Solving QuickBooks Problems on 64 bit Vista
If you are trying to run QuickBooks on a 64 bit version of Microsoft Vista you will most likely run into problems. In this article I’ll show you how to get around the most common problem – QuickBooks crashing when you reconcile or send forms by email. This article was updated on 3/24/2009, with significant changes from earlier revisions.
Note that this article addresses issues specifically in the 64 bit version of Vista - if you are having similar problems with Windows XP or 32 bit Vista this information won’t apply. We also are not addressing issues of using QuickBooks 2006 or older versions on Vista - that is another issue entirely. And, finally, note that this article has been revised multiple times - as we learn more, and as Intuit makes changes - so some of the earlier comments that people make might not make sense (as they refer to older revisions of the article.
Problems with PDF’s
QuickBooks saves a number of things in PDF format. Two common places (there are others) are when you email an invoice or other form (the invoice is saved as a PDF attachment to the message) and when you reconcile your bank accounts (the reconciliation reports are saved as PDF’s). QuickBooks uses a PDF “driver” that they install in your system that handles the conversion to a PDF file.
The problem is, the driver that Intuit has included in QuickBooks is designed for 32 bit systems, and on many 64 bit systems this driver fails. There are a variety of symptoms depending on how your computer is set up. The most common symptom is that QuickBooks would just freeze when you reconcile an account or email a form. Some people may see different errors.
I’ll outline several ways of fixing this problem. You may find that one method works when the other doesn’t. ALSO note that for each of these methods, installing an update to QuickBooks will usually bring back the problem and you’ll have to do it over again. Last Minute Note - if you have QB Pro/Premier 2009 (US) or Enterprise 9, the “R7″ update being released the week of March 23 is fixed so that it will NOT bring back the problem!
QuickBooks has published a Knowledge Base article about this in their support web site – article 1007856. This KB article changes periodically as they refine their answer, and if you go there you may see some slightly different information (it is hard to keep up with their changes). The information I have below is illustrated with screen shots and perhaps a bit easier to follow. In addition, I’ve come across some variations that they might not describe.
So let’s start with some notes and comments:
- If you have installed QuickBooks 2007 on the computer, and then either QuickBooks 2008 or 2009, there is a conflict between the versions. If you have this situation see Intuit Knowledgebase article 1011094.
- If you are using the FaxTalk Communicator software you will find a conflict with QuickBooks. The solution is to remove this software.
- Intuit’s solution has you start off by doing a “repair” of your QuickBooks installation. For most situations I’ve found that this is not necessary. The problem is not a damaged installation, it is an improperly installed driver (the “repair” will reinstate the error). However, if you want to do this, see KB article 1010399.
- These steps will not work if you are using QuickBooks 2006 or older. Those programs are not Vista compatible and you will have multiple problems with them on Vista.
What is Intuit Recommending Today?
This is very confusing to me! Their recommendations seem to be changing daily - and I’m having a hard time keeping up. My article here might not be in synch with their recommendations, as I don’t check their KB article every day. Also, I’ve found that sometimes they publish a fix, then they remove it when they find that there are other problems.
I also have found that some of their explanations don’t always work for all users (which is probably more an issue with Vista than Intuit). I list two methods below.
Method 1 is a minor variation of what QuickBooks has recommended for most of the year. However, on March 11 2009 they replaced their recommendation with a different approach, which I outline (which I refer to as Method 2 here). Then, on March 13 2009 they removed that updated method, and restored the Method 1 approach on their web site. I believe that they will be putting Method 2 back on the web site again very soon.
Over the past few months my description of Method 2 has changed. This involved downloading a new driver. Prior to March 2009 I had people downloading a driver that was posted by Ben Gomez, and Intuit employee, in the Intuit Community forum (thanks, Ben!). In March Intuit posted a new driver and method in their KB article,with a more up to date driver (the first was version 2.51, the second was version 3.03). This approach worked for some people when Method 1 didn’t work. Then, in the middle of March, Intuit removed this driver and went back to a variation of the older method (Method 1, essentially). I’m not sure why. LATEST NEWS - I received another updated driver, which I’m posting here - at this time (March 24) it hasn’t been posted yet, but I believe it will be there soon. My thanks to Alex Wall for his help with this.
Solving the Problem: Method 2
Why am I starting with “Method 2″ - because originally this was NOT my recommended method, but with the latest update I recommend that you start with this. I’m keeping the same “method” numbering so that the comments that people added in the past continue to make sense. Start with Method 2.
Please note that this method may only work with QuickBooks 2008 and 2009, and Enterprise 8.0 and 9.0. If you have the 2007 version (or Enterprise 7.0) you should probably use Method 1 as described later.
Run this procedure when you are logged in to your computer with administrator rights.
Download an updated PDF driver from this link:
http://ftp.quicken.com/pub/quickbooks/QBDPDF_303.exe
Save this to your computer, perhaps on your desktop, or your My Documents folder. Run the program - this is a “zipped” file, you want to click the “unzip” button. It will create a folder in the location you choose (usually attached to the folder you saved the downloaded file to). This is the 3.03 version of the Amyuni driver.
Open that folder, run the Install.exe program that you find there. This will install a new driver.
When the install is complete and you click “OK” you may get a Vista warning saying that the installation might not have installed correctly. Just click the button that says the program installed correctly (or the “cancel” button).
REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER at this point. If you don’t, the changes might not be fully implemented, and QuickBooks might still not work correctly.
This is supposed to be all that you need to do (although you should check the Adobe note that I have added to the end of this article). However, I found that there were still some problem sin my system, that can easily be fixed.
Select the Control Panel from your Windows menu.
Select Printers from the Control Panel.
Note that the QuickBooks PDF Converter may be selected as the default printer. This is a problem.
Right click on the correct printer and select it as the default printer. Anything but the PDF Converter!
That should take care of the problems. If not, review the next section, Method 1, which takes a manual approach to resolving things.
Solving the Problem – Method 1
This is the original Intuit recommended method, and is still the method you should use if you have QuickBooks 2007. For later versions I recommend trying Method 2 first.
We will create a new local printer port and attach the PDF driver to that port. Please note that you need adminstrative rights to the computer system. Most people find that this works very well, but Vista is a very tricky operating system and this method doesn’t work for everybody.
- Log in to your Vista system as a user with administrative rights.
- Select the Control Panel from your Windows menu.
- Select Printers from the Control Panel.
- Locate the QuickBooks PDF Converter in the printer list, right click on it to get a menu, select Run as administrator, and then select Properties.
- In the Properties window, select the Ports tab, then click the Add Port button.
- Select Local Port and click the New Port button.
- Enter PDF1 for the new port name, and click OK, then close the Printer Ports window.
PLEASE NOTE - the recommendation that I give above worked for me, and has worked for MANY people. However, the latest notes from Intuit have changed this and they now recommend using NUL: as the port name. This should not make a difference. However, one person (that I know of) was having trouble with the standard recommendations I make here, and changed several steps. The changes worked, but it isn’t clear which of the changes made a difference. ONE of those changes was to use NUL: as the port name, and the”:” at the end of the name was important. Again, I didn’t need to do this, but it may make a difference for you. - Check the box by thePDF1 port then select the Advanced tab.
- Select the Amyuni Document Converter 300 from the Driver dropdown box. The Print directly to the printer option is selected, which hides a feature you must change. Select Spool print documents and then un-check the Enable advanced printing features box.
- Select Print directly to the printer again. Click Apply and then OK.
- In the Printer window of the Control Panel make sure that the proper printer driver is selected as the “default” – not the QuickBooks PDF Converter. This is a step that Intuit left out in their article.
- Reboot your computer – the changes won’t take effect until you do.
For most systems this will resolve the problem and you will be able to reconcile and email. However, in some cases you may find that you need to clear some additional settings. In my system I did not need to do EITHER of these steps, but some users find that it is necessary. The additional steps are:
- Right click on the Windows taskbar and select Task Manager.
- Select the Processes tab, find spwWOW64.exe, and click the end process button.
- You will need to reboot your computer after this step.
- If you run QuickBooks and get odd “printer error” messages, you may need to reset your QuickBooks printer preference file. Note that by doing this you are resetting any special printer settings you have set up for any forms. Most people don’t use this feature a lot, so it isn’t a big issue. However, by renaming this file (instead of erasing it) you can always reclaim the file if there is information you need. Note that this file will be created when you next run QuickBooks. To do this, locate the file QBPRINT.QBP, which is in your c:/program data/QuickBooks/2009 folder. Note that this is a “hidden” folder, you may need to change some folder options settings to see it. Also note that the year will depend on the year of QuickBooks you are working with. Rename this file to QBPRINT.OLD, so that you have a copy of it for safekeeping.
Adobe Reader
If you are using Adobe Reader there is one last thing that you should check. Run Adobe Reader and select “Edit”, then “Preferences”. Select the “Internet” preference and un-check the “Display PDF in Browser” option (it might already be unchecked, if so then let it be). Save the preferences.
Finishing
Hope that this works for you! It should – both methods worked for me. Some people have found that this does not work - it may be due to not flushing the printer buffer (the step using Task Manager) in their cases. I have not been able to pin down the reason. Also, as I said earlier, you will have to go through these steps again if you install an updated version of your products.
IN ADDITION - in the release notes for QuickBooks 2009 R7, Intuit states that the R7 release fixes this problem. I have not FULLY tested this - but it is looking good. I had an installation that was patched to have the correct driver, I installed the R7 update manually, and the system STAYED PATCHED - so I didn’t have to redo the work. What I cannot test at this time is if the R7 update will FIX and system that ISN’T patched.
My thanks to Intuit and both Ben Gomez and Alex Wall for their support.
Benjamin Gomez | Oct 20, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for mentioning me in the article.
GM | Oct 28, 2008 | Reply
thank you so much this post was really helpful.
Gina | Oct 28, 2008 | Reply
The problem that I am having is on OS XP, not Vista. While attempting to print a previous reconciliation report in Quickbooks 07 [banking>reconcile>locate discrepencies>previous reports] the program states that it has encountered a problem and must shut down. Any fix?
Charlie | Oct 28, 2008 | Reply
Gina, that is a different issue. Do you have Adobe Acrobat installed? If so, what version? and did you get an error number of any sort?
Mike | Oct 30, 2008 | Reply
Charlie,
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! This problem has been driving insane and your step by step solution complete with screen shots is one of the best examples of a practical, easy to follow online fix that I’ve found in a long time. Many thanks!!!
Mike in Orlando
Kelly | Oct 30, 2008 | Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I was so frustrated every time I went to reconcile (and we have 5 companies so I have to do it a lot)… This was so easy to follow and worked like a charm! I am very grateful!!
Jill | Nov 1, 2008 | Reply
Thanks SO much for this solution–the first one worked for me!!
Andrea Pixley | Nov 3, 2008 | Reply
Thank you! I was about to pull my hair out! Your first solution solved my problem.
Shannon | Nov 5, 2008 | Reply
Thank you! This has been one big frustration, and your fix solved my problem perfectly and your directions were so easy to follow. You are great!
CB | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
THANK YOU !! The first solution worked perfectly.
I also used this method to change the pdf printer information for Intuit’s TURBOTAX PRO. Perhaps it will also be helpful for anyone who may use the Personal Edition of TurboTax for 07 and 08.
Charlie | Nov 6, 2008 | Reply
My thanks to everyone for the kind comments. Please note that this information was all derived from information in the Intuit support site as well as the Intuit community forums - I’ve just summarized it here and made it a bit more “visual” with examples.
I’m very curious as to why Intuit doesn’t fix this in their installation program - it should be possible. The problem has existed for quite awhile, it isn’t a new issue with the 2009 release…
Keli | Nov 7, 2008 | Reply
My problem is a little different. In the reconcile window- cash amounts show up that shouldn’t. Some quirk, the cash amount come from random invoices. Can this be solved with the same solution?
