Posts Tagged ‘QuickBooks UK’

QuickBooks UK have announced that as from 30th September 2010 they are withdrawing support plans and payroll support for QuickBooks 2006. You can continue to use QuickBooks 2006 after this date, but QuickBooks will not provide support.

We will continue to support QuickBooks 2006, so please contact 0208 1234 262 if you need assistance.

QuickBooks 2008 is having its support removed on 5th April 2011.

Now that QuickBooks 2010 has been released, it is obvious that QuickBooks are desperate to get everyone to upgrade to the latest version. At Adapt Computing we will continue to provide support for the older versions.

Please contact us if you need assistance.

QuickBooks UK and Windows 7

In this report I will explain the current situation regarding QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 and Windows 7. I will explain the problems and give a solution.

According to the official QuickBooks UK site QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 are not compatible with Windows 7.

Although QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 versions will install successfully on Windows 7, these products are not supported by Intuit to be compatible with Windows 7.

Also QuickBooks UK will not be issuing updates to QuickBooks 2006 0r 2008 to make them compatible.

We do not plan to release any updates to make these products compatible with Windows 7. We are working hard to bring a new version of QuickBooks to the UK market which is compatible with Windows 7.

Read their full comment on the official QuickBooks UK site.

Here is my personal experience of using QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 with Windows 7:-

• Initially the installation of QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 on Windows 7 can appear to work successfully. However error messages start appearing within the following days and weeks.
• A major problem is that Windows 7 includes a program called .Net Framework which is supplied with Windows 7 as a built in component. The program .Net Framework is used by QuickBooks for its large library of coded solutions to common programming problems.
• The problem is Windows 7 comes with version 3.5 of .Net Framework, but when you install QuickBooks on to a Windows 7 PC the installation routine installs version 1.1 of .Net Framework.
• These two versions of .Net seem to cause the conflicts which make QuickBooks work unreliable.
• Other software programs make use of .Net and they can fail to work correctly with both .Net versions installed.
• I have not had any success trying to removing the earlier version of .Net. In fact I ended up re-installing Windows 7 to correct it.
• Also QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 prefer to work with Internet Explorer 6. The newer versions of Internet Explorer (which are supplied with Windows 7) give script errors when running the graphic overviews (like the the Home navigator screen).

Due to the above reasons I have found QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 unworkable on Windows 7. However I have found a solution.

Solution – Windows 7 and QuickBooks 2006 and 2008

For the last 3 months I have successfully been using QuickBooks 2006 and 2008 on Windows 7 using Windows 7′s “Virtual XP Mode”.  Virtual XP Mode should not be confused with the XP Compatibility mode which is available in all versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Virtual XP Mode is only available with Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise editions. So this will not work if you have the Windows 7 Home edition. The purpose of Virtual XP mode is to create a window, in which the XP operating system works using the Ram memory of the PC. Check the Microsoft Virtual XP Mode site for details.

In this Virtual XP Mode window your PC creates a version of Windows XP and so none of the QuickBook/Windows 7 compatibilities discussed above cause problems.

Windows 7 in Virtual XP mode running QuickBooks

When you set up the Virtual XP Mode you assign a portion of your Ram memory to the installation of XP. I recommend using 1 Gb of Ram for the XP installation. I  have tested this with a PC with 6Gb of Ram running Windows 7 Professional 64 bit operating system. and it works well. Setting up printers to work with Virtual XP Mode can be a bit awkward because you have to select the port number manually.

Windows 7 is supplied in 32 and 64 bit versions. If you are given the option then choose the 64 bit version because this allows you to overcome the Ram memory of 3.5Gb (approximate) that the 32 bit version has. I have not tried Windows 7 (32 bit) with Virtual XP mode but it is supported by Microsoft.

Apart from the printer issue, everything works as it should do. I have not tested this with earlier versions of QuickBooks but I would expect it to work with any QuickBooks version compatible with Windows XP.

I hope that this clarifies the current situation for you.

Following on from my original post, I can report the following versions of QuickBooks are all working all working well with Windows 7:-

• UK version of QuickBooks Accountant 2006. This is working in Windows XP SP3 compatibility mode.
• UK version of QuickBooks Premier 2008.
• USA version of QuickBooks Premier – Accountant 2009.

I’m afraid I haven’t installed USA QuickBooks 2010 yet, but I wouldn’t expect any problems with it.

Overall Windows 7 is a vast improvement over Vista in terms of speed and stability.  Windows 7 is now my daily operating system of choice.

On 24th September QuickBooks UK issued update R12 for QuickBooks 2008 Pro and Premier. If you have automatic updates switched on then you should have received the update.

If you need to you can download the update from the QuickBooks UK website.

To check which version you have press Control + 1

I have obtained a copy of the American version of QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2009, as part of my joining the American QuickBooks ProAdvisor scheme.  I have chosen to install it on a separate dual-boot hard drive in my PC. For the more technical of you, the specification of the PC is:

• AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6000+ 3.00 GHz processor
• 4 Gb Ram
• 1000 Gb hard drive
• Running Window 7 Ultimate Evaluation Copy Build 7100

The QuickBooks install went without a hitch, just the usual “Next”, “Next” clicking routine.  I installed the Google option, and can confirm Charlie Russell’s findings about problems with Google.  Windows 7 gave an error message when trying to install Windows 7 updates. The error code indicated Google Desktop was at fault. Uninstalling Google Desktop allowed the Windows updates to work normally.

The QuickBooks 2009 installation worked well and appeared to open relatively quickly on Windows 7.  Updating QuickBooks to the latest version using automatic updates worked well.

So in conclusion QuickBooks 2009 and Windows 7 appear to be working harmoniously together.  I’ll use the system over the next few days and report back if any issues come up.

I have recently joined the QuickBooks ProAdvisor scheme in America.  Yesterday the starter pack arrived in the post. The list of software supplied is as follows:

• QuickBooks Accountant Edition 2009
• QuickBooks Simple Start 2009
• QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 2009
• QuickBooks Point of Sale 2009

This is a very impressive list, and when the QuickBooks 2010 software gets released, QuickBooks will be sending the 2010 versions.

I intend to run this on a PC I have which has Windows 7 on it. I will see how that install goes.  So far I have found that Windows 7 is like a version of  Windows Vista that works!  Think of it as Vista without the headache.

Okay, I work in the UK, so why do I want to join the QuickBooks ProAdvisor scheme in the USA?  Well my reasons are as follows:-

• In the UK we tend to get updated versions of QuickBooks many months/years after the USA. For example our version of QuickBooks 2008, which came out in 2007, still hasn’t been upgraded. In the States the QuickBooks 2010 is expected soon.
• I wanted to see the American versions to see what features would be coming our way in the next version. This way I would be ahead of the game.
• American companies operating in the UK would be using the UK or American versions of QuickBooks.  I see this as an opportunity to support these American based companies.

There is also the opportunity to train, and be certified, as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor.  I have been a Quickbooks ProAdvisor in the UK for 5 years and I’m looking forward to the challenge of learning about these new versions of QuickBooks.

Initial impressions are that the support supplied by QuickBooks in the States, in terms of material available on their Prodvisor website and forums, looks superior to the UK’s.

I will keep you informed how I get on over the next few weeks.

QuickBooks logo

I’ve had a word with my “mole” in QuickBooks UK.  I was quizzing him about the launch date for QuickBooks 2009.  Apparently it’s still in the pipeline, but the pipeline is proving to to be longer than expected.

Don’t be surprised if it’s called QuickBooks 2010!