AllBusiness.com

QuickBooks Error 1603 - Installing older versions of QuickBooks

Finance

This is a common error especially among ProAdvisors, CPA Firms, or anyone that deals with multiple versions of QuickBooks...most of us have QuickBooks 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, & 2007 on our computers...most times we have 1 or 2 clients that just don't want to upgrade because everything is working great and why ruin a good thing (who could blame them?)  These are the few people that do not need built in services from QuickBooks, such as merchant services or payroll...in addition, Intuit doesn't support older versions of QuickBooks - they "sunset" the older versions...you can read more about it on their website on the "QuickBooks Service Discontinuation Plan."

Anyway, back to the error...

This support as well as many errors are on the QuickBooks support page...you can find this one at: https://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/dosearch.aspx?kbID=1003984


Title:

Error 1603: Cannot install Flash Player 7

KB ID#: 1003984
What is happening:

The following error occurs when installing QuickBooks:

"Cannot install 'Flash Player 7' from '[CD Drive Letter]:\ThirdParty\Flash7\install_flash_player_7.msi'. Please go to https://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer to download and install "Flash Player 7", and then run the QuickBooks installation program again.[Error:1603]"
How to fix the problem: Verify that the Adobe Flash Player version 7 or later is installed.
Detailed instructions:

To verify that the latest version of Adobe Flash Player is installed

  1. In Microsoft Windows, click the Start button and then select Control Panel.

    Note: Depending on your Windows configuration, you may need to select Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Double-click the Add or Remove Programs icon to open the Add or Remove Programs window.
  3. If Flash Player 7 or later appears in the list of programs, then it is currently installed on your computer.

If a correct version of Flash Player is not installed on your computer and the error occurs, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to the Flash Player download site.
  2. Follow the instructions to download Adobe Flash Player.
  3. After installing the Flash Player, try to install QuickBooks again.
  4. If you still cannot install QuickBooks, proceed to the next section.

If you have Adobe Flash Player 7 or later installed on your computer, or if the previous steps did not resolve the issue, follow the steps below:

  1. Insert the QuickBooks installation CD (if you downloaded the QuickBooks installation files please see the alternative steps given below).
  2. Close any installation screen that displays automatically.
  3. Click the Start button and select My Computer, or right-click the Start button and select Explore.
  4. Browse to find and open the contents of the CD drive.
  5. Open the QBooks folder on the CD and double-click the QuickBooks.msi file. This will install QuickBooks without checking the version of Flash Player.

Alternative steps for Downloaded versions of QuickBooks:

  1. Go to Start>Run
  2. Type "%temp%" (without the quotes) into the run line
  3. From the Temp folder open the QBooks folder and double-click the QuickBooks.msi file. This will install QuickBooks without checking the version of Flash.

Profile: Brandon Morris

Brandon Morris, Advanced Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, is co-founder and co-owner of Barons', Inc.