Parallels 9 and Quicken

mikeojohnson · Oct 31, 2013

I am running parallels 9 with windows 7.1 on a new 15" macbook pro retina with Mavericks. I use it to run the windows version of Quicken 2014. On my old 15" retina everything ran fine. With my new MBPro parallels loads ok and quicken runs but the resolution of the quicken windows is quirky. In the side bar with the accounts the font is minuscule and when I open a register it is very large. Trying to adjust screen resolution in both windows and/or the mac doesn't solve the problem. Anyone else have the problem and found a solution? I tried reinstalling Quicken but it didn't work.
thanks,
Mike

RichD1 · Nov 1, 2013

mikeojohnson said:
I am running parallels 9 with windows 7.1 on a new 15" macbook pro retina with Mavericks. I use it to run the windows version of Quicken 2014. On my old 15" retina everything ran fine. With my new MBPro parallels loads ok and quicken runs but the resolution of the quicken windows is quirky. In the side bar with the accounts the font is minuscule and when I open a register it is very large. Trying to adjust screen resolution in both windows and/or the mac doesn't solve the problem. Anyone else have the problem and found a solution? I tried reinstalling Quicken but it didn't work.
thanks,
Mike

Similar here, though my fonts on the left Accounts panel is perfectly fine for me, the Register is overly large and unusable. The only solution I've run across is poor, where you switch the video setting in the VM config (right click Parallels, choose Configure, go to Hardware tab, choose Video) from Retina optimized to one of the other settings. The one on the left makes it scaled and honestly blurry.

I hope Parallels support reads this post and offers help in a software fix. I'd rather prefer the Retina setting.

DoctorG · Nov 4, 2013

Same problem here. 15" MBP Retina. Unusuable due to buttons being microscopic, fonts in register for quicken huge. This is the only reason I run Parallels on my MBP. Support advised me to reinstall Tools -- no joy. Then Uninstall Quicken 2014 and reinstall -- > No change.

Please help Parallels Tech Support!!

Bartman4 · Nov 6, 2013

I'm having the same issue. Incredibly frustrating. Makes me wish pre Mavericks and pre Parallels 9, but no easy way to go back... Upgrading has been totally not worth it so far.

DoctorG said:
Same problem here. 15" MBP Retina. Unusuable due to buttons being microscopic, fonts in register for quicken huge. This is the only reason I run Parallels on my MBP. Support advised me to reinstall Tools -- no joy. Then Uninstall Quicken 2014 and reinstall -- > No change.

Please help Parallels Tech Support!!

View attachment 7497

msjomg · Nov 14, 2013

Same problem. Quicken was the only reason I ran Parallels. I will try out some of the other programs, since Parallels does not want to respond... I guess this was my last upgrade, which was really a downgrade....

Bartman4 said:
I'm having the same issue. Incredibly frustrating. Makes me wish pre Mavericks and pre Parallels 9, but no easy way to go back... Upgrading has been totally not worth it so far.

Bartman4 · Nov 15, 2013

I've emailed usasupport@support.parallels.com with this issue and written a poor review on Amazon.com. Suggest you guys do the same. Suspect Amazon reviews have way more play than support of this forum.

msjomg · Nov 15, 2013

I have a bad work-around, until Parallels gets their act together....
To view Quicken
Go to Parallels bar. Click on “Virtual Machine” tab, go to bottom of list click on “Configure”, Choose “Hardware” tab, go to video, then check box “Enable Retina resolution” Then make Parallels window as wide as the screen, and Quicken full screen. This at least allows you to have the full width of the register visible at one time. You can hardly make out the tabs in Quicken, or the icons on the desktop, but, for those of us who are stuck with this, it makes a workable solution until we find a different program to run Windows in, that works with Quicken.

Frankie H · Nov 20, 2013

this is not a parallels problem but windows and quicken. In windows control panel change display to "Smaller - 100% (Default)", then change the resolutions in windows to 1280 x 800. this will look like the rest of your mac and quicken will look normal again.

The crashes in quicken are all caused by quicken too and not parallels. Go to the quicken community and you will learn all this. Quicken 2014 is riddled with crashes!

Bartman4 · Nov 23, 2013

It's not just Quicken's fault

Frankie H said:
this is not a parallels problem but windows and quicken. In windows control panel change display to "Smaller - 100% (Default)", then change the resolutions in windows to 1280 x 800. this will look like the rest of your mac and quicken will look normal again.

The crashes in quicken are all caused by quicken too and not parallels. Go to the quicken community and you will learn all this. Quicken 2014 is riddled with crashes!

When using a Retina display, Parallels appears to be setting the Windows 7 font to Custom 199%. When I change this I have to relogin to Windows and something (I think it's Parallels trying to adjust for the Retina display) always changes it back to 199%.

I was able to resolve this issue to a large extent working with Parallels support. I moved the VM from using DirectX 10 to DirectX 9 and now Quicken 2012 renders normally (with very small fonts on a Retina display) and I'm able to use the Quicken View menu to choose Use Large Fonts and I can work with Quicken well enough on my Retina display...

On my external display, things look best when I Exit Coherence (Parallels) and use regular fonts.

