Quickbooks on two computers

sevver · 02-22-2005, 06:28 PM

I own a computer repair and networking business. I have had about three people ask me to set up quickbooks on there desktop so that it may be accessed from there laptop over there network. There is no need for any of these users to need to access the software at the same time on both machines. They just would like the main files saved on a single pc to make synchronization and backup easier. Now, I am also beginning to want to do this also for myself, so...

1. Does it matter what version of the quickbooks you have?

2. Can you install the software on both P.C.'s and "share" the backup file to make this work?

3. If one user is using the software, do you still need more than one license?

4. Has anyone done this, is it a reasonable thing to do?

I would appreciate any help I may get, I have searched the Internet for info to no avail, I do not want to have remote access, just access over the LAN.

Thanks
sevver

mikesgroovin · 02-22-2005, 06:41 PM

yes, i've done this before. it's quite trivial actually. just save the business file on one pc and make sure that the shared drive is mapped on the other computer upon boot. you do need a second license for the additional pc. quickbooks out of the box is a single client license basis. you can usually just install it and then call intuit and purchase a new license.

Keyboard Cowboy · 02-22-2005, 06:54 PM

1. YES. There are some versions that can not be shared at all. I believe that it Quicken Quick Books Pro that you will be after (I might be wrong)

2. YES. You will need to map the hard drive, and assing Read Write Permissions (a common mistake).

3. You can install Quicken on more than one computer. However, you will need to purchase additional licences to in order to have additional people to access the data file at the sale time. Unfortuntly, I think this is some thing that Quicken sells directly to the end user. (The reason why I promote MYOB more)

4. I have done this many times with MYOB Premier. And I believe you can do it the same with Quicken QuickBooks Pro.
With MYOB Premier, you can set up as many account as you want, but the number of people that can access that data file at the same time is limited to the number of liences that you have.

Personally I prefer MYOB as it has better reseller support. Quicken has this lovely habit of selling the reseller (yourself) the core products. But when it comes down to upgrade versions and liences, Quicken will only deal with the end user. So normally people ring up as ask that they want to purchase an ungrade version of quicken, and in the end you have to direct them (and their money) directly over to quicken directly.
(This is some thing I tell my Quicken Rep all the time)

However Quicken from a programming and network side, Quicken does work better than MYOB. MYOB Premeir and Retail Manager is a bandwidth hog.

If you are in Australia, you can contact Quicken on 1300 784 253

sevver · 02-22-2005, 07:11 PM

Thanks for your help, what I need to know now is, do I need to map the drive? Can't I just share it? I have never mapped a drive before and have no idea how to do it in Windows, I guess I thought that it would be a novelle thing, that is what I seem to remember at least.

People would not be accessing the file at the same time, it is the owner of the business who wishes to use the program stored on her business desktop computer, through her laptop. During work hours, her secretary uses the computer and she does not want to interrupt her.
And the other guy has the same scenario, he has a business at home and would like to store the quickbooks on the desktop, but when his wife is using the desktop, he would like to be able to access it via his laptop.

Thanks
sevver

Kupo · 02-23-2005, 07:05 PM

This is how I networked Quickbooks at my company...

XP Pro on both machines. I set up a "home or small office network" on the two computers, but them both in the same domain and then I shared the folder on the machine with the quickbooks file.

Both machines have QB2002Pro (I've read you have to have the same version to make this work). I had to set both of those to "multi-user" mode by clicking "file" and then "multi-user mode" in the menu. I pointed my one QB at the file on the other machine and WALLAH! (I'm sorry if this sounds confusing... it's confusing me at the moment... lol.) It wasn't too hard. The key things are sharing the folder with the data file, multi-user mode, and the same version of QB.

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