Password for Quicken 2004 Basic is Not working:

referee007

I am using Quicken 2004 Basic on my Windows 10 computer and apparently, I have forgotten my Quicken password. I have decades of entries in my Quicken 2004, and I don't want to lose this data. Does anyone know how I can recover this data? I have all of the data saved on a thumb- drive but I need to get past the password screen. Thanks in advance for any all suggestions.

splasher

If this article found in the Quicken.com support/help pages doesn't work:

https://www.quicken.com/support/what-if-quicken-not-accepting-data-file-password

the only thing I believe that can be done is to contact Quicken support (https://www.quicken.com/support#contact-support ) to remove it, but the last I heard is that for them to remove it, you have to upgrade to the latest version of Quicken which is currently a subscription model. You will NOT be able to use the "fixed" file with your old QW2004 version.

mshiggins

When was the last time you were able to open your file? Did you recently change your password?

UKR

Have you tried to restore a backup of your Quicken data file, taken before this problem first occurred, to a different file name? (Do not overwrite the current Quicken data file!)

Unexpected problems with a data file password typically indicate that the file was damaged. Did you have a crash in Quicken or in Windows or did Windows reboot to install software updates while Quicken was running?

referee007

Thanks everyone for your replies. I did not now that there were replies to my question because I expected to receive an e-mail notification that someone had replied to my question and when I didn't receive such a notification, I did not know that anyone had replied.

That being written:

Splasher, thanks for your reply. When I tried to reinstall Quicken from the 2004, Quicken CD that I have, it didn't work because my computer doesn't support that older version of Quicken. I did purchases and download Quicken Sympli but I didn't think that I could have imported the data file from my current Quicken into that online program, and so I got a refund, and didn't use it. Do you know if there is a way to download and use programs that were available years ago and which don't work with newer computers?

mshiggins, Thanks for your reply. I was able to open the data file several days prior to not being able to open it. I don't think that I changed the password.

UKR, thanks for your reply. how can I restore my Quicken file that worked prior to when it didn't work to a different file name? Also, can I restore the file to a thumb-drive and then use that file to get into Quicken and once in Quicken, can I change the password and when I back-up Quicken to a different thumb-drive, just keep using that thumb-drive to back-up Quicken?

Thanks everyone for your help. I really appreciate it.

splasher

Since you don't state what error messages you got when you tried to install Quicken 2004 on your newer computer, but I'm running Windows 11 and can install Quicken 2004 on it, so, I can't add any advice.

As to changing the filename, in the Quicken Restore process, you are given to the chance to "overwrite" or "make a copy". Selecting "make a copy" gives you the opportunity to give it a different name.

referee007

Splasher, thank you for your reply. Please see the attachment for a copy of the error message that I am getting when I try to download "Quicken Classic." I tried to install Quicken 2004, from the disk that I have, but that didn't work and so I purchased Quicken Classic thinking that once that app is downloaded and installed on my computer, I can import the Quicken 2004 from a thumb-drive that I have into Quicken Classic. But, when I tried to download and install Quicken Classic from the Quicken site, I am getting the error message as shown in the attachment. I have tried to download and install Quicken Classic several times getting the same result. Can you tell me what the error message means? Thanks for your reply and for any help that you can give me.

Quicken - Screenshot of Error Message While Trying to Download and Install Quicken Classic From the Internet.png

referee007

mshiggins, I was able to log-in to Quicken 2004, until about two weeks ago when the password no longer worked. (I have all of my passwords in a word Doc and when I checked the Quicken password that I had in that doc., it was the same.)

splasher

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20393720#Comment_20393720

I've never seen that error message before.

I don't see where you tried doing the restore of a Quicken backup in QW2004 yet.

After re-install QW2004. be sure to run the patch releases found at this link:

https://www.quicknperlwiz.com/quicken-2004-patches.html

Chris_QPW

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20393720#Comment_20393720

This screenshot is of logging into Quicken Web. This is only used if you are syncing your Quicken Desktop data file to the Quicken Cloud for viewing on Quicken Web or the Quicken Mobile app.

Did you try to click on the Download Quicken Classic for Windows link?

Here is the official page for installing Quicken Classic:

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-do-i-download-quicken-quickencom-after-i-buy-it

I will also point out that Quicken 2004 install is available as a free install, which might be more up to date then the one you have on your CD and therefor install on your machine. It is provided for the purpose of people that need to get their data file converted to a point where the newest versions of Quicken can open/convert them, which is generally Quicken 2004. Because of a bug in the Quicken 2014 release that was eventually fixed they also have the download/install for Quicken 2013, which can be used for free too. It is the last totally offline version of Quicken. You will find them both on this page:

https://www.quicken.com/support/how-and-when-use-intermediate-version-convert-older-versions-quicken

And as a final note I will reiterate something that has already been said. When Quicken starts asking for a password on a data file that never had a password or rejects the known password it is almost 100% guaranteed that data file is corrupted beyond the point that it can be used. This is when you need to restore from an old data file before the problem happened. Using a newer version like Quicken 2013 or Quicken Subscription will not change/fix such a data file.