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Quicken Classic for Win - OL-295-A Errors at Vanguard

DisplacedHoosier

Not able to connect to Vanguard on any of my accounts. I see a pinned post referomg to Quicken for Mac, but this seems to be occuring on PC as well. On latest version of Quicken (R61.20). Issue started today (2/20/25).

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Windows

download transactions

One Step Update

Accepted answers

Quicken Anja

Hello All,

This is now considered a known issue, though we do not have an ETA on resolution at this time. While the investigation remains ongoing, please refer to this Community Alert for any and all available updates and information.

We apologize for any inconvenience in the meantime! Thank you.

Boatnmaniac

Vanguard has blocked all direct connect connections while they fix an issue with it. This affects all financial softwares that use Direct Connect to download transactions. See this Alert: UPDATE 2/25/25 Vanguard OL-295-A and Error 16503.

In addition, you might want to read through and bookmark this discussion thread on regarding this issue: Re: Quicken Classic for Win - OL-295-A Errors at Vanguard.

There is a way you can download transactions: Use the Web Connect method. WC is where you log into your online account and then manually download and import your transactions from there. There are a few posts in that thread confirming that this works and some of them provide some tips on how to successfully use WC with Vanguard.

Does this answer your question?

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20480009#Comment_20480009

I think others have said you need deactivate your Vanguard account(s) and then do Add Account selecting direct connect as the connection option. To do this, type in Vanguard in Add Account. Then click on Advanced Options…NOT on Next.

Then click on Direct Connect and then on Next. Follow the prompts to complete the setup of DC, making sure to Link the downloaded data to the correct Vanguard account(s) already in Quicken.

Jim_Harman

[revised 3/27]

Here is a summary of the steps needed to reconnect your Vanguard accounts.. Some of these steps may not be necessary in every case, but I want to cover as many bases as possible.

Back up your data file in case something goes wrong.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Investments and make sure the "Default to Simple investing for new accounts" box is not checked.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Downloaded transactions and un-check the "Automatically add to investment transaction lists" box if it is not already un-checked. This will give you a chance to review any new transactions to make sure there are no duplicates and the transactions are going to the correct accounts.
Go to each problem account, click on the gear at the top right and select Edit account details. Make a note of the account name and the Vanguard account number. For accounts that have been connected for many years, you may need to use old account numbers that begin with 2 digits and a V rather than the current 8 digit numbers when re-linking the accounts. If you downloaded transactions using Web Connect (QFX) during the outage, your account numbers may have been changed to the new numbers. If in doubt, open a backup from before the outage, record the correct account numbers, and then return to your working file.
Now for each problem account, click on the gear at the top right, select Edit account details, and then the Online Services tab. If it says the account is set up for transaction download, click on Deactivate. Do not click on “Set up now” after deactivating, you must go through the following steps.
Go to the General tab and now you should be able to select Complete mode. Select that.
At the top of the Accounts bar, usually on the left side of your screen, where all of your accounts are listed, click on the plus sign. This should open the Add account window. Don't worry, you will not be adding any accounts, you will be linking your current Vanguard accounts in Quicken to the corresponding online accounts.
Enter Vanguard and you should see the Vanguard logo on the right. Below the logo, click on Advanced options. Read the permission screen about Quicken and Intuit and click on Continue.
Under How should Quicken connect, select Direct Connect. Click on Next.
Provide your Vanguard username and password, and check the Save to Password Vault if that is how you normally operate. Click on Next.
You will see a list of all your Vanguard accounts. Any accounts that are already connected will be marked Don't add to Quicken. Accounts that you can connect will have entry boxes. For your existing problem accounts DO NOT SELECT THE DEFAULT OF ADD TO QUICKEN. Instead, select Link to existing account and select the Quicken account to use. Do not guess here. If you don't know which account to select or there are Vanguard accounts that you don't want to track, select Don't add to Quicken and only do the accounts you are sure of. You can pick up at step 7 later and reconnect any other accounts later if necessary.
Click on Cancel if you are confused at this point and your accounts will not be re-linked. If you are satisfied, click on Done and your accounts should be set.
Check to make sure any downloaded transactions are going to the correct accounts.

If you have attempted to update while the accounts were in Simple mode, you may see Added or Removed transactions during that time. You will need to delete these. If there are problems, restore the backup file you saved and you will be back to where you started.

Please let us know if this works for you.

