Create a QuickBooks Desktop test instance

Create a new Amazon WorkSpace at https://us-west-2.console.aws.amazon.com/workspaces/v2/workspaces.

Either select the directory in the list or click Create a new Directory if there are none:

Add yourself as a user with your email address:

Select the bundle Standard with Windows 10 (Server 2019 based) (PCoIP):

Select AlwaysOn:

Skip the Customization step, then review the final page and click the button Create in the bottom-right corner:

After 20-30 minutes, look for an email from Amazon WorkSpaces with a link to set a password.

Download Amazon WorkSpaces on your local computer:

brew install amazon-workspaces

Open the WorkSpaces app, enter the registration key from the email, and sign in using the username and password you set via the reset link in the email. You must enter this password every time you open WorkSpaces, so best to save it to your local password manager.

After it loads, you will see your new Windows desktop instance!

Search for and open Server Manager:

Choose Local Server from the left navigation pane:

For IE Enhanced Security Configuration, click the button that says On:

For Administrators, select Off. For Users, select Off. Choose OK. Then you are done!

From the Windows instance, open Firefox and download the QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise trial: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/new-subscriptions/download-a-trial-of-quickbooks-desktop/00/185974

Navigate to the “Downloads” directory in the Windows File Explorer, and launch the application named QuickBooksEnterprise23Trial.exe. Then, walk through the installation.

After that installation finishes, another installer should launch automatically. Walk through that installer, too. This can take 20-30 minutes to finish.

Next, the following window will appear. Select the variant QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise General Business:

If you have not already, sign up for an Intuit account.

Click I'm ready to create my own Company File (circled in the screenshot below) and sign in with your Intuit developer account. Unfortunately, “I want to see a Sample company file” does not work in QB Desktop Enterprise 2022.

Walk through the process of creating a “Company File”, which will hold your mock data for QuickBooks Desktop:

If prompted, sign in to your Intuit developer account:

When you are done, you will see the QuickBooks Desktop interface:

At some point, QuickBooks Desktop might ask you to create a password. Conductor will not ask for this password; it is internal to QuickBooks Desktop.