Read more at Otto On WordPress

We had a long power shut down today. The reboot on the QB server takes me to the Administrator Logon Screen, enter password. Needless to say, I had to pull out a monitor, keyboard etc. Was the system designed to completely reboot automatically and be accessible via the network share?

Your server will serve QuickBooks company files to client computers without being logged in to a desktop. However, power outages, especially long ones, can be troublesome. The computer should have shut down gracefully when the battery backup bled down to ten percent remaining battery. But I’ve seen some battery backups with some age on them, go from ten percent to zero in an instant, turning off the computer hard without it completing a shutdown sequence. Your server should never be run without a battery backup.

Occasionally, it becomes necessary to put a monitor, keyboard and mouse on a server that gets scrambled due to a power outage.

The default setup of the QuickBooks server requires manually turning on the server after a battery backup has discharged completely and shut down the server. The correct order for any Windows server is to turn on the server, then wait several minutes, then restart all clients that have a share connecting to the server.

To check and/or configure the startup functions in XP, go to Control Panel >> System >> Advanced Tab >> Startup and Recovery Block Settings Button.

Hopefully, you can avoid power outage problems with a solid battery backup dedicated to your QuickBooks Server. I use an APC Back-UPS XS BX1000G 1000VA Tower UPS and use only the single power cord from the server to the UPS. I tape over the remaining outlets to prevent anyone from plugging in another device to the UPS. I monitor both the server and the UPS so that I replace the UPS battery long before it fails.

My three step process starts with a default Windows 7 Home Networking setup and several new Windows 7 Home Premium or Pro computers with Microsoft Security Essentials or other Internet security software installed. I use the Windows 7 Home Networking wizard to create the primary Windows 7 Home Networking computer. Then, I attach each subsequent computer to the primary computer with a gigabit network switch and by configuring Windows 7 Home Networking using the wizard and Windows 7 Home Networking password.

Once I have several Windows 7 Home Networking computers setup and working with each other and printing to a network printer, I begin my second step. I install a default multi user QuickBooks setup on the primary Windows 7 Home Networking computer, paying close attention to the firewall questions that open up appropriate ports for QuickBooks to function correctly. I use the “I’ll be using QuickBooks on this computer, AND I’ll be storing our company file here so it can be shared over our network” option to install QuickBooks. I open QuickBooks to register, create users and host the company files. Then I copy or add a new company file to the default shared company files folder. I also take note of the QuickBooks default shared company files folder and name of the primary computer.

Finally, I install QuickBooks 2012 on each networked computer and map the shared company files folder using the name of the primary computer. If any computer has difficulty opening a shared company file, I use Intuit’s QuickBooks Connection Diagnostic Tool to locate and repair any network issues. I log on to QuickBooks and test several simultaneous users on different computers.

Intuit provides the QuickBooks Connection Diagnostic Tool at http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/networking/nettool.aspx

The QuickBooks Install Center at http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/InstallCenter/default.aspx can answer additional questions you might have about your Multi User QuickBooks installation.

No other QuickBooks hosting provider allows you to have a complete Windows server environment with off site, out of region QuickBooks company files backup or seven days of QuickBooks company files backups for review and transaction recovery.

You own and control both your Windows and QuickBooks licensing. You can easily scale up your business to meet new challenges.

Access QuickBooks and other desktop productivity software from consumer grade computers from any high speed Internet connection. If you need a complex QuickBooks Cloud environment, consider Painless QuickBooks Cloud Computing.

Please contact us for more information.

Painless QuickBooks Private Cloud Inquiry

Name:

E-Mail Address:

Telephone Number:

CAPTCHA Code: