Region will use SYSID ONCL 19:27:56

110220 19275758                     TXCD0127I Server 0001 created for region ONCL, process-id = 03864 19:27:57

110220 19275808                     TXCD0127I Server 0002 created for region ONCL, process-id = 03984 19:27:58

110220 19275860                     TXCD0127I Server 0003 created for region ONCL, process-id = 03548 19:27:58

110220 19275860       3864 ONCL     TXSI1734I IMS Option Logon Successful 19:27:58

Etc……..

But at the end the log shows:

110220 19281625       2040 ONCL     TXSI1734I IMS Option Logon Successful 19:28:14

110220 19281627       3460 ONCL     TXSI1734I IMS Option Logon Successful 19:28:14

110220 19281627        496 ONCL     TXSI1734I IMS Option Logon Successful 19:28:13

110220 19281627                     TXCD0130I Region ONCL has terminated normally 19:28:16

110220 19281627                     TXCD0139I TX Daemon auto-shutdown started 19:28:16

110220 19281627                     TXCD0101I TX Daemon Terminated 19:28:16

This did not give any indication as to why the abend. Yet strangely enough, even though they could not open the IDE or start a CICS region from the command line, they could compile programs ok. The first thing we suggested was applying the licensing fixpack (clu12all.exe) and then all12m30.exe, the product fixpack, from the SupportLine website. The client did this and reported that after he applied these they were able to start the IDE ok. They then tested running CICS from the command line and it also ran correctly. They then got the same result when trying to open either multiple or single CICS regions from within the IDE. So if you encounter any issues after converting a physical to a virtual machine with MFE 3.0 already installed, it may be necessary to install the licensing fixpack, even though it had previously been installed, If you’re still having issues try installing the latest product fixpack as well.