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Posted by R. C. White on August 13, 2006, 5:37 pm
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Hi, Ron.
> RC, I'm sorry that I misquoted the backup folder as pluralized. It is
> not. I don't think I have a tangled mess, just two branches, one with the
> executable and the other with the data and the appropriate subfolder
> BACKUP.
Too bad that typo in the folder name caused confusion. It's just that
computers can be so picky about filenames and folder names. And it wasn't
clear that it WAS a typo; you might very well have had a folder named
"Backups". That would have been a clear indication that it was NOT
Quicken's backup folder, so we needed to be sure of the actual name of the
folder. Seeing that folder name in the non-default location for Quicken
added to the possibility that it was not the folder we were looking for.
>> you have Quicken (and QuickenW) folders in both My DocumentsQuicken and
>> C:QuickenW.
>
> Only the data are in the former. Only the executable is in the latter.
It's perfectly acceptable to have Quicken's data in a different location
from the executables, of course. Many users have multiple filesets stored
in multiple locations on their computers. It's also possible to have
multiple filesets - with different names, of course - within the Quicken
folder. Preferences does not even have a setting for the data file
location. Just put the file wherever you want it, and My DocumentsQuicken
is as good as any.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA [RC]
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(currently running Windows Mail 7 in Vista x64 Build 5472)
> Hi RC, Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Responses below.
>
>> Hi, Ron.
>>
>> (And thanks for jumping in, John. I was in the middle of drafting this
>> when I saw your post appear and, as you can see, I'm invoking your name
>> in this message, anyhow. ;<) )
>>
>> It sounds like your Quicken installations have resulted in a tangled
>> mess. :>( I'm not sure I have all the answers, but here are a few
>> thoughts.
>
> RC, I'm sorry that I misquoted the backup folder as pluralized. It is
> not. I don't think I have a tangled mess, just two branches, one with the
> executable and the other with the data and the appropriate subfolder
> BACKUP.
>
>>
>> The only time we can decide where to put Quicken is during the
>> installation. Setup proposes a location, but we can change it (and I
>> always change mine to E:QuickenW). It always proposes a location on
>> whichever volume (primary partition or logical drive) is specified by the
>> environment variable SystemDrive. In almost all cases, especially for
>> the typical user who has only a single "drive", this is Drive C:. The
>> default location is into the Program Files folder. For a new
>> installation of Quicken, it creates a subfolder named Quicken. So the
>> typical path is C:Program Files Quicken. There is no way that
>> Preferences can control this. And trying to change it manually in the
>> Registry is inviting disaster!
>>
>> If we are upgrading a previous Quicken installation, the default location
>> is into the same folder as the prior installation. So, once we've
>> selected a location, future upgrades will go into the same place IF we
>> are "upgrading".
>
> That's what I was guessing. It appears to be what's happened in my case.
>
>> But, as I recall, this has not always been the case. Quicken's behavior
>> in this regard has changed over the years. John Pollard is more familiar
>> with this, but I think we could, a few years ago, install a new Quicken
>> into a new location without deleting the old version. This might explain
>> why you have Quicken (and QuickenW) folders in both My DocumentsQuicken
>> and C:QuickenW.
>
> Only the data are in the former. Only the executable is in the latter.
>
>>
>> As I recall, the QuickenW folder name came into being long ago (early
>> 1990's?) to distinguish the then-new Windows version of Quicken from the
>> MS-DOS version that had been the norm up to that point.
>>
>> Which qw.exe actually runs when you start Quicken, Ron?
>
> There's only one. (I've searched the entire drive.) As mentioned, it's
> in C:QuickenW
>
>> You can look at the Properties of your desktop icon, if that's how you
>> start Quicken. Or change the name of qw.exe to qw.xxx (or some other
>> name of your choice) in either My Documents or C:QuickenW and see if the
>> program still runs. Either way, that should tell you which is the REAL
>> Quicken on your computer and which is the imposter. From your
>> description, I suspect that My Documents holds the real Quicken, but
>> please check to be sure. The name of the backup folder would be
>> "BACKUP", not "Backups".
>>
>> Once you've identified the real Quicken, you should find the BACKUP
>> folder there, and it should have your backup copies in it, named QDATA1,
>> etc., as I explained to Caryl, and dated currently.
>
> No, it's simply not true. The data are in ....My DocumentsQuicken . I
> have double checked this by opening and closing the program and checking
> the "Date Modified" column. The five sets of backups are in the subfolder
> ...My DocumentsQuickenBACKUP .
>
>> The imposter Quicken may or may not have such a folder, but any files in
>> it should be very stale-dated. As soon as you have verified that it is
>> an outdated folder, delete its entire tree.
>>
>> Then, to eliminate future confusion, I would suggest that you use Add or
>> Remove Programs to delete Quicken; if there are multiple installations,
>> delete them all. Then install your current version (Q2005P?) into your
>> chosen location (C:QuickenW ?) Naturally, you should make a manual
>> backup of your current Quicken fileset into a safe location beforehand
>> and then Open it (or Restore it) in your new installation.
>>
>> (If you have further ideas, John, feel free... )
>>
>
> I'm afraid my typo has created a lot of confusion. I apologize for that.
> Thank you for taking the time to respond. -Ron
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