Unknown Error when checking for Quicken Updates

Scott Baines

I am getting "unknown error" when i check for Quicken Updates from the Help Screen. After getting the error i can check for updates and i get the appropriate message. This has been going on for a couple of months. Everything else works fine in quicken and my PC. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling Quicken and still get the error. Anyone else having this problem?

Quicken Paloma

Hello @Scott Baines, 

Thank you for reaching out to Quicken Community. I apologize that you are having an "unknown error"  message when attempting to update your Quicken software. I do need a few more details in order to better assist you. What version of Quicken are you using? Do you have any firewalls or antivirus software installed? Are you running Windows 8(.1) or 10?

To find the current version of Quicken being used select Help >About Quicken. 

Once more details are provided I will be able to better diagnose the issue. 

-Quicken Paloma

Scott Baines

Quicken version R33.24 build 27.1.33.24
Windows 10, all patches have been applied
Running Norton Antivirus, current no Firewall.
ISP Xfinity

Quicken Francisco

Hello @Scott Baines

Thanks for the update and letting us know a bit more. I'm wondering here if we might be able to get any extra information out of the issue. If you could upload a screenshot of the error we may be able to see if there's anything else that may help us figure out what exactly is causing the issue. I'll leave an article down below on how to do so.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7867159/faq-how-do-i-post-a-screenshot-in-the-community-from-windows#latest

Once you get a chance let us know more and we'll see what we can do.

Thanks,
Quicken Francisco

NotACPA

@Scott Baines  How did you do those Uninstalls of Q?  A Win uninstall isn't sufficient to remove all fragments of Q.  You must use QCLEANUI uninstall to get everything. https://www.quicken.com/support/using-qcleanui-uninstall-quicken

Scott Baines

I ran the Qcleanui utility as well. It's also supposed to be built into the product now. No change. Still get "unknown error" when checking for updates

Scott Baines

Here is a screenshot of the error. This occurs after i press Check for Updates from the Help Tab

UKR

Have you recently enabled a VPN? If so, this might be the problem. Try turning the VPN off and see if that helps.

Is there a corporate or otherwise external firewall getting in the way? Contact the IT people maintaining the firewall and ask for permission.
Does your Antivirus software allow Quicken to connect to the Internet?
Quicken needs to be able to establish outbound Internet connections for the program to work.

Scott Baines

No VPN, No Firewall. Quicken works fine for downloading transactions and updating portfolio prices. This is the only issue, and it works after the first "unknown error" for a while before i get the error again.

Quicken Francisco

@Scott Baines

Thanks for the update. That is very odd. I'm wondering here if in a test file you'll have the same issue as well. I believe in this case it might help trying to see on a test file if we have a similar issue. This will give us a better idea of where exactly the issue is. I'll leave steps down below and you can find it on the third step on the article.

 https://www.quicken.com/support/advanced-data-file-troubleshooting-correct-problems-quicken-windows

Once you get the chance let us know what you're able to find out. From there we'll see what we're able to do next.

Thanks,

Quicken Francisco

Scott Baines

Ok, i did most of the troubleshooting you suggested and still have the problem

1. I restored a backup (from 12/20), still have the error
2. Validated my current file (no errors found), still have the error
3. I have a similar laptop that has the same windows patches, same updates from Norton, same version of Quicken, restored my current backup, the error does not happen.
4. Did not create a test file given what i tested above. Appears to be something outside the data file.

markus1957

You might try a QCleanUI reinstall of the software.  Using QcleanUI to resolve issues installing or uninstalling Quicken for Windows | Quicken

Scott Baines

i've run QcleanUi several times after installing/reinstalling Quicken. Didn't make a difference.

Yaxman

I have exactly the same problem described above. When I check for updates in the help drop down menu, I get the message "Unknown Error". Quicken is very slow to respond also. When I try again, I get that the standard message that I am up to date. Yesterday, when I did a one step update, the dialog indicated that an update was available, but I did NOT install it. I also have another Quicken file and I get the same messages when I check for updates when that file is open.