All comments

Pinot83

Thanks, @BoB_L. It seems like I went through all sorts of permutations of that process this morning including following the steps from @Jim_Harman exactly, but, for some reason, doing it one more time with your prompting seems to have done the trick. The transactions downloaded and no accounts were left in Simple tracking. I think I was presented with some different account linking options this time, and I was a little smarter regarding old/new account numbers for linking. Whatever, I'm happy. Thanks to you and Jim and everyone who has contributed to this helpful thread. But no thanks to Vanguard!

Boatnmaniac

@cumminj said:

I noticed there was ADD transactions, rather than Buy. Not sure as to why.

When an account is set to display Simple Tracking (a dashboard instead of a transactions register) OSU will not download any transactions. The historical transactions data pre-Simple Tracking is still in Quicken but new transactions that occurred while in Simple Tracking are not downloaded. Simple Tracking, will instead simply show the total number of shares held and their value.

When later switching back to Complete Tracking, those missing transactions do not download. So, Quicken enters Add and Delete Shares transactions to compensate for that. To fix this:

If the quantity of the Add or Delete Shares transactions matches exactly to a specific transaction in the online account, the Add or Delete transaction can be simply edited to change the transaction type, the transaction date and the transaction cost information.
If, however, there are multiple actual transactions in that time period and the Add or Delete transaction quantity is the sum of those actual transactions, the Add or Delete transactions need to be deleted. Then either manually enter each of the missing actual transactions or try to download them from the online account via the WC method (i.e., in QFX file format)….making sure to select only the date range of the missing transactions.
Or restore a backup data file dated from before when this DC download issue began (which was on 2/19/2025) but note that other accounts that you download using OSU and any manually downloaded accounts will also need to be updated to make them current, again. You will need to determine if this would take more effort than doing #1 or #2.

This is one of the main reasons (not the only one) why the software will warn us to not switch from one tracking method to the other. If we do, especially when switching from Simple to Complete, it can often result in incorrect investments information that will need to be "cleaned up".

Ajay2020

I apologize if my issue has been addressed in this forum, but I quit looking once the outage was seemingly restored.

All my Vanguard accounts are working again (being able to be reached via OSU, and updating/downloading properly) EXCEPT one IRA account. When I have attempted to reset it, and then deactivate it and re-add it, that specific account number or name does not appear in the list of Vanguard accounts available to be linked to. The account has had the same account number for many, many years as it is not one of those Vanguard accounts that needed to be "transitioned".

I'm looking for all the assistance I can get on solutions on how to get Quicken/Vanguard or Vanguard/Quicken to locate this missing account, then add it back to my OSU with the complete (not Simple) download capability it had before the outage.

Many thanks.

Bob_L

Please restore a backup copy before the outage. Don't overwrite the backup just create a copy. Then you can open that copy and check what the old account number was in the account details page. It was most likely an old Pershing number beginning with40V etc. and you aren't recognizing the last 4 numbers of that entire account number.

Ajay2020

@Bob_L

I did the restore you suggested, from a file dated 2-17-25 (before the outage). The account number shown that the older file is the same account number that is also showing in my current Quicken file. As mentioned, it is the same Vanguard account number I had with Vanguard for at least the past 6 years.

Bob_L

Just to be clear. If your old account number from the quicken edit account details page was 44Vxxxx for say your IRA, then that same field on your account details page today is also 44Vxxx, but account 44Vxxxx does not show up on the left hand side of the accounts to be connected at .vanguard? Or is it something else?

Ajay2020

You are correct with the first example. The pre-outage account number for this specific Vanguard account was, say 12345678. After the outage, the same Vanguard account number, 12345678, continues to show in that account's information details. So everything looks correct and normal.

But Account No. 12345678 currently will not connect via OSU, despite having all the correct account information. After I deactivated it, and attempted to re-add it, Account No. 12345678 does not appear among all the Vanguard account numbers that are found during Quicken's attempt to re-add it.

Bob_L

I suggest you restore a pre-problem backup. Then deactivate(not reset) all your vanguard accounts and then reconnect them uding the + sign link at the top of the account bar on your homepage. When the dialog for password comes up click the link at the bottom of that page to used advanced setup. Insure that direct connect is selected.

Ajay2020

1. I did as you suggested, restoring my last available pre-outage backup (from 2/17/25).

2. Deactivated all 8 of the current Vanguard accounts in Quicken associated with my user ID and PW.

3. Used the + sign to attempt to reconnect those accounts.

4. Selected Advanced Setup, and selected Direct Connect method.

The one Vanguard account that has been missing once again failed to be displayed on the left side of the box with my account-choices.

