WHAT IF: QuickBooks can only be opened by the Administrator

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A reader writes in to ask, “When I attempt to open my QuickBooks Company file, the log-in screen only asks for the Admin password, even though there are multiple users established, there isn't even a user field displayed for me to select my user own account.  How do I fix this problem?”

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Problem:

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When attempting to log-in to a QuickBooks Company file, the log-in window displays a message indicating “you need to log in as QuickBooks Administrator to proceed. Please enter the admin (owner) password for the company:”

There isn’t even a field displayed for you to enter or select an alternative user even though you know other user accounts exist for this Company file. (Note: If the Admin user account name has been changed, the account name will be displayed above the Password field.)

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Resolving the Error:

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1) Close QuickBooks

2) End all QuickBooks related processes from the Windows Task Manager

  • Right click on the Windows toolbar at the bottom of the screen
  • Select Start Task Manager
  • When Task Manager opens click on the Processes tab.
  • Insure this list is ‘showing’ all processes from all users.
  • Click on the Image Name tab in order to arrange all processes alphabetically (they may already be sorted in this manner, or by some designated column, such as memory.)
  • Scroll down the list of processes until you find the QuickBooks related processes that will start with QB (as shown below), verify each process using the Description column data. [Your list may not be identical to that shown below, but should be similar.]
  • Select each of the QB processes one by one, and click End Process for each selection.
  • Click OK when the warning message appears.
  • Repeat these steps for every QB process listed
  • After ending all of the QB processes, close Task Manager.

3)  Delete the QuickBooks_Standard_21 start-up process from your Start-up folder

  • Click the Windows Globe or Start Icon
  • Select All Programs from the displayed menu
  • Locate the Startup folder, and click once to open it
  • Right click on QuickBooks_Standard_21 and select Delete
  • Click Yes when the warning message appears.

4)  Start QuickBooks normally – the user name field should now be displayed. Log-in to the Company file using the appropriate user name.

QuickBooks should operate normally after this.