All operations in QuickBooks- whether you ‘re creating estimates, invoices, backup ,generating reports, reconciliation tasks or running payroll, rely on the QuickBooks company file. Whenever you try to open or access any financial data-related option on QuickBooks, the application retrieves that data from the company file. However, if the QuickBooks application fails to access the company file, you may fail to perform the required tasks, which can impact your organization’s workflow.
Many QuickBooks users have reported encountering errors and issues while opening the QBW file. One of the examples of the user queries is
Can’t open company file
All of the sudden I am not able to open my company file. The message says, “could not be opened. Operation not permitted.” How can I solve this?”
The QuickBooks won’t open company file issue can arise due to various reasons such as
- Corrupt or damaged QuickBooks® company file.
- The QuickBooks company file is large.
- The file is already open by another user on the shared network.
- The company file you’re trying to open is in an outdated QuickBooks application.
- Incorrect Hosting settings
- Lack of folder permissions.
- Name of the company file contains special characters.
- The company file is encrypted or compressed.
- Damaged or missing .ND (Network Data) /.TLG (Transaction Log) files.
- Firewall is blocking the QuickBooks company files.
In this post, we will discuss the troubleshooting methods to resolve this issue.
How to resolve “Fix QuickBooks won’t Open Company File” Issue
If you are facing this issue when opening the company file in a multi-user mode, check QuickBooks hosting requirements (Windows File permissions, QuickBooks user credentials, and the Database server mode). If the hosting needs are met, then also ensure that your QuickBooks application is updated to the latest release. To check this, open the product information window by pressing F2/Ctrl+1. If it is outdated, then install the update. If these basic troubleshooting steps fail, then follow the methods below:
Method 1-Check Company File Name:
You may fail to open the company file in QuickBooks due to the incorrect company file name. You can check the company file folder and make sure the name of the company file does not contain any special characters or names. If there is an incorrect company file name, then rename it to troubleshoot the error. Here’s how to do so:
- Go to the company file (QBW) location.
Note: If you don’t know the company file, press F2 to check the location that appears in the File information field in the product information window.
- Next, follow the company file path. For example: C:\Users\Public\Documents\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files\”Testing.QBW”.
- Right-click on the company file, and click the Rename option.
- Change the company file name (remove the spaces or special characters (if any) and then click on the Enter key.
- In the dialog box, click on the Yes option.
- After modifying the company file name, try to open the newly edited company file.
Also, make sure the company file is not compressed or encrypted. For this, right-click on the file, click Properties, and click Advanced. Next, clear the checkboxes named Compress and Encrypt. Click OK.
Method 2: Check and Change Network Folder Permissions
You may fail to open the company file stored in the network folder if the folder lacks permissions. If the insufficient folder permissions are behind the issue, then check and grant the required permissions by following the steps below:
- Again, locate the company file folder, right-click on it, and then click Properties.
- In the Properties window, click Security and select the user who is facing the error.
- Then, check the File permissions, such as Full Control, Modify, Read, and Read & execute. If the permissions are not allowed, click Edit and then check the fields under the Allow section to provide the permissions.
- Click Apply and then click OK.
Method 3- Check and Turn off hosting on the workstations
The “QuickBooks won’t Open Company File” issue can arise if the host multi-user access option is turned on your workstations. This option should be enabled only on the server system. You can follow the steps below to check and turn off hosting on your workstations:
- Open the QuickBooks desktop on one of your workstations.
- Without opening your company, locate to the File and then click Utilities.
- If you see option named Stop Hosting Multi-User Access, then select it.
- Repeat the above steps on all of the remaining workstations.
- Next, open the server system hosting the company file. To do so, follow the steps below:
- Open QuickBooks on your server system.
- Click on File and then Utilities. If Host Multi-User Access is an option, select it.
Method 4- Recreate the .ND File for a Fresh Start
The Network Data (.ND) files and TLG (Transaction Log) files are important configuration files that allow the QuickBooks application to access the company file in a multi-user environment. If these files get corrupted/damaged, or missing, then you may fail to open the company file. You can recreate the .ND/.TLG files to fix the issue. Follow the steps below:
- Go to the company file folder.
- Search for the .ND file. It is with the same name as the company file but with .ND extension.
- Right-click on the file and then select Rename.
- Give it a different name.
Similarly, rename each .ND file and .TLG files. Once you renamed the files, QuickBooks will automatically create the new ones.
Note: Renaming .TLG files may result in losing unsynced log transactions if automatic backups are not enabled. Ensure you have a recent backup before renaming.
Method 5- Repair QuickBooks Company file:
The company file damage might be the reason behind the QuickBooks won’t open the company file issue. It is possible to repair and recover the company file from the backup file. If the backup is not updated, then you can recover data by rebuilding the company file using the verify and rebuild tool. If it fails, then you can use the file doctor tool. However, using this tool, the repair process can take a lot of time or may fail to respond due to a severely corrupted company file. Also, it has file size limitations. To safely perform QuickBooks company file recovery, it is better to rely on a specialized QuickBooks recovery software, like Stellar Repair for QuickBooks.
It is an advanced QuickBooks data repair software that is specifically developed to repair or recover data from an inaccessible company file. You can use this software to recover data in different scenarios, like 6000 series, H-series error, and more. It can help you recover data from almost all types of QuickBooks Desktop versions.
Conclusion
There could be various reasons responsible for the “QuickBooks won’t open company file” issue. You can follow the above methods to resolve this problem. If corruption in the QuickBooks company file is causing the issue, you can use the right QuickBooks repair tools, such as Stellar Repair for QuickBooks. This tool can repair QBW files created in application versions from 2007 to 2021. It supports QBW files from multiple country editions of QuickBooks, including the USA and Australia
