Quickbooks won't load on VM

[Bluebeard]

I just purchased Parallels 7 (on my Mac mini Snow Leopard) and I am trying to upload my windows Quickbooks 2010 program on to a windows 7 VM on it (this is my first program install on the new parallels program). It starts to go through the install process when I get the following error:

Error 1606 Could not access
Network location \\psf\home\documents

And then another error instantly comes up:

D:\\thirdparty\flash10\install_flash_player_10_active_
MSI returned 1603 Fatal error during installation

I am pretty much clueless on how to tweak either mac or windows and when we add the opportunity to tweak both at the same time, my capacity for understanding is quickly diminishing.

I read on another similar post (apparently problems after software was installed) where someone actually put a shared program in dropbox and somehow used drop box as an alternative drive. I like that idea, as it would be nice for my accountant to access my books anytime he wanted without my assistance.

Can someone (in very simple terms and instructions) tell me what I need to do to get this running? I have a bunch of invoices I need to send and they are trapped in the QB program until I get it up and running.

Thanks for any help.

 

[DrKarl]

Bluebeard,

It's a little confusing trying to follow what you did, so I can't give you a complete answer...

When you say "upload my windows Quickbooks"...it sounds like your might be trying to copy QB somehow? This will not work. You must use your original QB installation media and install QB on your Windows VM. You may have to use the Devices menu to assign your superdrive to the VM while doing the installation. Insert the disk in the drive, and install as if you were on a physical windows computer.

Note that you will then have the first release of QB 2010 installed ... and must then go through the QB > Update menu to update to the most recent version (otherwise your existing data file will not open, as it has presumably been operated on by an up-to-date version of QB 2010.

That you got a message about having issues accessing your Mac Document folder (the \psdf\home\documents) is odd since the initial installation should be 100% on Windows.... unless you set up your VM to share the Windows My Documents folder with the Mac Documents folder ["Shared Profile" uner Options > Sharing)? (I don't recommend that... too easy for a Windows virus to mess up your Mac files IMHO.)

Finally the bit about Dropbox. Dropbox is a super system, and free. It's a great way to get a BACKUP file (QBB) to your accountant or someone else. It is NOT a good place to keep your working QB company files because these files are databases that update with every entry you make ... and each update causes dropbox to attempt to upload the entire (often huge) file ...soon saturating your internet connection.

Instead, when you need to let your accountant see your files, either create a backup (QBB) and place that in your dropbox public folder and send him/her the link. Or, create an Accountant Copy for them and place that in your Dropbox for them to pick up.

Cheers,
Karl

PS You'll want to run Windows Update after installing QuickBooks as QB may install new system components (.NET frameworks) that were not previously on your virtual Windows machine... and you'll need to download updates to them.

 

[Bluebeard]

Karl-

I have a fresh new hard drive on my mac mini (the old one crashed). Since I couldn't find the xp windows program (and Parallels6 program that was running perfectly well) from the old hard drive that crashed, I went out and bought the parallels 7 program and windows 7 -$199 is a bit steep for a program I was going to use once a month, but I felt I had no other options - not being able to find the old files on the old hard drive.

The problems I was experiencing (and the error messages) happened literally seconds after as I was loading the Quickbooks program to parallels. The errors showed up just after I typed in the password for Quickbooks. I have no idea where I would have changed anything- I just let the parallels program set itself up as it wanted to do so.

This stuff is over my head- where can call to get someone to walk me through how to set this thing up? I have invested too much time into this process already (not to mention buying a new parallels & windows program thinking the old ones were somehow trashed) and I am ready for someone much smarter than I to hold my hand during this set up process in order to expedite it. I don't mind paying for this help, but I need to have it completed soon, as I have invoices I need to get out asap. I cannot afford to spend another several hours trying to get this thing running while doing a simple set up operation using the items I purchased from Parallels. I have too much time invested in something I assumed would be a no-brainer setup, time to move on to bigger and better things. Please suggest where I can call to get help.

Thanks