Classic Quicken Deluxe on Windows - Hangs on Startup and other operations.

Hello @TBCastagna,

Thanks for posting and for the detailed description of what you’re seeing—hangs on startup and “Unknown Error” messages can definitely be frustrating.

Before reinstalling, I have a few follow-up questions to help narrow down what might be causing this:

• Where is your Quicken data file stored?
  Is it on your local hard drive (C: drive) or in a cloud-based or external location such as OneDrive, Dropbox, or a USB drive?
• Have you tried any troubleshooting steps so far? If so, what were they?
• Are you using a VPN on this computer? If yes, does disabling it make any difference?
• You mentioned this started 3-4 days ago—did anything change around that time (Windows updates, security software updates, new installs, etc.)?
• Are any third-party backup or security tools actively monitoring your system while Quicken is running?

If you’re open to it, screenshots of the “Unknown Error” message would also be helpful.

If needed, please refer to this Community FAQ for instructions on how to attach a screenshot. Alternatively, you can also drag and drop screenshots to your response if you are not given the option to add attachments.

About reinstalling Quicken

Yes—reinstalling Quicken will not affect your existing data file, as long as you don’t delete the data file itself. However, if you want, you can save a backup as a precaution.

• File > View/Restore Backups...

Please refer to the following support articles for instructions on uninstalling and reinstalling Quicken:

• Uninstalling Quicken (Windows 11 instructions are provided below; you can also find Windows 10 and Windows 8 instructions in the link, if needed)
  • Windows 11
    • Click the Start button and select Settings (gear icon).
    • Select Apps from the settings list, then click Installed apps.
    • In the Installed apps list, scroll down to Quicken, click the three dots menu, then select Uninstall.
    • Click on Uninstall again to confirm and follow through the prompts until the program is removed.
• Reinstalling Quicken

Important extra step (recommended):
After uninstalling—but before reinstalling—please do the following:

1. Open Windows File Explorer
2. Navigate to:
   This PC > C: Drive > Program Files (x86)
3. Delete the folder titled “Quicken”
   (This does not delete or affect your data files.)

Once that folder is removed, proceed with reinstalling Quicken and then open your existing data file.

Let us know the answers to the questions above and whether reinstalling improves the behavior—we’ll go from there.

@TBCastagna Thank you for providing those details.

Were you able to try the uninstall/reinstall steps that were shared previously? Since you’re running Windows 10, I’ve included the uninstall instructions below as well. These can also be found in the uninstall support article linked in my earlier response.

To uninstall Quicken on Windows 10:

1. Click the Start button and select the Control Panel. In Windows 10, the Control Panel is located in the Windows System folder in the Start menu.
2. Under Programs, click on Uninstall a Program.
3. Find Quicken in the list of programs. They are alphabetically ordered. Highlight it by clicking on it once.
4. Click on Uninstall at the top of the list and follow through the prompts until the program is removed.

Check back and let us know!