Anyone whose ever tried to move one of the MYOB accounting packages (such as Premier, AccountRight, or BusinessBasics) from one computer to another would know that the officially sanctioned method is to take a backup of the Company File from within MYOB, use the official installation CD to reinstall it on the new computer, restore the backup, and copy across a whole heap of other files (such as the various templates).

This is great, except for when you don’t have access to the installation media or the license key.

There is a workaround, which I’ve found to work so long as you have access to the file system of the old computer. I’ve found this works on both 32Bit and 64Bit varieties of Windows. In fact, I’ve had success in transferring the files between the two architectures.

Step 1: Copy the contents of the “C:\Program Files\MYOB” and “C:\Premier11″ folders (the name of this folder changes for each version of MYOB, but it is almost always in the root of the system drive). Make sure you keep the paths the same on the new computer.

Step 2: Make some registry changes. This is done through RegEdit. There are two slightly different versions of the registry settings, depending on the architecture of your computer. If you’ve never made changes to the registry before, make sure you at least take a backup of your computer before hand, or call in an expert.

When I was doing this for the first time, I found these registry values on the old computer. I found the necessary tweaks for 64-Bit varieties of Windows on the Instant Technology Blog.

32-Bit
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MYOB Technology
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MYOB Technology\AU
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MYOB Technology\AU\MSC][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\MYOB Technology\AU\MSC\3.0]
“JavaHome”=”C:\\Program Files\\MYOB\\Common\\JRE”

64-Bit
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\MYOB Technology][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\MYOB Technology\AU]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\MYOB Technology\AU\MSC]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\MYOB Technology\AU\MSC\3.0]
“JavaHome”=”C:\\Program Files\\MYOB\\Common\\JRE”

This tree structure is empty, except for one key: “JavaHome”. This points to the Java Runtime Environment you copied over, and is very necessary for MYOB to function correctly.

If you don’t add this registry value correctly, MYOB will run correctly until you log into your company file. You will be presented with this error: “Error 9004 was encountered when opening the M-Powered Services Centre data file“. This will occur, even if you don’t use M-Powered Services.

MYOB Error 9004: M-Powered Services

If you make the registry changed and still receive this error, you may need to change “3.0” to another version, such as “2.0”. The best way to find out is to take a look at the registry settings on the old computer.

Step 3: Run the MYOB Executable from the “C:\Premier11″ folder (or variant). For Premier V11, it is called “Myobp.exe”.

Step 4: Open your “.MYO” file and log in. If all goes well, you should be able to start using MYOB.

Step 5: Create a desktop shortcut to the MYOB executable file.

Step 6: Extra step for some Windows 7 users: MYOB will need to be able to write to it’s folder (e.g. “C:\Premier11″). If you are not running Windows as an Administrator, you will need to enable write access to this folder for your use. This can be done in the Security tab of the Folder Properties window.

Other MYOB Tips

• Moving MYOB to a New Computer without the Installation Media
• MYOB Licensing Tips
• MYOB Missing Embedded Images and Graphics in PDFs