unofficial microsoft.public.money FAQ and A
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Complaint Department: Money 2005/6

Q) I just reloaded M05. Now it crashes when I start it. Why?

[Relevant to Money2005 (v.14)]

A) Additional forms of this question include:

- I just reloaded M05. Now it complains that my file is read-only. Why?

- I just moved my data file to another machine with M05. It refuses to open my data file. Why?

- Why does M05 on my new, or newly re-loaded, machine refuse to restore my M05 backup file?

- Why does M05 on my new, or newly re-loaded, machine ask for a password when I've never used one before?

- Why does M05 on my new, or newly re-loaded, machine reject my password?

The basic issue in all of these scenarios may be the same one: you are trying to open your data file on what is, effectively, the previous version of Money. As with opening an M05 file on an M04 system, this does not work. Some users have reported this only effects users who use Yodlee download or some other subset of users. FWIW, I duplicated this issue on my experimental M05 file which has no online services enabled. The workaround is to either:

a) open the sample file by navigating a Windows File Explorer to the Money installation directory (c:\Program Files\Microsoft Money 2005, typically) and double-click on the Sample.MNY data file.

b) temporarily relocate your data file, start Money, and let it create a new data file. Somewhere along the way you can skip the setup wizards.

Now you can do an Internet Update and Money will download the service updates to get the Money application software to the latest level that will deal with the "M05.1" data file format.

After completing the update, Help|About should report a version of 14.0.*.1105 or higher. Note that the originally shipped M05 CD installs 14.0.120.728 (for a US Deluxe edition, anyway).

In 12 prior versions, it's not clear Microsoft ever released a patch that broke intra-version compatibility. Problems in the initial release of M05 were so severe that they had to release, essentially, a version 14.1 file format. The really sad thing about this is that the chaos this will create--indeed, already is creating judging by newsgroup postings--will merely confirm in the Money team's minds the importance of moving this whole thing from a client computer hosted application to a web service where they control what version you are running, every time you open their web page. This way they won't have to bother worrying about the "dumb users" who dare to do things like reload the application from the CD whenever they feel like it and expect their original M05 to open their randomly up-level M05 data file.

References:
MSKB: 890393 There are two M05 file formats

Please see this disclaimer if you are using Money 2005 or this comment if you are using Money 2006.

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