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CIL Data 2: Southern Tier Independence Center’s
multi-purpose software package for Centers for Independent Living
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Frequently Asked Questions

I tried to log into CIL Data 2 but I got a message saying “CIL Data 2 may already be running”.

I tried to log into CIL Data 2, but I got a message saying that CIL Data 2 is in “maintenance mode”.

Nobody has been able to get into CIL Data 2 for a long time; we keep getting the message that CIL Data 2 is in “maintenance” mode.

I get a print service error when I try to print something.

I can’t seem to set up new users in CIL Data 2. What am I missing?

I entered several service records for a person but their name doesn’t show up in the list when I open the window to print multiple contact sheets (the forms that show service dates, codes and units in a three-month calendar format). Why not?

I entered several service records for a person right after the fiscal year ended, but I don’t see any services when I press the “View All Services” button to open the “Services for ...” Window. What happened to my services?

I enter services for a person, and then when I search for another person I always get a “not found” message. What happened to my people?


I tried to log into CIL Data 2 but I got a message saying “CIL Data 2 is already running”.

This can happen if CIL Data 2 shuts down improperly. To solve the problem, you need to delete a specific text file.

The location of that file will depend on whether your CIL Data 2 software is installed to C:\[some folder name] or to C:\Program Files\[some folder name]\ (or C:\Program Files (x86)\[some folder name]\). We always recommend that you install the software to C:\CIL Data 2\.

How to find the file depends on whether you are using Windows 10 or Windows 7. (The instructions below for Windows 10 will probably work if you’re using Windows 11, but we haven’t tested with that operating system.)

In Windows 10

If the software was installed to C:\[some folder name], follow these steps.

  1. Type “This PC” (without the quotes) in the Windows search box and hit the ENTER key to open the “This PC” window. The search box is usually displayed on the Task Bar, or available by clicking the “hourglass” symbol there. (If the “This PC” shortcut is on the desktop, double-clicking it will also get you there.)
  2. Change your view: Click the “View” item in the menu at the top of the window, click “Details”, and check the box for “File name extensions” if it’s not checked.
  3. In the left pane of the window, click “Local Disk (C:)”.
  4. In the right pane, find the folder where the CIL Data 2 software is installed (usually, but not necessarily, C:\CIL Data 2\) and double-click it. Then find the file called “cildata2.txt”, and delete it.

If the software was installed to C:\Program Files\[some folder]\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\[some folder], follow these steps.

  1. Type “This PC” (without the quotes) in the Windows search box and hit the ENTER key to open the “This PC” window. The search box is usually displayed on the Task Bar, or available by clicking the “hourglass” symbol there. (If the “This PC” shortcut is on the desktop, double-clicking it will also get you there.)
  2. Change your view: Click the “View” item in the menu at the top of the window, click “Details”, and check the box for “File name extensions” if it’s not checked. Also check the box for “Hidden items”.
  3. In the left pane of the window, click “Local Disk (C:)”.
  4. In the right pane, double-click Users, then double-click the folder that is named for your account (for example, if you logged into Windows as “JoeB”, double-click the folder called “joeb”).
  5. Double-click the AppData folder. Inside that folder, go to Local>VirtualStore> and find the folder that’s named for the folder where CIL Data 2 was installed. For example, if CIL Data 2 was installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\CIL Data 2\, find ..\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\CIL Data 2\. Double-click that folder, find the file called “cildata2.txt”, and delete it. When you’re done, uncheck “Hidden items”.
In Windows 7

If the software was installed to C:\[some folder name], follow these steps.

  1. Type “Computer” in the Windows search box, hit ENTER, and then click “Computer” in the results list. To get to the search box, click the “Start” (Windows logo) button in the lower-left corner. (If the “Computer” shortcut is on the desktop, double-clicking it will also get you there.)
  2. Change your view: In the upper-right corner, find the “Change your view” button (by hovering the mouse over it) and choose “Details”.
  3. If there is no Menu in this window, click Organize>Layout>Menu bar. Open the View Menu and choose “Folder Options”.
  4. In the “General” tab, make sure “Show all folders” IS checked.
  5. In the “View” tab, make sure that “Hide extensions for known file types” is NOT checked, and click the “OK” button in the Folder Options window.
  6. Back in the Computer>Local Disk C: window, find the folder where the CIL Data 2 software is installed (usually, but not necessarily, C:\CIL Data 2\) and double-click it. Then find the file called “cildata2.txt”, and delete it.

