M1 w Windows 11 - can't launch Quickbooks migrator exe file

Hello. I just purchased a Mac Mini M1 machine and am attempting to get Quickbooks Pro Desktop 2020 to run on it during the available trial time. I first upgraded the Mac OS to Monterey, then installed the demo version of Parallels 17 which then installed an associated demo version (I assume) of Windows 11 ARM. The full installation was extremely easy to this point, and I now have Parallels 17 and Windows 11 ARM running on the new M1 machine - although I've only tried the Edge browser and Notepad because those are the only programs Windows comes with that I know what to do with.

The issue I'm having is getting Quickbooks 2020 installed so I can see if it will work. My office uses QB 2020 on our network, so until the company upgrades QB to a new version, it has to be QB 2020. I'm trying to use the Quickbooks Migrator tool because that process tells the Intuit server to download the most current version of the Quickbooks version you are migrating (2020 in my case). I've used this with no problems on Intel based Macs. However, with this ARM version of Win11 my attempts to launch Migrator aren't working. If I click the Migrator exe file, it brings up Notepad with the text of the exe file (which is simply a script telling the OS to open a batch file called "Quickbooks Migrator"). If I click the batch file directly, it says "Windows cannot find" the file. I've tried renaming the file in Windows and then tried launching the new file name using CMD, but no luck. I haven't been able to find a download for QB 2020 on the Quickbooks website since they are selling 2022 now, so at this point it seems I'm stuck with Migrator.

Any ideas?

Thank you

 

Download and install BD a fresh version of QuickBooks. Then create a Portable version of your old database and load that into the new installation.

 

Thanks Sam. Yes, I was able to find the download page for Quickbooks Pro 2020 online and I can now report that Quickbooks 2020 does work on Windows 11 ARM in Parallels 17 on a Mac M1 Mini (Monterey OS), at least in stand alone mode (using and existing QB file stored on the Win11 ARM virtual hard drive). I haven't tried many Quickbooks features yet, and I'll try to report back if I run into problems. The next step for me will be connecting to the company Quickbooks shared network file on our server from Win11 ARM...

 

I've not had any problems - should work.
Sometimes when I try to open a QB Portable there is an issue if I'm saving to a location that is being backed up to the cloud (e.g., a OneDrive folder or Google Drive folder). I recommend creating a folder for QB within the C: drive of the Virtual Machine. This eliminates most problems. If for some reason you can't open a QB Portable, try a second time. Sometimes it works the second time but not the first...

 

Hi Sam, do you know if the ACT! CRM software will run on Parallels/Windows 11 ARM? ACT doesn't have an ARM compatible version, only one that is certified for Windows 11 (Pro and Premium). They just sell the software that works on intel chips. But I'm wondering if once Parallels and Windows 11 ARM are installed, if you think it might accept an install of ACT.

 

I had an issue getting it running after it successfully installed, but all I had to do was uninstall Quickbooks, reboot and reinstall. I wouldn't recommend using your data file initially as I created a test company just to see if it would run or if my file was damaged. After doing that I installed all the updates and tried opening my file and now it works better than it did on my old 16" Macbook Pro