Problems encountered during installation of QuickBooks Pro 2016

I put in the user's email address, which was the user id used for her account with Intuit for QuickBooks 2011, the version on her system that I was upgrading. When I clicked on the Validate button, the user ID was validated and I was prompted for her password. I put that in and the installation program crashed. I encountered the same problem on another system at the same location while trying to upgrade QuickBooks from version 2011 to 2016 on that system. Repeating the installation attempt resulted in the same result. I was able to get beyond that point and successfully install the software by clicking on the "Skip this" link on the validation screen, instead of uptting in a user ID and validating it.

I later found that QuickBooks wouldn't accept the password I had listed for the user's account. I had to create a new account to get around that problem. There was an option to have Intuit send an email to the email address for the acount. But, instead, of just sending a link in that email which would allow me to click on the link and create a new password, clicking on the reset password link in the email led to a web page where I had to answer the security question for the account. I provided the answer I had given when I set up her account years ago, but that was not accepted. The only recourse was then to call an 800 number provided. I called that support number, but was informed by the person that I spoke to that I needed to allow her to remotely access the PC to correct the problem. Since the problem was not an unknown password for a company file, but, instead due to an Intuit server not accepting the password for the account, her proposed solution was not one that seemed of any benefit and I didn't want to grant remote control of the system to someone I don't know. So I hung up and created a new Intuit account to use for activating the software.

At least this time the call to Intuit's support line resulted in a conversation with someone who was fluent in English, though she seemed to be offering a solution to a problem other than the one I had actually encountered. The last time I contacted Intuit several years ago for a problem with their tax software, I wasn't sure if I was chatting online with someone whose English language skills were very poor or whether I was communicating with a poorly written chatbot program, since the responses were incoherent. After that support call, I switched to a competitor's tax software.

After the installation completed, I had to upgrade the company file to the 2016 version. I had to provide an email address during that step.

When I clicked on "Why your email address is important", I saw a Have a Question? window with the following message:

I provided the email address for a new email account I created when I had to create a new account with Intuit because it wasn't accepting the credentials for the account used previously. Aggravatingly, I then saw a "Encountered a Problem" window with the message "Sorry, we can't complete this step because our server is temporarily unavailable. Click Retry to try again."

The system had network access, since I was remotely performing the installation. I clicked on the Retry button multiple times with the same result. I finally had to click on the Skip button, instead. I then was presented with a "QuickBooks Usage & Analytics Study" window:

When I clicked on the "Learn more" link, a "About the QuickBooks Usage & Analytics Study" window opened.

The following information was provided on how to turn off the QuickBooks 2016 activity tracking by Intuit:

What if you don't want this data collected?

If you prefer not to have your data collected, or if you change your mind about participating in the study, choose Help > QuickBooks Usage & Analytics Study. Then click Discontinue.

When I clicked on Continue, I was informed that "QuickBooks must go online to verify the status of your payroll subscription."

Even though it indicated it was downloading updates, e.g., I saw progress bars incrmenting and was informed after the updates appeared to be installed that I should reboot the system, I saw the message below appear in a "Payroll Update" window:

[PS036] QuickBooks is having trouble verifying your payroll subscription and can't install new payroll updates, including changes to taxes and forms, until your subscription is verified. Note the message number at the beginning of this message, and click Help for troubleshooting tips to resolve this problem.

I closed the program and reopened it. When the software restarted, I saw a QuickBooks Update Service messaage stating "There's a new QuickBooks software update waiting for you. This update fixes issues that folks like you have told us about." When I clicked on "What's new in this update?", an AboutPatch.htm file was opened in the browser on the system. I chose the "Install Now" option only to be pesented with a window informing me there was another edition of QuickBooks already running on the system, though the QuickBooks Pro 2011 edition that was there previously was supposedly removed during the installation of QuickBooks Pro 2016 and I was unaware of any other version running on the system.

I rebooted the system and attempted to open QuickBooks Pro 2016 only to then be presented with a "Can't Open QuickBooks" window with the following message:

QuickBoks already has a company file open. If you want to open another company file, close this one first.

