It's nice to see you here in the Community, @JL52.
Yes, you're right. You cannot restore unless the program is not installed on the computer. That said, you'll have to install QuickBooks first.
To install and use QBDT on your second computer. Here's how:
- Go to your new PC and install QuickBooks.
- Complete the download information and click Search.
- Click the Download button.
- Once the download is complete, the installation will automatically start. If it doesn't, double-click the installer file to proceed.
- Select Yes to All then hit Next.
- Mark the Software License Agreement then click Next.
- Enter the License and Product numbers, then hit Next.
- Pick the type of installation you want.
- Choose where you want to save QuickBooks.
- Pick a new install location or select Next to install to the default directory.
- Click Install.
I'm including some resource that walks a user through the install process:
Once done, go back to the old one and create a backup copy of your company file. Then, copy the backup file to your new one using a flash drive or other external device or through a network, if they're connected, and restore the backup on the new PC. For your reference, you can also check out this article for more information: Move your company files to another computer.
In the meantime, you can re-run the .bat file and see if the same thing happens. Please note that the duration of the migration will depend on the speed of your computer and internet, and the size of your company file. You can get the steps here: Move to or reinstall QuickBooks Desktop on another computer.
In case you'd like to run the program in a multi-user system, you'll need to make sure you have multiple licenses for each workstation. To learn more about this feature, please check out this article: Set up multi-user network.
Let me know if you have follow-up questions about the process. I'm right here to assist you further. Keep safe, @JL52.