Dentrix, Dexis, and CAESY Enter the Windows 7 Era
Over the past year I have had some old machines in the office that were having extreme difficulty with lack of speed and driver instability in Windows XP. With all of the "problems" with Vista, I delayed purchasing new equipment and upgrading my version of Dentrix for a couple of years. With the arrival on Windows 7 and several "final straw" events, I decided to replace two of my machines and upgrade my server with Windows 7.
The road over the past three weeks has been rocky, but as crazy as it may sound, it has been more rewarding finding out the caveats of new hardware and software than it was banging my head against a wall with the old equipment and abandoned, malfunctioning drivers.
The following is a guide based on the state of hardware and software as of Thanksgiving in 2009 (Windows 7 has been officially released for 1 month). I use Dentrix, Dexis, and CAESY as my main workhorses in the office. Hopefully the information here will help to guide you in purchasing or waiting to purchase specific hardware.
I’ll first begin with software, and how it performs on a myriad of both equipment and versions of Windows 7 in my office. Each software package has been installed on a 32-bit and a 64-bit machine. On the 64-bit machines, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 have been tested. Remember, you can install a 32-bit version of Windows 7 on a 64-bit machine, but you cannot install a 64-bit version of Windows on a 32-bit machine.
DENTRIX G4 (Power Pack 6)
32-bit Win7
- 32-bit machine - Dentrix seems to work fine with Win7 Pro and Ultimate on 32-bit hardware.
- 64-bit machine - This is my "server" and it is running 32-bit Win7 Pro. Things have been rocky, as the machine seems to not be able to handle 7 connections in the standard installation. The problem seems to have been corrected using the information in the "Networking Error…" section below.
64-bit Win7
- 32-bit machine - N/A
- 64-bit machine - Dentrix Patient Chart does NOT work currently in this environment. With two instances I was unable to get all of the submodules, especially the Treatment Planning module, to appear in the Patient Chart. The answer here, for now, is to use XP Mode, which only works on certain machines. (See XP MODE note below)
DEXIS 8.0.7
32-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine - Dexis and the PCMCIA-based sensor are working fine in this environment (Win7 Ultimate)
- 64-bit machine - Dexis software accesses existing chart images well. However the PCMCIA-based sensor seems to be a 16-bit device, and will therefore NEVER WORK ON A 64-BIT MACHINE. So, a 64-bit machine is not a current solution in an operatory where Dexis radiographs are obtained.
64-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine - N/A
64-bit machine - Dexis software did not install correctly in this environment. In order to use Dexis on this machine, it must be run in XP Mode, which only runs on certain machines. (See XP MODE note below). Also the PCMCIA-based sensor seems to be a 16-bit device, and will therefore NEVER WORK ON A 64-BIT MACHINE. So, a 64-bit machine is not a current solution in an operatory where Dexis radiographs are obtained.
CAESY
32-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine - CAESY installs without fail, launches correctly, and displays CAESY’s still artwork gallery, but is unable to launch Windows Media Player 10 to play videos. Therefore CAESY WILL NOT WORK in this environment.
- 64-bit machine - CAESY installs without fail, launches correctly, and displays CAESY’s still artwork gallery, but is unable to launch Windows Media Player 10 to play videos. The only way to make CAESY work in 64-bit Windows 7 is to run CAESY in XP Mode, which only works on certain machines (See XP MODE note below). (There are apparently Windows Media Player 9 "downgrade" solutions on the internet, but none of the sites offering the downloads seemed trustworthy, so I did not test the possibility of downgrading to WMP9.)
64-bit Win 7
- 32-bit machine - N/A
64-bit machine - CAESY installs without fail, launches correctly, and displays CAESY’s still artwork gallery, but is unable to launch Windows Media Player 10 to play videos. The only way to make this work is to run CAESY in XP Mode, which only works on certain machines (See XP MODE note below)
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In setting up these applications, I ran into several caveats in Windows 7 that perhaps others will face:
XP Mode
Windows 7 (Professional and Ultimate) can run XP Mode on certain newer machines. In order to test your hardware, use Microsoft’s tool posted at their XP Mode download page.
XP Mode installs a virtual computer on the machine that runs Windows XP SP3 in a window. Once installed, this virtual environment needs to be nurtured with updates and virus protection just like our old 2001 computers did, in addition to your care for the Windows 7 environment. What’s worse, is that XP Mode natively only runs in 16-bit color mode, which means that it is completely unusable for displaying images and videos (Dexis and CAESY). Don’t despair, though! A registry hack to enable 24-bit color in XP Mode is out there, and works great. It is applied to regedit in the XP virtual machine, not Win7’s regedit!
Therefore if one plans to run CAESY (at all), or Dentrix (in 64-bit Windows 7), one should install all three of the apps in XP Mode, and live in a virtual environment until CAESY and Dentrix can get their software packages running in Windows 7.
