Thanks Dick & Bob. You were spot on! I had Money 2005 on my home laptop &
2006 on my work laptop. As soon as I loaded 2006 on both everything worked
fine. I now can update my data file, which sits on my USB from both machines.
Thanks for your help.

As Dick says: compare your versions of Money. ( both Deluxe?, or Premium,
Small business?)
Open Money - click - Help- About .
You did go through the complete install of Money at work PC to let it
create all the files needed to use Money. And the work PC can open/close
its own file currently ?

If they ARE the same and you ONLY want your home file on the work PC, to
prove that only variable is the data file, go to the folder that Work pc
uses for storing money and note the name on your current money file (
default is money.mny) rename your CURRENT money file to
"whateverthenameis". mny.BAK
and
then copy the file from USB stick into "that folder " with the name
money.mny ( or "whateverthenameis". mny)
Now open Money on the desktop. It should go to it's 'normal folder' and
open the money "filename" that it expects - if OK - great it was a path
problem. But I suspect same failure since mentions "updating".

You mention M2006 ... might it be that home = newer version (say M2006)
and so when work PC tries to read with older app ( M2005) it fails ( due
to MSFT purposely making newer file unreadable on older app). Was one an
OEM version and one a store-bought ? Can you install " the home version"
on the work PC to get same version ? ( delete work PC current Money app
first then reboot - THEN install it)


"Dick Watson" <littlegreengecko[at]mind-enufalready-spring.com> wrote in
message news:exzPkZ%23lIHA.4196[at]TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
- quote -

It sure sounds like you do not have the same version of the Money
application on both machines or I'd have no clue why it feels the need to
"update your file". Assuming they are the same version/edition, I'd check
Help|About to make sure they are the same service/patch level and would open
the Sample file on each machine and do an Internet Update on each machine.

Have you tried copying your file from the USB drive to the laptop's desktop
and then tried opening it from there?

If your USB device is a flash drive, you may find that the slow write
performance creates performance problems.

Is the USB drive NTFS format? I'm wondering about some permissions collision
between the Vista written NTFS And what XP is trying to read.

I'm also wondering about things like AV ware that your work machine may have
courtesy of paranoid IT people.

"Tim M" <Tim M[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:972B86CA-0512-4E67-B272-157A82FAC950[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

I am trying to move my Money 2006 data file from my home laptop (Vista) to my
work laptop (XP) using a USB device. I move the file to the USB device from
its original postion on my home laptop and I can open it on my home laptop by
double clicking on it. When I plug the USB device into my work laptop and
double click on it Money opens and I get a message "Money will update your
file with the latest improvements - click ok" when I click ok I get the
following error message "Money cannot locate (file name) or cannot ipen it,
possibly because it is read-only file or you do not have permisson to change
it, or your disc drive is write protected". I have also tried to create a
back-up to the USB and restore the back-up to my work laptop without success.
All I want to do is carry my data on my USB and update my Money data file
when I'm at home or when I'm at work. Can this be done, if so how? Thanks.