Installing QuickBooks 2006 in a Networked Environment

Step 1.

Verify that you have the following:
You’ll need multiple QuickBooks licenses - Get the 5-pack of Pro or Premier, or get Enterprise which allows for up to 15 users. Note – QuickBooks Simple Start does not support multi-user access.
On the server computer, you WANT Windows 2003 server, but you cannot make it work unless you have at least Windows 2000 server. For the clients, you WANT Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 2 installed, but you cannot make it work unless you have at least Windows XP.

Step 2.

Make sure all windows updates have been applied. This is a general recommendation, but I always repeat it because so often clients have problems with down-rev operating systems.

Step 3.

Install QuickBooks on the server first. You don’t need an extra license for the server installation, so if you have 5 users, you CAN install a sixth copy on the server without buying another license. You’ll never be able to exceed 5 simultaneous users with Premier, but it won’t prevent you from installing the sixth copy.
Techie stuff (optional reading): The reason you install a copy on the server is so that QB installs the “service” that makes multi-user performance better. This service is called the “QuickBooksDB” service (filename QBDBMgr.exe) and it will automatically start when you boot the server. You can also start/stop/restart this service from the services applet on your server. If all this is too techie, don’t worry about it. QuickBooks hides the details quite well and everything should work without extra effort unless you have a non-standard setup. All you need to worry about is that you WANT to install QuickBooks on the server so you will have good performance when in multi-user mode.

Step 4.

Locate the QBW file(s) in a folder on the server, and share that folder with others on the network.
Techie stuff (optional reading): You probably want to set up an Active Directory Security Group (e.g., QB Access), and add each authorized user to that group. Then share the folder with that group, and give them read/write access to the folder.

Step 5.

Open QuickBooks on the server and open your data file (or a sample data file). Register the software by going through the online registration. If necessary, convert the data file into QB 2006 format, and then set the “share downloads” option by selecting Update QuickBooks from the Help menu, then click the Options tab, and then set the Shared Download option to Yes. Also, confirm that the Automatic Updates option is set to Yes. This will ensure that all updates are downloaded as they become available, and it will ensure that all clients will be notified as new updates are available.

Step 6.

Set the server to “host” multi-user access to the data file. Select the File menu, then select Utilities, and then select Host Multi-User Access. Click Yes to begin hosting multi-user access to the data file located on your server machine.
Techie stuff (optional reading): In order for QuickBooks to work in multi-user mode, there must be a “host” for the QuickBooks data file. You want the server to be the host, so you’re setting it up to “serve” data to other client machines on the network. This step is the critical step in getting the server to provide high-performance hosting of your data files. To verify you’ve set it up correctly, press F2 and check the bottom section of the Product Information screen. The “Local Server Information” will show your server’s computer name somewhere in the text string of the “Server Name” field (see Figure 1).

Step 7.

Close QuickBooks on the server. You should never need to launch it again, but you must leave it installed. The QuickBooksDB service will continue to run and will act as the “server” of your data to all clients on the network.

Step 8.

Install QuickBooks on all clients, then register each copy via the online registration, and then open the data file that is hosted on the server. On each client, select Update QuickBooks from the Help menu, and set the Shared Download option to Yes, and the Automatic Updates option to Yes.

Step 9.

Verify that you are NOT hosting multi-user access from any of the client computers. On each client, press F2 and verify that all of the fields are empty in the “Local Server Information” section (see Figure 2). This ensures that you are using the server as the host of the data file, and that none of the clients are acting as the host of the data file.