QuickBooks and Vista - pre '08 - what are your options?

A little off topic of my recent posts regarding, What’s new in 2008, but still relevant nonetheless. I’ve been doing some research to change machines myself, time to upgrade. Currently I’m using an HP Pavilion dv4000 laptop with a 15” monitor with 768MB Ram running Windows XP Professional OS (Operating System) - Not a huge machine, but it does the job. It still works great, running multiple versions of QuickBooks along with Microsoft Office 2007.

The problem that a lot of people are running into now is they are upgrading machines and realizing after the fact that QuickBooks 2007 and earlier versions do not work with the new Vista OS. What’s the solution?

I initially started looking to see where I could find a barebones machine where I could just install my version of XP on and then drop all of my QB program files into and reload MS Office…not the best solution, I need to be using the latest OS – IMO.

Well it’s come down to this I believe, I take some of this from my own research and some of it from experts in the field that have mentioned this and tested it. Keep in mind, I have not tested it…but I have found no one that can convince me not to go this route…it seems like a definite solution for those of us that still need to run QB 2007 and earlier editions.

Run a Virtual Machine on your new Vista machine. Sounds Greek to the typical bookkeeper/accounting type person doesn’t it? What is a virtual machine and how does it work? I’m going to include a couple of resources here and would definitely like to hear from anyone already doing this. The two products I’m looking at today are Microsoft Virtual PC and VMWare...click on the titles, I've created links for both products.

Microsoft Virtual PC - Free


A blurb from their product page follows:
“Use Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 to run multiple operating systems at the same time on the same physical computer. Switch between virtual machines with the click of a button. Use virtual machines to run legacy applications, provide support, train users, and enhance quality assurance.

Virtual PC lets you create separate virtual machines on your Windows desktop, each of which virtualizes the hardware of a complete physical computer. Use virtual machines to run operating systems such as MS-DOS, Windows, and OS/2. You can run multiple operating systems at once on a single physical computer and switch between them as easily as switching applications—instantly, with a mouse click. Virtual PC is perfect for any scenario in which you need to support multiple operating systems, whether you use it for tech support, legacy application support, training, or just for consolidating physical computers.

VMWARE - $189.00 and up


A blurb from the product page follows:
Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop computer with VMware Workstation. Reduce hardware costs by 50% or more by running multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Join the millions worldwide who use Workstation to:

• Host legacy applications and overcome platform migration issues
• Configure & test new software or patches in an isolated environment
• Automate tasks for software development and testing
• Demonstrate multi-tier configurations on a single PC

So, in summary, it appears that we have options – we’re not dead in the water! And if it weren’t for clients runny older version of QuickBooks I wouldn’t be in this predicament; however, if they are using QuickBooks 2005 and don’t need payroll service or merchant services or anything else that Intuit is selling on the side and the business owner wants to leave what’s working alone, who can blame them…perhaps the virtual system is the way to go or upgrade to 2008. That being said, you can purchase 2008 from our website at 15-20% off the retail price (www.baronsinc.com,) or the cheapest place we’ve found it is at Sam’s Club.

Till next time, happy accounting!

Brandon Morris