Hello there, @lbr441.

I'd be happy to lend you a hand and help guide you on how to set up manual payroll in QuickBooks Desktop.

If you're trying to set up manual payroll without any payroll subscription, make sure that your computer is offline or is not connected to the internet. 

Then, proceed the following steps below to set up your company preferences for payroll:

1. Click Edit at the top, and then select Preferences.
2. On the left panel, select Payroll & Employees then go to the Company Preferences tab.
3. In the QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Features section, select the Full Payroll radio button.
4. Select OK. 

Once done, you can now create the manual payroll. Let me walk you through the steps:

1. Click Help at the top, and then select QuickBooks Help (or press F1 on your keyboard).
2. In the Search field, type manual payroll and press Enter on your keyboard.
3. Select the topic Calculate payroll manually (without a subscription to QuickBooks Payroll).
4. Under Set your company file to use the manual payroll calculations setting, click the manual payroll calculations link.
5. Select Set my company file to use manual calculations link. When your company file is set up for manual payroll computation, QuickBooks inserts a zero amount for each payroll item associated with a tax.
6. Close and reopen QuickBooks Desktop.

For additional reference, you can check this article: Set up payroll without a subscription.

That should do it! Please know that your always welcome to post if you have additional questions about the manual payroll. I'm always here to help you out. Have a good one.