Old Quicken installed on one W7 computer, but not the other

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We have W7 Pro 64-bit on two computers, on one of which an old version of Quicken – Quicken 2002 SE Personal Plus – has been installed and running for well over a year with no problems. However, when I insert the same original Quicken installation CD in the second W7 machine to try to install the program and click the “Install.exe” file, I immediately get the following error message:

38549-Quicken-install-error

I’ve tried changing the compatibility to XP SP3 and XP SP2, as well as Run as Administrator, but all to no avail. I don’t know how the Quicken 2002 was successfully loaded onto the other W7 Pro machine, but it is indeed installed and working well under W7 Pro, not under W7’s XP Mode. There’s probably something incredibly obvious that I’m missing here, but if anyone can suggest a way to tweak W7 to get this to install, I’d be most grateful.

Cheers,
Al

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Is the 2nd PC with windows 7 64 bit or 32? I’m guessing 32 bit as the error message is eluding to. If so it will never install.

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Is the 2nd PC with windows 7 64 bit or 32? I’m guessing 32 bit as the error message is eluding to. If so it will never install.

Thanks for your post, but I’m afraid that’s not my answer. Both computers are W7 Pro 64-bit. That’s why I’m puzzled, since the program loaded and works just fine on the other 64-bit machine.

Cheers,
Al

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Several times I have managed to get old software to install in Win7 by copying the contents of the installation CD to a folder on the HDD, then use “Run as Administrator” to install from there.

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Hi, Coochin,

I appreciate the thought, but when I copied the CD into folder on the HDD and clicked “Instal.exe,” I got the same error as in my original post. I’m not sure what the magic trick was that allowed the program to be installed on the other W7 Pro 64-bit machine, but I sure hope I can find out what the secret is.

Cheers,
Al

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Hi, Coochin,

I appreciate the thought, but when I copied the CD into folder on the HDD and clicked “Instal.exe,” I got the same error as in my original post. I’m not sure what the magic trick was that allowed the program to be installed on the other W7 Pro 64-bit machine, but I sure hope I can find out what the secret is.

Cheers,
Al

There must be a way of installing the old Quicken since as you say it is running on your other Win7 64bit system. All I can suggest is do google searches re the problem but pay attention to advanced options in google searches.

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There must be a way of installing the old Quicken since as you say it is running on your other Win7 64bit system. All I can suggest is do google searches re the problem but pay attention to advanced options in google searches.

I agree, there must indeed be a way to do it, but all my online searching has netted me nothing so far. On a weird note, however, when I tried yet another round of searching a few minutes ago, I found this very thread at the top of the list! How circular is that? :rolleyes:

I’m sure there is some simple setting or trick I’m missing somewhere, but I’ll be dipped if I can figure it out, so I’m still on the hunt.

Cheers,
Al

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Is there a trial version of that Quicken software…..if so download that then just use your activation key if needed.

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I don’t suppose it knows that it’s already been installed so won’t install? Some Windows error messages can lead you up the garden path.

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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I don’t suppose it knows that it’s already been installed so won’t install? Some Windows error messages can lead you up the garden path.

I wish it were that simple, but unfortunately it’s not. When I click on either “install.exe” or Autorun.exe” on the installation disk, I get the “not compatible” error message (see original post) instantly, before the computer has even had a second to run anything. When I click on either of those files using Compatibility Mode even as far back as Windows XP, SP2, the same instant error response pops up.

There is another Setup.exe file in a folder on the disk called “Disk 1” which some articles mentioned as sometimes allowing older Quicken versions to install on W7, but even under Compatibility Mode, the most I can get out of clicking on that is the little activity indicator whirling round and round for a few seconds, then….nothing. I’ve tried the same approaches both from the CD and from a copy of the CD I saved to a folder on my desktop, but always with the same results. One strange thing, though: When I can get the activity indicator to whirl around for a few seconds when trying to install from the CD, the CD drive indicator doesn’t light up, so whatever activity the whirling indicator is indicating apparently doesn’t include the CD from which I’m trying to install the program.:confused:

Still mystified, but hoping that someone will have the magic answer.

Cheers,
Al

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Al,

I happened to have a copy of Quicken 2002 in my archives, so thought I’d give it a try and see what would happen if I tried to install it on my Win7x64. When I tried to execute install.exe it popped up the exact error message that you got. But when I executed setup.exe the installation process started right up. Try that instead. You may have to hunt for setup.exe (mine was in a subfolder called DISK1).

It appears install.exe is merely an autorun stub that launches setup.exe, so the stub may not be 64-bit compatible even though the underlying program may be.

I already have a later version installed, so I didn’t proceed through the full 2002 installation and therefore didn’t ascertain whether there were any other blocking issues, but at least I could determine the install.exe stub was one problem.

