Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 on WIndows 8.1

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If you are a user of the discontinued Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 (MSOA) and have to move to a new computer running Windows 8, you will be unhappy to discover that it won't install.  In particular, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (SSE), which is part of the product, refuses to install.  While you can find articles on the Internet explaining how to get SSE running, I was unable to find instructions for MSOA.
 

Notes:


  • I have tried this on Windows 8.1 and the UK Edition of MSOA.  There are other geographic variants of MSOA, and it is expected that these instructions will work for those as well.
  • While I have MSOA running and it appears stable, I have not tested all its functionality on Window 8.1.  The main functionality for running a company works, but it is possible that some bits don't.
 

Installation:


  1. Download Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, currently at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=21844
  2. Run SQLEXPR.EXE until it has unpacked the kit into C:\{generated hexadecimal number}\
  3. Copy C:\{generated hexadecimal number}\ to C:\inst.bak
  4. Quit install
  5. Run C:\inst.bak\setup\sqlncli_x64.msi
  6. Open a Command Prompt window as Administrator
  7. Run the following command: 
    C:\inst.bak\setup.exe -q qn ADDLOCAL=ALL INSTANCENAME=MSSMLBIZ /norebootchk REBOOT=ReallySuppress SQLAUTOSTART=1 ALLUSERS=1
  8. Download Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 and SP1
  9. Run the install file 
  10. Do a custom install, and choose advanced
  11. Specify that it is to use an existing SQL Server instance called MSSMLBIZ
  12. Run the SP1 install file
  13. Copy your .sbd and .sbl files to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Data
  14. Run Data Tools within Microsoft Office Group in Apps
  15. On the Advanced tab, choose Attach
  16. Specify your .sbd and .sbl files in the two boxes, ensure "Create new company file ..." is checked and hit Attach.
  17. Close Data Tools and run Microsoft Office Accounting 2008
That's it!

I hope this is of some use to others who want to get this running.
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