SAS® Enterprise Guide® program log and search windows display black boxes after system updates


After the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7 update is installed, you might encounter a visual rendering problem in SAS Enterprise Guide and other Windows applications on a touchscreen-enabled device.

Program is selected but shows up as a black square on a gray background

Workarounds

To work around this issue, use one of the following options.

Note: Option 2 resolves the issue for only the version of SAS Enterprise Guide that is installed. If you have multiple versions of SAS Enterprise Guide installed, you must perform the steps in Option 2 for each version.  Other Windows applications might continue to have issues until you are able to perform the steps documented by Microsoft in Option 1.

Option 1: (Recommended) Follow the Microsoft walk-through listed in the article  "'COMException' error from WPF applications after the .NET Framework 4.7 is installed on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2," on the Microsoft website.  

Option 2: If you are unable to remove Microsoft software from your machine, follow the steps documented below:

  1. Navigate to your SAS Enterprise Guide installation directory, which is located, by default, here:   C:\ProgramFiles\SASHome\SASEnterpriseGuide\7.1.
  2. Locate the seguide.exe.config file and open it in Notepad, being sure to select Run as administrator when you start Notepad.
  3. Add the following statement to the file immediately after the </configSections> bracket.

<runtime>

    <AppContextSwitchOverrides

    value="Switch.System.Windows.Input.Stylus.DisableStylusAndTouchSupport=true" />

 </runtime>

  1. Save and close the file. Then retest SAS Enterprise Guide.