I opened Quickbooks and it said there's an update. It started trying to download it automatically but then said it couldn't because I didn't have enough disk space, and that I needed 100 bytes for it to download. It's rubbish because I had at least 2 gigs free. Then Quickbooks started, and I tried finding the update from the menu, and it found it but said I couldn't download it because I wasn't on the network, when I was. Then I noticed that all the icons on my desktop had disappeared. I checked, and all my files in my Desktop (there were quite a few) had disappeared.
I opened a Finder window, and Desktop was gone from the left sidebar. I checked my user directory, and Desktop did not exist as a directory anymore. I logged out and logged back in. Logging back in recreated a Desktop directory for me, but it was empty. I restarted, my Desktop was still empty, but it said I had 2 additional gigs of disk space, which is about how much I had in my Desktop. During this entire time, there was nothing in Trash.
I was sure that it must have been an OS X error. Maybe I was too low on disk space and OS X crapped out. I restarted again. This time without starting any other applications, I tried starting Quickbooks again, with about 5.5 gig free, on a fresh restart.
I got the same error again, and my Desktop directory was again deleted.
This is beyond ridiculous. There is NO way that a piece of software like this SHOULD DELETE GIGS WORTH OF DATA OFF MY HARD DRIVE.
This issue should be forwarded to the engineers immediately and I also expect to be contacted with an explanation. There is no way I am going to pay money for the privilege of informing Intuit of their software erasing part of my hard drive.
QB Mac 2006 R4
Mac OS X.4.10
Launched QuickBooks this morning.
Told me it failed to download an update, that there was not enough room on hard drive, needed 100 bytes.
Then I went to the update in the menu and it said I wasn't connected to the Internet.
I then noticed my desktop icon was gone in the finder sidebar. I hit F11 and noticed all my desktop content was gone. I rebooted, desktop was still gone...
I went online looking for answers and ended up here...
1. Please update your sticky with info for QB 2007 users.
2. About your posting re using recovery software: The posts you quote were not from victims who had success with Data Rescue etc., they were just *suggesting* those. And subsequent reports are that data recovery software does not work. Also, recovery software is not easy to use for the inexperienced, and can take hours or even days to scan a disk.
If recovery software *can* get back some of the missing data, the people should be warned not to use the computer for anything else, as has been pointed out by others.
I am a Mac consultant. I've had people mess up their home directories before (usually by renaming or moving the default folders like Desktop and Documents), in which case a new empty folder of that name is created, and you can drag the files from there to the new folder. It would be very helpful to find out what exactly has happened to peoples' Desktop folders; it sounds like something more dire. I'd like to know because, while I found out about this (thanks to Macintouch.com) before I fired up my own QB2007, I am sending out warnings to all my clients who might be using QB, and dealing with the fallout from any who are affected.
Newbie here. I am getting ready to install Quickbooks Mac 2007 to run my business for next year. Is this "bug" affecting 2007 or not. Should I just wait for a fix. I am not a tech guy and new to this program. Any help and or advice much appreciated. I am still on tiger as well.
I would wait before doing anything with ANY Intuit product.
I have QB 2007. It asks me if I want to update. Then it says I don't have a connection.
Nothing seems to be deleted but it does create a new file called "desktop" with a number and a dot in the name.
Example "desktop123." All new files are Zero KB.
The new files are created in the HOME directory, not in the Desktop folder as being reported previously.
I am not seeing any file deletion but this is so strange an issue, I'm not running QB again without serious assurances from Intuit.
Thank you! I am holding off till this thing (if possible) blows over and a definitive fix acquired. Let's hope Intuit pulls their head out on this one.
I am an '07 on Leopard user and have had the experience you described except that the plain text folders appeared in my DESKTOP folder. They were titled desktop1., desktop12., and desktop123. (no doubt corresponding to the three times dumb*ss me tried to download the update). I have had no file deletions or other anomalies, and deleted these 'mystery' files. For me, the primary remaining question is even though I've deleted the files, is there any chance they will 'come back' or do anything else diabolical, or are they gone for good.
I just heard from Intuit (engineering)-- the problem has been identified and "fixed" at the server end, although it appears to be faulty code both there and within the application itself.
However, they have stopped the process from running and therefore fixed the issue in the short term. (I have not tested yet, but after discussion believe what I was told is the truth).
Colleen -- What happened to the desktop folder is that QB changes its Finder information to being a text edit document instead of a folder. This effectively deletes the contents of the folder. Note that if you use Time Machine or other backup program to recover backed-up (as opposed to erased) desktop files that you will need to go into the /users/<name> directory and delete the text icon named "Desktop" otherwise trying to restore files will fail as the restore program will have the impossible task of placing files within a document icon. Because the files have been deleted by this the only hope for quick recovery is a backup. Faling that the computer should not be iused at all until a data recovery program is installed and run. (Beyond most end-user capability unfortunately so one hopes Intuit licenses such a program, makes it available with step-by-step instructions and a free tech support call).
After backing up every file conceivable, I fired up QB2007 (MBP & Leopard), and did not get the update notice, and everything looks good (aside from the overdue invoices, of course).
I can't say for sure if Intuit has fixed this as they have claimed or that this is a result from running the Terminal command to disable updates (defaults write com.intuit.QuickBooks2007 QBCheckForUpdatesKey NO).
In any case, I'm going to tread lightly until I get a more official word as to what the cause of this was.
Let's just hope that the data can actually be restored. I tried DiskWarrior and I couldn't restore with that. I understand now that it is good practice that when files are lost (deleted) you shouldn't reboot or create/delete files because the lost files could be overwritten. Unfortunately, I learned this after the fact that I lost my desktop.
I am sure Intuit is in panic mode right now. Obviously, there are hundreds, if not thousands of angry folks right now.
Following up my discussions with intuit engineering, I have just completed testing on a separate system with a un-modified version of QuickBooks (2006). Indeed the issue is now fixed, in at least it is no longer triggered. Launching QBooks no longer deletes the Desktop folder; also, if you invoke "Check for Updates" from the menu bar it also runs properly and does no harm.
Unfortunately, probably too late for all users in the U.S.
Same here. Whatever the folks at QuickBooks did on their end has stopped the slaughter. I copied 4 GB of data to the desktop and then chose the menu option to check for updates. Instead of the goofy message about 100k of space, it simply said what I expected. That my copy of QuickBooks was up to date and the desktop remained just the way it was without anything being deleted.
To get proper use of your computer back after being hit with this bug, do the following:
Go to your User folder and REMOVE any file/folder named Desktop.
Reboot.
You should now see a new Desktop folder in your user folder, with the proper icon (looks like the desktop!). You will now be able to use the system normally.
I'm a little slow on the uptake here. There has been so much written, I can't read it all.
Am I to understand that this isn't problem isn't a problem with my software or a virus or Trojan horse situation? This is something that came from Intuit because when I launched my QuickBooks I was online at the time, yes?
No incriminations here, just getting a handle on what happened to me. I still hope that I don't have to rely on my backup to restore my desktop. I sincerely hope Intuit will supply a fix that makes us all confident in QuickBooks soon.
