All of my files are saying they are corrupted. How can I open Quicken?

jenjenjen31

My computer rebooted overnight and closed Quicken. I have several backups to refer to but they are all saying they can't be validated. Any suggestions?

Snowman

First cold boot the computer. Shut it down completely, wait 10 seconds or so and reboot.

Have you tried a super validation on any of the files?

1. Click on File
2. Hold CTRL + Shift and click Validate and Repair File...
3. Click on Supervalidate File

This is a long shot at best and it probably will not work. If that is the case and you only have the several files to work from you will need to start from scratch with a new data file.

For the last 15 years I have always done manual backups (with the date added and more recently the date and time of the backup). I keep at least 12 months of backup files. Until 5 years ago I only validated my date file once every 3 months. I now validate my active file at least once a week. Doing both of these has saved my bacon a couple of times when a corrupted account or other issue did not appear until after several months. That is why I validate once a week now.

Backup files should never be kept on the C drive with Quicken. They should be done to an NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive or to a thumb drive and the backups should be rotated between two different thumb drives. Why? If one of the thumb drives fails (Murphy's Law) you have the other drive to work from . I sure if you search the community there is a FAQ on backing up. I backup every time I use Quicken. I never leave Quicken open overnight. When  you are done with Quicken close it.

One other thing I did over the years was my Quicken data file name was longer than 8 characters. If you data file name is more than 8 characters I would suggest a new name that is 8 characters or less.