Extremely frustrating. It seems that Vanguard fixed one problem, but created another one. At least for me.

Bob_L

Sorry to hear that. Was there one listed on the left side that didn't belong anywhere? If so I would try connecting it to the missing one. Otherwise I am out of ideas.

Ajay2020

Thank you for your assistance.

Bob_L

Curious, what happens if you open a vanguard account. Go to online center. Click update/send. Does it say anything about web connect accounts?

cumminj

Boatnmaniac Quicken Windows Subscription SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭8:13AM edited 12:42PM

Thanks for the information on going to 'complete' from 'Simple'. Hoping it resumes 'complete' after cleanup.

Jim

Boatnmaniac

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20481204#Comment_20481204

To clarify: The cleanup steps I mentioned will not change the account from Complete Tracking to Simple Tracking. They are simply the steps that can be taken to clean up the register AFTER the account has been changed from Simple to Complete and AFTER the download connection has been successfully set up with Direct Connect.

Since you are seeing ADD shares transactions after following @Jim_Harman's steps it tells me you have Complete Tracking and DC set up. Following the steps I provided regarding "cleanup" of the register will not change this.

phenders4

Classic R61.21, Windows 11

Since the recent fix of Vanguard not downloading:

When clicking on any investment account, except for our Vanguard brokerage account, the transaction history/activity is displayed, with buttons "Enter Transactions" and "Holdings" top left.

However, instead of the traditional transaction activity our Vanguard Brokerage account displays 4 panels - "Total Value" by security, "Portfolio by Security," "Top Movers" and "Value over Time"

What is even more confounding, is selecting "Vanguard Federal Money Market" in the "Total Value" panel, it shows the transactions for VMFXX for ALL of our Vanguard accounts (eg, IRAs), not just our Brokerage account.

I can't find a way to reset this display to the traditional transaction activity display, like for all our other Investment accounts.

Any insight greatly appreciated, Peter

Jim_Harman

It appears that like many others, you account has been reset to Simple mode. These steps should resolve this issue:

Back up your data file in case something goes wrong.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Investments and make sure the "Default to Simple investing for new accounts" box is not checked.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Downloaded transactions and un-check the "Automatically add to investment transaction lists" box. This will give you a chance to review any new transactions to make sure there are no duplicates and the transactions are going to the correct accounts.
Make sure you know the Vanguard account numbers for all the accounts you need to reconnect and the corresponding names in Quicken.
Go to each problem account and click on the gear at the top right. Select Edit account details and then the Online Services tab. If it says the account is set up for transaction download, click on Deactivate. Do not click on “Set up now” after deactivating, you must go through the following steps.
Go to the General tab and now you should be able to select Complete mode. Select that.
At the top of the Accounts bar, usually on the left side of your screen, where all of your accounts are listed, click on the plus sign. This should open the Add account window. Don't worry, you will not be adding any accounts, you will be linking your current Vanguard accounts in Quicken to the corresponding online accounts
Enter Vanguard and you should see the Vanguard logo on the right. Below the logo, click on Advanced options. Read the permission screen about Quicken and Intuit and click on Continue.
Under How should Quicken connect, select Direct Connect. Click on Next.
Provide your Vanguard username and password, and check the Save to Password Vault if that is how you normally operate. Click on Next.
You will see a list of all your Vanguard accounts. Any accounts that are already connected will be marked Don't add to Quicken. Accounts that you can connect will have entry boxes. For your existing problem accounts DO NOT SELECT THE DEFAULT OF ADD TO QUICKEN. Instead, select Link to existing account and select the Quicken account to use. Do not guess here. If you don't know which account to select or there are Vanguard accounts that you don't want to track, select Don't add to Quicken and only link the accounts you are sure of. You can pick up at step 7 later and reconnect any other accounts.
Click on Cancel if you are confused at this point and your accounts will not be re-linked. If you are satisfied, click on Done and your accounts should be set.
Check to make sure any downloaded transactions are going to the correct accounts.

If there are problems, restore the backup file you saved and you will be back to where you started.

Please let us know if this works for you.

phenders4

Thanks Jim, I found your writeup after posting.

Back in the early 1960's when I first started working with computers, things were pretty simple.

The overall complexity has increased in synch with Moore's law

q_lurker

Back in the early 1960's when I first started working with computers, things were pretty simple.

