As we have informed Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) users in multiple Electronic Announcements, an EDconnect or TDClient software upgrade is necessary to comply with an important federal mandate to improve email and web security. Our last communication notified users that the upgrade deadline was being extended and a new deadline date was under discussion.
Important
The new mandatory SAIG software upgrade deadline has now been finalized and is Feb. 20, 2022. After Feb. 20, older versions of EDconnect and TDClient will no longer connect to the SAIG and cannot be used to send/receive transmissions.
To avoid losing access to the SAIG, all users must complete their upgrades by Feb. 20 to EDconnect 8.5 or to the current version of TDClient, both available for download on the Software and Other Tools page of the Knowledge Center website, along with user documentation.
We greatly appreciate the work of the vast majority of TDClient users who have completed their upgrades. No further action is needed by these users.
Important Information for EDconnect Users
While a majority of EDconnect users have upgraded to EDconnect 8.5, some users still need to complete the upgrade. Do not wait until just prior to the deadline or you risk losing access to the SAIG. In addition—
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After upgrading to EDconnect 8.5, users must also install a required software patch (EDconnect 8.5.1) by Feb. 20, 2022, to provide increased security and additional data protection. The security patch will only impact the authentication capability of EDconnect; there will be no changes to the user interface or software functionality. The EDconnect 8.5.1 security patch will be available in early January 2022 on the Software and Other Tools page of the Knowledge Center website. We will notify users with an Electronic Announcement when the patch is available for download.
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As a reminder, EDconnect 8.5 must be used with the Windows 10 or Windows Server 2012 operating systems or higher. EDconnect 8.5 software is not supported on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, or Windows 2008. If a compatible operating system is not yet being used by the school, immediate attention is needed to upgrade to an operating system that will support the updated software.
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Some users who have installed EDconnect 8.5 have reported technical issues which may be related to the user’s local system configuration. If needed, please contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support for assistance with addressing these issues. In addition, refer to the section below for information about workarounds to several known EDconnect 8.5 issues.
EDconnect 8.5 Issues and Workarounds
Below are several issues that EDconnect 8.5 users have reported, followed by the corresponding workaround:
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Issue 1: Users receive the error message "The ordinal 9 could not be located in the dynamic link library C:\Program Files (x86)\EDconn8.exe" when using a user-maintained EDconnect shortcut instead of the one provided by EDconnect.
Workaround: If a user-maintained EDconnect shortcut is preferred, delete the shortcut with the error and create a new one using the new EDconnect shortcut as a model.
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Issue 2: Users cannot change the receive and/or send directory paths using the ‘Browse’ function in the upgraded EDconnect 8.5 application menu ‘Security: View > User Properties > Directories’ tab.
Workaround: Manually type in the desired send/receive file path into the directory file path field and avoid using the browse feature. Sample file path formats: "C:\EDconnect\Receive"; "C:\EDconnect\Send"; “C:\Temp\Receive”; “C:\MyDirectory\Send”.
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Issue 3: Users report references to EDconnect 8.0 and 8.1 in the EDconnect 8.5 install wizard.
Workaround: Disregard references to 8.0 and 8.1 in the install wizard and proceed with the installation of EDconnect 8.5.
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Issue 4: Users receive “the path ‘pathname’ does not exist” message when EDconnect attempts to retrieve files and save them to a network path location (e.g., \\servername\folder\subfolder) in Windows OS.
Workaround: Create a mapped drive to the network path location using Windows File Explorer. Then, configure the receive path in EDconnect to contain only the new network drive letter followed by a colon and backslash. For example: X:\
We appreciate the attention of SAIG users to this critical software upgrade.
Contact Information
If you have questions about the EDconnect or TDClient software, please contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 1-800-330-5947 or by email at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.