Portfolio disappears after you upgrade MSN Money (183681)


The information in this article applies to:

  • MSN Money
  • MSN Money Plus
This article was previously published under Q183681

SYMPTOMS

After you download an upgrade to MSN Money Investing, and then open the Portfolio section, your portfolio may not appear. Instead, an Investments to Watch account appears, or your MSN Stock List account appears.

If you do not see Common Tasks and Other Tasks on the left side, you may be using the Basic version of the Portfolio instead of the Deluxe version. To use the Deluxe version, you must use Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later on one of the following operating systems:
  • Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
  • Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
  • Microsoft Windows 2000
  • Microsoft Windows XP

CAUSE

This behavior may occur if one of the following conditions is true:
  • You signed in to MSN Money by using a different Microsoft Passport Network account.
  • MSN Money Investing cannot find your previous portfolio data file to covert it.
  • The data file is blank or is corrupted.

RESOLUTION

If you are a new MSN Money Investing user, this behavior is by design. You can create new accounts to get started.

If you just upgraded from the earlier version of the site, or if you were prompted to reinstall the controls, your existing portfolio may still be available. However, you must make sure that you have signed in by using the same Passport Network account that you used before or find and restore any existing file.

MORE INFORMATION

To find and restore a backup of your MSN Money Investing Portfolio in MSN Money Investing, follow these steps:
  1. In MSN Money Investing, click Home.
  2. Click Start, point to Find, and then click Files or Folders.
  3. In the Named box, type the following line, and then click Find Now:

    *.mny

    *.mbf

  4. In the list of found files, note the location of the following files on your hard disk:

    File nameDescription
    My Portfolio#.mny A Money or Portfolio data file
    *.mbf A Money or Portfolio backup file


    Note When you search for the files that are listed in the table, if the found files do not show a file name extension, such as .mny, .mbf, or .bak, in the file name, you must configure your computer to show "extensions" For information about how to configure your computer to show extensions, see the "Steps to Verify That Extension Are Set to Viewable" section.
  5. Close the Find: Files window.
  6. Try to restore any .mny or .mbf files that are found if the date and the name of the file appear to be appropriate to the last time that you accessed your data.

    For more information about backing up and restoring your MSN Money files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

    164062 How to back up or restore MSN Money Portfolio data

  7. Open MSN Money Investing, and then click Portfolio.
  8. In Portfolio Manager, click More, click File options, and then click Restore Backup.
  9. In the File name box, type the file name that matches the first file that was found in step 4.
  10. In the Look in box, locate that file, and then click Open.
  11. If you do not see the portfolio that you want in Portfolio Manager, repeat steps 7 through 9 for each one of the MSN Money Investing files that were found in step 4.

    Note Every time that you restore a portfolio file, MSN Money Investing replaces the current portfolio in Portfolio Manager.
  12. When you find the portfolio that you want to use, click MSN Money Investing on the navigation bar to quit Portfolio Manager and save the current portfolio as the default file.

    Note This procedure updates or replaces the existing default file on your computer. When you click Refresh on your Web browser, the data file is updated with any changes that you may have entered.
  13. Click Portfolio on the navigation bar to return to Portfolio Manager.
  14. Back up your portfolio now.

    To back up your portfolio, follow these steps:
    1. Click More, click File options, and then click Back up.
    2. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to back up your MSN Money Portfolio files.
    For more information about how to perform this task in MSN Money Investing, see the "Backup your portfolio" topic in MSN Money Help.

Verify that extensions are set to Viewable

Note Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then click Windows Explorer.
  2. On the View menu, click Folder Options. In Microsoft Windows, click Options.
  3. Click the View tab.
  4. Click to clear the Hide File Extensions for known file types check box. In Windows, click the Hide MS-DOS file extensions for file types that are registered check box.
  5. Click OK.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:5/13/2006
Keywords:kbhowto kbMoneyInvest kbprb KB183681
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