Unless of course, you mistyped 1 character and then had to re-key the entire card - perfectly.

Jim_Harman

But you could put the bad card in the Duplicate slot and copy up to the mistake then fix the error.

Chris Bergerson

I have several accounts at Vanguard, all of which seem to be working now with OSU. HOWEVER, one account which I had deactivated on 2/20 still had a problem in that I was unable to Update Transactions from within the account.

This IRA account also did not show the 3-tab window at the bottom as do all other online accounts. This account did download one valid transaction yesterday using OSU, but I don't recall if it showed as a downloaded transaction (Automatic Entry is Off).

Under Account Settings the problem account appeared no different than a working one.

I then did a Validate followed by a Super validate and this seems to have solved my problem. Just an FYI for others who are having the same issue. I'm using Classic Premier with Windows 11 and have been a user since Quicken DOS.

LexLuther

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20481032#Comment_20481032

Other than the troubleshooting I had done prior to this issue being marked resolved, I've done nothing further. No, I've not followed the 13 step process explicitly, although many of those steps are what I did while initially troubleshooting.

To be clear, all of my Vanguard accounts are showing as Direct Connect and are completing without error. I won't know until end of the month whether transactions are actually being downloaded or not, but when I update Vanguard accounts individually, it says "Complete".

The anomaly I was bringing up was that if I do OSU of all accounts, with Vanguard checked in the settings to update, Vanguard shows

in the progress window, but Vanguard is not listed at all in the OSU Summary

AndrewQ

Why won't you know until the end of the month whether you're transactions are downloaded or not? Can't you just look at your bottom line Quicken portfolio and the Vanguard net value on their website ? You might be off by a few cents here or there (round off errors), but as long as they both agree roughly (Again, only a few cents), you know everything has been accounted for in Quicken. No need to actually try to march individual transactions.

I do this every month to ensure my Quicken account and my Vanguard account are in total sync. (I will note that occasionally the price per share that Quicken is using for my individual stocks are slightly different from what Vanguard uses, so it is true that I need to check that one stock at a time if the bottom line figures are off more than those few cents.)

tfhoughton

Re:

I won't know until end of the month whether transactions are actually being downloaded or not, but when I update Vanguard accounts individually, it says "Complete".

Lex, to avoid waiting until the end of the month for the transactions history try logging into your Vanguard account. At the intial screen select the Transact→Transactions history dropdown. That shows all on my transactions. This action works for me. Hope it works for you.

Camlin

When the new Vanguard connection was finally re-established, I lost all my transactions in the register and there is no register any longer. Anyone have a similar issue

Quicken Kristina

Hello @Camlin,

Thank you for letting us know you're encountering this issue. This is most likely happening because your account(s) are connected using Simple investment tracking.

If you haven't already done so, I recommend following the instructions @Jim_Harman posted earlier in this discussion:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20480502#Comment_20480502

Please let me know how it goes!

ren42

TY @Jim_Harman ! … your detailed fix from March 10 worked perfectly! … I did search a bit for the "General" tab you mention in step 6 till finally realizing it was in the Account Gear, not an overall Quicken tab … silly me. Thx again!

wxman

I am still not getting transactions downloaded from Vanguard. I have done all the steps described above, deactivating and then reconnecting as though adding a new account, advanced setup with direct connect and complete reporting…everything looks like it connects and completes just fine BUT my new activity in Vanguard is not showing up as downloaded transactions on Quicken. HELP!

Jim_Harman

@wxman

Did you download and import transactions from Vanguard during the outage, or did you just wait until it was working again before reconnecting?

Have any transactions from Vanguard downloaded since you reconnected your accounts, or is it just the most recent ones that have not downloaded?

Do the missing transactions appear on Vanguard's Activity page?

If you have more than one account with recent transactions, are they all affected?

I have one account with a Deposit and settlement fund purchase on Friday 3/14 that shows on Vanguard's Activity page but has not downloaded yet. Hopefully it will arrive in the next day or two.

Robert Berman

I deactivated my Vanguard accounts, then re-activated them by using the + method. That works as far as downloading the transactions and the accounts are in Complete mode. However, I still get the OL-295-A message after the download completes. But the transactions downloaded. Anyone else have this problem?

Jim_Harman

@Robert Berman Do you have any accounts that did not reconnect? It might be an old, empty, hidden account for example.

Check the Account details > Online services for each of your Vanguard accounts including hidden ones and if there are any you no longer need to download, disconnect them.