How to fix ‘QuickBooks won’t open company file’
The company (QBW) file is a default file to store, view, and modify data in QuickBooks. However, there are several cases reported by QB users about getting errors and issues when they are not able to open their QuickBooks company file. The “Cannot open QuickBooks company file” issue is one of them that can hinder QuickBooks’ workflow. This issue can occur with random error messages like “The file specified cannot be opened. Make sure that it is not currently being used by another program or is a read-only file” or related to a 6000 series error or H series error.
You can face the “cannot open QuickBooks company file” issue when opening the QBW file after updating or upgrading the QuickBooks version. It can also occur when opening the QBW in a multi-user environment. This issue can occur for multiple reasons. In this article, we will explore some of the common causes and methods to resolve this issue.
Causes of the “Cannot open QuickBooks company file” Issue
The actual cause of the issue is difficult to ascertain, however, some of its common reasons are below:
- Corruption in QuickBooks Company file.
- Multiple company files are opened.
- Firewall misconfiguration.
- You don’t have folder permissions.
- Missing or corrupted.TLG files
- Outdated QuickBooks application
- Hosting issues on either the host or workstation system
- Large-sized QuickBooks company file.
Methods to resolve “Cannot open QuickBooks company file” issue
You can experience the “cannot open QuickBooks company file” issue while accessing the company file from an outdated QuickBooks Desktop version. You can check the application’s version by opening the Product Information window by pressing F2 key. If the QuickBooks is outdated, then locate to Help and then click Update QuickBooks Desktop and click Update Now option to install the latest release of QuickBooks Desktop. Next, check the format of the company file that you are trying to open. It should not be in a compressed or encrypted form. To check this, just right-click on the company file and then select Properties. If the Compress and Encrypt checkboxes are selected, then clear them. I,f after performing these basic steps, the issue persists, then follow the below methods:
Method 1- Close and Save the Desktop When Closing Feature:
Sometimes, you may fail to open your company file when the QuickBooks attempts to restore all recent windows you had open before it closed. It usually happens if the size of the company file is large or it contains a large-sized reports. You can try opening your company file without saved windows by following the below steps:
- Open QuickBooks, in No Company Open window, choose the company file.
- Now press and hold the ALT key and then click Open.
- Click
If the company file opens, then turn off the Save the desktop while closing preferences by using the below steps:
- Locate to Edit and select Preferences.
- Click Desktop View.
- Click the option “Don’t save the desktop” and then
- Close and re-open QuickBooks and then your company file.
Method 2-Check Hosting Settings on your workstations:
If you are facing the “Cannot open QuickBooks company file” issue at the time of opening the company file in a multi-user environment, then hosting settings may be behind it. The Host Multi-User Access option should be enabled only on the host computer, not on workstations. So, check on your workstations and make sure it is disabled. To do this, here are the steps:
- In the Workstation system, open your QuickBooks.
- Without opening the company file, locate File and then click
- Check if “Stop Hosting Multi-User Access ” is visible, then select it.
Next, repeat the same steps on all of your workstations.
Next, check the hosting settings on your Server system. On the Server, select the “Host Multi-User Access” option.
Method 3-Repair your company file:
The corruption in the company file is also one of the major reasons for the “Cannot open QuickBooks company file” issue. You can try opening a sample company file to check whether the company file is behind the issue. If it opens without any issue, the issue is indicated in the company file. When the company file is corrupted or damaged, you can look for a backup file and restore it. However, if you have no backup, then you can repair the QuickBooks QBW file using the Rebuild and Verify tool. Here are the steps:
- In QuickBooks, locate File, click Utilities, and then click Verify Data.
- The tool will start verifying the file for any issues.
- If it detects any issue, you may get an error message like “Data damage was found in the file. Rebuild your data to fix it.”
- Next, use the Rebuild Data utility to fix the issues by rebuilding the data. Here are the steps:
- In QB, click Utilities and click Rebuild Data.
- In the QuickBooks Information window, click
You will get a prompt asking you to create a backup of your company file. Follow the steps mentioned on the screen to create the backup.
- Once the backup creation process is finished, the rebuild tool will start rebuilding the file automatically. Once it is completed, click
If the Verify and Rebuild utility fails to rebuild the severely corrupted company file, then you can use a third-party QuickBooks recovery software such as Stellar Repair for QuickBooks. The DIY tool can repair and restore all the objects from a corrupt QBW file to a new file without impacting the data integrity. It can help you to resolve the maximum corruption-related errors and issues in QuickBooks, including the “Cannot open QuickBooks company file issue.” The tool supports all editions of QuickBooks, including Pro, Premier, and enterprise solutions.
Conclusion
The “Cannot open QuickBooks company file” issue can interrupt QuickBooks tasks as it does not let you view and edit objects on the company file. But you should be able to fix the issue by using any one of the methods shared in this article. If the corruption in the QBW file is behind this issue, then you can use a professional QuickBooks repair tool like Stellar Repair for QuickBooks. This DIY tool can restore corrupted QuickBooks company file objects, like charts of accounts, payroll data, reports, estimates, etc. It maintains precision and integrity while repairing QuickBooks files.
Pranab Bhandari is an Editor of the Financial Blog “Financebuzz”. Apart from writing informative financial articles for his blog, he is a regular contributor to many national and international publications namely Tweak Your Biz, Growth Rocks ETC.