Networking Error In Windows 7
When my Dentrix Server was installed on a 32-bit machine running Windows 7 Professional (32-bit), the system seemed to work very well. After shifting some computers around to satisfy Dexis’ 16-bit hardware requirements, the "server" is a 64-bit machine running Windows 7 Professional (32-bit). Soon after completing this installation I began getting this error in my two operatories that are running Windows XP SP3 (could be a complete coincidence):
"Not enough server storage is available to process this command."
When the error notification appeared, both XP machines in operatories would lose their mapped drive connections to the server, but did NOT lose connections to CAESY, an old computer running an intranet in the office, or the internet. Since adjusting the IRPStackSize registry entry on the Server (Win7 Professional machine), the problem seems to be solved. More information on this change is available here: http://winhlp.com/node/40
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Therefore, at this point there is no Windows 7 solution that currently will run all of Dentrix, Dexis, and CAESY correctly. The hardware restrictions put forth by Dexis’ outdated sensor technology will be a major problem for offices in the ensuing couple of years. We all thought that the sensors would eventually die a physical death, however most of these sensors will end up dying death of obsolescence.
When will these three get on board with the operating system that Microsoft released to developers over a YEAR ago? The best clues I have gotten from Dentrix and CAESY point to Microsoft’s SP1 timetable. All Dexis support would tell me is that they do not support Windows 7 and that I should not be using it. (This, along with attitude of the technical support advisor, will kept fresh in my mind when my sensor needs to be replaced).
Here is my setup:
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RECEPTION - 64-bit machine running Windows 7 Professional (32-bit). This machine has a 500GB HDD which hosts all Dentrix and Dexis databases.
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OP1 - 64-bit machine running Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit OEM). This machine has no x-ray head in the room, so we only need Dexis to view images. Because of Dentrix Chart and CAESY’s limitations, all three apps are run in XP Mode hacked for 24-bit color. This machine has a 500GB HDD and will host all Recorded TV for Windows Media Center.
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OP2 - 32-bit machine running Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit). This machine takes films from a PCMCIA-based Dexis sensor. It cannot run CAESY, as it cannot run XP Mode.
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OP3 - 2 year old 32-bit machine running Windows XP Professional. This machine takes films from a PCMCIA-based Dexis sensor, and because it is running XP, runs CAESY normally.
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OP4 - 3 year old 32-bit machine running Windows XP Professional. Because it is running XP, it runs CAESY normally.
DR’S OFFICE - New 64-bit HP laptop running Windows Ultimate RC Build 7001 (32-bit). This machine runs Dentrix and Dexis fine, but won’t run CAESY videos, which isn’t important in my personal office.
The reason I am installing Ultimate in the operatories is to have Windows Media Center (the world’s greatest DVR) available for patients to watch recorded TV and internet TV on the overhead monitors.
Good luck with your setups! I hope this guide helps everyone to find a solution quickly and quietly. PLEASE contribute to the information here with your own experiences, because as far as I can tell, our specialty software vendors are being anything but aggressive in adapting their software to the needs of today’s new hardware customer.
Dana,
Thanks for this timely post.
Finally getting my wife and her dental partner to upgrade from a horrible product (dentpro) Nobody seems to love their dental SW, but enough seem ok with Dentrix.
Did not really want to use Windows Server 2008, interested to see you using W7 Pro for the server, which I would prefer. Dentrix does not officially support this, but will their support people work with you on this or just say “not supported?
Was going to use W732 for the rest of the office.
Have you used wireless lan at all?
Dana, I used to work for DEXIS, It took a long time before they started supporting windows vista, but they’ve changed the certification process so official windows 7 support should be faster to arrive. The old pcmcia sensor board is being phased out, New DEXIS owners are getting the DEXIS Platinum system now which is a direct USB interface as opposed to the older PCMCIA controller board, or the DEXUSB interface which replaced the network based DEXBOX system that worked with the older PCMCIA controller board.
I AM using Windows 7 Professional as my server, and it is the front desk computer. I spoke to Dentrix support last week about an unrelated issue and they were saying that in an office like mine where I have 6 computers running, W7 is probably OK, but for a larger network they recommend a dedicated server “Running Windows Server 2008″ (contrary to the requirements page in my G4 documentation). I have not gotten the stone wall “not supported” response. I’ve gotten the “yeeaahh, wellllll, Dentrix doesn’t really support W7, so it could be that, but you could also try…”
What’s strange is that any problems I DID have in Vista, and they were rare, are completely unsolved in Windows 7. My biggest issue with my dental computers comes in Vista/Windows 7 finding the database on a cold startup. The correct folder is named in the Dentrix ep.exe setup, and the mapped drives appear in Windows Explorer, but when Appointment Book fires up, I have to navigate to the data folder and double click on it for Dentrix to acknowledge the database. Simply retyping in the address does not work. This is happening on four different Vista/W7 machines.
First of all, great blog! Thanks for taking the time to list your results so we can avoid some hurdles. I do various types of system integration and, although not officially a Dentrix/Dexis integrator, I’ve gained several dental customers recently which all started with the office where my wife works as a hygienist.