Charlie | Nov 7, 2008 | Reply
Keli, that won’t have anything to do with this particular fix. That is something you probably should ask in the Intuit Community forums at https://community.intuit.com/quickbooks
Amber Hancock | Nov 10, 2008 | Reply
I can’t get the solutions above to work for me. When I create the new port (PDF1) and reboot, that port no longer exists.
Charlie | Nov 11, 2008 | Reply
Amber, there isn’t much I can say without having my hands on your computer. Being able to create the PDF1 port is a basic Vista task. As long as you have full Admin privileges, and you don’t have an issue with a security program of some sort, that should work.
Amber Hancock | Nov 11, 2008 | Reply
I assumed it was an issue with Admin privileges. I was at first trying it by right clicking and ‘run as administrator’. Then read up on activating the administrator account, and tried logging in that way, but always, after rebooting, PDF1 is no longer an option in the list of ports.
I have no security programs running, other than AVG antivirus.
Charlie | Nov 11, 2008 | Reply
Amber - Vista has many quirks (although many were fixed with the last service pack), and Vista 64 has even more. I’ve not seen the problem you describe myself, so I don’t have a ready answer, unfortunately.
Amber Hancock | Nov 11, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for your help. I’ll post the solution when and if I find one!
Charles | Nov 11, 2008 | Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I just got a new laptop for my business and had this issue. I spent hours and almost considered paying Intuits expensive support to help me fix the issue. Thanks again and have a good day!
Charles
Alex | Nov 12, 2008 | Reply
Thank you so much for taking your time to create this! The first method worked for me.
Dorothy | Nov 13, 2008 | Reply
I have to say that this was the best and easiest information to follow. I thank you so much for making it so simple. Wonderful stuff.
Chris Peterson | Nov 14, 2008 | Reply
This was very helpful. I have been wracking my brain about a solution. Thanks a lot.
Dennis Roberts | Nov 14, 2008 | Reply
Yep…after two hours on the phone with Intuit support…this is exactly what they told me to do. And it fixed the problem.
I wish I would have found this site a couple days ago. Great info.
Misty DeCourcey | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
I was having this same problem running QB2008 on a Windows XP 64bit. Tech Support walked me through a similiar solution (after 4 unsuccessful). My email is working, but it is taking about 5-10 mins. for an email to complete. QBs is just frozen while it is doing this. This is very aggravating and I was hoping someone knew of a better fix or if this solution will work on XP? Thanks
Charlie | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
Misty, I’m sorry, but I don’t have a 64 bit XP system (nor do I have any clients with that) so I’ve not been able to look at the issue there.
Viva-Revol Corp. | Nov 17, 2008 | Reply
Very Helpful. I solved exact same problem based on this note.
Thanks,
Red | Nov 18, 2008 | Reply
THANKS!!!!! Better than Intuit!
Melissa | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
Hi there- I was laying awake trying to figure out what on earth was wrong with our program when I decided to go online and do some research on it. We have a new Dell computer with Vista at my husband’s shop and I am experiencing the same problems described here. I don’t know if it is 64 bit or 32, but I am crossing my fingers that these steps work for us. I’ll keep you posted! Thanks for publishing such helpful information.
Charlie | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
Melissa: Open the Control Panel in your Vista system, find the “System and Maintenance” icon and then click “System” (if you have a “classic” view then you’ll go straight to “System”), and on that page down a ways you will see the label “System type” which tells you if it is 32 bit or 64 bit.
Michael Casillas | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
Amber and Charles, Hey I had the same problem as Amber is describing. What I did was to create the PDF1 with the instructions in #2 and then put everything onto the LPT1 port. PDF1 kept saying nothing to configure however, LPT1 is already configured. I also cleared the XP compatibility so its full vista. Took 5 days repeating the instructions to think of the LPT1 change (really an accident)but everything is running perfect now!! Thanks for the instructions. Good Luck:)
Charlie | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
Thank you, Michael. I’ve not tested this to see if there are any side effects (since I didn’t have the original problem that Amber mentioned), so I’m not endorsing this at this time. But if it works for you, that’s great!
Melissa | Nov 20, 2008 | Reply
YOU ROCK!!! Worked like a charm on the first try. Success sending email invoice- thank God! Makes things so much easier!
James | Nov 21, 2008 | Reply
Charlie,
I’m buying a new laptop and ready to take the Vista plunge. Do you know if the 32-bit Vista Business OS will help to avoid the issues arising with QB 2008? Main app’s I need to support are Office Basic and QB. Thank you, sir.
Charlie | Nov 22, 2008 | Reply
James, I use Vista 32 with QB 2008 myself and it works quite well. There can be some issues but no more than you would find with Windows XP.
Lynn | Nov 23, 2008 | Reply
Is it possible to install Quickbooks pro 2004 on vista 64? I do not need to connect to the internet through quickbooks.
Charlie | Nov 24, 2008 | Reply
Lynn: I wouldn’t recommend it. Pro 2004 is not Vista compatible. Some people have success in getting it to run by setting the “XP compatibility” feature on, but there are many people who have a lot of difficulty in getting it to work. And that is relating to 32 bit Vista - I’ve not talked to anyone trying it on 64 bit Vista.
Joe D. | Nov 25, 2008 | Reply
This was very helpful. Had this problem out of the box with 2009 Premier and brand new laptop with Vista 64. However, the saved PDF is pushing the right side columns to another page, despite landscape being selected the the preview indicating it fits. Can’t believe we just paid $350 for this upgrade and Intuit wants to charge us to get it working properly on a new installation. Yikes!
Becca | Nov 26, 2008 | Reply
I want to add my personal thanks! This problem rose suddenly for me two weeks ago and has been making my job so much more difficult! I did the first list of steps and it fixed the problem immediately. Thank you!!!!
Gary | Dec 1, 2008 | Reply
Well, I love to tell ya, Vista 32bit and 64bit are quite stable. Yes, there were many compatibility issues with third party software but remember, maintaining compatibility is up to the 3rd party software company and not Microsoft.
If something doesn’t work the way it is supposed to in Vista then it is Microsoft’s fault but if a third party software doesn’t work because it is not updated, then that is not Vista or Microsoft’s fault.
To date, ALL the software that I use has been updated to work with Vista 32 and 64 bit. Including- Microsoft Small Accounting, Peach Tree and most office related products. Amazingly, most new game titles work with 64 bit vista - no small accomplishment.
Please don’t say “I wouldn’t have bought” because YOU didn’t buy it, someone else did. Someone else could jsut as easily have said, I wouldn’t have bought Quickbooks.
You also said, “there are multiple compatibility issues with 64 bit systems that you don’t see on 32 bit systems” well, please read what I said above. I have resolved all compatibility issues AND it is very important to migrate to 64 bit because Vista - and probably all future software and OS’s - requires much more memory to run quickly.
Charlie | Dec 1, 2008 | Reply
Thank you for your comment, Gary. There are several ways that I can respond.
On one hand, it doesn’t matter WHO is to blame, Microsoft or others. My point is that there are many problems with trying to run a business with 64 bit Vista. As a business owner I just want my system to work the way it should, I don’t care if it is Microsoft’s problem or someone elses, I need it to work. I have run into numerous problems with 64 bit Vista systems. QuickBooks is one, but I also have several Microsoft products that don’t run as well on 64 bit as they do on 32 bit. However, the issue is not blame - a business needs to run the software it wants to run, and if you have 64 bit Vista you are more likely to have problems these days. Doesn’t matter which party is to blame, if it don’t work it don’t work and you have a problem. So my general response is to recommend, at this time, that people avoid 64 bit Vista.
If you know that all of your required products run on the 64 bit system and that your hardware fully supports it, then by all means it makes sense to use it. But if you aren’t sure, then be careful.
I generally use 32 bit Vista in my systems and I rarely run into issues where I find that a 64 bit system would perform better for me. But, then, most of the software I run is not designed specifically for 64 bit systems. It usually runs under 64 bit Vista in a 32 bit compatibility mode.
I should note that the software that my company writes does work successfully in 64 bit Vista - I do understand that it is the software developer’s responsibility to make this happen. But until the time comes that everyone does this, you need to be cautious!
I’ll note that the first 64 bit system I purchased (from HP) came with 32 bit Vista installed, HP didn’t have all the drivers ready at that time to work on their own 64 bit system. So let’s throw in the hardware manufacturers in the mix too. They need to have their act together.
The articles in this blog, and in my comments, are my opinion on things. People are free to disagree, and if I make an error I’m happy to hear about it and will do my best to correct it. I value your comment and respect your opinion - it just doesn’t happen to fit what I see in my office.
And I cannot fully understand why Intuit hasn’t fixed this issue in their newest release, when it has been around awhile!
Lisa Moskala | Dec 3, 2008 | Reply
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am so glad I found your blog. It works beautifully. I truly do appreciate people like you that offer solutions with layman’s terms.
Faye | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
In response to Lynn about installing Quickbooks 2004 on Vista. I did and I got everything working except the help. If you install it on Vista, you probably will not have help. The older Quickbook versions use Internet Explorer 6 for the help. It cannot use Internet Explorer 7 for help. I ended up loading XP pro on my Vista machine. It took a while to get the drivers right but was well worth the time spent. Vista was crashing 8-10 times a day before Quickbooks was installed. I couldn’t deal with an unstable system equivalent to Windows ME. As one person noted if it doesn’t work-we have a problem. It doesn’t matter who is to blame!
John | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
Hello, I’m having problems extracting the Amyuni converter in method 2. After I extract the file onto my computer and run the ‘install’ icon, it says: ‘Printer setup failed. The system cannot find the printer file specified. Error code 1797. The printer driver is unknown.’ I’ve re-downloaded several times and still same problem. Has the link changed? Much thanks in advance!
Charlie | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
John, did you try the first method? Did it work, or not work?
John | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
Hi Charlie, wow, thanks for the quick reply! Yes, I did try the first method. So long story short, I followed your intructions last week and everything worked beautifully. Log on today, and Quickbooks2009 froze up when I was trying to email an invoice. So, I reset everything so I can go back to follow your instructions again, but this time when I get to extracting the Amyuni 2.5 converter, there is only an ‘install’ icon (no ’setup.exe’). After installing, I get the message above about ‘Printer install failed..’ Not sure why it’s not finding the driver, or if the correct link has changed?
John | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
Charlie, update: I closed Quickbooks and re-opened the application. Then tried Method 1 again… and *presto* now it’s working. This Vista 64-bit thing sure is temperamental. But one thing is for sure, YOU were a tremendous help! I was about to pull my hair out last week before I found your blog.. MUCH THANKS and happy holidays!!
Charlie | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply
John, glad it worked! Vista (32 or 64 bit) can be very frustrating at times.
The zip file should still be valid, I just downloaded it and it is the same as before.
My instructions for method two mistakenly said “setup.exe” when it should have said “install.exe”. I have corrected that.
I believe, although I’m not certain, that the installation error you saw with method two has to do with re-installing with that driver - you can only do it the one time. Trying a second time fails with errors. I don’t have multiple Vista 64 systems set up to test (nor do I have it set up in my VMWare Virtual Workstation system) so I can’t test this repeatedly. Sorry about that!
Jane Clement | Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have searched the internet trying to look for solutions for my QB PDF Converter problem and have tried just about everything. This one worked like a charm. I can’t thank you enough.
Lisa | Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
You are AWSOME!! I recently had to purchase a new computer. Windows Vista 64-bit was the only choice and no more downgrades to XP. With the new computer, came the purchase QB Pro 2009, after being told that’s all that would work with the new OS. Frustrated by having the problem of QB not responding with doing bank reqs, I searched and found your instructions. This has fixed the problem. The address is in my Rolodex file and it will be shared it with everyone who needs it! Thanks so much. You’ve saved my sanity…
Charlie | Dec 5, 2008 | Reply
Thank you, Lisa, and thank you to all of the people who have commented.
I want to take this moment to suggest that you subscribe to this blog, either via RSS (if you understand that) or via email, by the links at the top. I won’t use your email address for anything other than sending you a notice of new QuickBooks articles. If you subscribe you will get notices about new articles that I post - I aim at one per week. Keep up to date on what is going on with QuickBooks!
