Upgrading Microsoft Money 98 to Microsoft Money 2006 using a Trial version

When trying to upgrade a Microsoft Money 99 or earlier file in Money 2006, it might fail with the message - "The file you are attempting to open is read only or not a valid Money file".

This is usually caused by some security enhancements (see Article 227 for some further details).

The article referenced above provides some workarounds. In addition, it is possible to use a trial version. Microsoft re-released the US 2004 trial version of Microsoft Money as a free download to allow people to convert their files.

To fix the problems, the steps are:

1. Uninstall MS Money 2006
2. Change the system date to 12/31/2004
3. Download the file (see the trials page or click here for the trial version (it is around 20MB))
4. Install the 2004 trial
5. Start Microsoft Money 2004
6. Open the Microsoft Money file which doesn't convert (Money 99 and earlier)
7. Your file should now convert
8. After conversion, you should be able to uninstall Microsoft Money 2004
9. Change the system date to the correct date
10. Install Microsoft Money 2006
11. When you first run Money 2006, the file converted with 2004 should then convert

If you have problems converting at any point, you may have a damaged file. To fix this, see the errors section on this site.