I am often asked for help with QuickBooks not starting...here is some info that will help...

Quickbooks is a financial package that many businesses use to keep track of income and expenses. Many accountants rely upon this program, as it helps to expedite the process of completing taxes for clients. It has been my experience that the application works well on the first installation. However, when you upgrade your system, you can run into some significant problems. The following information has been pulled from various resources including intuit's help files. Rather than jumping around to each reference, it is my hope that consolidating this information in one spot with make troubleshooting easier for you. Good Luck. The info follows:

Title: QuickBooks does not start when program icon is double-clicked
KB ID#: 20ffaac7
What is happening: When I double-click the QuickBooks icon, either nothing happens or QuickBooks "flashes" quickly on the screen and then closes immediately.

Why is this happening: Intuit is aware of this issue and working to resolve it as quickly as possible. The following information has been found to resolve some instances but may not resolve every one

How to fix the problem: This article provides instructions on how to attempt to resolve this issue using the system configuration.

Detailed instructions:
Some errors can cause QuickBooks to "flash" when you attempt to launch the program. This may appear as an hourglass icon that disappears after a few seconds or the program may appear briefly and then vanish from your screen.

To resolve this issue, first click the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Start button, choose Run, type "reboot.bat" (without the quotation marks) in the Open field, and then click OK.

If running reboot.bat did not correct the problem, follow these steps:

To start your computer in Selective Startup mode, click the Windows Start button, and then choose Run.
Type "msconfig" in the Open field, and then click OK.
In the System Configuration Utility window, click the General tab, and then select Selective Startup.
Click OK, and then click Restart.
Verify that QuickBooks opens normally.
Now, please follow these steps to restart your computer in Normal Startup mode:
Click the Windows Start button and choose Run.
Type "msconfig" in the Open field, and then click OK.
In the System Configuration Utility window, click the General tab, and then select Normal Startup.
Click OK, then click Restart. When prompted, you must restart your computer for some of the changes made by the system configuration utility to take effect.
Verify that QuickBooks now opens normally.
If the issue is not resolved, please continue with these steps:

If you have a firewall installed on the computer that is experiencing this problem, verify that the following QuickBooks files have been granted full access through the firewall: QBW32.exe, QBUPDATE.exe, QBDBmgr.exe, and QBDBmgrN.exe.
Log on as the computer administrator and attempt to start QuickBooks. If you are able to do this, then either the Windows user experiencing this problem does not have Administrator or Power User rights, or the user setup is damaged.
Set up a new user with Administrative or Power User rights on the system where QuickBooks is installed and verify that this user can start QuickBooks successfully.
If you are still not able to start QuickBooks, please check for possible virus infection by following these steps:
Click the Windows Start button and choose Run.
Type "msconfig" in the Open field, and then click OK.
In the System Configuration Utility window, click the Startup tab and look for the following process in the Command column: C:\Windows\System32\*.exe reg_run (where * can be any number of random characters). This entry indicates that you are dealing with a potential virus infection.
Note: For additional information on virus issues, please see the following site:

http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/virus.aspx?id=43264. A computer consultant or your local administrator should be able to help clean up all virus and spyware on your system.


See also:
366829 - Why do I receive the following error when I try to install QuickBooks in Safe Mode? "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed."


Title: Error: "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed."
KB ID#: 366829
What is happening: The following error message occurs when installing QuickBooks in Safe Mode:

Error: "The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed."

Why is this happening:
QuickBooks no longer uses InstallShield to install QuickBooks; it now uses Microsoft Installer.



How to fix the problem: This article explains how to install QuickBooks in Selective Startup Mode rather than in Safe Mode. For Windows 2000 users, it describes the installation from a hard disk if the installation from CD-ROM was not successful.

Detailed instructions:
QuickBooks no longer uses InstallShield to install QuickBooks; it now uses Microsoft Installer.

I Windows(R) XP and Windows(R) 2000 the installer is run as a Service, because of this Windows XP and Windows 2000 can not be run in Safe Mode to trouble shoot an install. If a user were to try to install QuickBooks while running Windows XP or Windows 2000 in safe mode they can expect to get the following error:

"The Windows Installer Service could not be accessed. This can occur if you are running Windows in Safe Mode, or if Windows Installer is not correctly installed. Contact your support personnel for assistance."



Instead of installing in Safe Mode when running Windows XP, use the following steps to restart your computer in Selective Startup Mode and then install QuickBooks.


Click for Windows 2000 instructions.

From the Microsoft Windows Start button, select Run.
In the Open field, type MSCONFIG, and then clickOK.
Click the General tab, and then chooseSelective Startup.
Select Load System Services and make sure to clear Load Startup Items.
On the Services tab, make sure to clearHide all Microsoft Services.
Click Disable all to clear all selected services.
Select the Windows Installer service and then click OK.
Click Restart. When prompted, you must restart your computer for some of the changes made by the system configuration utility to take effect.
Run the QuickBooks installation from the CD-ROM. The QuickBooks installation should start automatically after placing the QuickBooks installation CD-ROM in your CD-ROM drive. If it does not:

Double-click My Computer on the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) desktop.
In the My Computer window, select the CD-ROM drive.
Double-click the file named Setup.exe (or Setup) to begin the QuickBooks installation.

Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
After installing, complete the following steps to revert your system to its previous configuration:

Click the Windows Start button, and then choose Run.
In the Open field, type MSCONFIG, and then click OK.
Click the General tab and chooseNormal Startup.
Click OK and then clickRestart. When prompted, you must restart your computer for some of the changes made by the system configuration utility to take effect.
If the installation is not successful, you will need to install using a hard disk installation, which involves copying the installation files to the hard drive of your computer:

Right-click the desktop, choose New, and then choose Folder. This will create a folder named New Folder on the desktop.
Place the QuickBooks program CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
If a message prompting you to install QuickBooks appears, clickQuit.
Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
In the My Computer window, select the CD-ROM drive.
With the CD-ROM drive selected, from the File menu, choose Open. The contents of the CD-ROM will be displayed.
Select the folder labeled Qbooks.
From the Edit menu, chooseCopy.
Close the My Computer window.
Open the New Folder that was created in step 1.
In the New Folder window, from the Edit menu, choose Paste. This will copy the contents of the QuickBooks program from the CD-ROM to the hard disk.
Note: If the folder does not copy successfully, this indicates a problem with the CD-ROM or with your CD-ROM drive. Attempt to use the CD-ROM on another computer to see if you still experience difficulties. Otherwise, contact Customer Service for a replacement disk.

When the copy is complete, the Qbooks folder will appear in the New Folder window.
Double-click the Qbooks folder, and then double-click the file named Setup.exe (or Setup) to begin the QuickBooks installation.
Follow the prompts to complete the installation.
After the installation completes, follow the above steps to revert your system to its previous configuration.
To bypass issues when installing on Windows 2000:


Close all open applications.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and then selectTask List.
On the Applications tab, select each application and choose End Task.
To install QuickBooks after closing all running applications, insert the installation CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. The installation should automatically begin. If it does not:

Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
In the My Computer window, select the CD-ROM drive
Double-click the file named Setup.exe (or Setup) to begin the QuickBooks installation.
If the installation is not successful, you will need to install using a hard disk installation, which involves copying the installation files to the hard drive of your computer:

Right-click the desktop, choose New, and then choose Folder. This will create a folder named New Folder on the desktop.
Place the QuickBooks program CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.
If a message prompting you to install QuickBooks appears, clickQuit.
Double-click My Computer on the desktop.
In the My Computer window, select the CD-ROM drive.
With the CD-ROM drive selected, from the File menu, choose Open. The contents of the CD-ROM will be displayed.
Select the folder labeled Qbooks.
From the Edit menu, chooseCopy.
Close the My Computer window.
Open the New Folder that was created in step 1.
In the New Folder window, from the Edit menu, choose Paste. This will copy the contents of the QuickBooks program from the CD-ROM to the hard disk.
Note: If the folders do not copy successfully, this indicates a problem with the CD-ROM or with your CD-ROM drive. Attempt to use the CD-ROM on another computer to see if you still experience difficulties. Otherwise, contact Customer Service for a replacement disk.

When the copying is complete, the Qbooks folder will be displayed in the New Folder window.
Double-click the Qbooks folder, and then double-click the file named Setup.exe (or Setup) to begin the QuickBooks installation.
Follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Update your program to the most current release. Here is the update site.

http://quickbooks.com/helpcenter/ProductUpdates.aspx
ftp://ftp.quicken.com/pub/quickbooks/2003/qbcf.exe

If you still have the problem after installing the program updates continue with the steps below.

Open the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Task Manager, by pressing the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys at the same time, or right click the Windows(R) task bar and click Task Manager.

Click the Processes tab, select the qbupdate.exe item from the list, and then click End Process.

Download and install this executable file. In the File Download window, click Save, and then select your Microsoft(R) Windows(R) desktop from the Save in drop-down list. Click Save.

Double-click qbcf.exe on your desktop and allow it to run completely.

If you updated QuickBooks through the automatic download or from within QuickBooks, Start QuickBooks and click Yes when you are asked to install the update.

1. Go to start->search->all files and folders and type in the "QBUpdateUtility.bat" Make sure that QuickBooks is not running and double click on the found utility. That should install the updates with no problem.

2. The other option is to go to the manual download page of QuickBooks Updates and download the latest update. The link there is: http://www.quickbooks.com/support/index/ndxw_14_update.html

3. There is also a link to KB that sounds like the error message you are receiving. This could also help: http://www.quickbooks.com/support/faqs/qb2005/315719.html

Note* Be certain there is sufficient hard drive space when applying updates

http://www.quickbooks.com/support/faqs/qbw2003/202208.html

Also, keep in mind that quickbooks provides an online backup service: http://www.connected.com/QuickBooks03/started_questions.html What price can you put on your mission critical business data?

1. If your company file resides at C:/Program Files/Intuit/Quickbooks then
> move it to a safe place with easy access, like your Desktop.


> 2. Using Add/Remove Programs, uninstall Quickbooks


> 3. Reboot.


> 4. Reinstall Quickbooks.



The only thing I'd add to this is:

Before you reinstall QuickBooks, under Program Files, under Common Files,
rename the old Intuit folder to OLDIntuit (you may need to reinstall other
Intuit software after doing this), then when you reinstall QuickBooks,
reinstall to a clean directory (substitute QB for QuickBooks for example).
Reboot. Download the latest patch for 2003 to the desktop. Install it.
When it completes, reboot the machine and then,



> 5. Move your company file back to C:/Program Files/Intuit/Quickbooks OR
> the destination of your choice.


Then open up QuickBooks and point it to the data file and open it up.

This should fix you up in almost all instances.