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Posted QuickBooks Software, Software - Third Party Programs on Sunday, July 31st, 2005.
QuickBooks Data File Repair Instructions
Working for the IT department in a private accounting firm it is inevitable that a large number of our clients use and will continue to use QuickBooks accounting software. It is an inexpensive and well-marketed program that many bookkeepers already know. Unfortunately, Intuit provides poor technical support, has a badly-designed, proprietary database format, and there is little free support since Intuit has encouraged pay-to-play 3rd-party support. This article is a start at expanding the free, online support information available for the program.
The custom database format used in Intuit’s QuickBooks .QBW files isn’t very resilient and often results in the need to rebuild database files and then recover the data lost during recovery. The custom data format means that only the simple tools built in to QuickBooks (QB) can be used in the rebuild and recovery process, so fixing damaged QB files is tedious but not very complicated.
The lack of resilience of the .QBW data format makes determining the cause of corruption difficult. In fact, many files are damaged long before errors are finally reported by the QB program. Using QuickBooks in a multi-user, networked environment often results in errors when one or another client computer disconnects. Because QB doesn’t perform a full scan of the database unless the Verify or Rebuild utilities are run, no error messages are reported until the damaged data is accessed by the program. It isn’t worth tracking file usage closely enough to determine who or when integrity problems occur.
Check to Determine if File is Corrupt:
Following the appearance of an error message that indicates data problems, first run the Verify utility to determine if problems exist with the file or if the error was due to network or drive problems. To run Verify pull down the File menu > click on “Close Company/Logoff” and then pull down the File menu again > click Utilities > click “Verify Data” and then select the correct .QBW file from the computer or server drives. After a file is selected the utility will run and report on the data integrity of the file. If there are any problems with the data QB will report “Data has lost integrity”. Continue on to the steps outlined below to repair data. QB will report “QuickBooks detected no problems with your data” if the data are not corrupt. In this case, other problems on the network, PCs, or servers involved may have caused the error.
If Corrupt, Prepare for Rebuild:
In the event the Verify utility does report integrity issues with the .QBW file in question, the following steps outline methods to prepare a file for the Rebuild utility, to run the Rebuild utility, and then to manually restore transactions from rebuild log files.
Preparation Steps:
Accounts: Pull down the “Lists” menu > select “Chart of Accounts” > Confirm that active and inactive accounts are being displayed. Depending on the version of QB, confirming which accounts are displayed is done from the Chart of Accounts screen. Depending on the version of QB being used: A) by clicking the “Show All” or “Include Inactive” checkbox at the bottom (next to the “Reports” button), or B) by clicking the “Account” button at bottom-left > select either “Show Inactive Accounts” or “Show All Accounts”. Finally, click on the “Account” menu at button again > select “Re-sort Lists” > click “OK” at the prompt.
Items: Pull down the “Lists” menu > select “Item List” > repeat the steps from accounts, above, to show all accounts and then re-sort the lists.
Customer Names: Pull down the “Banking” menu > select “Write Checks” > open the checking name list by clicking in the “Pay to the Order of” field > press “Ctrl” and “L” to open the list > repeat the steps from accounts, above, to show all accounts and then re-sort the lists.
Rebuild and Reverify Steps:
Rebuild the file by selecting the “File” menu > “Utilities” > and then “Rebuild Data”. The utility will first prompt to backup the QB file unless one was just run. Run the backup and, then click “OK” on the next dialog confirming a rebuild of the data file. Again, this step should only be performed on a local (C:\) copy of the .QBW file, as a networked file is likely to be corrupted in the event of a connection failure.
Before running the Verify tool again, rename the QuickBooks log file. This file, always named QBWIN.LOG, can be found by searching or by looking in the installation folder for QB (usually C:\Program Files\Intuit\QuickBooks ##\, where ## is the version year) and there is one of them for each version/year of QB installed on a computer. I prefer to keep the file name and just add a date, such as QBWIN-2008-02-29.LOG. Now rerun the Verify utility via the “File” menu > click on “Close Company/Logoff” and then pull down the File menu again > click Utilities > click “Verify Data” and then select the correct .QBW file from the computer or server drives.