And please feel free to click on any of the sponsor links - that is how I fund this site…
Debbie | Dec 8, 2008 | Reply
Thanks so much. It worked first try! So much more helpful than a 20 minute wait on the phone support line with Intuit.
Josh | Dec 30, 2008 | Reply
I just got off the phone with Quickbooks support. I had to go through several different people but finally got an answer that worked. Two items that you need to do for QB 2009 and Vista 64 bit.
1. Go to quickbooks.com/support In the search bar type in 1007856. This will tell you the same as the above article but with one extra step. You have to end a process. It details how for you.
2. Go to control panel. Switch to classic view. Click on folder options. Click on the view tab. Check Hidden files and folders - show hidden files and folders.
Go to start menu. Click on computer. Click on c:/ Click on program data. Click on Intuit. Click on Quickbooks 2009. Rename QBPRINT.QBP to QBPRINT.BAK It will ask you if you want to proceed, even though renamed files may not work. Click yes.
Hope this helps
Charlie | Dec 30, 2008 | Reply
Thank you, Josh. The QB support documents on this have been evolving over time. My original article contained the methods that worked for me. Intuit recently updated their document to add some steps that some people need - you added another step that others might need (many do not). I’ve updated my article to include the new information.
Thank you for pointing out the updated document from Intuit.
Mary E Sanchez | Dec 31, 2008 | Reply
How can i email from quickbooks pro 2009 on Vista 64
Charlie | Dec 31, 2008 | Reply
Mary, if you have your Vista PDF driver set up properly, Vista 64 form emailing works just the same as in the 32 bit version, I believe. I don’t have Outlook installed, so I can’t test that, but I was able to email using the Intuit email server just fine.
Becca | Dec 31, 2008 | Reply
I had to come back - the first procedure fixed the problem for me with Vista 64 and QB Pro 07 - but after hearing about the awesome deal on QB Pro 09 from your newsletter, we got upgraded, and the email/pdf form problem returned. I was able to get it resolved with the second set of steps, the first didn’t do it this time. So once again, I’m here to say THANK YOU!
Karen | Dec 31, 2008 | Reply
Thank you sooooo much for this solution. I have been working on this all day and finally found the right answer. You are a blessing!
Robert Hamilton | Jan 1, 2009 | Reply
Resetting the properties on my PDF Printer Driver completely fixed this problem on my Vixta x64 system. I am using Simple Start 2009, and am not able to reconcile without having to kill the program.
Thank you so much !!!!!
Leonard | Jan 1, 2009 | Reply
Thanks so much for this write-up. It fixed my QB2007 + Vista 64 problem. I am VERY appreciative. Happy New Year!
Margie | Jan 2, 2009 | Reply
Thank you soo much, about a month ago we upgraded to quickbooks Pro 09. Thanks to your website i didn’t have to call customer support BUT…… last week quickbooks had an update and i think it reset what I fixed. Is this going to happen every time quickbooks installs an update?
Charlie | Jan 2, 2009 | Reply
Margie - it looks like most (if not all) updates are going to reset this feature to some degree. I had to redo it after the R5 update just recently.
hotCombs Rep | Jan 3, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much. I did Method 1 and it works! Gosh, I am so thankful. You are truly a blessing
carol | Jan 3, 2009 | Reply
I used method 1 and it works great one time. The next time I print the reconciliation, it locks up again. I have to go redo the second part of Method 1 and also change the default printer away from the Quickbooks PDF converter. …Is there a way that I can fix so that I don’t have to go through the fix every time I do bank reconciliations?
Charlie | Jan 4, 2009 | Reply
Carol, I’ve not see this happen other than when applying an update to QuickBooks, so I don’t know what to say, without having my hands on your system to examine it.
vernon | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
I just upgraded to QB Pro 2009 and was able to get the PDF issues taken care of (thanks to your suggestions here). However, one thing that still doesn’t work (on my Vista 64-bit system)is the actual emailing of forms when I select the preference option for emailing through my email program. My default email program is Windows Mail, although I also have MS Office (including Outlook) on this computer. What appears to be happening is that QB is trying to send the message to Outlook and nothing happens because I don’t have any accounts set up in Outlook. The QB help system just says your default email program has to be “profile configured” as the default mail program. I can’t find any way to force QB to use Windows Mail instead of Outlook. I can use the alternate method of sending the forms through Quickbooks and that is how I know the PDF converter is working, but I would rather get the first method working properly.
robert | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
Hi, I have just upgraded to 2009 pro and have not been able to resolve my issues with above instructions. After going to control panel and following above instructions I never do see the new printer driver to even be able to mark it as the default. Even after uninstalling and re-installing 2009 the quickbooks pdf driver shows 1 document which is always shown as “deleting”. The only printers i can see on control panel are my printer, the microsoft xps document writer, and the faulty quickbooks pdf converter. I cannot print or email invoices. I have another computer with 32 bit XP pro and everything works fine but I want this to be the main computer for QB. What am I doing wrong, you seem to be helping alot of people on here. It seems that every new version of Quickbooks I get the problem list gets longer and longer. This may be my last after almost 10 years of using it.
robert | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
sorry, I AM running 64 bit Vista on the problem computer (although I believe quickbooks is the problem, 2009 came out AFTER 64 bit Vista).
Catherine | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
I had the problem with QB 2008 running Vista 64. My computer would freeze and keep getting PDF converter message. Was on for 2 hours with QB tech, upgrade to QB 2009 and still they could not solve the problem.
Went to live community for help, I followed the instruction laid out and now I am able to email to my customers with my computer freezing.
Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate this.
Happy New Year!!!
Charlie | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
Vernon: I believe that once it sees Outlook it will only work with Outlook and the QuickBooks email server. I only have that configuration right now so I can’t test otherwise.
Robert: You don’t want the PDF printers to be your default, you want your regular printer to be the default. Did you try Method 1 by itself? That works with the QB PDF driver - if you see it with the “deleting” note then you’ve possibly missed a step in the first method, as that is what you will see if the error hasn’t been corrected.
SteveL | Jan 5, 2009 | Reply
Charlie:
Thank you for the very clear explanation about how to fix this QuickBooks 64 bit Vista problem, especially with the screen captures. It worked perfectly.
vernon | Jan 6, 2009 | Reply
I called QB support for help on this and got the usual runaround (their wanting to charge me for support because they thought this was not a QB problem). I unloaded on them when they tried to tell me Windows Mail was not supported. I said “why then does your help menu say emailing forms is possible via QB Mail, MS Outlook, MS Outlook Express and Windows Mail?” At that point, they emailed me an instruction on how to set Windows Mail as the default mail program in Vista. However, I already knew my system was set up that way, so I made no changes in Windows Mail. Before calling QB support, I had changed the QB preference for sending forms from Outlook to QB Mail to make sure I could at least send a form via QB Mail. A strange thing happened at that point. I went back into QB to check the email preference (Edit, Preferences, Send Forms). It was still set to QB Mail. Although I had not changed anything in Windows Mail, now Windows Mail was showing up as an option instead of Outlook. Is that strange, or what. Anyway, I selected Windows Mail instead of QB Mail and tested it. Works fine now! Maybe this will help some of you out there. I don’t know how it happened, but if you are having this same problem, you might try changing the Send Forms preference to QB Mail, try sending a form to yourself, then check the preference setting again to see if it now recognizes your default mail program. If it does, change the setting from QB Mail to your default mail program and send another test message with a form attachment.
Robert | Jan 7, 2009 | Reply
Charlie, Thank you so much!! It took me ALOT of fooling around, but I finally got my PDF files working in QB 2009 Pro. I ended up using method 1 with the extra 2 steps of ending the splwow.exe process in the task manager. Then of course I downloaded update 5 and had to do it all again. You have been way more helpful than the quickbooks staff with this issue. Like I said before, my experience with this 2009 version will definately have me thinking Hard!! before any future version upgrades.
Charlie | Jan 7, 2009 | Reply
Robert: This isn’t a QB 2009 issue - the problem exists with QB 2007 and 2008 as well. The latest I heard is that the developer of the PDF driver is working with Microsoft to determine why this problem occurs in 64 bit systems. They claim it is a Microsoft problem. In any case, this is not a QB update issue, it is a Vista compatibility issue - and those are hard to work out sometimes.
Donna M | Jan 8, 2009 | Reply
Hi Charlie, I loaded QB Pro 2009 on Vista 64 updating from QBPro 2006 I had problems w/the PDF and followed the insturctions on QB’s site, like the ones you have listed but ended with the “End Process” I now do get my PDF but it locks up saying “going on Line” I then have to go to my Control panel printer and cancel the action of connecting. Once I do that my quickbooks sign on screen will come up and let me login to send the email PDF’s I then log in and the emails will send. (please remember that I cancelled them from the PDF Converter) I can not get them to send with out doing this step. When I used my XP QB 2006 it would convert them and put me right to my sign on screen. I also saved as a PDF and had to do the same (cancel the convert) and then attach to an email. Any additional help would be appreciated.
Carl P | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
I had (very) old QBooks 6.0 from 1996 or so, but when I bought a new 64-bit Vista Ultimate computer, I had to upgrade to QBooks Pro 2009. I had the same problems everyone else had - the program just freezes up after completing a bank rec - I could close the program and open it back up and see the bank rec was processed and completed (I usually don’t ever try to print bank recs), but it seemed like a poor way to do things.
I just did Method 1 and I’m good-to-go. Thanks so much!
Robert Johnson | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
We upgraded to a new computer with Vista 64 bit. We’ve always printed checks using Versacheck. The checks won’t print on the 64 bit machine, the printer window just shows an unspecified error. We’ve upgraded Quickbooks to 2009 Pro and Versacheck to 2008 Platinum.
Can anyone help?
Charlie | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
Donna M: Did you try renaming/deleting the QBPRINT.QBP file? Also, I assume this is when emailing - are you using the Intuit email server, or Outlook? You may have a separate issue from the PDF situation, it may be your email setup. Hard to say from here.
Robert: Have you tried talking to Versacheck about this? I don’t work with them, so I can’t say much about that issue.
Donna M | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
No I did not rename/delete the QBPRINT>QBP file. I use the QB server to send the invoice/emails not outlook. I guess I will try that (but a little scared on deleting files) I am one that is used to getting a Program and it working correctly out of the box vs this messed up situation with QBPro.PDF. Sure wish they would just have a patch to install to fix the program it would help us Novice people out. I guess I will make the plunge and hope I dont make a bigger mess than I already have. Charlie thanks so much for replying you are the best!
Charlie | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
Donna, if you rename the file (as recommended in the article) instead of deleting it, then if something isn’t right you can always restore it. Note that when you run QB after renaming it, QB will create a new copy when you try to print. It is very safe, but it always pays to be cautious. It most likely won’t make a difference, but it is possible. The printer routines are being used regardless of how you send things, as the program is “printing” the PDF attachment.
You may also want to think about the “second method” I outline, although it is a bit more technical.
And I can’t say if any of this will work, hard to figure these things out through postings like this, without my hands on the computer.
Gene Latray | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
I have just purchased a Vista 64-bit machine and am attempting to transfer my files from my Quickbooks Contractor 2007 on my old XP SP2 computer. The “stuff” seems to be there (although I can’t see it anywhere) but when I try to open anything the response is that I need to Set Associations in the control panel for my files. I have spent hours calling/asking/searching for help. Any advice?
Thanks in advance,
Gene Latray
Charlie | Jan 9, 2009 | Reply
Gene, that is a bit off topic here. However, did you “install” QuickBooks on Vista, or just try to copy the program file? And how did you move the company file over? I would recommend doing a backup (QuickBooks backup) on the XP system, then a restore of the QBB file on the Vista system - it will ask you where to save it, then you would know where it is. You shouldn’t have to worry about File Associations then. Note that if you restore the backup this way there might be another step to take to restore everything (logo on templates, loan manager files, stuff like that) as I describe in http://qbblog.ccrsoftware.info/2008/09/restoring-quickbooks-backups/
MelissaD | Jan 10, 2009 | Reply
Charlie
Thank you so much. I have been working with QB for years and have never been so disapointed with the frustration of this reconcilation problem. Your solution was simple to understand, and it works!!!!!! Hopefully I won’t have anymore QB issues, but if I do I will look you up. Once again THANKS.
