Microsoft Windows Vista, Versions of QuickBooks Before 2007, and QODBC

As of Date: 2006-12-16

IMPORTANT NOTE: To see how to install QODBC and connect to QuickBooks for the first time using Microsoft Vista, click here: How do I install and connect QODBC using Microsoft Vista? 

With Microsoft's release of Windows Vista, we wanted to ensure that our developers are informed about Intuit's plans for versions of QuickBooks before QuickBooks 2007 on vista. First and foremost, USA versions of QuickBooks 2006 and earlier will not be supported on Windows Vista.

Thanks to the Windows Vista compatibility "shims" from Microsoft, these versions of QuickBooks will successfully run, and many functions will behave normally. The user will be alerted that they are running in an unsupported configuration with wording similar to the following:

"When running QuickBooks 2006 or earlier on Windows Vista, you will likely experience instability and unreliable behavior, even though these problems may not appear immediately." 

One area we know will not work is that SDK-based applications, such as QODBC, will fail in BeginSession with an internal error due to an inability for shimmed applications to see each other or even other un-shimmed applications on vista. If you have a QODBC customer contemplating an upgrade to view, tell them they must update to v7.00.00.214 (or later)!

QODBC Version 7.00.00.207 contained what we had hoped the final piece would be vista compliant. The main changes were to move the ODBCINST.INI to "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\QODBC Driver for QuickBooks\ODBCINST.INI." All users should be able to read and write from there. All that is used for the global settings for QODBC.

The QODBCLOG.TXT Log file has been moved to C:\Documents and Settings\useraname\Application Data\QODBC Driver for QuickBooks (per user).

The new default for the optimizer file is "%UserProfile%\QODBC Driver for QuickBooks\Optimizer." New users will get that. Old users can change their path to that. With the %UserProfile% in the way, the optimizer .opt files will be saved in the user's folder (C:\Documents and Settings\useraname\Application Data\QODBC Driver for QuickBooks).

The last changes were to disable the Test Connection and Optimizer sync buttons when EditQDSN is started in elevated mode. (The Intuit qbXML SDK cannot be called from a formal application under vista) A help link has been added to explain why.

And lastly, a helper .exe called FQQBVSAV.EXE was added to allow a non-admin user to save settings to the System DSN after prompting for elevation.

Full vista compliance was scheduled for R4 since Intuit needed final vista bits to make the final preparations for QuickBooks '07. R5 will be slipstreamed to QuickBooks '07 users by Intuit before vista is available to the public. R5 can be found on Intuit's website under QuickBooks Product Updates at: http://www.quickbooks.com/support/index/ndxw_16_update.html.

QuickBooks qbXML SDK/Windows Vista Compatibility and QODBC

On the released version of Windows Vista, applications built with any version of the QuickBooks SDK (like QODBC) should work correctly with QuickBooks 2007 R5 and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 7.0 R5 (the latest available update releases of each), with the following caveats:

• The Vista user account must have its User Account Control (UAC) set to On (as recommended by Microsoft).
• QuickBooks and the QODBC application accessing the SDK should be run with standard user permissions (NOT elevated to run as administrator).
• Subscribing to custom menu events (UI extension events) does not work correctly in the current release.
• QuickBooks Web Connector 1.0 and QuickBooks Remote Data Sharing 3.0 are not supported on vista; new versions of each that work on view will be released soon.

Additionally, QuickBooks Point of Sale 6.0 will work on Windows Vista. However, if you are upgrading the operating system of a computer with Point of Sale software installed, you may need to reinstall Point of Sale to ensure it will launch correctly.

Please note that QuickBooks 2006 and earlier, as well as QuickBooks Point of Sale 5.0 and earlier, may not work correctly on Vista and that Intuit will not support those products on view.

For further information about Microsoft Windows Vista, QuickBooks, and the QuickBooks SDK, see this article on the IDN website.

Because of the SDK release's limitations in QuickBooks outside the USA, QODBC cannot be used under the Microsoft Vista operating system. Note: For QuickBooks users outside of the USA, this will mean that users will not be able to run QuickBooks and QODBC on Vista until further notice. We recommend that you keep using Windows XP in the meantime and hope that Intuit will rectify this issue in 2008.

You can view the QuickBooks announcements made regarding vista outside the USA at:

Australia/New Zealand/Singapore:
http://www.quicken.com.au/support/vistaUpdate.aspx
 
United Kingdom (UK):
http://www.quickbooks.co.uk/store/en/quickbooks/vista_faq.jsp?pd=vista
 
Canada:
http://support.intuit.ca/quickbooks/vista_faqs.php?pd=vista