QuickBooks unable to access shared folder (works in Parallels)

[EliJG]

I am using the current version of VMware Fusion (1.1.1) on the current version of OS X (10.5.2) with a fully patched version of Windows XP Professional 2002/SP 2 and a fully patched, current version of QuickBooks Pro 2008.

This problem does not occur under an identical configuration in Parallels Desktop.

I have a QB company file located in a shared folder in OS X (so that it is backed up). When I try to open the company file, I get this error from QuickBooks:

"Warning

QuickBooks was unable to open the company file "S:\My Secure Documents\My Money\QuickBooks\xxx.QBW" on your computer. A possible reason for this may be that you don't have read/write permission for the files under the folder where the company file is saved. Obtain permission and then try opening the file.

If the problem persists, please contact Intuit Technical Support and provide them with the following error codes:(-6189,-82)"

If I copy the company file to the Windows desktop and open it from there, the problem does not occur.

This looks like a bug in VMware, but does anyone have thoughts to the contrary? Interestingly, the way I am forced to set this up in VMware also illustrates another quirk in Fusion: you cannot traverse a file system link the way you can in Parallels. In Fusion, the link looks like a worthless file. As a result, I have had to create a second "shared folder" for My Secure Documents and assign it to another drive letter since the links don't work correctly. In OS X and in Parallels, the links work transparently.

Thanks,

Gus

[WoodyZ]

Parallels and Fusion implement some things differently and in the case of Fusion and using VMware Shared Folders feature this most likely is the issue as this feature has had its issues and the best suggestion I can make if you want to keep the QuickBooks data files in OS X vs the Virtual Machine itself would be to not use the VMware Share Folders feature use the Standard Resource Sharing that is built into both OSes.

[EliJG]

I will give this a shot when I have some time to set it up. Is there any indicator that VMware is working to improve this feature? It seems like a pretty basic component to have it broken. And I have generally found VMware to be superior to Parallels in just about every other way. Is there hope for more transparency and reliability with Shared Folders?

Thanks,

Gus

[admin]

We know that Shared Folders could use many improvements, but VMware policy is to not comment on unannounced features, products, timelines, etc. so I can't say more.

[EliJG]

Okay. The reason I have not used regular network sharing in the past is that depending on which network I am connected to, I have to use NAT or Bridged networking and have a hard time getting a consistent connection between the host and the virtual machine. DNS/WINS names are not consistently recognized, and IP addresses change depending on the network as well.

The end result is that without Shared Folders I am forced to configure a few components of the network configuration just to get at the files sitting in the host machine file system.

Can you provide some details for a workaround (maybe setting up an additional network adapter, etc.) that will work between the host and the VM regardless of the network the host is attached to?

Thanks,

Gus

[WoodyZ]

Just add a second Network to the target Virtual Machine in the Settings sheet and set it to Host Only then it doesn't matter how the Host's Physical Network Adapters are configured as the Virtual Machine will also have the Host Only Network Adapter to communicate with.

[EliJG]

Okay. The reason I have not used regular network sharing in the past is that depending on which network I am connected to, I have to use NAT or Bridged networking and have a hard time getting a consistent connection between the host and the virtual machine. DNS/WINS names are not consistently recognized, and IP addresses change depending on the network as well.

The end result is that without Shared Folders I am forced to configure a few components of the network configuration just to get at the files sitting in the host machine file system.

Can you provide some details for a workaround (maybe setting up an additional network adapter, etc.) that will work between the host and the VM regardless of the network the host is attached to?

Thanks,

Gus

[WoodyZ]

I'm not sure why you're asking the exact same question(s) you asked yesterday again today as it was answered yesterday however if you missed it I'll repeat it...

Just add a second Network to the target Virtual Machine in the Settings sheet and set it to Host Only then it doesn't matter how the Host's Physical Network Adapters are configured as the Virtual Machine will also have the Host Only Network Adapter to communicate with.

In addition to what I said yesterday above...

Now if you do as suggested, adding a second Network to you're Virtual Machine and set it to Host Only it will work regardless of what the other Network is connected to or not connected or whether or not the Host has connectivity beyond itself.

Have a look at: VMware Fusion menu bar > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Managing Virtual Machines > Configuring the Network Connection

[EliJG]

Thanks for the reply, and sorry for the duplicate posting. Firefox crashed and looks like it reloaded the posting page.

I'll work with your suggestion and see how things go.

[EliJG]

The problem seems to be bigger and stranger than I thought.

I was pleased to see the ease with which Windows XP seems willing to pick the correct adapter (though I'll have to try again when on the road) for getting to the host, and using the network-based sharing seems to have fixed the problem of not following links correctly.

BUT now that I have setup a new share using the new adapter, and even turned off all the other shares for good measure, trying to open the QuickBooks file produces:

Warning

QuickBooks was unable to open the company file "foo" Try opening the file with QuickBooks on the host computer or run the QuickBooks Database Server Manager on host computer and then try opening the file on your computer.

If the problem persists, please contact Intuit Technical Support and provide them with the following error codes: (-6190,-82)

So I did some more digging and find the problem is much more sinister. The strange thing is that Parallels is able to get around it.

It seems that as long as the file is shared from an actual Windows machine, everything works fine. I can use it normally from either another actual Windows machine OR a VMware Windows machine. If it is shared from an Leopard OS X or Server machine, then the server seems to be resetting the permissions of the file to Read Only as soon as QuickBooks starts trying to open it. And it leaves it that way.

This permissions problem seems to be widely documented (a couple of examples):

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6293612&#6293612

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1324515&tstart=0

Though I have not seen any specific posts about VMware and QuickBooks.

The QuickBooks error message is DIFFERENT when you use Shared Folders than it is when you use regular Windows sharing. But neither one works. I have not yet had time to confirm whether doing this all through Shared Folders produces exactly the same permissions change. Generally speaking, the bug seems to be that certain types of access through SMB sharing in Leopard cause file permissions to change. Some claim it is only for files whose access is dictated exclusively by ACL's, but that seems not always to be the case (as it is not the case here: my user account has POSIX ownership and permissions of the file).

[smharrington]

I am experiencing a similar problem - the difference being that my QuickBooks file is shared on a Windows server that I am logged in to. Was there ever a resolution made for this problem? I had QuickBooks working fine for about four hours last week, but have had trouble ever since.

Please help.

Thanks!

[smharrington]

I was able to work around my problem by using a bridge connection (instead of NAT) and then releasing/renewing my IP address. I believe that restarting the virtual machine after changing the network setting to bridge would have done the trick as well.

Now I have it up and running smoothly (for now - keeping fingers crossed).