Gene Latray | Jan 11, 2009 | Reply
I did install Quickbooks on my Vista machine; backed up the XP and tried a “restore” on the Vista. I had to run it on the Vista machine using the “run in XP mode” option…totally forget what I did to do that now….should I just uninstall Quickbooks and start over? Thank you so much for your time, I really do appreciate it!
Gene
Ira | Jan 11, 2009 | Reply
Can’t thank you enough for posting this. I would have had to pay my IT dude $65 to fix this for me; and instead I followed your clear advice and fixed the problem in 5 minutes myself. Here’s what REALLY pisses me off: you’d think the geniuses at Intuit and Microsoft would have figured this problem out before publishing this version of Quickbooks, instead of wasting everyone’s time thinking that there is a problem with their own computer/printer/software!! I mean, these Inuit and Microsoft IT guys make A LOT of money and live in beautiful homes in northern CA, so you’d think they’d take their jobs a little more seriously before putting out a semi-defective product! Oh, wait a minute: I am also describing the mind-set of the Detroit automotive industry too, I guess. No wonder why this country is in deep doo-doo. Anyway, thanks again Charlie!
Gene | Jan 11, 2009 | Reply
I went ahead and removed Quickbooks, restarted, reinstalled, restarted, updated, restarted and restored my XP files, activated and voila, it’s beautiful! Everything is there and I’m rolling!
thanks for your time!
Gene
Gene | Jan 11, 2009 | Reply
Sorry about the multiple posts but I thought I would mention that quickbooks won’t run properly when I double click the icon. I have to right click and run as administrator….other than that it works great!
Cheers.
Charlie | Jan 11, 2009 | Reply
Ira, I should note that (1) I live in Northern CA myself, (2) Microsoft engineers live mostly in Washington State, and (3) fee free to send me the $65
Gene, if you have to run as the administrator, something is still not set up correctly in your system. However, (1) it is very hard to figure out that kind of thing through a blog like this, without being able to see your system, and (2) If you have it running, and you aren’t having other problems, then I’d stick with what you have going now!
Bob | Jan 12, 2009 | Reply
Charlie, have you found a way to get the QB on-line Time Tracker program to work with 64-bit Vista?
Charlie | Jan 12, 2009 | Reply
Bob: Sorry, I don’t work with Time Tracker, so I don’t have an answer for you.
yehuda | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
I cannot create local port named pdf1,i get a message “pdf1 is an invalid port name”.
I cannot email from quickbooks.
Charles | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
Thanks, method 1 worked for me. This has been the easiest fix, with the great step x step instructions, since I started my arduous journey in transferring to a new computer after the crash. Nothing but trouble with all my old 32 bit (inc. QB2009) on the new Vista 64. Thanks again.
Charlie | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
Yehuda, at what exact step do you get this error? Did you try another name? The specific name isn’t that important…
Pete | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so so so so much for your help!!! Worked like a charm!!
Steve Center | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
I also am having a problem emailing my invoices. I’m sorry I didn’t get to read all the post above. I’ve been just about everywhere in quickbooks ( I thought) to finish getting my answer. I did get quickbooks to work again after freezing up. I went through one of the processes mentioned above. That got me to where I actually thought I had emailed my invoice, but I got a message saying,” The message could not be sent. The authentication setting might not be correct for our outgoing email server. This is as far as I’ve got. I’ve went to help, and several other directions, but have not recieved the right answer yet. Could you help me, I’m getting tired and it’s getting late, and I need to email this invoice:) Thanks..
Steve Center | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
By the way I do have a 64 bit system…Steve
Charlie | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
Steve, that sounds like an email problem, not a PDF problem - separate issue. Unfortunately, that isn’t something that I could diagnose through a blog conversation like this. The best I can offer is paid support - contact me through the email address in my profile - but I can’t promise that I can fix that (and it would have to be during business hours, sorry). You can also try the Intuit Community forums, but that can take time (and you may still not get satisfaction). It is something where we would probably have to connect to your system to at least see what is going on…
Beverly G. | Jan 13, 2009 | Reply
You not only ROCK, you are the MAN! I thought I was going crazy(ier) and was ready to toss Vista (and my new computer)out the window! Thanks for the great and easy to follow info/instructions. I searched and searched on the Intuit site and luckily it drove me to you. Method 1 worked like a charm; easy to follow since I’m not technical. You are now in my FAVORTIES - hummmm . . . maybe my favorite - guru.
Thanks a bunch
bg
marcia silkroski | Jan 15, 2009 | Reply
uh oh. before i found your blog i deleted the QB PDF printer from my printer options. i want to run the first ‘fix’ you mention above but i can’t click on my printer. do you have any recommendations?? thanks!
Charlie | Jan 15, 2009 | Reply
Marcia: Do a repair or reinstall of QuickBooks and you should get that back…
marcia silkroski | Jan 15, 2009 | Reply
i don’t have a disc b/c QB installed it as an update to my previous versions. i think it was all done on line. i actually thought i’d get a disc but maybe i ordered the wrong thing b/c all that came in the mail was an instruction booklet.
when i tried to do the repair my only option in the program features was uninstall and i was a little nervous to do that without the physical disc in my hand. am i missing something?
Charlie | Jan 15, 2009 | Reply
It’s a bit difficult to give you specific advice to your situation through a blog like this - as I don’t know the specifics of your situation. Typically in recent US versions of QuickBooks if you select the “uninstall” option the program will open up an offer you a choice of repair or uninstall. Depending on what product you have, you can download QuickBooks installation programs from this web site: http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/knowledgebasearticle/1006369
But without looking at your system it is hard for me to give you recommendations for your particular system.
paul | Jan 17, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the instructions but neither method work for me on my 64 bit system.
The Amyuni drivers fail to install every time I try. I get “Error Code: 2 The system cannot find the file specified” and “Error Code: 1797 The printer driver is unknown.” (twice)
I’ve checked the printers control panel and the Amyuni driver is not installed. I’ve tried hitting F8 when I boot to allow unsigned drivers to be installed. Nothing works.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Paul
Charlie | Jan 19, 2009 | Reply
Paul: Vista 64 is very picky about a number of settings. Unfortunately, I can’t debug the problem in your system via a blog posting like this. As you see from the other comments, the procedures I outline here work for MOST people. In those cases that it doesn’t work, something else is interfering, and it is going to be something specific to your system. It is unusual for the first method to not work. The best I can say at this point is to be sure that you are using an admin login to Vista, and perhaps temporarily turn off any Internet Security or firewall products you have installed in case they are interfering.
Gator Tail | Jan 20, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much for the help. I have been fighting this for months. Thanks again. If you are ever in south Louisiana dinner is on me.
Kim | Jan 22, 2009 | Reply
Thank you for the FREE advice! I called Intuit and they wanted to charge me a service call. I’ve been using Quickbooks for years, so I knew it wasn’t anything I was doing wrong. You have an invaluable website and I appreciate your assitance. Method 1 worked for me and your step-by-step instructions were very easy to follow. Thanks again!!!
Cathy | Jan 22, 2009 | Reply
You are amazing! My husband was having the same problem after installing Quickbooks Pro 2009 on his new computer running Vista 64-bit. Your method1 worked like a charm and we NEVER would have figured this out on our own. Thank you for the step-by-step instructions.
Mike | Jan 22, 2009 | Reply
Thank you, Thank you!!!! The first solution worked perfectly, you’re a lifesaver!!!
Daniel | Jan 23, 2009 | Reply
Thank you, thank you, thank you. First step worked perfectly.
Jenny | Jan 26, 2009 | Reply
Amber - did you ever find a solution to this problem? My printer ports keep disappearing too. I have spent HOURS on the phone with tech support at Quickbooks, Toshiba, and Microsoft. I have QB Pro 2008 with Windows Vista 64 bit.
Tiffany | Jan 26, 2009 | Reply
I did all three of the solutions you posted. . . I was very optimistic to be finished with this reconciling problem, as it has been an entire year now! I tried to reconcile after restarting my computer following the download and install of new the driver and STILL I cannot reconcile appropriately. Any further suggestions? PLEASE HELP
Charlie | Jan 26, 2009 | Reply
Tiffany, without access to your system, there isn’t much more that I can say at this point. Vista systems are very picky, there are a lot of places where problems can occur.
Tiffany | Jan 26, 2009 | Reply
thanks for your time. I really appreciate it
Heidi | Jan 27, 2009 | Reply
I can’t believe fix 1 worked!!!!! Praise the Lord! I have been suffering with this since July 08! The one tip I’d like to add is: Be sure to have Outlook already open when you try to email invoice. It still seemed to hang and time out when it tried to open outlook and send. Worked like a charm with outlook opened prior to trying to email invoice. Thank you sooooo much you are truly amazing!
Steve | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
Is there a 32 bit soltuion?
Steve
Charlie | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
Steve, the PDF driver that is installed works fine on Vista 32 bit systems, under normal circumstances. I don’t have to change anything to get it to work here. I’ve not heard of a problem with reconciling hanging things up. For Outlook integration, it usually has to do with how your “send forms” preferences are set. If you have problems with the PDF driver in 32 bit Vista then you have something else going on in your specific system. Reinstalling/repairing the installation often helps. Without knowing what exactly you are running into there isn’t more that I can say…
Sommer Hansen | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
Sir,you are a genius sent from God to save me a bundle. (I was about ready to call Intuit to fix this annoying problem.) My husband now calls me the Queen of Google for finding your site but I give you all the credit. The screen pictures are excellent and your directions are so clear. Thank you. Thank you.
Emma | Jan 28, 2009 | Reply
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I have been trying to work out this PDF converter thing for two days now. Your way cleared the problem right up :))))))))
trevor | Jan 29, 2009 | Reply
I am running quickbooks 2004 on a new computer that has vista installed, however i cannot save any of my invoices etc to a .pdf doucument. it is killing me please help
Charlie | Jan 29, 2009 | Reply
Trevor: You aren’t going to have a lot of success with QB 2004 on Vista - the 2007 version is the first one that is Vista compatible. Some people have been able to run older versions on Vista by running it in XP Compatibility mode - but even with that there will be things that won’t work. The PDF drivers in QB 2004 are not Vista compatible drivers.
Jessie | Jan 29, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU THANK YOU….just the first step worked for me.
James | Jan 29, 2009 | Reply
Your tip is awesome and worked great under Vista 64-bit. Here’s a new problem that I wonder if you’ve encountered: I upgraded Vista 64 to Windows 7 Beta 64-bit. Of course, I wouldn’t expect anyone to support beta operating systems, but now when i try to send an invoice it gives me “Activation Error Printer not activated, error code -20.” I have the printer configured as described in this article.
Charlie | Jan 29, 2009 | Reply
James, the last thing to get worked out in a new release of an operating system is the drivers. I’ve not tried loading any Windows 7 betas yet, but I’m guessing that these drivers just aren’t compatible. In fact, I would have considered placing a large bet that the Amyuni PDF drivers in the current version of QuickBooks wouldn’t be compatible with Windows 7 Beta.
Sorry I can’t be more encouraging - but you really shouldn’t be using the beta version for a production environment.
Rhonda | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much! Worked like a charm.
Sean | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
I have tried both methods 3 times and am not having success. The best I could get was an error message when I left the PDF print driver as the Default Printer.
Vista 64bit with QB Pro 2008. Everything else works fine, but I can’t send my invoices and estimates.
Sean | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
Also, using the 2nd method. Choosing configure port tells me there is nothing to configure.
Sean | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
I don’t know how, but it’s working now. So thank you.
Charlie | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
Well, Sean, that is one of the mysteries of Vista. I’m glad it is working for you now, which I could say why you had trouble.
