DATA FILES ARE IN VIRTUAL FOLDER

This is a Windows Vista security feature called Virtualization (or sometimes Compatibility & Virtualization). It's under control of Vista, not Quicken.

In Vista the Program Files and ProgramData folders are now protected system folders that cannot be modified without administrative privileges. For backward compatibility with earlier Windows releases Vista redirects writes and subsequent reads to these folders to a per-user location that does not require administrative privileges. This allows old programs that violate Vista rules to still run properly without administrative privileges.

Under Vista the best location for your Quicken data files is probably somewhere under your user Documents folder. For other Quicken files, e.g. quicken.ini, let Vista choose where best to store them.

In Windows Explorer you can often locate the real location of virtual files by going to the folder where you and Quicken try to put them and then clicking "Compatibility Files" on the Explorer toolbar. "Compatibility Files" appears on the toolbar only if files in the folder have been relocated to virtual store.

That pretty much exhausts my knowledge of the subject but I hope it helps.

Jerry

Hi, Toyman.

I see that Jerry has answered you here in the Quicken group and Michael in the microsoft.public.windows.vista.file_management newsgroup. I started drafting a reply this morning, but suffered a mysterious computer hang and had to Reset, losing the draft.

Jerry and Michael have given you the right answers: Vista insists on earlier Windows only "required", that DATA be kept out of C:\Program Files, reserving that folder only for the application files.

In my case, I got around that requirement - unintentionally - just by evolution from several Quicken generations ago.

Back when I started dual-booting Win98/NT4, I wanted to be able to run a single copy of Quicken from both OSes, accessing a single .qdf database. So I put Win98 on C: and WinNT4 on D: and Quicken on E:. I first booted into Win98 and installed Quicken so that Win98 could make all its Registry entries on C:. Then I rebooted into WinNT4 and installed Quicken - again into E: - so that NT could make its Registry entries on D:. I could make entries in Win98 in the morning and see them in a report in WinNT in the afternoon. The system worked well and I've been installing Quicken into E:\QuickenW (the "W" is a holdover from when Intuit needed to distinguish it from the DOS version) ever since. I seldom boot anything but Vista Ultimate x64 now, but I can boot into Vista x86 or WinXP x64 if I want to and run the program from E:\QuickenW. ; from Q, 2005, I looked for the QDF files - just to know where they were.

Hi RC,

You bring up an issue that Toyman didn't raise and that neither Michael (thanks for the reference!) nor I addressed, namely file sharing.

The issue is particularly insidious for those who upgrade from Windows XP to Vista with their Quicken data in C:\Program Files\Quicken. Quicken appears to work for multiple Users; but none can see the others' changes because Vista Virtualization makes cloned copies of the Quicken DB behind every user's back.

Moving the data to the Documents\Quicken folder doesn't work either since each user has their own Documents folder; the same applies to Desktop.

Putting the Quicken data on a separate drive or drive partition that is shared by all Vista users is one solutuon. I'd probably just use a USB thumb drive, which gives you both sharing and portability albeit with a performance loss..

Another solution is using a shared folder. I think it was called Shared Documents in XP but I believe it's Public Documents in Vista. Microsoft seems to change their file sharing model with each new OS. If the issue hasn't already been addressed in this NG, microsoft.public.windows.vista.file_management might be a good place to go for an answer.

Jerry

Good stuff.

Is there no Vista equivalent to the XP "Documents and Settings\All Users" folder?

Lookie what I found just by Googleing your question:

The info in this link isn't quite accurate, i.e. it states that C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents is now C:\Users\Public\Documents whereas, as Al states, it's actually C\:Users\Public\Public Documents.

Jerry

Thanks everyone, for the input. I'll take Jerry's advice & put the data files in the Users\Documents area, mainly because I don't have to dig so far to get to it.

I hadn't given much thought to file sharing since there's only 2 machines on the (home) network, and Q is installed on only one of them. However . . . it would be convenient for either my wife or I to work on Q, while the other is doing something else. Is there a link somewhere for detailed instructions on how to do that? Both machines are using Vista (Desktop: Ultimate; Laptop: Office).

In any event, I'm a little less ignorant about how Vista works, and I can help my son with his similar problem.

Thanks again.

Toyman ________________________________

I wanted the primary file (Qdata.qdf) in the Quicken folder (C:\Program Files\Quicken\), and tried to copy it there from the Virtual folder. Strangely enough, the copy function seemed to work ("one file copied"), but the file never showed up there (multiple attempts). I WAS able to get the file copied by creating a Backup location on the desktop, saving the file (Ctrl+B) there, and then copying the Backup file to a new folder on the Desktop. From that point I was able to tell Q to open the file on the Desktop as primary Qdata.qdf.

Incidentally, I have the same problem with the Q\Backup folder. I was able to create a folder in C:\Program Files\Quicken\, but the Backup function (Ctrl+B) won't save a file to it. The Backup copy is also in the Virtual folder).

This lack of control of the file has me uncomfortable. Does anyone have any idea about: 1) why the Qdata.qdf and Backup files won't copy to C:\Program Files\Quicken\? 2) Why are the files being stored in the Virtual folder? 3) Is there a work-around?

Toyman _________________________________