Payroll Support

Troubleshoot QuickBooks passwords

Article ID: 1000032
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Problem

Passwords can be rejected for any of the following reasons:

  • Passwords are case-sensitive.
  • Accessibility Settings are incorrect or missing.
    • Open the control panel and choose Accessibility Options, make sure none of the boxes on any of the tabs are checked.
  • Spaces are part of the password.
    • Could a space have been recorded inadvertently when you created or entered the password.
  • The keyboard might not be functioning correctly.
    • Enter the password in a text editor program such as Notepad to be sure the keyboard works properly.
  • An incorrect login screen appears.
    • A login screen that asks for a password but not a user name is the administrator's login screen. If the administrator's login screen appears, close QuickBooks, and then reopen it.

Assumptions

A forgotten or unaccepted password prevents QuickBooks from being accessible.

Expected Outcome

You will be able to proceed with your QuickBooks sign in.

Details

If you have lost or forgotten your password, or if your password is still rejected after trying these suggestions, ask your QuickBooks administrator to reset your password.

Administrator password

The same problems and possible solutions described for the user password also apply to the administrator password. Several additional solutions apply to the administrator password:

Be sure you are opening the company file associated with the password.

Click Cancel on the sign-in screen.

Choose File > Open Previous Company.

Try to open several files to see if your password works in any of them.

If a backup copy was created prior to adding the password, restore the backup copy of the company file.

 
Important: If you use the QuickBooks Assisted Payroll Service, do not restore a backup.

Move the password-protected company file to a new location on your hard disk so that the backup does not overwrite it.

Retain the password-protected file in case you need to send it to Intuit for recovery.

Manually enter any data that was added after the backup was made.

If you are converting the data file and the password is rejected, try removing the administrator password in the previous version before starting the conversion.

If the QuickBooks administrator password still does not work, access the QuickBooks Automated Password Removal Service.

For additional information on passwords and working with the QuickBooks Sign-in window, please select one of the following articles:

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