Keep in mind that you may see the problem come back when you get the next update to QuickBooks…
Rosewood | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
I have had this problem with quickbooks for ages and tried this port name fix a long time ago. I still always get the error that I have specified an invalid port name.
Bonnie | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
I used method 1 and was able to finally! email out a paystub. However, when I went to open the paystub attached to my email, it required a password to open the pdf file. Any ideas on that?
Charlie | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
Bonnie, that is a new one to me! However, I don’t usually work with payroll, so I can’t say much about that. Can you try a test invoice to see if the same thing happens?
Bonnie | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
Argh! I just went back in to re-email the paystub and it’s giving me the same darn error.
Problem: Your forms were not sent because QuickBooks could not create the necessary PDF files.
Solution: You should be able to solve this problem by exiting and restarting QuickBooks, and then sending the forms again.”
Well, we all know that’s a bunch of malarkey.
I just tested an invoice and it went through with no problem. The pdf file was created and I was able to open it as an email attachment.
Charlie | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer for that one. Have you rebooted your computer sinsce you made the changes to the driver?
Bonnie | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
Yes, I rebooted. I was able to successfully send one emailed paystub (with the exception of not being able to open the file) and I can send invoices with no problem. I am no longer able to email paystubs.
I guess I’m one of those it doesn’t work for… I’ll figure out a workaround.
Thanks anyway.
Rosewood | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
FYI: When you create the port make sure you add a : after it, as in NUL:
Also, for QB2009 there is an install.exe in the qb program files folder that installs the PDF converter printer.
running install.exe worked for me finally.
Charlie | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
Rosewood - in my system I didn’t need the colon after the port name, and the PDF1 name worked well. I’ve not tried it with NUL:, but if it worked for you, that is great! As far as the install.exe in the program folder - are you talking about the program folder after you installed QuickBooks, or in a folder on the CD? That in itself shouldn’t make a difference that I can see, although I’ve not played with that. I would think that it would reinstall the flawed driver setup, although I’ve not tried this. I also note that the Intuit KB article doesn’t mention that (nor do most people need it). But, there are people who can’t get it to work with the standard instructions, so I’m glad that you have posted your comment here. NOTE to all others - I’ve not tested any of what Rosewood has mentioned here.
Dennis P | Feb 4, 2009 | Reply
I have a Vista Home Premium 64 bit HP computer that is running Quick Books 2009 Pro. The issue I have is that I am unable to run a reconcilation. Each time I attempt to run it the Quick Books program just quits. It stops and must be closed. The only method to do anything else is to restart the computer.
I have given up with Intuits support method. That is the worst thing to attempt. Can anyone point me to the correct method to resolve my issue?
Charlie | Feb 5, 2009 | Reply
Dennis - have you tried to repair the PDF driver as described in this article? That could help - as reconcilation requires the fix on your kind of system. It is not clear, though, if that is the entire solution to your problem. Fix the PDF driver first, then see if reconciliation works. If not, then create a “test” company from scratch, enter some transactions in a bank account, and try reconciling that. This will help determine if it is the company file itself (some damage of some sort) or the installation itself.
Dennis P | Feb 5, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
Your solution worked fine. I just had to do one more step. If you use a new HP computer it comes with a PDF print program installed. This program allows you to print anything to a PDF file. I had to uninstall this program and then I went to Microsoft’s site and installed the save to PDF adin for Microsoft Office 2007.
After all this the reconcile feature worked just fine. Thanks for the help and solution.
Dennis P.
Micki Cross | Feb 5, 2009 | Reply
First set of instructions worked for me. THANKS!!!
Clark Tyler | Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
I am have a problem with my QB Premier 2009. I have this installed on a vista 64 and XP 64. I am set up for 2 users and my loan manager has stopped working on both machines. This is still not resolved and I also have had an error on opening QB on the vista machine. QB help window error after I cancel the error message out it will then open QB.
Bill | Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
I am really new to QuickBooks and am using Simple Start 2009 Free Edition with Vista Home Premium.
Quickbooks sends my emailed estimates to Outlook, which is not my default email service. My email service is part of my browser (att.yahoo). How can I fix this? Thanks.
Charlie | Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
Bill: Your only options are Outlook or using the Intuit email server. There isn’t a way to use your browser based email system. You can either use the Intuit email server (and have a bcc copy sent to your email address for tracking purposes) or you can print the form to a PDF file (using a PDF driver of your own, not the Intuit one) and then sending it yourself as an attachment
Charlie | Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
Clark, I can’t help with that based on what you have provided. You need to find someone who can look at your system directly, either in person or via an Internet connection.
Dwight | Feb 6, 2009 | Reply
thanks - I had to download the Amyuni fix, too, but now I can send invoices and reconcile on the new Dell 64-bit Vista machine - thanks again!
Wendy | Feb 7, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU! I was about to go out of my mind with this new 2009 Quickbooks Pro!
You are a lifesaver!
Wendy
JAR571 | Feb 9, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the help. After 3 hours on the phone with HP and microsoft this fixed my problem in 10 minutes. Truly awesome!
Kay | Feb 10, 2009 | Reply
Many thanks! Method 1 worked. Setting up our new computer (64 bit Vista) was a real pain (two old printers were not supported). We had to upgrade to Quickbooks 2009 (from QB 2000), then our old Excel wasn’t compatible with new QB, so had to upgrade that. Finally I got everything going and I went to reconcille our three companies and QB locked up. Very disappointing. After much silent cussing, I found this wonderful website and solution. Again MANY THANKS!
Dana | Feb 10, 2009 | Reply
Paychecks/payroll stubs not printing on WIndows Vista 64 bit Quickbooks priemer 2007…What do I do. I had the PDF problem and fixed it with your above suggestions, what do I do a/b this new problem?
Charlie | Feb 10, 2009 | Reply
Dana, sorry, I don’t work with Payroll and I don’t have anything for you. If you have Payroll don’t you get Intuit support?
Dana | Feb 10, 2009 | Reply
I had the problem you mentioned above and it was fixed (New Port settings). I don’t believe this is a payroll problem… I was able to print checks/stubs on my XP version. I only encountered these problems when switching to a new computer with windows vista. I get a “Thunking spool”??? message and then NOTHING will print- I have to reboot computer to go back to original settings (PDF1-new port setting) I hate windows vista! I will tell you exactly what message is, let me try again and I will let you know.
Dana | Feb 10, 2009 | Reply
This is the window error message I get when printing paychecks/paystubs “Thunking Spooler APIS from 32 to 64 process has stopped working-a problem caused toe program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is available” After I get this message, when I try to print ANYTHING, invoices, etc, I am port error or told I need to reinstall printer driver. When I reboot computer, all will print. I guess printer “problem” is fixed when port settings are back in “order”. If you have a fix for this, please let me know. This is strictly a VISTA 64 bit -YUCK
- problem…
Gina | Feb 11, 2009 | Reply
Thank you - you are a genius!! It worked on the first time. Like everyone else when I purchased a new computer it had VISTA so I had to upgrade to QB 2009. I have had this problem for 2 1/2 months. It really put me behind on my jobs> Thank you again.
FRANK | Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU FOR FIXING MY INVOICE MAILING PROBLEM WITH MY NEW 64 BIT VISTA SYSTEM. MAYBE YOU CAN HELP ME AGAIN. I ORDER FROM DELL WITH NOTHING PRE-INSTALLED, MY BUDDY INSTALL EVERYTHING THAT I NEEDED, EXCEPT A REGISTRY CLEANER. EVERY ONE HE INSTALLED WOULD WIPE OUT THE CONTROL PANEL WHEN I USED THE CLEANER.DO YOU KNOW OF A REGISTRY CLEANER THAT WILL WORK???
FRANK | Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
ANOTHER THING THAT I CAN’T GET. I HAVE A HP PSC 1210 ALL IN ONE PRINTER SCANNER. I GOT THE PRINTER TO WORK FINE, BUT THE SCANNER WILL NOT WORK. ANY SUGGESTIONS?
Lancorp | Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
Just wanted to thank you for this very useful information. I was finally able to email invoices out of QB PRO 2008 and my Vista 64 system! Thanks again!
Charlie | Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
Sorry, Frank, I don’t have a recommendation for a registry cleaner. As for the HP device, you will find that HP has excellent tech support - look at their web site to see if they have a specific driver for 64 bit Vista (some devices don’t have 64 bit compatible drivers)
Sanjay | Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
I called Intuit technical support on this issue and they wanted to sell a support plan to fix this. I came across this article and was happy to make the recommended changes which resolved the reconciliation and the printing process. Thanks a bunch.
Adrian | Feb 12, 2009 | Reply
Thanks so much. I just got a new computer with Vista, and I’ve had more problems with QB in the last month than in the last six years. Seems to work great now.
kgibney | Feb 13, 2009 | Reply
GOD BLESS YOU……YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH THIS HELPED ME!
Seaboard | Feb 14, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. You saved me not only the headaches that this problem was causing, but also from lining the pockets more of Intuit who only want to charge me for tech support on their own problem after buying their software for over $400. Got the usual telemarketing comment from the Customer Support guy after I told him I was not paying $79 more dollars for support, he said “my boss is not around I could put you into support for %34.99 instead”. WHAT A JOKE OF A COMPANY.
Gary | Feb 15, 2009 | Reply
Charile,
I just had to add my thank yous to your ever growing list. Your information really saved me a lot of confusion. Thank goodness your site came up in a google search. You are a life saver!
Judy | Feb 16, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
I have the same issues with quick books and I have tried to do the fixes you have suggested. after the first one when I went back into quick books it still would not work and then I found that I could not do a back up copy of the company with out it not responding! I did not have this issue before and I really need to get it resolved!! Any suggestions? I have thought about trying to uninstall and reinstalling quick books what do you think? Please help I am at a loss!!!
Charlie | Feb 16, 2009 | Reply
Judy: It is difficult to debug these kinds of things through a blog like this. Do you have a 64 bit Vista system? If not, this article doesn’t apply to you.
If you cannot do backups (etc.) then you have a different problem than what is discussed here. There can be many reasons. A typical first step in resolving things would be to do a “repair” install of QuickBooks, through the programs section of your control panel. This assumes you have the 2007 or later US version - if you are on Vista and have something else, that may be the reason…
Derek | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
Charlie - my thanks in addition to the millions above who this has helped out. My Fiance’s laptop (XP) died and she was forced to replace with Vista. When she couldn’t send invoices she just about flipped. Thanks to your instructions I was able to get it working again … with a twist.
She is on QB2008, Vista64. Method 1 worked immediately with a couple differences. First I ended up having to re-enable (online) the PDF Converter as it kept going offline. Second, the changes were effective without rebooting. And here’s the rub - rebooting wipes out all the changes and they have to be reimplemented each time. Trying the other methods didn’t help (same issues with the port), and I seemed unable to get the 64bit driver going (it installed, but QB was still recreating the QBConverter printer and using it although I’d changed the printer designation within QB).
There are prior references to the ports disappearing but I didn’t know any resolution (a lot to read through here!). I am running the config changes as Administrator. I will go back and reset to LPT1 to see if that helps as per one of the other posts here. Thoughts?
Charlie | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
Derek: I’ve heard of some situations like yours, but haven’t heard of a reasonable explanation. Without having my hands on a computer exhibiting this, I don’t have a way of figuring out what is going on. My system doesn’t exhibit this behavior. However, I’m working with QB 2009, not 2008 at this time. Let us know if you find anything - and tell us what make/model of computer you are using. I believe that there are major issues with drivers from certain vendors, as I have seen multiple 64 bit Vista systems coming with a variety of drivers that are not 64 bit compatible.
Latee Brown | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
I was having serious difficulties trying to get the QuickBooks PDF Converter to install in Windows 7 Beta from QuickBooks Pro 2009, but I thank God for helping me get it working by using knowledge from this post and knowledge that I was blessed with from troubleshooting a totally different problem in the past with Windows 7.