Yaxman

Continuing on this issue, my desktop computer has the "Unknown Error" followed by the Quicken is up to date message. But, I don't think it is up to date! I opened my laptop, and when I opened Quicken on my laptop it updated the software to version 34.16. My laptop does not have the same issue as my desktop. My desktop still shows as version 33.24!

Scott Baines

Was able to update to latest release R34.16 but the "unknown error" still appears after the upgrade. Also the update process took an unusual amount of time.

Yaxman

I have a laptop and a desktop. I get the error message when I check for updates on my desktop, but not on my laptop. Both are now using Release 34.16 for windows. I had to uninstall and reinstall Quicken to update my desktop.

Susan D Amherst

I tried to update using the Mondo Patch and got this error:

Could not parse the URL "Brook\AppData\Local\Temp\IXP000.TMP\current/wyserver.wys" - it's either malformed or is an unknown protocol.

On this system, Quicken is installed under an account called "Caesar's Brook" and it looks like the it's trying to put the file into a directory that doesn't exist.

I could try to work around this by making a directory under "C:\Users" called "Brook" but that's not at all likely to really work -- other things will surely go wrong.

HELP!

Susan D Amherst

I confirmed the problem is "caused" by the Windows user name having an embedded space, an apostrophe, or perhaps both. When I look in the AppData location implied by error message, the file it's looking for is there. It's just looking in the wrong place.

I've reported the problem with updates (both Quicken itself and the Mondo patch) to Quicken support via chat. The agent understood (I think) the problem and opened a support ticket. Clearly, until there's a good Mondo patch, the problem can't be fixed on systems where Quicken is in a user account that makes the patch logic unhappy. That may take a while.

To the original poster, I ask, are the Windows user names where Quicken is installed identical on both the laptop and the desktop? If not, is one of them "irregular" (that is, embedded spaces or other stuff that Windows is happy with but can confuse user mode programs that make false assumptions about Windows user names?). That is probably the root cause here.

Scott Baines

although my user names are not the same on my desktop and laptop, they are one word user names so i don't have the same issue as Susan

markus1957

Scott Baines said:

although my user names are not the same on my desktop and laptop, they are one word user names so i don't have the same issue as Susan

The username displayed does not always represent the DOS level username that may be carried forward in migrations from earlier versions of Windows where spaces were allowed in the username.  Quicken has been aware of this issue for years so I would not expect a fix any time soon.

Quicken's workaround is found Patch Error: Unable to check for updates, the server file failed to load | Quicken

Scott Baines

I just switched my PC from Ethernet to Wireless to see if there was a difference. The "check update" works fine over the wireless network. I don't get the "unknown error". The wireless and ethernet network both are on the same gateway/router (Xfinity). I guess it could be my ethernet network adapter but I don't have any other issues other than Quicken Check updates. No idea how to figure this one out.

UKR

Scott Baines said:

I just switched my PC from Ethernet to Wireless to see if there was a difference. The "check update" works fine over the wireless network. I don't get the "unknown error". The wireless and ethernet network both are on the same gateway/router (Xfinity). I guess it could be my ethernet network adapter but I don't have any other issues other than Quicken Check updates. No idea how to figure this one out.

You know, that reminds me of older discussions about network connectivity errors. At that time it was suspected that this could have been caused by both network adapters being active at the same time and a data packet going out on one adapter, but the response coming back on the other (or never coming back at all).
A programmer with network experience would have to look at the code ...

Scott Baines

Based on what was said above, i turned off the Wifi adapter, no difference. Also tried to change the ethernet adapter speed from "auto" to 1Gb full duplex(no change in behavior) and 10/100 full duplex (no change). Driver hasn't been updated since i installed windows 10 in 2019. No current update for that driver. What else can I look at. This only seems to affect Quicken.

Scott Baines

Does anyone know, if there is a log that i can look at that would give me a better idea of what the underlying error is? Having a generic "unknown error" is too vague to pinpoint the problem.

Scott Baines

Well, for some reason, this problem fixed itself about 3 days ago. I've been monitoring it and have not receieved the error. I didn't change anything, so i'm thinking it had to do with Norton and I must have received an update last Wednesday that fixed it. I'll keep monitoring it but for now this is fixed.