I want to provide additional information…
The 16bit PCMCIA Dexis cards do work in 64bit machines. Here’s one example of a setup I have tested:
PC with 64bit Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 processor.
W/ Amtron PCD-TP-110CS 16/32bit PCMCIA card reader (Texas Instrument chipset)
Windows XP Pro 32bit OS
Dexis Sensor and card are vintage 2005
Another note: Since Windows 7 under-the-hood is basically the same as Vista, you can usually use Vista drivers on Win7. This should make it much quicker for companies to officially support Windows 7.
Well, Mike, this is promising! Strange, though, because I was able to read a CF card-reading PCMCIA card in the 64-bit environment. So, my assumption is that my PCMCIA card reader is working properly.
I have found many cases where items that worked in Vista do not work in Windows 7, though. For instance, the ScanSnap S510 Vista driver does not work in Windows 7.
Thanks for the info, though.
BTW here is an update for everyone: our Virtual XP environment working on a 64-bit machine is a really crappy nightmare with Dentrix. If you change the XP Mode from Fullscreen to windowed, Dentrix Chart takes several minutes to refresh and is unusable in the meantime. I sure hope that Dentrix and Dexis will get off their butts and embrace a version of Windows that will be around a long, long time.
Folks,
Is anyone using Dexis integrator to work with the ezdental by any chance? I’m helping out a friend of mine with replacing her old machines. I was able to install/setup Dexis and ezdental (both work fine independent of each other). I did notice a message during the install that mentioned something about the patient ID’s. I figured it will be something simple for the frontdesk girl to do so I didn’t think much of it and clicked continue. As it turns out, the frontdesk lady has no idea about it.
At this point she cannot get dexis to come up when she is looking up a patient in ezdental.
This is the very first time that I’m dealing with the dental stuff (I have a daytime job as a Network Analyst:) so I’m definitely out of my comfort zone.
Any tips in resolving this issue will be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
S.M
we just purchased dexis platinum sensor and are having trouble with windows 7 32 bit. It keeps dropping the sensors and we are not able to capture the images from the digital doc. any ideas for us
CAESY
First off - Great post!
Installed Caesy on new win 7 64-bit and it wouldn’t play the videos as you stated.
Opening Media player and clicking on Options-
then the Network tab- then check HTTP and the protocol is configured to use the Browser.
Then I tried it again and Casey played the videos, but then something switched that setting off and the videos stopped working.
I went back into media player and the HTTP was unchecked….
Maybe someone else could try and see if the videos will play for them in 64bit windows 7?
I tried XPmode, but the virtual video driver they give you has no memory, so even with the color hack, the video camera while it did work, the “virtual” xp mode box was actually worse than the real ones…..
I’m starting to lean to just downgrading to XP 32bit and be stuck with 4gb of memory in order to refresh the computers this year…..
The G4/Casey/Dexis(image 4.5) while any one might come up with a fix (G4 -7 is supposed to support win 7 64bit) I’m thinking getting all three is not going to happen any time soon, needless to say I’m greatful I only bought 1 computer to try out and not the whole office. What a disaster that would have been.
Thank You,
Ernest
Hey Dana,
Great post! I too, like the person before me am a Network Analyst. I did a G3 install in 2007 using Small Business Server 2003, an External NAS, 2 front desk clients, and 3 operatories, each with a DexBox. Just recently I did an upgrade to G4 and found that Dentrix currently only supports XP, which, with a few performance tweaks, can run pretty fast. The client server architecture allows me to manage the network remotely while controlling who has access to what via Active Directory. I use a TB NAS to store the databases in order to provide redundancy. I like Windows 7, but am a little leary how it handles operations designed for XP, especially when dealing with database updates and backups. Anyways, hope things are going well in your clinic!
Ed
Have any of you guys tried Diamond Dental Software? Seemless integration with Win 64-bit. It can link up through bridge to any type of third party software without much trouble. Best technical support I have ever encountered with a dental software vendor.
http://www.DiamondDentalSoftware.com
S.M.
I just did this today and it worked fine. You must install a 3rd piece of software and I had to get it from Dexis’s web site through a tech support login that tech support supplied me. This software is actually called Dexis Integrator. Once installed and rebooted. The icon should appear in the tray. Then when in easy dental view the patient. Then a Dexis box should appear to the right side of the screen. This will be blank or show x-rays once they exist. I hope this helps.
Mike
Dana,
Trying to help my dad with his dexis laptop upgrade. He purchased a 64 bit machine and it has win 7 64 bit. I found that the pc card he bought from dexis is not working.
I was wondering if anyone has tried to use an adapter (usb to pc card) that takes pcmcia cards and converts to usb connection. Would this setup work? How about with a 64 bit machine or 64 bit os?
Any help would be great
for those that have to click the network drive to get the connection active, try this:
start-run-cmd, type net config server /autodisconnect:xxxx where xxxx is the time limit. you can also map the drive by using:
net use X: \\server\share /persistent:yes. either of these should keep the network connection active. under certain conditions windows will allow a network connection to “hibernate” and unless the software knows to wake the connection up you will have to do it.