Edit: I see you posted your #10 post just before I finished mine, so you already discovered the setup.exe file. I’m not sure why it didn’t work for you. In my test I was installing from the hard disk, not from CD. I don’t keep all my old installation CDs, I copy them to an external hard drive for archival purposes. In my test I copied it back to my desktop and ran setup.exe from there.

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Al,

I happened to have a copy of Quicken 2002 in my archives, so thought I’d give it a try and see what would happen if I tried to install it on my Win7x64. When I tried to execute install.exe it popped up the exact error message that you got. But when I executed setup.exe the installation process started right up. Try that instead. You may have to hunt for setup.exe (mine was in a subfolder called DISK1).

It appears install.exe is merely an autorun stub that launches setup.exe, so the stub may not be 64-bit compatible even though the underlying program may be.

I already have a later version installed, so I didn’t proceed through the full 2002 installation and therefore didn’t ascertain whether there were any other blocking issues, but at least I could determine the install.exe stub was one problem.

Edit: I see you posted your #10 post just before I finished mine, so you already discovered the setup.exe file. I’m not sure why it didn’t work for you. In my test I was installing from the hard disk, not from CD. I don’t keep all my old installation CDs, I copy them to an external hard drive for archival purposes. In my test I copied it back to my desktop and ran setup.exe from there.

Thanks for confirming that the install.exe file was useless; at least I know I wasn’t making a mistake there. As to the Setup.exe file in the DISK1 subfolder, I’ve gone to the Quicken installation folder I copied to my Desktop, right clicked on Setup.exe, selected Properties>Compatibility, and chosen, successively: W7, XP SP3, XP SP2, W98/Me, W95. In every case, when I tried to run Setup.exe, the activity indicator whirled for 5-6 seconds, then stopped with no result. I then repeated the tests down to XP SP2 with “Run as Adminstrator” checked at the bottom of the Compatibility tab, but again, all I got was 5-6 seconds of whirling, then nothing.

FWIW, when I hover my mouse over the Setup.exe file, it gives the file description as “16-bit Setup Launcher.” I can’t see that as being the problem, though, as the program loaded successfully on the other computer using these files.

I can’t help wondering if there is perhaps some setting within W7 Pro which is somehow set differently on the two machines, thus allowing the other W7 machine to install the program and causing this machine to fail. If there is, however, I have no idea what it might be.

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In case it gives someone an idea, I just discovered on my computer an old shortcut to this version of Quicken I’ve been trying to load. I’d forgotten that I’d briefly tested the program back in July of 2013, at which time it installed just fine from the CD, but then, for reasons I no longer recall, removed it from my computer but missed this manually-created Quicken shortcut in an obscure folder. When I now click on that shortcut, the computer looks for C:Program FilesQUICKENWQW.EXE, then tells me that “The specified path does not exist” (which of course it does not).

About 12 days ago, this computer lost its mind entirely and wouldn’t boot, as result of which it required a complete reinstallation of W7 Pro 64-bit and all software (though fortunately my data was completely available from the backup I’d completed not even five minutes before W7 went senile!). Consequently:

A) I’m quite sure that nothing from the 21Jul13 Quicken installation is present to interfere with a new installation.

B) Because I’m working with a fresh installation of W7 Pro, I again can’t help wondering if there is some setting in this installation of W7 Pro which is different from the last one, as well as from the installation in the other computer.

I hope that this gives someone an idea that may help.

Cheers,
Al

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Well, I have (minimal) progress, sort of. When I now click the autorun.exe file, either on the CD or in the copied CD installation files on my W7 Desktop, I now get the following response, asking me if I want to install Quicken.

38554-Quicken-Install-Window

When I saw this, I thought I was finally on my way, but when I clicked Yes, all I got was the spinning activity indicator for 5-6 seconds, then nothing. Apparently, the autorun.exe file is working, but when it tries to get the next step going, the installation fails. Hmmm……….

Cheers,
Al

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I’m not going out today (“Black Friday” in the US, so too many crazies out there), so had a little time to experiment. I made an image of my existing system so I could restore it after experimenting, and temporarily restored an image of a clean, unadorned Win7x64 install to test with.

I copied the Quicken 2002 installation files to the desktop. When I hover over the “DISK 1/setup.exe” file I also get the balloon you mention about it being a “16-bit Setup Launcher”. (FWIW, I wonder if my version originally came on 3.5″ floppies, as I’ve got about 2 dozen “DISK xx” folders.)

38555-0

When I run setup.exe I get the familiar UAC prompt, then when I allow that I get the familiar InstallShield unpacking progress bar, followed quickly by the Welcome screen. I did not need to tinker with compatibility settings.