If the software was installed to C:\Program Files\[some folder]\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\[some folder], follow these steps.

  1. Type “Computer” in the Windows search box, hit ENTER, and then click “Computer” in the results list. To get to the search box, click the “Start” (Windows logo) button in the lower-left corner. (If the “Computer” shortcut is on the desktop, double-clicking it will also get you there.)
  2. Change your view: In the upper-right corner, find the “Change your view” button (by hovering the mouse over it) and choose “Details”.
  3. If there is no Menu in this window, click Organize>Layout>Menu bar. Open the View Menu and choose “Folder Options”.
  4. In the “General” tab, make sure “Show all folders” IS checked.
  5. In the “View” tab, make sure that “Hide extensions for known file types” is NOT checked, make sure “Show hidden files, folders and drives” IS checked, and click the “OK” button in the Folder Options window.
  6. Back in the Computer window, double-click “Local Disk C:” in the right pane.
  7. Now double-click Users, then double-click the folder that is named for your account (for example, if you logged into Windows as “JoeB”, double-click the folder called “joeb”).
  8. Double-click the AppData folder. Inside that folder, go to Local>VirtualStore> and find the folder that’s named for the folder where CIL Data 2 was installed. For example, if CIL Data 2 was installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\CIL Data 2\, find ..\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\CIL Data 2\. Double-click that folder, find the file called “cildata2.txt”, and delete it. When you’re done, uncheck “Show hidden files and folders”.
In all computers:

Close the window. Now you can run CIL Data 2.

I tried to log into CIL Data 2, but I got a message saying that CIL Data 2 is in “maintenance mode”.

The system is put into maintenance mode when the last user logs out, so that the automatic backup can be done. Your System Administrator may also have put the system into maintenance mode in order to carry out various maintenance tasks.

The automatic backup takes between 5 and 10 minutes on most systems. So try again in about 10 minutes. If you get the message again, contact your System Administrator.

Nobody has been able to get into CIL Data 2 for a long time; we keep getting the message that CIL Data 2 is in “maintenance” mode.

In rare cases, if the system crashes while in maintenance mode, it gets “stuck” there. The System Administrator will need to run the CIL Data 2 Maintenance Utility and re-enable logins.

The most common cause of this is users who shut down Windows before CIL Data 2 is done shutting down, especially if the user was the last user to log out of CIL Data 2, which causes the software to run its automatic Shared Data backup procedure. If you need to leave the office, make sure that you are allowing enough time for CIL Data 2 to complete all of its shutdown tasks before you leave. NEVER shut down Windows before CIL Data 2 has been completely shut down.

Another possibility in a multi-user setup is that permissions for one or more CIL Data 2 users, on the shared data location, aren’t configured correctly. It’s possible to misconfigure the permissions so that a user’s installation of the software can fail to “see” or write, or can inappropriately delete, one of the “semaphore” files in the ..\[shared data]\Semaphore\ folder. Recheck the permissions granted to users on the shared data folder. All CIL Data 2 users should have read and write permissions on ..\[shared data]\, but should NOT have delete permissions on that folder, while they should have read, write, and delete permissions on the ..\[shared data]\Semaphore folder.

If you are sure that people are not shutting down Windows prematurely, and the user permissions are correct, and this situation happens frequently in a multi-user setup, it is likely there is a network connectivity problem, perhaps involving hardware. When the System Administrator runs the maintenance utility to re-enable logins, s/he will usually get a message including the name of the user whose login was involved in the problem. Use this information to determine which computer to investigate. If you’re using a wireless connection with CIL Data 2, you should use a wired connection instead. If you’re already using a wired connection, try a different network cable, and/or try plugging into a different network jack. If the user is connecting from a remote location over a VPN, but not then running CIL Data 2 on a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) server that is on the local network, connectivity will be sketchy at best; we strongly recommend that remote workers use a VPN to connect to a RDP server that is on the local network and run CIL Data 2 on that server. If these things don’t improve the situation, the computer’s NIC card/chip may be malfunctioning.

I get a print service error when I try to print something.

CIL Data 2 is designed to use a separate external process for printing. This adds an extra layer of protection to your data while printing. However, on some specific computers, the external print process doesn’t work properly. (It appears to be a timing issue but it is not predictable.)