On the whole "upgrading" from Parallels 7 to Parallels 9 has been a downgrade for me because Quicken use to work just fine on both displays without my having to do hours of research, work with tech support, etc. to get it to work normally.

I agree that Quicken is poorly written and buggy, but this wasn't an issue prior to my Parallels upgrade...

srfisher · Jan 4, 2014

I have been totally defeated by purchasing Quicken 2014. It won't even finish the installation, saying I need .NET framework 4, however neither Windows 7 nor Parallels will update any longer. When I try, everything just stops. When I try to update .NET framework, nothing happens. Quicken says it's Parallels fault and they do not support Quicken via Parallels! Parallels says it's Quicken's fault. So now what???

RogerR · Jan 18, 2014

The resolution problems are also with Quickens TurboTax Canada which is the only reason I run Windows. This problem has been around long enough for Parallels to address it.

srfisher · Jan 18, 2014

Finally had no choice but to give up!

RogerR said:
The resolution problems are also with Quickens TurboTax Canada which is the only reason I run Windows. This problem has been around long enough for Parallels to address it.

Never got ANY help from Parallels or from Intuit, so am abandoning Parallels entirely. Bought VMWare 6 which seems to have left Parallels years behind. Re-downloaded my new Quicken Upgrade and everything went incredibly smoothly--the FIRST TIME! If only I could get my money back from my recent Parallels Downgrade. Now to completely delete Parallels forever!

hmn4858 · Jan 19, 2014

srfisher said:
Never got ANY help from Parallels or from Intuit, so am abandoning Parallels entirely. Bought VMWare 6 which seems to have left Parallels years behind. Re-downloaded my new Quicken Upgrade and everything went incredibly smoothly--the FIRST TIME! If only I could get my money back from my recent Parallels Downgrade. Now to completely delete Parallels forever!

I switched from VMWare because after an upgrade I was having all sorts of issues with it running Quicken. Six of one, half a dozen of another.

srfisher · Jan 19, 2014

Interesting

hmn4858 said:
I switched from VMWare because after an upgrade I was having all sorts of issues with it running Quicken. Six of one, half a dozen of another.

Parallels might have salvaged me as a customer if they could have shown me how to do that! I never could get Quicken even to open!

BenSjr · Feb 7, 2014

Are the problems described in this thread with Quicken for Windows 2014 and Parallels always with Macs with retina display?

RANDYGD · Feb 28, 2014

I had Quicken 2014 running with windows 7 and Parallels 8 and it worked just fine. When I switched to parallels 9 is when the resolution/font distortion happened. I have tried all the settings (best for retina, scaled, more space) and it is just plain terrible. This IS parallels issue that needs to be fixed as it broke from version 8 to 9. What is happening in windows using best for retina is the driver for the video is setting the resolution to its highest setting. That is not the resolution my macbook is using.

Manojkumar@Parallels · Mar 11, 2014

RANDYGD said:
I had Quicken 2014 running with windows 7 and Parallels 8 and it worked just fine. When I switched to parallels 9 is when the resolution/font distortion happened. I have tried all the settings (best for retina, scaled, more space) and it is just plain terrible. This IS parallels issue that needs to be fixed as it broke from version 8 to 9. What is happening in windows using best for retina is the driver for the video is setting the resolution to its highest setting. That is not the resolution my macbook is using.

Hi Randygd,

Please follow the steps as suggested; Go to Configure of VM ( http://kb.parallels.com/117287 ) > Hardware > Video

1) Change 3D acceleration from Direct X10 to Direct X9
2) Uncheck 'Enable Vertical Synchronization'

Thanks,
Manoj

RANDYGD · Mar 11, 2014

Manojkumar@Parallels said:
Hi Randygd,

Please follow the steps as suggested; Go to Configure of VM ( http://kb.parallels.com/117287 ) > Hardware > Video

1) Change 3D acceleration from Direct X10 to Direct X9
2) Uncheck 'Enable Vertical Synchronization'

Thanks,
Manoj

No help. Scaled is too big. Best for retina has scrambled/overlapping headings and the resolution is 2796x1618, more space gets rid of the overlapping headings but the resolution remains at 2796x1618. Right there is your issue and you can not change the resolution. It always reverts which tells me the driver is the issue, not direct x etc.

BNA_traveler · Mar 17, 2014

Manojkumar@Parallels said:
Hi Randygd,

Please follow the steps as suggested; Go to Configure of VM ( http://kb.parallels.com/117287 ) > Hardware > Video

1) Change 3D acceleration from Direct X10 to Direct X9
2) Uncheck 'Enable Vertical Synchronization'

Thanks,
Manoj

I tried this against the newest build (9.0.24217) and saw no change. Screen shots below showing the two issues that remain.

1. shadowed top menus

2. overly large fonts in register views

GAFDVM · Apr 17, 2014

same problem here. this combination of settings worked for me (finally)
parallel configuration: video memory 256k, resolution scaled (scaled resolution seemed to be the key), direct X9 for 3D acceleration, uncheck vert. sync
windows 7 configuration: 1440x900 (i used auto detect), smaller text (the default)

hope this works for someone else.

Parallels 9 and Quicken

Parallels Support