The Answer is in a post on the Intuit Community page as:
How to Install the QuickBooks PDF Converter in Windows 7 (Beta) - http://community.intuit.com/post/detail/bZ9_M8tYSqllvkab8P4pmk
Nate Miller | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
I used your steps before and they worked great! Thank you so much for the help. I recently installed update R6 and now i am unable to create PDF’s again. Have you seen this? I am running vista 64bit with Quickbooks Enterprise 9.0. Can you help.
Thank You
Charlie | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
Nate: Each time you get an update, as it stands now, you will have to go back through the steps to re-establish the settings. The install program in QuickBooks will set things back to the way it expects them to be, which doesn’t work in Vista 64.
Charlie | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
Latee: Thank you for pointing out that link. HOWEVER, I would not recommend that anyone use Windows 7 Beta for any production use. It is just out there for people to test, no guarantees that it will work. Don’t use it for your business environment…
Derek | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
This is on an HP Pavilian dv6-1235dx laptop. I’ll keep looking for solutions.
ben | Feb 18, 2009 | Reply
Does this work for a vista 128 bit system as well?
Charlie | Feb 19, 2009 | Reply
Ben, 64 bit processors are as far as technology has progressed so far - we don’t have 128 bit processors out in the general public yet…
Birgit | Feb 19, 2009 | Reply
WOW - thank you so much for the fix #1 worked great.
I am unable to import transactions from my bank, AMEX, etc. My bank can see that the file downloaded but QB 2009 says “there are no new transactions today. please check back tomorrow.” Is this a 64-bit Vista issue too or something else?
Charlie | Feb 19, 2009 | Reply
Birgit, I doubt that it is a Vista 64 problem specifically. There are a lot of problems with the online banking feature in QB 2009. Take a look at my article about this - it has links to places where these problems are discussed. http://qbblog.ccrsoftware.info/2009/02/how-to-deal-with-quickbooks-2009-online-banking/
Dan | Feb 20, 2009 | Reply
We tried all of these, and thank you for putting them up, but we still couldn’t get an estimate to email. Finally tried running under the compatibility of xp (service Pack 2) mode, and it emailed right away.
Might be worth noting.
Thanks!
Andrei | Feb 20, 2009 | Reply
Problem fixed!
Marc Altier | Feb 20, 2009 | Reply
Just wanted to say THANKS!!!! I could not save as pdf and could send an estimate useing quickbooks e-mail. Called Quickbooks and they said there was a tech fee for the fix. I explained that the software was purchased 1 month ago and there product should work with vista 64 or they should supply a patch, they said no. Next purchase will be peachtree
Thanks Again
Marc
Captain Kirk | Feb 23, 2009 | Reply
Thank you for your excellent and clearly illustrated solution to a 64bit Quickbooks dilemna that has been plaguing me for several days.
I am a certified tech and pride myself on being able to troubleshoot just about anything. This issue would have driven me insane without your well defined solutions.
Kudos to you my friend.
NORMA | Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
THANKS FOR YOU HARD WORK, I SURE HOPE IT WORKS FOR ME !!!
NORMA
Joe | Feb 24, 2009 | Reply
I have the same problem. Brand new computer with 64bit Vista running QB Pro 2009. I can not create a backup file…says ‘(Not Responding). I do not have a “Repair” option for Quickbooks from the Programs in Windows.
Do you have anymore info. on this particular issue? I called Intuit, and they wanted me to pay $79 for a support plan.
I have had a lot of problems with this operating system………
Any help would be appreciated!!
Charlie | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
Joe, I don’t have an answer for that. Are you backing up to a CD or USB drive? If so, try backing up to the desktop.
Joe | Feb 25, 2009 | Reply
This worked, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. On Vista x64 the first time following your directions!!! Intuit needs to take some lessons from you!!!
jules | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
hi,
the instal worked and great instructions, thank you. However the amyuni isn’t activated and requires an activation code why is that as no one else seems to have had that problem?
Charlie | Feb 26, 2009 | Reply
Jules: Which method did you try?
Tyler R. | Feb 27, 2009 | Reply
I work as a sales agent with Quickbooks software and I had client having the same issue. I am a Pro-Advisor as well, I know how to use the program very efficiently, however when it doesn’t work like it’s supposed to I have to look for help from people such as yourself. After finding your link to this page in http://www.quickbooksgroup.com I refered our client to your link. They gave me great thanks for the fix to their issue, am passing the credit to where the credit is due!!!
jules | Feb 28, 2009 | Reply
hi,
I tried them all. I have now even downloaded the 30 day trial with the water mark from amyuni but this won’t work either. However I have got a slightly different issue with that version in so much as the error is that it can’t connect to my email program.
I have QB 2005 pro (UK)
Vista is home premium, 32bit service pack 1
currently Amyuni 300
I have tried running QB in 98 or xp modes. I can save invoices as PDFs but I can’t email direct from the invoice
Charlie | Mar 2, 2009 | Reply
Jules, you are most likely going to be out of luck. The information in this article doesn’t apply to you - it works for Vista compatible versions of QuickBooks on 64 bit Vista systems. You are running a version of QuickBooks that isn’t Vista compatible, and you are on a 32 bit system. So none of the steps here apply to you. Your older version of QuickBooks isn’t Vista compatible and you most likely won’t be able to get it to work the way you want. Also: I’m not familiar with the UK 2005 version, but with the US 2005 version sent email through a service provided by Intuit. That service is no longer available for older versions of QuickBooks - they retire support for their products after three years.
Ellen | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much!!! You have solved a problem that was going to be the death of me! I am incredibly grateful for your insites shared!
Leigh Ann | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
I have been having the same type problems with Quickbooks 2009 version. I followed your steps for correction and am still not able to print paystubs. I can print paychecks but when I try to print a paystub, I get the error message “Thunking Spooler APIS from 32 to 64 process has stopped working” I then get a message saying that quickbooks will notify me when a fix is available. Do you have any suggestions? Seems that this is related to the PDF coverter issue that everyone is having
Thanks,
Leigh Ann
Charlie | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Leigh Ann: The solution I outline here is specific for the internal PDF driver. If you are trying to print paystubs it is unlikely that you are using the internal PDF driver so you won’t fix that problem by following these steps. Unrelated issues.
If you are trying to USE the QuickBooks PDF driver as a printer, by specifically selecting it when you print - DON’T. It isn’t intended for that kind of use.
If you are printing to a regular printer of some sort, then you most likely have a printer driver that isn’t compatible with Vista 64 bit. You must have drivers compatible to the operating system. See a QuickBooks article on this at http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/Support/Pages/KnowledgeBaseArticle/1010913
Craig | Mar 4, 2009 | Reply
WINDOWS 7 64X BETA BUILD 7000 Good news.
After a bit of trial and error, I was successful in getting this the pdf converter to work. Everything you mentioned in Method 1 is necessary. The key for me was the “NUL:” in step 7, but I found it sets up in a quite different way.
Craig | Mar 4, 2009 | Reply
WINDOWS 7 64X BETA BUILD 7000
Good news.
After a bit of trial and error, I was successful in getting this the pdf converter to work. Thanks for the post.
As a side note, Quickbooks 2007 runs great in Windows 7 (beta) so far. Fast and no problems at all.
Jerry | Mar 4, 2009 | Reply
Wanted to thank you publicly for the solution to the 64 bit pdf problem in addition to my email to you. Is there really a credible explanation as to why Intuit support is so lame in helping their client base?
Some years ago, I made the mistake of converting to Mac Quickbooks because I thought so highly of Macs and ended up junking everything because that version was so awful.
Thanks again.
Charlie | Mar 4, 2009 | Reply
Jerry, as I understand it, the problem partly lies with Amyuni (who makes the driver), and Microsoft. At least in part. I’m told that a fix is being worked on for this, but it is complicated because it requires efforts from people outside of Intuit.
Mark | Mar 5, 2009 | Reply
Charlie: a general thank you for the very useful information on this website. It is enlightening and inspiring.
I’m running QB Premier 2009 on Vista 64. These PDF fixes seem to work fine. My only frustration at this point is that a 0KB file with the same name as the new port (PDF1, or in my case QBPDF) is inserted into the Documents folder. Is there a way to eliminate or relocate this?
Thanks again,
Mark
Charlie | Mar 6, 2009 | Reply
Mark, I haven’t see that happen, so I don’t have an answer for you.
Candy | Mar 9, 2009 | Reply
Charlie:
I just got a new HP and was very frustrated with this QB problem. After typing my question into Live Community and coming up with your blog, I was so excited. Your steps were so easy to follow and it worked PERFECT. I just reconciled and printed a report without having to reboot my whole system. Thank you SO MUCH for your help to all of us out there!
Michael | Mar 11, 2009 | Reply
Mr Charlie,
Thank you for taking the time to illustrate the instructions for fixing the PDF 64 bit prob. Got this new 64 bit machine a few weeks ago and have been pulling my hair out trying to fix the PDF printer hanging up QB. Your well explained solution worked perfectly. Before rebooting…I made a point to bookmark this page so I could return….thus I suggest you add “Bookmark this Page” just before instructing readers to reboot.
Michael R.
Franklin, TN
jim | Mar 12, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much for posting this. It was a lifesaver when I found it shortly after purchasing a 64 Bit Vista computer and QB2009. I’ve returned to remember the steps after installing the latest update.
In case it’s helpful to someone, I want to mention a couple very small differences in my experience compared to what you have posted.
The first is that this time round (installing the printer a second time, after the QB update) when I tried to create the PDF1 port I got a message saying it already existed. On checking, I saw that that was true, the update hadn’t eliminated it, just deselected it in favor of QBpdf converter. I switched back and followed the remaining steps as needed (e.g. deselecting the “enable advanced printer options” was needed, but the Amyuni converter 300 was already selected).
The other interesting part of my experience was that I had QB open as I did it, frozen, unable to do a reconcile report. As soon as I finished the printer configuration the program went ahead and created the report. No need to reboot or even restart the program! Maybe I just got lucky.
Again, thanks for helping so many people, too bad Intuit doesn’t think that’s important.
Charlie | Mar 12, 2009 | Reply
Thank you, Jim. Actually, Intuit does think that it is important. They are working on a solution, but part of the problem has to do with some issues with the printer driver itself, which they purchase from another company. So the other company has to fix some things (and there is some argument about what is their problem and what is Microsoft’s problem), that has to be tested, then the fix has to be implemented in QB, and that has to be tested, so it is a drawn out process.
Charlie | Mar 13, 2009 | Reply
NOTE: I have updated this article on March 13 2009. Prior to this date, “method 2″ was different - it involved a download from a different site, that worked in a different manner. Any comments about Method 2 prior to this date might not apply to the current article.
“Method 2″ is updated to use a different driver supplied by Intuit - they posted this method earlier this month, THEN withdrew it because there were some things that didn’t work as well as they would like (I show how to correct the problems in the article). It is possible that Intuit will repost this fix, but at this time, who knows?
I have tried the new “method 2″ and it works fine on my system. It takes fewer steps than “method 1″.
Hope this makes sense! Let me know if the rewritten article is clear or not.
RP | Mar 15, 2009 | Reply
Thank you very much. Method# 1 worked. Thanks for taking time to contribute this solution. 1 down, few more 64bit vista problems to solve, Intuit should do a better job at supporting their products, something as simple as this should have been addressed by Intuit…
frustrated scott | Mar 15, 2009 | Reply
I have tried both methods and have had no luck. My estimates print and email perfectly, however the invoice will do neither. If I try to print one invoice, it shows me that is processing about 3000 pages!!!! then locks up. i tried to recustomize my invoice, but that also locks up. I am using vista 64 and am in desperate need of correcting this problem.
MJP | Mar 15, 2009 | Reply
C -
THANK YOU SO MUCH - your time and attention to detail fixed by 2007 premier accountant on vista 64-bit.
MOST APPRECIATED
u rock!
Charlie | Mar 15, 2009 | Reply
Scott, if you can email some and not others, you aren’t having a problem with the issue I discuss here. I can’t say what is going on with your system as I have not run into it myself, I’d have to see your computer to be able to diagnose anything. Try locating the QBPRINT.QBP file and erasing it, then running QuickBooks and try printing the invoice. See if that helps (most likely not, but a simple thing to try). Also, see if the problem happens in a newly created “test” company.
