Anyone familiar with Peachtree Accounting Software?

[DrB0b]

Hello all,
Hoping someone else out there is familiar with Peachtree 2010-2012 enough to walk me through a new install and moving over whatever old data to get it back up and running. Right now it isnt a time sensitive issue, but any help would be appreciated as our "financial server" has numerous problems. I put it in quotes because it is an XP box running RAID 0 and had no protection until I came here. You would think you would want your financial server locked down but it is running rampant with a wicked rootkit which cannot be fully deleted so I am going the backup and reinstall route. I already have an image of it incase things get hairy as well as a full backup of the Sage folder where the company info is.
Basically Im just wondering if I transfer that folder into the fresh install, will it pick back up like it was before? Or is there any other things that need to be brought over to the fresh install to get it to run fine? While waiting for a reply, I am setting up a dummy station in which Im going to install Peachtree, copy over what files I think it needs and see if it works normally. If I get done before any replies I will state what happened and if it works.

Thanks again guys/gals!

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[DTracy]

I haven't had any experience with Peachtree since back in the 80's so can't help you there. But, I do system/data transfers all the time with various programs with great success using the procedure you outlined in your post. Install the software on the new unit and get it to start up without error. Copy the data from the old unit to the new. Should work ok. Sometimes a little registry adjustment needs to be made but other than that, done.

Dave.

 

[DrB0b]

Copying and pasting of the data file in question seemed to work. We have 6 PCs that use that data folder ranging from Xp to Win7. The software installed and works fine on all but 2 computers, one XP and one 7. It will log in and allow you to manuver in the database but when you try to print and save an invoice, it throws a "Bad or missing form file. Please reinstall Peachtree Accounting." So Ive reinstalled on the machines with that error but no luck. It isnt a user account issue as the same user account on a different PC works fine. Other people can access exactly what the 2 broken PCs are trying to do so I dont believe it is a form issue. Ive tried replacing the form folder again with two different backups on the server and same issue.

Seems to me that the symbolic link between the Forms folder on the server and these 2 PCs is missing and I have no idea how to fix it. Peachtree was installed on these machines and pointing to another location via a mapped drive. Is there any spot where Windows records the mapped drive settings that could be interfering with my new mapped drive? Some temp folder somewhere?

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[FredWagner]

Take a look at the mapped drives on the machines where things are working. It may be that you have that drive mapped already, but with a different letter. It may help to provide duplicate mapping, but with a drive letter the Peachtree package expects. We had this issue with a specialized package written in Dataflex, running on Netware. It took a duplicate drive mapping, two letters to the same folder, to make it work.

Fred Wagner

 

[DrB0b]

Interesting, Peachtree looks for a drive mapped to K. Since the previous installs on the clients were used and just the drive mapping changing paths but still being the same drive letter, Ill give that a shot. Hope to the man upstairs something that easy could fix this as I have tried everything. Even reformatted a extra laptop that was having the same issue to see if it was an OS/mapping issue.

Ill get back after trying that over lunch.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[DrB0b]

Tried the multiple mappings to no luck. Next thought was to remove registry entries for all previous mapped drives that it caches. Found this article: [link]http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverGP/thread/b58400da-bfdd-42d4-b178-568e6fdd963e/[/url] and tried manually removing the entries, they stayed gone but didnt help the situation. Just seems to me it is holding on to the Previous K mapping and trying to find the forms folder. I did a factory restore to the Win 7 machine and after an install of Peachtree and a new mapping, it works fine. Hopefully someone who knows where the pesky reg entries are that Windows store so I dont have to do a BU and reinstall on the XP one.

Would a Windows Repair remove the mappings? If so that will work for the XP machine.....

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[DTracy]

Check your policy and compare between one working and one not. Also, if these are logging into a domain server, check the policy there, and if a script is being executed also.

Also, compare the overall permissions between one working and one not. Start at the root and work your way out.

Dave.

 

[DrB0b]

Not Domain related because 1 of the 2 not working wasnt part of the Domain. No script used to create the mapped drive. All are local Admins to their PC and the ones that are in the Domain are all the same group. I know it is a local setting that is off because the reinstall fixed the Win7. Feel close on this one just needing to track it down the rest of the way. Have tried CCleaner but it isnt picking up anything Windows related for obvious reasons.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[FredWagner]

the erroneous mapping might be tucked into an INI file - look for one or more Peachtree INI's on one of the good machines, and replicate them onto the problem unit...

Fred Wagner

 

[micker377]

Could there be a USB peripheral claiming the drive needed?

 

[NortonES2]

Try using the subst command to point the k:\ at a valid directory

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If it doesn't leak oil it must be empty!!

 

[DrB0b]

No USB drive on that drive letter. The only thing I have found between the two non-working ones was they had 2 or more already mapped drives at random letters(not K) and the rest that worked fine only had the "K" as the only mapped drive. Prolly more coincidence than causation but figured I would note it. A reinstall of the OS fixed the Win7 machine but last night I ended up doing a complete reinstall on a new HDD and it still errors the same way. So maybe it isnt a mapping issue after all. Only running MSE and MBAM as far as AV/AM and Windows Firewall.

@Notron - Ill give it a try and see if it makes a difference.

@Fred - Unfortunately I cannot find any INI file. I believe Pervasive is what deals with the Database and not Peachtree directly. Outside of reinstalling it and assigning it a different drive letter, I dont know how to change it on the fly like you could via .ini. Tried reinstalling via different drive letter but exact same error.

Im at a loss on this one. Assumed another reinstall would fix the 2nd ailing machine but it didnt. Getting Peachtree 2012 in a couple days so we will see if the issue persists after the upgrade. If so I will pick their techs brains and report back with the fix.

Thanks guys.


Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[DTracy]

Try this one last thing please. Disable the firewall and try the software. Then re-enable if you wish.

Thanks, Dave.

 

[DrB0b]

Excellent thought but I had tried it, also tried keeping it off while installing the program but it refuses to install without a firewall present. I will double check since I was doing this for about 18hrs and may have missed a step.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[FredWagner]

By any chance does the Peachtree software require client machines to have Station Numbers in config files for the package ? Any chance the problem machines have numbers that duplicate the numbers on other machines that work ? I've encountered this issue in other vintage packages...

Fred Wagner

 

[DrB0b]

I dont believe so, nor have I seen anything like that with this software package. It is extremely odd in the fact that it can use the mapped drive to access the company data files just fine, but when it tries to use a form it errors saying it is missing. The form folder on the server has the exact same permissions as the company folder and is located in the same parent folder. Ive tried disabling the firewall/AV/AM on the server and client and no change. This one is a PITA.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.

 

[FredWagner]

This keeps reminding me of the DataFlex based package that required a separate distinct drive letter for one function, pointing to a folder that it was already using with another drive letter.
Could file flags (Hidden, Read, Write, Sharable, Modify, Read and Execute, etc) on items in the form folder on the problem machine be different than the file flags on the working machines ? Could there be hidden files that didn't get copied into the folder ?

Fred Wagner

 

[DrB0b]

Double checking as we speak.

Learning - A never ending quest for knowledge usually attained by being thrown in a situation and told to fix it NOW.