Correcting Continuing Errors or Missing Data:
Open the new QBWIN.LOG file, created by the Verify utility after renaming the old one. Programs like WordPad or Notepad, included for free in Windows, are much better than using Word which may reformat the text. Any errors found in QuickBooks will be listed in this file. Any items that contain the word “CHECKPOINT” can be ignored. Scan other items in the file to identify any QB transactions that were picked up by Rebuild. Those items include some combination of Amount, Date, Document Number, or Transaction Type.
Once the transations with errors have been identified open the QB file and go to the “Edit” menu > “Find” > “Advanced” button. In the Advanced Search use the Amount, Date, Document Type, and Transaction Type to find individual transactions in the QB file. Manually delete each transaction from the log file and reenter. Once all the transactions found in QBWIN.LOG have been reentered close the file and rerun the Verify utility. Odds are that there will be no more problems after a manual repair. If there are any more problems found then restart these instructions at the Rebuild step, a second run has never failed to repair a QuickBooks file for me.
38 Responses to “Detailed QuickBooks Data File (.QBW) Repair Instructions”
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Thank you! I was able to repair file by identifying offensive transaction in the log file.
Congrats Mike. And, thanks for actually reading/using these QuickBooks repair tips on the MrTweak site.
what can be done if the file cannot be opened by quickbooks? I am receiving Error: “Connection Has Been Lost [error 99937]. The file is located on the local drive, but always gives this network error when accessed.
Any ideas?
The most common causes of that error are:
1) Trying to open the file from a CD or other non-writable media.
2) A lack of read-write or edit permissions on the file’s location drive.
The file is on my desktop.
I am logged in as administrator, and i have full permissions to the file.
any other ideas?
My reply:
See QB support’s article, http://www.quickbooks.com/support/faqs/qb2006/e2d5d9b.html
Based on that article I think that either you’ve editted the system’s services (possibly done to increase the machine’s performance) or that your antivirus/antispyware software is terminating the “QBDBMGRN.EXE” process. Try enabling the “QBDataServiceUser” service and adding “QBDBMGRN.EXE” to your AV program’s exceptions list(s). If that fails uninstall and reinstall the QuickBooks software - then check that service and executable can run before opening your file again.
Good Morning.
I use quickbooks 2003 professional, in multi-user mode but now doesnt accept single-user mode and always display c=43 error messages. I cannont rebuild or delete transactions without having error messages. Any idea please?
Thank you very much.
Fabrice,
Happy to try to help. I think your c=43 error messages are due to one or more corrupt transactions in the QuickBooks data file. It’s my understanding that the fix I describe above (to fix corruption with QB’s internal tools and then to manually re-enter any data removed by those tools) should allow you to repair those errors.
In your case, because you’re “stuck” in multi-user mode I suspect that the file was being accessed across a network and the remote user’s PC crashed. That event caused the corrupt data and QB probably left the file stuck in multi-user mode b/c it won’t allow you to switch it to single-user mode until that user “logs out”.
Before you use the above directions to prep’ the file for rebuild try copying ONLY the .QBW file into a new folder on the local PC’s drive. I think that after you do that and then open the file as Administrator the ability to switch it back to single-user mode will return. …then follow the above steps to prep and repair the file.
-Mike
thank you for your advices now I am able to open in single-user and try the steps provided.
but unfortunately the rebuild step always stuck at 56% and I get as reply, a c=75 error. Do you think there is still a way to get through it?
Fabrice,
If the Verify utility keeps failing at the same point it’s likely that it’s running into a corrupt transaction or bill at the point it’s failing. Keep checking the QBWIN.LOG file (I mention how in the instructions above) to remove and then re-enter the corrupt items one at a time. Then run Verify again and see if it gets any farther in the process. Repeat until the Verify utility completes.
-Mike Bijon
I am not able to select single user mode, even after copying the networked file to a local PC. Without this I can’t rebuild the data or delete transactions. Is there any way of forcing QuickBooks to start in single user mode?
Hi Stuart,
Ordinarily just moving the file will correct the problem of the .QBW file reporting that it can not be converted to single-user mode.
In the even that your file has problems not resolved by that method, try to delete the .QBI file that is in the folder with the .QBW file (make sure you have a backup of it and the .QBW file before you start, just in case this makes things worse).
