BDE initialization failure (error $2501) on Vista

Question

I have a small datasnap server written in Delphi 2007 that accesses the BDE. It works fine on Windows 2000 and XP but from time to time (actually quite regularly) on Vista I get the error message:

An error occurred while attempting to initialize the Borland Database Engine (error $2501)

Closing everything down that uses the BDE fixes the error (although you sometimes need to "End Process" the datasnap server to close it).

This is becoming rather annoying as more and more of our clients are running Vista for their "server". Does anyone have any suggestions?

Solution 1

You haven't mentioned if you've tried adjusting the virtual memory settings. BDE error 2501 is an "insufficient virtual memory" error. Some articles that may help:

• BDE Sharedmem fix (older)
• Specific memory walk through of things to check/fix

Solution 2

the resolution for the error is by increasing the shared memory available for the BDE.

Solution 3

Andy's answer link to www.torry.net is for some $30 software package that "claims" to fix BDE errors. I'd comment on it, but I don't have the reputation points. (...but someone else could...) The link doesn't work, but if you search for "BDE Setting" you'll probably find it. I can find no evidence or reviews that it works. Download unsigned exe's at your own risk... (I'll pass)

Comments

[Alister]

It can also be helpful (particularly on Windows 10) to save the BDE configuration to a user accessible file (BDE Administrator|Object|Save As)

[Alister]

This seems to have fixed it. Changing the SharedMemLocation in the BDE Administrator has stopped the phone ringing from this particular client. Thanks Marshall.

[Don Cruickshank]

Please do not provide link-only answers as the external content may change or disappear. Would you edit your answer to include a summary and keep the link as a reference?

[rossmcm]

The second link is dead.

[rossmcm]

torry link is stale