Carol | Mar 17, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH - your time and attention to detail fixed by 2007 Pro on vista 64-bit. I had to do each one of your Methods, but in the end, IT WORKED! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I can’t say it enough! And your directions were so easy to follow. Thank you, again.
Dan Flanagan | Mar 18, 2009 | Reply
It worked for me on the first time. Thanks a gazillion for this tip!
Kee | Mar 19, 2009 | Reply
You guys ROCK! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Michael in LA | Mar 19, 2009 | Reply
Glad to the Quickbooks world has helpful people just like the uses of ACT!
thanks much!
Chris Hudson | Mar 20, 2009 | Reply
I have a new laptop with 64-bit Vista and run a 2006 QB Pro.
Is there any solution for printer not activated error code 41 or 20. I downloaded a new PDF driver with no success.
Do I need to bite the bullet and buy QB 2009?
Charlie | Mar 20, 2009 | Reply
Chris, I personally never recommend trying a non-Vista compatible program on any flavor of Vista. There are people who have found success (at least in the 32 bit versions), but there always is a compromise. Besides, the 2006 version will “sunset” later this year, most likely, and so you will be losing support for things like the email service, etc.
Diana Scimone | Mar 21, 2009 | Reply
Charlie, thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post this. Method 1 worked for me (w/o the secondary steps). Fantastic!
chip | Mar 22, 2009 | Reply
Oh boy. Got prompted to update QB and after doing so couldn’t save to pdf. Uninstalled and reinstalled amyuni converter but now I’m stuck with the error message “Could not point to printer,” even though I have the above selected and it says ready. This has taken up my entire Sunday. Anyone with an idea how to end this very frustrating day?
Bob N | Mar 22, 2009 | Reply
Thanks, it worked for me!
I had to get a new computer that had Vista installed. The Intuit QB PDF converter did not work, neither did their knowledgebase fix(I may have done it wrong). Your method1 did not work. I think the problem was I could not select the 3.0.3 driver from my drop down list even though I have the latest version of QB2007,R11. So, I followed method 2 including downloading the new driver and it WORKS!!!!!
Thanks again.
Nancy | Mar 22, 2009 | Reply
Hello- Installed QB 2007 on VISTA 64-bit HP computer and transferred QB data. I have the reconciliation problem (freezing up) as stated here but have also encountered some minor glitches with some settings changing to a default, company logo not transferring, and within payroll payment window the type of payment setting (hourly, salary, bonus, etc.) had changed.
Do you suggest I follow Method 1 above first to see if that takes care of everything or do I need to address other issues first?
Thank you!
Charlie | Mar 22, 2009 | Reply
Nancy: The PDF driver issue is separate from the other issues you list, no connection. Go ahead and resolve the PDF problem at any time.
The logo issue - assuming you made a backup on your prior system and restored it, the logo (in forms) isn’t restored to the proper place. You need to move it - see this article for information about restoring backups: http://qbblog.ccrsoftware.info/2008/09/restoring-quickbooks-backups/
I can’t say anything about the Payroll issue, I don’t work with payroll.
Nancy | Mar 23, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
Thank you very much! I have followed Method 1 and it was successful. Steps were precise and user-friendly. I’m anxious to reconcile the next statement.
Thank you for the link regarding my QB logo issue…I’ll work on that.
Again….thank you!
Nancy
Nancy | Mar 23, 2009 | Reply
Charlie…I’m back. Since the freezing at reconciling over the weekend my printer settings for other reports within Microsoft Word and Database are messed up. I am hoping it is a one-shot issue but I don’t know how to fix the settings. Any suggestions….many thanks.
Nancy
Charlie | Mar 23, 2009 | Reply
Nancy: I’m sorry, this isn’t clear. Are you saying that you cannot print from other programs, like Microsoft Word? Do you have a printer driver installed for your printer, and are you selecting that printer when you print? Double check, also, that the proper printer is set as your default printer.
Michael W | Mar 24, 2009 | Reply
i can suggest a reason why you are experienceing the relockup. Quickbooks has probably downloaded an update that it keeps trying to load, and fails. every time you start quickbooks, it attempts to ‘finish’ loading this update, thus resetting the printer settings. This may or may not be the case, but if you examine your update logs, you’ll probably find you have an issue there. probably need to run a backup, which should do a data integrity check, and you will probably have errors which need corrected…most common cause for an update to fail is a corrupt data base. check your update logs…and run a backup and let it do the data integrity check, and repair it if necessary.
Charlie | Mar 24, 2009 | Reply
No, Michael, that isn’t the issue here. None of my systems are set to automatic updates. The update logs don’t show any issues. Essentially, in QB 2007 and 2008, and 2009 prior to R7, the program has the incorrect settings for the driver (and in most cases, the older version of the driver from Amyuni that isn’t 64 bit compatible). The updates are “repairing” the driver and setting it back to the way the program thinks it should be. It resets everything to the older driver. You can look in the Control Panel and see that things are reset to the wrong settings. So you have to reestablish the proper settings. The R7 update (which I did manually, since automatic updates are not available at this time) has been fixed to include the proper 64 bit compatible driver and to properly handle 64 bit systems. This is based on my experience with the program, information provided to me by Intuit technical staff, and information provided to me by Amyuni technical staff.
The problem that you are talking about is a real one but unrelated to this issue - and I believe that the update failure problem occurs in 32 bit systems, and XP as well. Totally unrelated.
Nancy | Mar 24, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
Thank you for the suggestions regarding my printer problem. I have rechecked my printer settings and made some changes and it is printing like it should now. I had thought it was connected to the freezing at reconciliation since it would never print. Guess all is well now.
Thank you.
Elizabeth McCullough | Mar 25, 2009 | Reply
GOD BLESS YOU.
Joe | Mar 25, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the post. I have 2007 but didn’t have the printer in my list so I tried version 2. It worked! I did the reboot and tried again. Thanks for the help!
linda | Mar 26, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YES, I know I’m yelling, but I am so thrilled to have this frustrating problem fixed. I am doing the happy dance.
Thank you so much. You are a genuine asset to the web community. Bless your heart.
Mike Ace | Mar 27, 2009 | Reply
You know whats really odd is that mine was working fine for well over a year on vista 64 until 1 day it just stopped. not sure whats up with that but downloading the updated driver seems to have fixed it. good job on this page
broxster | Mar 28, 2009 | Reply
Thanks very much - this fix worked for me!
Joe | Mar 30, 2009 | Reply
Last week I got it to start working. Now I have a new error with sending invoices. “QuickBooks PDF Converter Activation Error - 20. You cannot print directly to the QuickBooks PDF Converter. Try using Quickbooks Save as PDF menu Option.” I have tried above fixes but not having any luck. Any ideas?
Charlie | Mar 31, 2009 | Reply
Joe, the answer depends on what version of the program you are using. First, make sure that you have all the latest updates from QuickBooks. Then if you still have the problem look at these two KB articles from Intuit:
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/pages/knowledgebasearticle/1003340
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/Pages/KnowledgeBaseArticle/1008858
Rex | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
I would pay you if I could. Fantastic!
You are worth more than their whole technical support team. I was just on the phone to them for 2 hours on this issue and they did not give a single good solution.
Many Thanks!
P.S. QuickBooks owe you alot of money because I was going to change software.
Dee | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
Thansk so much - this fix worked for printing but still cannot email invoices - any suggestions? I get a server busy erro message…. i have the 2009 pro which i just upgraded from 2007 - thought that might help the problem - thansk so much for your efforts. I too am very frustrated witht he lack of support and knowledge on behalf of intuit support
Tracy B. | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
I was very excited to find a fix for this problem, but unfortunately after trying method 2, my Quick Books program will not open at all. It acts as if it is getting ready to and after several seconds it just fades a way and nothing. I think I will have to do a system restore. I did also try to implement the suggestions for method 1, but with Quick Books not opening, I will have to undo it all. Any suggestions? I use QB Premier 2008.
Charlie | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
Tracy, if you have a 64 bit system, the changes outlined here should not have any effect on whether QuickBooks starts or not. There isn’t a connection that I can see, and I’ve not heard of anyone running into that kind of problem with this update.
Rather than a system restore, try doing a repair of the QB installation, or uninstall and then reinstall, to see if that has any effect. Then you can try the other method. Also - did you reboot your computer after doing the installation steps?
Charlie | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
Dee: There are two methods of emailing from QB, using Outloook and using the Intuit Server. This is controlled by a preference setting under the “send forms” preference. If you have it set to Outlook, do you have Outlook installed? If you aren’t using Outlook for email, you want to look into using the Intuit Server.
Tracy B. | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the help! I think I just have one of those problematic Computers. I don’t know how or why, but after 3 tries of doing a system restore (all of which were considered to be unsuccessful, due to an unexplained error), QB is now opening and I was even able to reconcile. Maybe it was my prayers along with your step by step instructions. Can’t explain why QB wouldn’t open, but grateful it is now.
RP | Apr 3, 2009 | Reply
Brilliant. Perfect fix.
Kellie | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
Hopefully you can help…I have spent 4 hours on the phone with QB to try to fix my problem and no one can help me. We just purchased and installed QB Pro 2009 R7 (most updated version). We are running it on our brand new computer (32-bit version of Vista). When we email invoices, estimates or reports (basically anything we convert to PDF to send via e-mail) QB will create the PDF as an attachment to our standard e-mail, but the PDF only has the boxes where the words/information would go. The words are not there, but the template lines are. I went through to see if it was a font or font color issue and added our logo at the same time, and now our logo will appear on the PDF with the template lines, but still no words. I have done everything from uninstall/reinstall QB and Adobe (version 9.1) to deleting qbprint.qbp, etc. Hopefully you will have help.
Thank you,
Kellie
Charlie | Apr 7, 2009 | Reply
Kellie, I don’t have an answer for you, without being able to see your system. Sorry, but I’ve not seen the problem you describe. It is hard to figure out these things without having hands on your computer.
Tracy Pruitt | Apr 14, 2009 | Reply
I am still not able to email estimates from vista 64. I tried your steps but could not do the unzip one, can not find the file, please help
Lee Ann | Apr 14, 2009 | Reply
I am an office mgr who inherited a old computer with QB 2003 and the template the girls changed to print correctly on continous forms, my problem is it prints fine from 2003 but when I switch and went to QB 2009 Pro it doesn’t print right and when I back up it tells me ” 1 field could not be read. This may be becuase the template type used to store this template is different from the template type being used to read it”….. I just wnat to be able to print the invoices on the same forms I always use , help !
Charlie | Apr 14, 2009 | Reply
Lee Ann: This isn’t a Vista 64 issue. I don’t have a specific answer for you - but I’ve seen some people discuss this in the Intuit Community forums, so you might look there. The jump from 2003 to 2009 is a big one, some data doesn’t always transfer. The simplest solution may be that you need to recreate the template with the new program. I’d have to have a copy of your database to be able to help much further…
Charlie | Apr 14, 2009 | Reply
Tracy, I’m not sure what you mean by “can not find the file”. Could you download it? Or can you not download it? Some people are having problems with the download because of security settings in their Internet Explorer browser…
sheli | Apr 15, 2009 | Reply
I don’t know much about computers but heard when shopping for new computer bad things w/vista.I told Dell I wanted xp not vista they lied said all was fix, well for the last 5 months I have lived in a nightmare not being able to email export anything to my clients. Very embarrassing. I thank you so much. You have no idea the hours and endless times I would get kicked off. Thank you again.
sheli
Anthony Hortin | Apr 16, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much!! I recently upgraded my PC and installed Vista x64 and was quite annoyed (to be polite) when I found that my Quickbooks no longer worked properly. Stupid me, I actually contacted Intuit to see if they had a solution but was told that 64bit OS’s weren’t supported. I was also told that they wont be supported in the next version either. I knew the problem I was having was to do with the Amyuni PDF creator driver not supporting Vista and 64bit OS’s but wasn’t about to find an updated driver anywhere and Intuit wouldn’t supply one. Thanks so much for your detailed post and the link to the updated driver. I’m so glad I found it. I used Method 2 and it worked a treat. Thanks, thanks & thanks!