An alternative method, if you are using an older version of QuickBooks than the latest, is to begin to upgrade the file to any newer version. For some reason the process of upgrading the file, which will prompt you to change the file to single-user mode, can occasionally allow the file to be changed to single-user mode when it wasn’t allowed before. Once the file is changed to single-user mode exit the upgrade process before it actually changes your file - unless you want to get stuck in the newer version of QB.
this is not a quickbooks data file
I have a qbw file that lost some transactions on a customer merge. It shows no errors on the verify but when I try to rebuild it creates errors on every record. Error - 1 copying record # XXXXX. Each time I hit OK it iterates to the next record. Intuit did not seem to recognize the error code. I have tried to hit OK for each error but it just keeps going. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate them. I have even received the error from a pre-merge backup.
Hi,
thanks for the information posted on this site. Unfortunately I have got a backup that won’t restore at all. Well, it does create a QBW file, but I cannot open that file. I immediately get a c=88 error. For some reason the “Verify Data” menu item is greyed out, so I cannot run any tests on it. And when I run the “Rebuild Data” it just tells me the file “has been damaged and should not be used”. Is there any hope of recovering it?
Andreas,
Generally “Rebuild Data” will run correctly (or get closer to completion) if you run “Verify Data” first. Each time you verify QuickBooks will usually export at least one corrupt transaction to QBWIN.LOG.
Sometimes the “Verify Data” utility won’t run if the file is shows that a user is still logged in. Make sure you go to the File menu and click on “Close Company/Logoff” before trying to run Verify. If that doesn’t work, copy just the .QBW file and none of the others in the folder with it in to a new folder. Once that’s done try opening the file again, choose “Close Company/Logoff”, and then try to Verify again.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, here is some information on the QuickBooks c=88 error, and a quick quote:
-Mike
I can’t find QBWIN.LOG. I found the file in my Quickbooks 2006 program file, but not the Quickbooks 2007 program file. Any ideas?
I receive a 600,301 error and it will not load the program file at all. Is there a way to rebuild the file without loading it i quickbooks? Help:)
You solved my problem perfectly…almost. Your instructions did get me past the main data error that was causing the upgrade from QB04 to QB07 to fail. But I still saw one error in the QB04 log where the minor version was not the same as the major version. In other words, I couldn’t correct the problem because the error doesn’t show up in data of the major version.
Also, I could not locate a log file for QB07, so when I do perform a validation, I don’t know what it showed.
Any further suggestions?
Thanks for your comments!
Hi… I have a currupt quickbooks file… I need it fixed asap… Please contact me..> I can email you the file if you fix it… I will pay you $300. thx
Emanuel
Hi… I can’t open a qbw file. I purchased Quickbooks Pro 2007, installed in my computer and try to open a qbw file saved in my destop. It said ” This company file needs to be updated. Please ask your QuickBooks Administrator to update the file.” I just want to open and read it. Please help. Thank you very much.
I have a quickbooks data file that will not open. Error is that it is not a quickbooks file or it is damaged.
Please Help.
If you get the error message, on premier 2005, “unrecoverable error” and the report shows one or more “modules missing” statements, you can fix your software by going into the quickbooks file, selecting “reboot.exe”. it will restart the whole shebang and rebuild all the missing modules. you will have to wait through a fairly lengthy update process (5 - 10 minutes) but it is so worth it to get back all your data. I hope that this helps someone somewhere who is feeling the frustration I felt yesterday. By the way, i didn’t come up with this idea, tech support did. A guy named DePac in New Delhi India really knew his stuff. Nice guy too.
Hi.. My hdd crashed and by company file and backup corrupted, I get c=88 error and when I verify it goes through the process but the company doesn’t appear, when I checked the error log I found these errors
Error: Verify Name Balance failed. Name = Australian Tax Office. Ref = 1. Calc bal = 0.00. List bal = -2,836.58
&
Cindex error: -30 index: 1 keyId: 25 recNum: 0 bufSize: 44
V15.0A R1 (M=1352, L=1154, C=88, V=-30 (FFFFFFE2))
Not sure if you can help but would really appreciate anything, mainly just need to view data in the last month!
this data file could not be used because it was not completely updated
This is the message I am getting. I can’t get to the point where I can repair or verify the data
Any suggestions?
