Desk top

Mary-79 · ‎January 26, 2026

I am 79 and have used QuickBooks since 1997. I have the discs and CD’s. I have bought a new desktop version about every three years. I have a small farm in Oregon one full-time employee summer help. I never used QuickBooks payroll never used QuickBooks invoicing never used anything except tracking income and expenses. A glorified checkbook that gives me totals at the end of the year in different areas like twine, cow food, salt blocks new batteries. When a battery on a tractor is not working I look up when I bought the last one in my QuickBooks rather than digging through paper files trying to find the receipt

I bought my last copy of QuickBooks at Costco 12/21/21 quickBooks desktop Pro plus 2022 thinking this would be the last one I buy since I’m doing less and less every year. I used it the get Information ready for taxes each year. Then I Spent the weekend entering the information I needed to file my 1040 federal tax
On Sunday When I tried to open my file I was locked out. Apparently, I was required to buy a new QuickBooks at a cost so prohibitive I can’t afford it. I live on Social Security and I haven’t been able to use my QuickBooks since which has my entire life.
Every dollar I spent on a gift for my children every time I paid for a new drivers license, the date and cost of My last trip with my husband before he died on the boat at Crater Lake. it’s all gone and QuickBooks is demanding I pay before I can ever see my history again. The new version so I can see all the entries of my life, make copies of Entries and send them to a grandchild and say this is when your parent went here, this is when we bought that Horse. I have slides and photographs, but QuickBooks has all the dates QuickBooks has how much I paid for the prom dress.
Does anyone know any way without buying their new program? Why cant I just continue to use the last Program I bought and paid for.
This is an outrageous unbelievable thing QuickBooks has done. I can’t believe there’s not a way after all these years to keep using my program and not have to pay An exorbitant amount of my Social Security to Quick Books . How was it legal for them to somehow enter my computer? Does anybody know a way I can fix this problem or do I need to finally just give up and realize it’s all gone?

MichaelaS

Hi, Mary-79. I’m so sorry you’re facing this frustrating and heartbreaking situation. I understand how important these records are to you, not just for bookkeeping, but for preserving memories.

Intuit has shifted much of its software to subscription-based models, which are designed to require annual payments to keep accessing the program's features and updates. Earlier versions were perpetual licenses that you could purchase outright and use for many years without additional payments. However, starting with the "Pro Plus" versions (such as your 2022 copy), these are tied to subscriptions that require periodic license authentication. When the subscription expires, the program locks access until a payment is made, with no option to continue using it otherwise.

Since you no longer want to purchase and just want to have copies of your data, you may use the free trial version of QuickBooks Desktop. You'll be able to download and use a trial of the software for up to 30 days, which would allow you to open your backup company file, export your data, and save everything.

Open this link to download the trial version: Download a trial of QuickBooks Desktop.

Here’s the next step to follow after the download is completed:

1. Once QuickBooks is open,
2. Follow the on-screen instructions and click the Open or restore an existing company.
3. Search your computer for a file ending in .QBW (most recent date). This is your QuickBooks company file with all your data. You should still have your data file, even if QuickBooks itself is locked.
4. Then, export all the data you need to Excel.

If in case you can’t find any backup data or file, I recommend contacting our Technical Live Support team. They have advanced tools and capabilities to further check this in the system. Please inform them of this entire information so they won’t ask you to pay anything.

Please don’t hesitate to leave us a response if you have other questions or concerns.

SIAB

@Mary-79

I bought my last copy of QuickBooks at Costco 12/21/21 quickBooks desktop Pro plus 2022 thinking this would be the last one I buy since I’m doing less and less every year.

I'm sorry to read about your current situation. As I know, Intuit offered QB Desktop 2022 in two options: a Perpetual License and a Subscription License. Many users were careless in choosing the much lower subscription option and are stuck paying the renewal fee the following year. However, I'm confused if you claim to have purchased a subscription (Plus) license but haven't paid the renewal fee since 2022. And I wouldn't be surprised if their servers suddenly flag your license and ask you to renew it.

I would recommend to contact @Fiat Lux - ASIA directly via email to resolve your problem. They can help to convert your data to old QB Desktop with a no subscription license.

T

MichaelaS

Hi, @Mary-79

Just checking in to see if the solution we shared worked for you.

Please let us know if everything is now working smoothly or if you're still experiencing any challenges.

We'll be glad to assist further if needed.

Topics

Training

Community

Resources

Desk top

Desk top

Desk top

Desk top

Need to get in touch?