38556-2

I clicked [Next] and selected a “Typical” install, and in about 2 seconds it was done installing! (Gotta love those old programs–so tight and streamlined compared to today’s bloatware.) Played around with a bit and the installed program seems to work fine.

38557-3

Your symptoms (when you try to launch setup.exe) kind of sound like it’s waiting for UAC permission; are you getting the UAC prompt? ISTR some old programs that during installation went nowhere until I discovered a hidden UAC prompt they were waiting for. There was no UAC sound and no UAC icon on the taskbar, but when I minimized each window one by one there was left a UAC window in the very background. Maybe try disabling UAC, rebooting, and then trying setup.exe?

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Your symptoms (when you try to launch setup.exe) kind of sound like it’s waiting for UAC permission; are you getting the UAC prompt? ISTR some old programs that during installation went nowhere until I discovered a hidden UAC prompt they were waiting for. There was no UAC sound and no UAC icon on the taskbar, but when I minimized each window one by one there was left a UAC window in the very background. Maybe try disabling UAC, rebooting, and then trying setup.exe?

Wow, thanks for all your research! I don’t blame you for not wanting to be out on Black Friday, though; too many nutjobs punching each other out over discounted underwear!

Regarding UAC, I’d been having problems with UAC during the reinstallation process, so I’d actually turned UAC off prior to trying to install Quicken 2002. However, after I sent my last post, I suddenly recalled that UAC was off, so I went in the reverse direction from you and turned it on again (up to the default third step, just below the max.). So far, though, I haven’t had any luck with it in any combination of settings I’ve tried. I do get the UAC permission window and give the authorization to proceed, after which the activity indicator whirls for 5-6 seconds, then….nothing. I never get to “the familiar InstallShield unpacking progress bar” or anything beyond that. Apparently my installation is hanging up on the next step after the UAC, whether or not I have UAC enabled.

One question: If by chance you still have that new W7 installation loaded and you click on Properties for your Setup.exe file, then on the Compatibility tab, I’d appreciate knowing what, if any, “Compatibility mode” is selected there by default. If you’ve already ditched the new W7, c’est la vie.

I’m still trying to figure out the missing piece, but it does seem as though it likely has to do with whatever is next after the UAC permission has been granted.

Thanks again for going the extra mile to help. I really appreciate it.

Cheers,
Al

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[When] you click on Properties for your Setup.exe file, then on the Compatibility tab, I’d appreciate knowing what, if any, “Compatibility mode” is selected there by default.

Here’s what that displays:

38564-0a

I’m using Win7 Professional x64, though I don’t think the particular edition (Pro, Home Premium, Ultimate, etc) makes any difference. After all, they’re all the same with different feature sets unlocked. (Win7 installation DVDs for all editions contain the same install.wim image but with different ei.cfg configuration files to unlock features based on which edition you bought.)

Only the “bittedness” should matter to this discussion, and there we’re both using x64. I didn’t even need to “run as administrator”.

(Aside: I earlier thought my Quicken copy might have originally come on floppies, but have concluded it was indeed via CD. I was misled by the couple dozen “disk xx” folders but now notice there is also a batch file whose purpose is to create a set of floppies from all those folders if one needed alternate installation media.)

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Hi, dg1261,

Thanks for checking on the Compatibility screen. That’s exactly what I get, but the #%#%! InstallShield never appears.

However, I have had one unusual glimmer of hope – perhaps. I’ve not really used Sandboxie since I first installed and tried it, but on a whim (and because nothing else had worked) I right-clicked Setup.exe in the Disk 1 subfolder, clicked on Run Sandboxed, checked the box for Run As UAC Administrator, clicked OK, and…..Bingo! The program happily went through its normal installation as pretty as you please.

This leaves me with two questions:

A) Why does Setup.exe complete the Quicken installation process perfectly under Sandboxie, but fail when it’s started under W7?

B) Not being very familiar with the ins and outs of Sandboxie, I have a very beginner-level SB question: Can I “recover” my Quicken installation from within SB and have it work normally under Windows 7, and if so, how can I do that? My attempts have so far resulted only in endless UAC prompts when I tried to recover the Quicken files from within SB to C:Program Files or C:Program Files (X86). Am I attempting the impossible, or am I doing something wrong?

If anyone can help with these questions, I’d be most grateful.

Again, many thanks for all your help on this.

Cheers,
Al

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…A) Why does Setup.exe complete the Quicken installation process perfectly under Sandboxie, but fail when it’s started under W7?…

That you have clicked “Yes” to the UAC prompt under Win7 but the installer fails to run indicates that something else, apart from Win7 itself, is preventing the installer from running.

