Last updated on July 30th, 2022 at 10:57 am
Summary: Do you have the ‘Company file In Use‘ error keeping you from working in QuickBooks? Find out what is causing the problem and the best way to resolve the issue. Try using an QuickBooks repair tool to get access to the company’s files from multiple countries versions like QuickBooks(R) Canada, US, UK, Germany, and numerous other.
It is possible to be shut out from QuickBooks and be unable to access your company’s file due to the “Company File Not In Use” error. This is how the error message appears to be:
In the message, If any QB user doing something, be patient until the task is completed or force-quit QB. If you’re still getting this error, the following suggestions can help you solve the problem. Before we do that, let’s look at some possible causes for the file of the company is not in use error.
Possible causes for QuickBooks ‘Company File in Use’ Error
- A different QB client is working on the task which is limited to a single user at a given time. This is the reason you might encounter the ‘company file not in use’ message, even in the event that the file is stored with multiple users.
- The company’s file is utilized by a different application running in the background.
- Hosting settings are not set properly on the server or workstation.
- QuickBooks Database Server Manager settings aren’t properly set up.
- There’s a problem with the company’s files.
Solutions to fix the QuickBooks ‘Company file In Use’ Error?
Notice: Before implementing the above solutions, be sure that you make a backup copy of your company’s file to ensure that you don’t lose data.
Solution 1: Enter the User’s ID to the Error Out field of QuickBooks
If a particular user is mentioned in the error message, however, the user is not doing anything in QB, you should remove the user from QB. If you want to do this, try these steps:
- Create the user that is mentioned in the error QuickBooks on their computer and open it again.
- On a different PC On another computer, start QuickBooks. Select the Company menu, then hover above the Users tab, and then click “View Users”.
- You can sign-out the person, which is referred by the error by using QuickBooks at their computer.
Browse through the list of users and if there is no sign-in for the user who is that is signed in, you should be able to access the company’s file without problem. If this isn’t enough to resolve the issue, you can consider the following method.
Solution 2 – Check if Hosting is configured correctly on All Workstations
NOTE: This solution applies to users who are experiencing the ‘Company File in Use error on multiple workstations.
If the company’s file is hosted across multiple workstations Check if the hosting is on for each workstation. For this, you must open QuickBooks and perform the following:
- Select File and select Utilities.
- If you see the Stop Hosting Multi-User Access, just click on it and then select Yes.
- If you are seeing Host Multi-User-Access, you must follow these steps:
- Close QB.
- Repeat the steps above for all the computers that don’t host the company’s file.
Then, open QuickBooks and perform the same procedure that led to the error. If the error is still there you can try the following solution.
Solution 3 – Run QuickBooks Database Server Manager
You can share a business file with other computers on the network with QuickBooks Database Server Manager. If the configuration settings of the QuickBooks Database Server Manager aren’t set correctly it could be difficult to connect to the company file from the host computer. Also, you might be confronted with the ‘Company File Not In Use Error Message.
To fix the issue, reboot QuickBooks Database Server Manager on the Server computer (i.e. the one that hosts the company’s file). Restart it using these steps:
- Start the QuickBooks Desktop application on the server PC.
- In the menu at the top, select the File tab and then choose Open and Restore Company.
- Select to select the Open a file for your company option.
- Find your company’s file, then open it. Next, click the next button.
- Make sure to check the open file using multiple users checkbox and then click to open the file..
- Log in to access your company’s file.
- Once the company file is open When the company file opens, click File and then select to close the company or log off to close the company files on your server.
- Select the Windows search bar, type, and start QuickBooks Database Server Manager.
Check if the issue is resolved after completing these steps. If not, proceed to the next option.
Solution 4: Use The QuickBooks Tool Hub
It is the QuickBooks Tool Hub provides several tools to resolve issues in a company’s data. You can download the hub for your server from this link. After downloading, here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Start your tool hub.
- From the dialog box for the tool hub Click on the tab for Program Problems. tab.
- On to the Program Problems window, run every tool.
- One at a time and complete this task again in QuickBooks and again.
If you are still getting this error If you are still getting the error, try the solution below.
Solution 5 – Clean Install of QuickBooks on the server
Check out this hyperlink for more details on how to install the QuickBooks desktop application onto your server.
The Wrapping Up
Hope that the solutions presented in this blog can help you in solving the QuickBooks “Company File in Use error“. However, if the issue continues to persist you can try to restore the file with the QuickBooks Data Recovery tool such as Stellar Repair to QuickBooks software. It helps to restore all the data in an enterprise file (QBW) by fixing it. The program works for a variety of versions of the country version of QuickBooks like Canada as well as New Zealand, Canada US, New Zealand, and so on.
The software is able to recover QBW file information from QuickBooks Version 2022 and prior versions.