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Problem with Quicken 2017 for Windows - says cannot find data file every time I launch the program

clopez8651

Hello. I am using Quicken 2017 for windows. I have been getting a message each time I launch the program that it cannot find the data file, then I have to go in and restore it from the last backup. Why is this happening, and how can I fix it?

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Accepted answers

Sherlock

Unless we explicitly open a specific Quicken file, the Quicken program always attempts to open the most recent Quicken file listed in the QUSER.INI file maintained in the user's hidden AppData\Roaming\Quicken\config folder. If Quicken fails to open a Quicken file, we are prompted to open, create, or restore a Quicken file.

If you aren't already, I suggest you access the Quicken file in a folder on an internal drive using a short (8.3) name (for example, QData.QDF). Do not allow other programs to access the Quicken file while it is open in Quicken (for example, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, MegaSync).

UKR

Quicken does not remember last used data file name

Make sure that the data file name does NOT have a blank space at the end of the name portion, e.g. QDATA_.QDF (where the underscore represents a blank space)

Check to ensure that the file QUSER.INI in
C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\Quicken\Config
(or C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\Intuit\Quicken\Config in older Quicken versions)
is not set to Read Only. Your Windows User Account must have proper Windows security access to this file and all subfolders and folders above it, all the way up to the root directory.
This file contains the list of recently used file names.

UKR

Oh, come on. There's a big difference between

"Quicken cannot find your data file" and
"Quicken cannot open your data file"

In the first case, the last used file is not where Quicken remembers it used to be.

In the second case I assume that the message ends in something like "because it is in use by another application." And that means that a program like Dropbox, MS OneDrive or some other background task which backs up your files has grabbed the file and is creating a backup. This situation usually clears within a few seconds.
It is recommended that you use the backup feature built into Quicken and reconfigure your backup program to NOT access the live Quicken data file.

All comments

Sherlock

UKR

Quicken does not remember last used data file name

Make sure that the data file name does NOT have a blank space at the end of the name portion, e.g. QDATA_.QDF (where the underscore represents a blank space)

Check to ensure that the file QUSER.INI in
C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\Quicken\Config
(or C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\Intuit\Quicken\Config in older Quicken versions)
is not set to Read Only. Your Windows User Account must have proper Windows security access to this file and all subfolders and folders above it, all the way up to the root directory.
This file contains the list of recently used file names.

clopez8651

Thanks for the answer. I checked the AppData file and sure enough it was set to read only. That seems to have fixed the problem. Thanks again.

clopez8651

Hello again UKR and Sherlock. Thought I had it figured out, but no...Every time I set the attributes on the C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\Intuit\Quicken\Config to uncheck "read only", it does not take...when I close file explorer and reopen it, the "read only" box is checked again. How do I make the change permanent? Thanks again for your help.

Rocket J Squirrel

I see this behavior on the Config folder. The Read-only setting has 3 states, True, False, and Indeterminate. The Indeterminate state is indicated by a black box instead of a check mark. It is supposed to mean that some, but not all, of the contents of the folder are read-only. Oddly, setting this to False and applying it does not change the state of the setting when the dialog is re-opened; it remains Indeterminate. But the contained files are all read-write and "should" not cause problems as a result.

clopez8651

Thanks, I think that makes sense but I still do not understand why Quicken says it cannot open the data file every time I launch the program. Any other thoughts?

Rocket J Squirrel

Hard to say without sitting at your computer.

Have you tried navigating to your data file in Windows and double-clicking the .QDF file icon? That should open the file and remember it for next time.

UKR

clopez8651 said:

Thanks, I think that makes sense but I still do not understand why Quicken says it cannot open the data file every time I launch the program. Any other thoughts?

Have you verified that first bullet item in my earlier response, the one about a trailing space on the file name?

Here's an example:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6031128/uploads/editor/mi/dj99i7bmrix1.png

The file "test .qdf" has a blank space after the file name, "test". Quicken will never be able to find that file, because it doesn't store that trailing blank in the QUSER.INI file

Open a DOS command prompt,
navigate to your \documents\quicken folder (on my system: CD .\documents\quicken),
list the directory (DIR *.qdf)

Does it look similar to the example above? Does the file which Quicken can never find have a space at the end of the file name portion?
If so, rename the file (REN "test .qdf" test.qdf)

clopez8651

Hello. Appreciate everyone's help. I booted up my PC this morning and opened Quicken using the desktop icon and it launched with no problem. Then, I closed the program and re-opened it again with the desktop icon and it gave me the error message "Quicken cannot open your data file". I did what UKR suggested and verified that there is not a space in the file name before the ".QDF". I then did what Rocket Squirrel suggested, clicked on the QDF icon in File Explorer and the program opened. I closed the program, opened it using the icon on the desktop and it worked fine. I rebooted my computer, opened the program, and it worked fine again. I closed the program, opened it and got the error message again. Rebooted the PC and have been opening and closing the program from the desktop to test. About every 3rd or 4th time, I again get the message "Quicken cannot open your data file". I'm able to launch the program by clicking on the most recent file, but it's frustrating to have an intermittent problem like this. Any other suggestions? Thanks again.

UKR

Oh, come on. There's a big difference between

"Quicken cannot find your data file" and
"Quicken cannot open your data file"

In the first case, the last used file is not where Quicken remembers it used to be.

clopez8651

OK my bad... I'm not normally the tech support person in my household but I do understand how important it is to be accurate in describing the problem, so I'll try and do better in the future. :)
I think you're onto something with regards to a background task... hubby uses Google Drive and I'll bet that's it. I need to figure out how to change it so that it doesn't access the Quicken data file. Thanks again for the help.