I have known AV programs to cause that kind of problem.

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I made an image of my existing system so I could restore it after experimenting, and temporarily restored an image of a clean, unadorned Win7x64 install to test with.

I just had an afterthought: When you say “Win7x64,” is that W7 Professional, as this installation is, and if not, would that make any difference? I shouldn’t think so, but I’m just trying hard to find the missing piece in all this that will magically make this installation work the way it has before.

Thanks again for your helpful posts.

Cheers,
Al

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Hi HealingHands33,

First off, I hope I don’t obfuscate things.

I haven’t used Quicken for approx. 12 years so don’t have your specific version of Quicken (Quicken 2002 SE Personal Plus) to hand. I was able to install Quicken 2000 in a Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium x64 VM (virtual machine) by just double-clicking on the installer’s SETUP.EXE file in DISK1 of the download folder (with Admin privileges).

38562-Quicken2000
Click to enlarge

Sorry… I don’t know whether this is helpful or not.

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I was able to install Quicken 2000 in a Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium x64 VM (virtual machine) by just double-clicking on the installer’s SETUP.EXE file in DISK1 of the download folder (with Admin privileges).

I appreciate the thought, Rick, but I’ve tried that more times than I can count, and no matter how I configure it (with or without Admin privileges, various compatibility modes), I just can’t get it to get to the installation process. Not sure why. I’m sure I’m missing something obvious, but it’s clearly not obvious to me!

Cheers,
Al

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It’s been quite a few years since I looked at Sandboxie so couldn’t really guess as to what’s making it work there. Coochin has a good point about looking at your AV program, though. Maybe your AV has been blocking the install, and if so maybe Sandboxie is wresting control back from the AV. (Does the AV work in the sandbox?) Not that I know what I’m talking about–I’m just grasping at straws looking for some plausible explanation why it works in Sandboxie.

I thought Sandboxie had some control option to make the sandboxed changes permanent, isn’t there? IOW, more than just copying files out of the sandbox, but sandboxed registry changes, et al, as well. Is that what you tried, or were you trying to move files manually?

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That you have clicked “Yes” to the UAC prompt under Win7 but the installer fails to run indicates that something else, apart from Win7 itself, is preventing the installer from running.

I have known AV programs to cause that kind of problem.

Interesting thought. I disconnected my router, turned off my AV (Microsoft Security Essentials), and tried getting Setup.exe to work, first without any compatibility tweaks, then under XP SP3 and XP SP2, but no luck. If W7 can truly be ruled out as the culprit, I have no idea where to start looking. It’s interesting, though, that when I clicked Setup.exe in Sandboxie (with Run as Admin selected), the program installed and runs perfectly within Sandboxie. The trick is to get it to do the same without Sandboxie and that’s where I’m stumped.

Cheers,
Al

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…The trick is to get it to do the same without Sandboxie and that’s where I’m stumped…

You could try the install after a “clean boot”, see: Perform a Clean Boot using the MSCONFIG utility

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I don’t mean to hijack this thread but maybe some one could clarify something I seem to have a misconception about.
I thought 16 bit programs could not run under a 64 bit O/S. I have seen this indicated several times, yet no one here questioned the ability of a 16 bit installer program to run under W7 64 bit.

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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That was established early on in the thread, but perhaps not explicitly enough. The autorun.inf on the CD launches a stub, install.exe, that in turn launches Quicken’s setup routine, setup.exe. In this case install.exe is a 16-bit program while the actual setup program is 32-bit. So to install the 32-bit Quicken program on a 64-bit OS we skip the 16-bit stub and launch the 32-bit setup.exe manually.

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So to install the 32-bit Quicken program on a 64-bit OS we skip the 16-bit stub and launch the 32-bit setup.exe manually.

Oops missed that

Just because you don't know where you are going doesn't mean any road will get you there.

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You could try the install after a “clean boot”, see: Perform a Clean Boot using the MSCONFIG utility

Thanks for that clean boot suggestion, Coochin; that did the trick. When I clicked on Setup.exe after the clean boot, it instantly called up the InstallShield wizard and the program loaded smoothly. Parenthetically, I have to add my hearty agreement with dg1261’s statement, “Gotta love those old programs–so tight and streamlined compared to today’s bloatware.” Those were the days!

I still don’t know specifically what program or service was causing the installation to fail, but after spending far more time on this than I ever intended, I’m happy to forego figuring out the answer and to let that forever remain a mystery.

It’s nice to know that when I’ve run out of ideas and my brain has turned to tapioca pudding there are great Loungers around to offer suggestions. Many thanks to you and to all the Lounge members who posted to help out with this issue; I really appreciate it.

Cheers,
Al

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