If you get “print service” errors when printing, but your printer is connected and working properly, do the following:

In any word processor or text editor, create a text file (“Save as Type:” plain text) containing the word “prntloc”. Name this file “prntloc.txt”. Put this file in the folder where your CIL Data 2 software is installed (NOT the shared data folder). For example, if your software was installed in C:\Program Files\CIL Data 2\, put the prntloc.txt file in that folder. On some operating systems, you may need to be logged into the computer with administrator rights to do this.

I can’t seem to set up new users in CIL Data 2. What am I missing?

There is a 3-step process for setting up users.

  1. All users must first be set up as people, just as you would do with consumers.
  2. Once you have created and saved a People record for the new user, you must then set up that user as an Employee. Log in with a System Administrator account, go to the System Menu and choose “Employees” to open the Personnel Window. Search for the new person’s last name in the “Search for Staff or Supervisor” blank, and set up the employee as appropriate. Press the SAVE button and close the Personnel Window.
  3. Once you have created and saved a Personnel record for the person, go to the System Menu and choose “Set up Users” to open the User Accounts Window. Now you can set up the user’s account.

More information on this can be found by searching for “User Accounts and Logins” in the General Instructions help.

I entered several service records for a person but their name doesn’t show up in the list when I open the window to print multiple contact sheets (the forms that show service dates, codes and units in a three-month calendar format). Why not?

CIL Data 2 follows rules established at STIC to control the printing of contact sheets: only people who have Intake Forms should have contact sheets. The software uses the Intake Date (on the “Demographics” tab in the People Window), to determine who has an Intake Form. If a person doesn’t have an Intake Date, then s/he will not appear in the list in the Multiple Contact Sheets Window.

To address this, simply enter an Intake Date for the person in the People Window. However, please note that Intake Dates that are not in the current fiscal year (or in the previous fiscal year during the “grace period”) require a user account with special permissions to enter. See the “OLD DATES” permission in the General Instructions help file for more information.

If this behavior is too restrictive for your CIL, a contact sheet can be printed for any person, with or without an Intake Date, who has received services in a quarter within the current or previous fiscal year, by pressing the “PRINT” button in the Contact Sheet Window (available on the “Services” tab in the People Window).

I entered several service records for a person right after the fiscal year ended, but I don’t see any services when I press the “View All Services” button to open the “Services for ...” Window. What happened to my services?

CIL Data 2 ordinarily displays services whose dates fall within the current fiscal year. If the fiscal year has just changed, and you are entering services for the previous quarter (the last quarter of the fiscal year that just ended), then when you open the “Services for ...” Window you won’t see any services listed, because that window is showing the first quarter of the new fiscal year.

You can make the “Services for ...” Window show services for the previous fiscal year by typing that fiscal year into the “Fiscal Year” blank above the list of services in that window. You must type the fiscal year in “YYYY-YYYY” format. As soon as you do so and move the focus out of the “Fiscal Year” blank, the display will change. (This also applies to the Contact Sheet Window; the blank to change the fiscal year display is on the “Options” tab.)

Please note also: When you are in the “grace period” and are entering service dates for the previous fiscal year, CIL Data 2 will automatically save your data when you press the “ENTER SERVICE(S)” button. That is, you will see the “SERVICES ENTERED” message, and then, after a pause, you will also see the “ALL DATA SAVED” message. This is done to keep the data from the two separate fiscal years “in synch”. Remember to allow time for this to happen.

I enter services for a person, and then when I search for another person I always get a “not found” message. What happened to my people?

By default, the option displayed in the “Look in” drop-down changes when you go to a different tab in the People Window. The default option for “Look in” when the window opens is “Last Name”, but if you go to the Services tab, the option changes to “Service Code”. If you search for a person’s name while the “Look in” option is “Service Code”, you get a “not found” response.

You can change this feature if you don’t like it:

  1. Close the People Window.
  2. Choose “Preferences” from the Tools menu to open the Local User Preferences Window.
  3. Go to the General tab and check the “Default Look In to Last Name” checkbox.
  4. Press the “SAVE” button. You will see the “All data was saved” message. Then close the window.

When you re-open the People Window, the “Look In” option will remain “Last Name” no matter which tab you are on. The other options are still there in the drop-down for you to use.

Version 1.0 Available Now!
Contact: (607) 724-2111 (voice/TTY)           kend (at) stic-cil.org
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