"Reach out to the administrator" is not a solution here.  If you've got 50+ PC's with multiple versions of QB installed on each, this is not feasible.  What Intuit should be doing, and is standard practice for any competent software vendor, is to provide msi's for these updates the same way they provide exe's.  That way IT depts could simply deploy these updates to all PC's silently when they are released and be done with it.

I reached out to Intuit about this and had my ticket escalated.  I've been told this is "by design" and Intuit has no plans of doing anything about it.  The only options to date that I am aware of are to either have your domain admin constantly have to log in to users PC's to elevate permissions, or have your users set as local admins which is a big security threat.

QB desktop 2021 update.  I (admin) and two other users were able to install the latest update however the last user receives the following message immediately after clicking the QB icon.

Looks like you don't have the required permissions.  Contact our system administrator.

What do we do?

Clearly, Quickbooks is not intended for the enterprise. They have no concept about what enterprise means. These updates are one of many issues. The way Quickbooks decides to update permissions to a free for all everyone access is another big issue with the enterprise.

It is ridiculous that users get locked out of using Quickbooks until the update is installed. In an enterprise users do not have admin rights to their computers. Often users are on Remote Desktop Servers as well. That puts everyone in a work standstill until all the computers accessing Quickbooks can get updated. We have had to disable this "feature".

QB support,

Are you able to provide the folders that QB uses so we can try adding QB users as admins to these folders? Perhaps that will allow the QB user to install the updates.

Thanks.

Thanks for dropping by the Online Community, @ODGFIT.

Currently, providing the folder that QuickBooks uses on how to add a QuickBooks user to the folder is unavailable. If you'd like to have this folder so the user can easily install updates, I'd suggest sending feedback straight to our engineers for consideration in a future update. Your voice plays a vital role in determining how to best improve QuickBooks.

Here's how you can send feedback through QuickBooks:

1. Go to the Help menu.
2. Select Send Feedback Online.
3. Then click Product Suggestion.
4. Enter your suggestions and details then click Send Feedback.

I also encourage you to visit our Firm of the Future site to be updated with our latest news including product enhancements: Firm of the Future.

I've collected these articles that tackle maintaining your software up-to-date and managing users in QBDT: 

• Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release
• Create and manage users and roles in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

You're always welcome to the Community space whenever you have additional questions. I'll be here to back you up anytime. Stay safe!

Great, so we get to start all over because QB has yet ANOTHER bug.  I'm so OVER Intuit and their products!  I get to reinstall our shipping settings, our printer settings, our tab configuration on all our workstations.  INTUIT SHOULD BE PAYING OUR EMPLOYEE COSTS BECAUSE THEY ARE COSTING FAR MORE THAN THEIR ALREADY OUTRAGEOUS FEES.  Not to mention the time they've taken from me managing other areas of our company.  Corporations are the scum of this country!

I was wondering if I was the only company to be fed up with Quickbooks constant problems and how they seem to gaslight and make it (our) problem to fix or PAY more to get them to fix their junk program!

lol.  it would be great if we could "logout" of multi user mode... if the program would not lock us out of opening it!  Since that is the true problem.  Good ole Intuit not fixing their bugs they create.  I've chalked it up to all be deliberate so they can justify charging you even more as "support" for their failed, counterproductive product.

@LC711 

Which QB Desktop year version and Windows OS do you run?

The simple answer is because Intuit doesn't know how to write software properly.

Think about it.

Microsoft Office can update without an admin having to run the updates (any user can open Word, go to File, Accounts, and check for updates).  

Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox and any other browser that I'm aware of can update automatically.

Adobe Acrobat updates automatically.  And the list goes on. 

Many applications have a "check for updates" option that can check for and install applications without the need for an administrative user. 

And yet, somehow, QB's developers haven't figured this part out.

And so their fix is to either make systems less secure as many companies will take the easy way out and let users run with administrative privileges so that they can work when they need to or to force users to have to stop and get an admin to update their application. 

Very poor design. 

Hi there, @wolfbc.

Thanks for following the thread and sharing your concerns with us. I'm happy to lend you a helping hand to get you back up and running in no time. 

If you have enabled the Automatic Update feature, you'll see the prompt whenever QuickBooks has a new update. Have you tried installing it? QuickBooks regularly launches new releases to improve the program functionality by getting the latest features and fixes. I recommend updating your QuickBooks Desktop by clicking Install Now. This way, you can continue working and prevent issues along the way. 

You may also turn off the reminders whenever there's a new release. Here's how:

1. Go to Help and then Update QuickBooks Desktop.
2. Select the Options tab.
3. Choose No to turn on automatic updates. 
4. Click Close.