Charlie | Apr 16, 2009 | Reply
Anthony: Please note that the fixed driver is supplied by Intuit, and that the R7 release of QB 2009 should resolve the problem. So Intuit has been working on this.
Anthony Hortin | Apr 16, 2009 | Reply
Charlie, I didn’t mention it in my first post, but I’m using the Australian version of “Quickbooks Accounting 2008-09″ and even the latest release doesn’t support Vista.
Also, something a bit strange… When I used your solution last night, the change worked fine (even after rebooting). Funny thing is though, after booting up the PC this morning and using quickbooks again it’s now decided not to work again. Hmmmm… I may have to look into it a bit further. Thanks.
Charlie | Apr 23, 2009 | Reply
Anthony, I have no experience with the Australian version of QuickBooks, which is very different from the US version. If they don’t support Vista, then the information in this article is unlikely to help you very much.
Lee Ann | Apr 23, 2009 | Reply
Thnaks I will try it !
Steve Willsey | Apr 24, 2009 | Reply
Thanks a TON for doing the homework on this issue. You were a big help! May you be blessed as you have blessed others!
George Bury | Apr 27, 2009 | Reply
Finally, thanks a million for the assistance. Now I can get back business!!!! Thanks again and God Bless!
Garry B | May 1, 2009 | Reply
This also worked for Quickbooks Premier Multicurrency Edition (2007).
Thanks muchly.
-garry
William | May 1, 2009 | Reply
Used your method #2 for my QB 2008 reconciliation problem. Thank you so much. Worked like a charm
Tom | May 1, 2009 | Reply
I can’t thank you enough. I tried using the help within quickbooks and spent several fruitless hours. Thanks for the clear instructions!
Me | May 1, 2009 | Reply
Thank you sooo much for having this article. I have spent so many hours and about $100 bucks on the helpline to try and fix the printing and none of it worked. Thank you thankyou thank you thank you !!!!!!
Val | May 4, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the tips! Method 2 worked for me, I have QB Pro 2008 and I an using Windows Vista
Tom | May 5, 2009 | Reply
Well as I said 4 days ago, using both methods together seems to work but if the computer restarts, I have to go through the process all over again, each time. Any ideas?
Charlie | May 5, 2009 | Reply
Tom, I’ve seen a few reports of that, but I’ve never seen an answer. Without my hands on the computer it is hard for me to say what is going on - my system doesn’t exhibit that problem. Sorry…
Lisa | May 6, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so, so much for posting this article. Your instructions were easy to follow and worked like a charm. I’m back in business!
steve mangiagli | May 6, 2009 | Reply
Very frustrated with this problem, not being able to email invoices. I went through all your suggestions and ended up having to do all!!!! your recomended fixes. In the end all is good it works. Thank You Steve Mangiagli
Trish | May 8, 2009 | Reply
I have tried both of these steps along with some others at least a dozen times and I keep getting the same messages. It alternates between, can’t send because company data is in use or it says going online and then it just stops. I have asked everyone I know and I think I am going to lose my mind if I can’t find a solution. How DARE Quickbooks do this to people!!!!!!!!! Don’t get me wrong I appreciate your website and for a moment I thought it had worked, but to no avail. If you have any other suggestions, I will do anything it takes. Thank you very much!
Trish | May 8, 2009 | Reply
Oh, by the way I have 2 Vista computers and I’m using 2008 Quickbooks Pro. Thanks again.
Charlie | May 8, 2009 | Reply
Trish, what you are running into has nothing to do with the issue that is discussed in this article.
I can’t say much about the issue you are running into without knowing more about how your email preferences are set up in QuickBooks, and what kind of program (etc.) you are using to manage email, and more.
Bill | May 8, 2009 | Reply
I am trying to turn off the automatic calculation of Cost of Goods. Do I have to delete all the inventory? I would like to keep the inventory but not do the auto calculation.
Charlie | May 8, 2009 | Reply
Bill, this really isn’t related to Vista 64 bit driver issues - a bit off topic. You would be better off asking that in an inventory cost discussion or the Intuit Community forum.
Are you talking about “cost of goods sold”, or the inventory asset balance?
COGS is adjusted when you sell the item, if you have items set up properly. Inventory Assets are adjusted when you do any value adjustment (receive with bill, invoice, inventory adjustment) as QB is trying to manage your inventory valuation.
The only thing you can do is to use a different item type (non-inventory part possibly), which means you can’t track quantity, or to have every transaction be done at a zero cost. Neither is very practical.
Tom | May 9, 2009 | Reply
Charlie,
Thanks at least for responding. I guess I’ll keep following your methods until I can’t stand it any more and upgrade to the 2009 version. Thanks again.
Trish | May 14, 2009 | Reply
Hi Charlie,
I am using Quickbooks to e-mail, not Outlook. It works for reports, but not invoices. I even went into the QB website and downloaded all the latest updates that someone told me would fix it and nothing. Stills gives me all the same errors, PDF Converter, system in use and not responding. Thanks again for any help you can give me!
Jerry | May 15, 2009 | Reply
Charlie: This is probably off the topic somewhat but : your fix worked great for us but I would like to know if the message created with the form to be emailed can not be created. Reason: began a fax to email service which charges per page and message page is really unnecessary.
Charlie | May 15, 2009 | Reply
Jerry, I’m not sure I quite follow what you are asking. You can get a PDF driver (rather than using the QB driver) and just print the form to a PDF file, that you can then send to your fax service?
Charlie | May 15, 2009 | Reply
Trish, without having my hands on your system, I don’t know what else I can offer to you. It sounds like you have some problems that go beyond what is discussed in this article.
Aaron | May 26, 2009 | Reply
Thank you very much. You’re a really good dude!! =D
steve | May 27, 2009 | Reply
I am running quickbooks 2008 on a vista 64 bit system and i am having trouble with email invoices. when i email an invoice quickbooks changes my default printer to the quickbooks PDF converter. I then have to manually change it back in the control panel to my correct printer. this happens everytime. Will this fix you posted correct this issue?
Charlie | May 27, 2009 | Reply
Steve: It might, but I can’t say for sure. I’ve not had that particular problem occur, so I can’t prove that it gets fixed. I’ve seen other people complain about that issue, but I don’t believe I’ve heard back from anyone about it being fixed or not.
There certainly is a problem with the software you have, and this fix will resolve some problems. I’d say “go for it”, and let us know what the results are.
Cliff | May 28, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I’m using QB 2007 running Vista 64 bit and went through all the options on Intuit’s site with no success. I googled and ran across your article and gave Method 1 (now listed as Method 2) of installing the newer updated pdf driver a go and it worked.
Thanks for posting this!!!!
Kris | May 29, 2009 | Reply
Thank you so much!! You just saved me many hours of headaches!
Alex | May 30, 2009 | Reply
Another method that may work for you in this scenario (Quickbooks EasyStart and 64-bit Vista)if you need to email your invoices or reports, instead of pressing on the E-mail icon, click on print, and then choose any other pdf writer.
I’ll bet most people also have scanning software installed and it worked for me to choose the ScanSoft PDF create printer, which produces a pdf file that you can both save and then send as an email attachment, and print in hardcopy as well if required.
I was determined to get either method 1 or 2 to work and spent over an hour trying to achieve this but life has to go on until Intuit resolves this issue.
Nikki | May 30, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU!! I have spent the majority of my Saturday trying to save an invoice as a PDF, with NO luck. I followed your directions for Method 2 and it worked. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Dave | May 31, 2009 | Reply
HOW Charlie..you are truly amazing. I was having the same problems with this 64bit vista version. You are a true God send in helping us all out. Thank you so very much….Do we know if there is any way to save invoices and reciepts as a PDF file with Quick Books simple start 2009? Thanks again Charlie
Charlie | May 31, 2009 | Reply
Glad I could help (feel free to click on some sponsor links, which is how we support our site).
I don’t work with Simple Start - but you can get a PDF driver that you can install into Windows that works like a regular printer. I use Adobe Acrobat myself - there are several free PDF printer drivers around (don’t know about 64 bit compatibility). Then you can print anything to a PDF file, and attach it to an email you create.
Dave | May 31, 2009 | Reply
Hey Charlie. You were so great in helping us out I was wondering if you might have an answer for this one. I got QB 2009 Simple Start on my new Vista 64bit machine. It didnt work right so I stumbled upon your forum here and you saved me with method #1. Quickbooks sent me the R7 upgrade and said it resolves problems with PDF..I installed it and everything seemed to work with e-mailing invoices and reciepts just like your method #1 did. I was under the impression, somehow we are able to save Reciepts and Invoices as PDF files. So far, I have not been able to figure out how..Do you have an answer? Thank you for your help Charlie. Dave
Dave | May 31, 2009 | Reply
PS: PS Charlie, sorry it was method #2 that worked for me, not method #1. I don’t know if that makes a difference or not.
Charlie | May 31, 2009 | Reply
Dave, in Simple Start, get a PDF printer driver and just print to that. I use Adobe Acrobat, but there are free ones (CutePDF?? - not sure, haven’t used it, don’t know if it is Vista X64 compatible). Pro, Premier and Enterprise have a feature that lets you print the forms to a PDF file, but I don’t see that in Simple Start.
Mary | Jun 2, 2009 | Reply
Thank you SO MUCH for this information!!! It was much more helpful, and better explained than anything on the Intuit site. You rule!
Trish | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
I am taking a 2 day Quickbooks class and the teacher doesn’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about. At least on your website you list the problem with a solution that should work. Do you have any other suggestions, I don’t know where to turn and I just started my own bookkeeping business. Doesn’t look very professional to say that I can’t e-mail invoices. Thanks,Trish
Charlie | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Trish, unfortunately it is difficult to figure out these kinds of things via a blog or forum like this. Without being able to see your computer it is hard to give you direction. If you can reconcile bank accounts, but not email, then the problem isn’t the PDF driver, it is something in your email setup. Without knowing details about that, there isn’t a lot that I can do at this point. Sorry!
Steve | Jun 17, 2009 | Reply
This was working well as descirbed - then an update reset everything. I have this all set up and now can print again, but I cannot connect for e-mail. The system locks up. Any suggestions on how to re-connect the e-mail?
Thanks,
Steve
Charlie | Jun 17, 2009 | Reply
Steve, if you reset it, it all should work. If you can reconcile accounts, but not email, then you are having a different problem. That is one way to check things - can you reconcile a bank account?
Also, if you upgrade to the 2009 product and have the most recent update, you shouldn’t be having any further problems.
bjmjpl | Jun 19, 2009 | Reply
man - you rocked and helped me AGAIN w the SAME PROBLEM!!!!!
really cool - thanks for all the effort!
Heidi | Jun 30, 2009 | Reply
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
I have been dead in the water for 3 months without the use of emailing invoices and have tried virtually everything possible to fix it…finally, a solution to my problem!
Frances | Jul 1, 2009 | Reply
I am relieved and thankful for all the info provided above. QuickBook 2008 was installed on my new computer w/64-bit Vista OS. Like many users, I had problems with bank reconciliation and printing. I used method 2 on June 30, 2009 with great success. I am so grateful to Charlie and everyone else who contributed and shared their experience.
Kelp | Jul 2, 2009 | Reply
I am running QB 2003 I transfered over to new vista computer I can only acces information when open as administator , I cannot print anything I tried both method 1 and 2 and nothing works please help!!!
Charlie | Jul 3, 2009 | Reply
Kelp: The information in this article won’t help you, because it only works for QB 2007 and later. You have QB 2003, which is not Vista compatible. For the most part, you are out of luck. You need to upgrade to a more current version of QuickBooks. Some people find that they can run older versions of QB on Vista if you use XP Compatibility mode, but there always are some problems with that.