Only QuickBooks Accountant and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions can open two company files at once.

But I hadn't previously opened QuickBooks after I rebooted. I tried opening it again and was informed there was an update available. This time I chose to postone the update by clicking on Install Later. I was finally able to open the company file - the window prompting for a user name and password opened when I chose Install Later.

I then chose to close the company file then clicked on Help and selected Update QuickBooks. I chose Update Now at the window that then opened then clicked on Get Updates. I was then presented with a window informing me "Restart QuickBooks to kick-off installation."

I exited from the program then reopened it, which resulted in the QuickBooks Update Service window appearing again.

I chose Install Now, which finally led to the message "Congratulations! Your version of QuickBooks 2016 is now up to date." Aggravatingly, when I then tried to open QuickBooks, though I had closed the company file prior to starting the update, I again saw the message "QuickBooks already has a company file open. If you want to open another company file, close this one first. The message appeared over top of the window where I could select a company to open and the window underneath had a big, bold "No Company Open" message at the top of the window. I clicked on OK and then was able to open the company file, though I had to provide credentitals for a Windows account with administrator access to open the file, which prior to the upgrade, could be opened from the user's account and which resided within her Documents directory. I was then informed that QuickBooks had to update the company file again.

I clicked on Yes to update the company file. That opened a Sensitive Data Protection Setup window.

I provided a password and an answer to a question to allow a password reset, since QuickBooks Pro 2016 would no longer allow a blank password for a user name to open the company file. After I set the password for that the user would enter for the company file, a Users Without Password window opened informing me that there was another use with access to the company file that didn't have a password. The message in the window included "Users can create their own password or you can assign a unique password from Company > Users > Set Up Users & Roles. The procedure didn't quite match the steps needed. I clicked on Company. I clicked on Company then selected Set Up Users and Passwords, then Set Up Users.

That opened a window where I could select the other user's account from a User List window, which allowed me to change the password for the other user's account in a Change user password and access window. After setting the password, I had to choose what areas the other user should be able to access. The default selection was "Selected areas of QuickBooks (you will make the selections in the screens that follow)".

If I chose to proceed with that selection there were 9 screens that followed where I had to chose whether the user would have "no access", "full access", or "selective access" to the following areas. The default selections for each are shown in parentheses.

1. Sales and Accounts Receivable (Full Access)
2. Purchases and Accounts Payable (Full Access)
3. Checking and Credit Cards (Full Access)
4. Inventory (No Access)
5. Time Tracking (Full Access)
6. Payrolll and Employees (No Access)
7. Sensitive Accounting Activities (Full Access)
8. Sensitive Financial Reporting (Full Access)
9. Changing or Deleting Transactions (Yes)

At the tenth screen that followed, I would be shown the choices made and could click on Finish to confirm the choices. I chose, instead to grant the other user full access to the company file, since she is the company owner. When I did so, a warning window appeared asking me if I was sure that I wanted to to that. I clicked on Yes and then saw the 10th screen that I would have seen had I chosen to make a choice for each of the above areas. I clicked on Finish to complete the configuration for the other user account.

However, when I logged into the other user's account on her system, I was prompted to change her password again. When I did so, I was informed that I would be prompted to change the password again in 90 days. I first tried changing the password to what it had been previously, but I was informed that you can't reuse the last 4 passwords.

There is a process listed at how do I stop the 90 day password update? for stopping QuickBooks Pro 2016 from demanding that a password be entered and changed every 90 days. But one of the conditions listed for that workaround is that the company file "have only one User (Admin)"; in this case there are two accounts associated with the file. And from a statement on that page, it seems that I might have to remove the Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the company in the company file and I don't know what ramifications that might have for the users of the company file, since I also saw "Removing EIN/TIN/SSN may affect the ability to 1099 from Quickbooks directly or other features dependent on the company EIN/TIN/SSN", so I didn't try to make that change.

 

Justdeals Daily Electronics Deals