Then, you can choose to update your software manually.

Reach out to us if you have other concerns you'd like to raise about updating QBDT. I'll be around. Have a wonderful day, @wolfbc!

Most of the people responding here have no clue what we're actually referring to. The update pop up will appear at any time, end users are immediately unable to access QB as they don't have permissions to run the update. There may be 5 or 10 people working in QB already we CANNOT run the update in the middle of a work day. One workaround is to disable the automatic update service, even go so far as to rename the exe itself so it cannot start since Intuit is obviously too stupid to fix this problem.

Agreed- many even on the QB side don't get it. My small org's IT system admin is on vacation, so if QB auto-update detected a new version and I had auto-update turned on, I'd get the pop-up and get locked out of QB totally until I updated, but can't update without the windows desktop system admin logging in (he's on vacation) and giving permissions. And many of the past QB responses to this issue just say "login as the system admin and update" but do not say WINDOWS system admin, and so they also confuse the Windows system admin with the QB system admin.

hello this Ivan from Indian head worship center clgi I'M EMAIL AGAIN HAVING PROBLEM AGAIN  GETTING IN QUICKBOOK IT SAID I HAVE ONE TIME TO OPEN  QB THAT I NEED TO DO UPDATE SO I WHEN TO THE HELP IN QB AND I DID THE UPDATE AND IT STILL NOT WORKING CAN SOME GIVE ME A CALL TO FIX THIS PROBLEM I WAS TOLD THAT I WOULD HAVE THIS PROBLEM ANY MORE BUT I STEAD HAVING THIS PROBLEM CAN SOMEONE GIVE ME A CALL 301-257-5968 Ivan thank you

Also, FWIW, the administrative credentials being requested are for the administrator of the network, not Quickbooks. A not desirable way to accomplish the update is for the Admin to log into to workstation, right click Run as Administrator, and then enter the network administrator's credentials. Works fine after that. The only way I see is for the Admin(me) to update every workstation or disable automatic updates and possibly renaming the *.exe file that initiates the updates. Not ideal, at all...

I am getting this message and need to login to QG.  I am the only user.  Does uninstalling the program delete all of the data as well?  

Thanks for chiming in on this thread, TSneed. 

I'll share details and steps to help you modify your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) program.

When uninstalling your desktop software, this won't affect any data stored in your company file. Before this process, I'd suggest securing a backup copy of your file. Make sure to save them to your local hard drive and restore it at any time.

Once ready, you can follow these steps to uninstall QuickBooks:

1. Open the Windows Start menu. Enter and open Control Panel.
2. Select Programs and Features or Uninstall a Program.
3. From the list of programs, select QuickBooks Desktop.
4. Select Uninstall/Change, Remove, and click Next.  
5. If this option is not visible on your end, sign out and sign back in to Windows as an admin.

Once done, you'll need to install QBDT again. Here's how:

1. Open the file QuickBooks.exe.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions. Accept the software license agreement and then select Next.
3. Enter your product and license numbers. Then select Next.

Once everything looks good, right-click the QB icon on your desktop screen and select Run as administrator to update the QuickBooks release.

You can visit this article for more detailed information: Reinstall QuickBooks Desktop.

Moreover, I've added this reference to guide you in maintaining your software up to its latest release: Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release.

We'll always be here if you need anything else managing your desktop program and other QuickBooks concerns. Feel free to reply in the comments below. Have a good one!

Thank you for posting your concern here in the thread, Roberta12.

Are you having the same issue with the initial post? If so, make sure you're the master admin when updating the QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

If you're already the primary admin and getting the same prompt message, I suggest following the suggested troubleshooting in the thread first.

If you've already performed these suggestions, then you can proceed to uninstall and reinstall QBDT to fix the issue. For troubleshooting steps, you can visit @FateCandylaneT's post in the thread.

Additionally, if you want to maintain your software up to it's latest release, you can refer to this article: Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release.

Keep in touch if you have further questions about the product in QBDT. I'll be sure to get you back promptly.

Same trash answers for the same trashy Y2K code base all versions of desktop are running.  Obviously it is such a mess of patch, patch patch the same old code over 20+ years that Desktop has been discontinued and made worse with more expensive, less feature and slower online edition.  You can only vote with  your feet.  Your suggestions for improvement are better delivered by message-in-a-bottle and toss into a river that feeds to the Pacific Ocean.  Sending vial Atlantic ocean will take a little longer but either will be faster than filling out a suggestion box that is simply deleted whenever it gets full.