Forgot old Quicken 2013 data file password

pumcher526

So I stopped using Quicken back in 2018 after a loss of data (stupid human error) and now I think I found the data, so I bought a subscription today and upon trying to start from the backup I had from 2018, I forgot that I had created data file password, and have forgotten that password! When I click "forgot password" I enter my credentials to sign in to Quicken but this is message I get "Quicken was unable to determine your Quicken identification. Please check your information and try again."

I am entering my Quicken username and password correctly as I just created it moments before. Is there any way to remove the data file password or recover?

Boatnmaniac

If you have not already done so, you might want to read the Support Article regarding this: https://www.quicken.com/support/what-if-quicken-not-accepting-data-file-password

Note that this process requires that your Quicken Installation shows the Subscription is active. You can do this by going to Help > About Quicken.

If it shows you do not have an active subscription I suggest you do the following:

1. Go to File > New Quicken File. Use your current QuickenID and PW for it. There is no need to add any accounts. Name it whatever you want to…"TEST" would be a good one to use.
2. Once the new file is open: Go to Help > About Quicken and check to see if your Subscription status show it is active.
3. If it shows that it is not active: Go to Edit > Preferences > Quicken ID & Cloud Accounts > Sign in as a different user > follow the prompts and use your current Quicken ID and PW to sign back in.

This process should resync your Quicken installation to your Quicken Cloud Account. Check your subscription status, again…it should now show that your subscription status is active. Then try opening you main data file, again, and proceed following the steps mentioned in the Support Article to reset your Data File PW.

UKR

IMHO, I'd rather restart using Quicken with a new, empty data file and recreate all accounts as of January 1st 2023.

Unless you have all the paper records and want to manually reenter all transactions since you stopped using Quicken back in 2018, it's highly unlikely that you will be able to retrieve transctions from your banks for the entire period.
Start fresh, start clean with manual data entry for this year.
Update your accounts to activate downloading once you're up to date.
And do be sure to configure Quicken to create Manual and Automatic backups (see Edit / Preferences / Backup) every 1 time you close Quicken. One can never have enough backups!