I am running Quickbooks 2006 Premier edition at work, and I haven’t been able to clean my data for the past few years. It seems to get stuck at about 19%. I have tried leaving it run over a 4 day weekend, to see if maybe it just needs some time.
The database I am using just keeps growing and growing. Right now it is just over 400 Mb. I have tried deleting out old estimates and purchase orders, but it seems to make the datafile just grow even more.
The QB support that I paid for last year told me there was nothing I could do other than start a new file, but the past 7 years of information is in this one. Is there anyway to help me?
Hello,
I need help to gain access to my QB. I think it has got an error i it. I thing it is locked in Multi user mode. I get the error that the “Conection has been lost” I’ve tried to copy the file and access it again and no luck. I have 2007 premere. I tried to click verfy data and that option is grayed out. I don’t know what else to do. Please help me.
I had C=43 problem, and been trying to delet all the transactions that on th QBWIN log file. But there is one transaction that i can not open and so could not proceed. Please help.
I have Quickbooks Pro 7.4. My accountant noticed the trial balance is out of balance by $300 and advised verify/rebuild. For some reason Utilities is greyed out on the File menu. I’ve read through the posts here and made sure I had closed the file, backed up, even copied to another folder but still no joy. Ideas appreciated.
I am running Quickbooks 2006 Enterprise edition at work, and I haven’t been able to clean my data for the past two years. It seems to get stuck at about 27%.
The database I am using just keeps growing and growing. Right now it is just over 600Mb and datafile just grow even more.
Just iwant to fix the problem and is anybody here to help me out to fix it and iwill pay for it.
Hi, I have found the article helpful, and I hope you can help a follow IT guy who is new to QB with an issue. I need to make nightly copies of the company files to both a network drive and a USB memory stick (which is taken off site) at the end of the day. I have written a batch file to copy all files from the company file folder and store them as needed. I can’t count on the end user running the back as they have failed to do so in the past. However, the accountant insists that simply copying these files will not allow the company file to be restored. I need to know what files I need to be able to restore from a file copy. A year ago on the Intuit forum, I was told that I only needed all the files in the company file folder. However, the issue has re-surfaced due to the accountant not being able to open the file from the memory stick.
Thank you for your help with this issue.
I have a strange problem, we cannot add any new users to the company file. I have run the verify utility and the the repair, repair did correct some problem, reverify and it report no problems but I still cannot add a user.
Any suggestions.
Thanks for the detailed instructions. It worked for me - now have a clean file.
Better then paying a Quickbooks support $49!
I have Quickbooks Pro 2006. I had to do a system recover on XP and now I can’t get Quickbooks to open at all. No error messages or anything. I’ve reinstalled, repaired, etc. and nothing. The “Loading” box appears for a few seconds this disappears. All my files are still there, I just can’t get the program to open. Help.
I have the same problem as Ann C=43 error, following manual deleting of errors. IT also says in the qpwin file that there is a Link Error T2 missing,… –has a history/link error to–.The problem is, there is this message saying that the bill (or transaction) have already been deleted yet its still in the Supplier’s list and can never be deleted even though i try many times to delete it.Please someone help me if you can.
When upgrading QB Pro 2001 to 2008, my data would not update. Ran Verify on the file in QB 2001, only to find it was corrupt. Rebuild did not work. So I followed instructions above to find a deposit and cash receipt in 1999 were corrupt. I deleted both transcations, re-entered them. Then I ran Verify again with no problems. QB 2008 then was able to update the data. Thanks Mr. Tweak!
We were in Quickbooks yesterday and it all of the sudden kicked us out on all of the computers and when we tried to get back init says QBW is not a Quickbooks Data File or it is Damaged. We have several companies on quickbooks and it will let us on all of the rest but not on this one. Please Help. Thanks
My quickbooks pro 2008, running on XP, will not load. I accidentally deleted something it needed. After many frustrating errors, I uninstalled and reinstalled. Now, upon taking a very long time to load, it stops and gives me an “unrecoverable error” and terminates.
I can’t even get in to QB to “verify” or “rebuild.” Help!