Help with a Money99 file that has been corrupted. We have an MBF

[Marcus Lee]

Hello all,

     We have a money99 file that has been actually used since release.

     The MBF file we have is about 8mb and was backed up last november. Whenever I attempt to use salvage, or any of the newer money software to open the mbf, it just gives an error saying we either don't have permission or the file has an invalid database.

     I opened the file in a hexeditor and I can see clearly that information is in the file, and there's a TMP file at the top that has popped up in an error before. Do we need this tmp file? Does anyone know how we can recover data from this MBF file that won't read through money software or the salvage tool?

     Do I need to run the software in a windows 98 vm?

Thanks!

    

[First Last]

Hi Marcus,

> Whenever I attempt to use salvage, or any of the newer money software to open the mbf, it just gives an error saying we either don't have permission or the file has an invalid database.

I assume you currently don't have Money99 installed and thus need to use the "newer" version?

I do think getting Money99 installed and using it to open is the best course of action.

Some other options that you can try

* Check if the *.mbf file is in fact OK? The *.mbf file is just a CAB file (for all practical purposes, similar to a zip file). Try

  * Make a copy and rename *.mbf file as *.cab file

  * Use tool such as winzip to open/extract: https://www.winzip.com/win/en/cab-file.html. There are some command-line tool also: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/extract-cab-file-using-command-line

You can try using sunriise to export the data into CSV format. This might be a viable option if you just need to be able to get to some old data.

https://bitbucket.org/hleofxquotesteam/dist-sunriise/wiki/Home

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Microsoft Money" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to microsoft-mon...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/microsoft-money/d54de31f-d7fc-4632-bee6-43b5b7b09001n%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Judy & Barry]

I am currently running Money99 on both Windows 7 and Windows 10.  Have you tried to salvage or repair the file?

 

It is my understanding that an mbf can be opened only by the same version that created it.  mny files can be converted by a newer version, but not too new.

 

The old Money forum has two messages (https://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/479281b2-90f9-42ca-85f7-644fc6e1e5c3/download-microsoft-money-installation-files-solve-activation-and-some-other-errors?forum=money and https://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/d28d6921-1f01-430f-b33e-f5a3ec47077b/important-patch-for-money-plus-maybe-20062007-mnyob99dll?forum=money) which point to newer versions than Money99.  I think you need to use the 2004 version to upgrade your mny database and then use the sunset version to upgrade that to the latest available.

 

--

[Marcus Lee]

I can't find a download or iso for money99 that I can get to run on windows 10, do you know where I can get that? The salvage tool only says it works for .mny files.

I am currently working on getting the proper java version installed to see if I can use it to get data from my .mbf file.

Inside the mbf file when renamed to .cab I see a .tmp file which I can read contents from and see some business names.

[First Last]

> Inside the mbf file when renamed to .cab I see a .tmp file which I can read contents from and see some business names.

I am guessing here: the *.tmp file is actually the *.mny file. You can try, extract the *.tmp file, then rename it to *.mny 

then try to either open it or salvage it.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/microsoft-money/9c110e3d-6467-471e-8d2b-e7a266ac57d7n%40googlegroups.com.

[Cal Learner]

You only have one *.mbf file? You should review your backup policies, and not just for Microsoft Money.

If your file is from the US, you may be able to use webinst.exe (sha1: 98f32cc10c59e5d6b0ca48a94a1867dea9367a47). I may be able to put it somewhere you could download it. You really should check the SHA1 checksum on a file you get somewhere to make sure it is what you think it is.  What that is is a minimal version of Money 2005 that may be able to open your *.mbf file, and convert it to a Money 2005 *.mny file. If your *.mbf is corrupted, that is not going to work. I am not sure it will work anyway. I suspect it would have a better chance of working on a computer with 32-bit windows, but it may work on 64-bit windows.

Interested?

[Ameridan (microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com)]

I have a link to the trial version of Money 2004 in my blog that may help out in the same manner as Cal's minimal version of Money 2005.
https://microsoftmoneyoffline.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/intro/#downloads 

[Bob Smiley]

Do NOT try to delete anything inside the renamed cab file. What is critical is which country is your version of Money from? You can only upgrade from 99 to a series of very specific countries.

[Cal Learner]

Ameridan and Mar... The Money 2004 is probably the better intermediate to use.

Do you think Mar... will have to set the date on his computer to some time in 2004 before installing and attempting the conversion?

Copy what you have to other media, such as a USB flash drive, before proceeding.

[Marcus Lee]

DATA RECOVERED

20 YEAR FILE RECOVERED

Hello all! I have an update on my progress!

I was able to after many hours of digging hex edit the file, and copy from a known good file the first 100 or so lines (before the partenID field is placed into memory) and the file opened. I was then able to export all data to QIF and I have everything!

If anyone has a corrupted mbf file, I can likely help them with this process in the future!

Thanks all!

[Marcus Lee]

Also, this wasn't my backup policies. Since the data has been recovered we're immediately moving the data files
 to our cloud and physic backup and updating to the newest version of money for the client who wants to continue using it.

[Cal Learner]

" I was able to after many hours of digging hex edit the file, and copy from a known good file the first 100 or so lines (before the partenID field is placed into memory) and the file opened. I was then able to export all data to QIF and I have everything! "

Impressive!

 Microsoft Money Plus Sunset can keep multiple vintages of backups automatically. Default is 4 for both upon-exit and scheduled backups. Disk space is cheap, so I suggest raising those. Max is 99 I think.

I have my scheduled backups go to a USB flash drive, but a cloud drive certainly makes sense. I periodically copy a backup to the cloud after encrypting it.

[Marcus Lee]

It's a great idea to encrypt it before placing it on the cloud. We use google drive, so you can have a path like a network drive on your computer for it and it makes the copy just like a normal folder.

Wanted to thank everyone for the help! Back to rebuilding this new money file with my qif data :)

[Cal Learner]

You still might want to try converting to Money Plus with Money 2004 or Money 2005 as an intermediate step, if your manipulated file works that way. Note that the newer versions of salv.exe (usually accessed as :File->RepairMoneyFile->StandardFileRepair level 2 (or level 1) in the newer versions. So you could see if you could make a repaired version of the M99 file. It would still be an M99 file.

A QIF export and import gives a very clean file. However you lose some info, such as price history. You also have to provide the symbols for your stocks. You will probably have to adjust some balances.

If you did convert without QIF, you might want to use the Money Plus feature of deleting all bills. Old bills can slow things down.  I am confident that you already know to convert all of your QIF files at once, so that transfers can be detected.