Troubleshooting Quickbooks Transaction File Trouble

For the most part Quickbooks is dependable, from a technology standpoint. However there's one instance where it will refuse to open company files mainly in a multi user Networked environment. No measure of company file Validate/Rebuild will fix the problem, because it's not due to company file corruption. Often times Quickbooks has been running fine, and no changes have been made to the PC acting as the server, then out of the blue it stops working. a.  This procedure is for Quickbooks installs wherein the PC in question acts as a server to allow multiple user access to one or more Company Files.   This installs the database engine in the Windows Services applet.  If you are unsure of your installation, see the footnote at the end of this writeup.   This issue can but rarely occurs with simple installations of Quickbooks 2007+, but the emphasis here is a multi-user server setting. Symptoms: Quickbooks, while it starts, it cannot open your company file.   Running the various utilities - Quickbooks Company File Verification or rebuild does not resolve the issue.   Quickbooks may report nothing is wrong with the company file.   Quickbooks standalone Company Validator (the Rebuilder that runs outside of Quickbooks) reports no issues.   The database engine QuickbooksDB21 (this name varies according to the version of quickbooks) stops and has to be manually restarted.   If the Quickbooks database engine hosts several Quickbooks Company files, when the database engine starts, none of those companies are accessible.  In some instances if the database engine is running on a user's workstation, the database engine will attempt to communicate with the Company file on the server, which may limit multi-user access. 1.  Make sure everyone is out of Quickbooks, and always backup your Quickbooks data directory before beginning.  With Quickbooks 2011, you should backup the QBW and DLG files.  Assuming the Database engine is still runing, the DSN and DN files will automatically be recreated on the destination medium.  If you can copy to a flash drive or some isolated device, and do not be afraid to backup to a second device. 2.  If you can open the company do a data verify.  If Quickbooks is not installed (i.e. you have only the database engine installed), download the Quickbooks Company File diagnostic tool and install it. QB Company File Diagnostic Tool 3.  If neither procedure finds any problems, we'll assume the DLG file is corrupted. In any event, create a new sub folder, call it anything, such as "Test" and stop the Quickbooks Database Engine. After you have stopped the database engine, copy the company file's QBW file to the test folder. Do not copy the ND, DSN, or TLG files. 4.  Restart the database engine, and open quickbooks, and open the file you just copied to your test folder.  If your database engine stays running, you have identified the problem.  Exit quickbooks. 5.  Stop the database engine.  Rename the DLG file so for example, if your company file name is acmewidgets.qbw, the transaction log file name should be changed from acmewidgets.dlg to acmewidgets-dlg.old.  Restart the database engine. 6.  Restart quickbooks, and open the company in question.  If the database engine stays running you're good to go. 7.  One additional tip - set the Quickbooks Service Startup Logon type from ..\QbDataServiceUserXX to Local System Account.

If you are unsure of doing this yourself, call Intuit or PCNS if you need assistance! Helpful Links: Data File Damage Troubleshooting Quickbooks Network Diagnostic Tool

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