Thanks for following up with the Community, NickConder.

This isn't the experience I want you to have. I understand you've been contacting our Customer Care team, but I'd recommend continuing to get in touch with them. They'll be able to pull up your account in a secure environment, conduct further research, and create an investigation ticket if necessary.

If you're having trouble receiving callbacks when requested in-product, you can try requesting one (or starting a chat session) from our website.

Here's how:

1. Go to our Contact Us page.
2. In the Which edition? drop-down list, choose your edition.
3. Enter a description of the situation in your What's your question? We'll find you the right help. text box.
4. Click Continue.
5. Select Have us call you for a callback or Chat with us to start an instant messaging session.
   

You'll also be able to find many detailed resources about using QuickBooks in our help article archives.

Please don't hesitate to send a reply if there's any questions. Have a wonderful day!

@NickConder 

Utilize the trial version of a simple private cloud solution to isolate your issue (i.e running a file in multiuser mode). Contact us in private for assistance.

https://myquickcloud.com/partners/affiliate-program/onboarding/?pc=fiatlux

Hello, 

I have the same problem...

CM

Hello,

I have the same problem... I had to log in in the computer 2 with my Host/admin user first in Single Mode, and then, Change to Multiuser mode... Then, loged in in the main (hosting) computer with the User 2 to be able to use both computers and the same file at one time... I could acces today thanks to your comment, with this problem. Never happend that situation before, it is the first time in years, after update to 2021 QB version.

Good day,

CM

This is issue is not what I have but seems similar so I'll post here.  I have QB Pro 2020 company file on a PC running Windows 10 Pro using as a 'data server'.  I've set the QB folder to FULL SHARE for Everyone plus at setup I ran the QB Database Server Manager and identified/shared QB files in the stored location.  Now I have 2 workstations that access and yes, we have multi-user licenses.  At the start of each day, one user can log in but it's in single user and when changing to multi user, we get error code H202.  So - I run the QB Database Server Manager on the Data server again and it let's us switch to multi-user.  Works the rest of the day.  Problem.  At the start of each day, we're right back to single user and when changing to multi receiving error code H202 and I have to run the QB Database Server Manager again.  We can make it work but it's a pain having to do this every day.  Anyone have any insight on this unique issue?  Thank you in advance!

Thanks for updating this thread and letting us know what's going on, @HOC.

We wanted to make sure you're able to resolve the error H202 you're getting on your company file. This error occurs when the multi-user connection to your server is blocked. The inability to communicate with the server computer will prevent you from accessing the QuickBooks company file (QBW).

To fix the problem, follow the steps in this article: How to fix Error H202 and H505

If you need help with the steps for error H202, you can contact an IT guy to help you out. Otherwise, you can call our Live Support people to walk you through the process.

They can help diagnose any issues in the company file and help you further with the rules. To get our support, follow the steps below in your QuickBooks Desktop company file:

1. Open QuickBooks and click the Help menu.
2. Select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. On the pop-up screen select Contact us.
   
4. Click the Search for Something else button then type your concern in the Ask us anything box.
5. Hit Search then scroll down to get your contact options.

Refer to this article to learn more about our contact options and support availability: Contact QuickBooks Desktop support

Visit us anytime if there's anything else you need assistance with QuickBooks Desktop network. We are always here to help you out. You can also mention me in your posts anytime.

"To break it down, if system 1 has the company file open, the second system cannot access at all until the first system closes."

- Did you ever fix this problem? We also have this problem on one of our Quickbooks terminal servers but not all the time, just randomly it will occur. A few weeks will go by where terminal service users and network users are working fine with Quickbooks then bam! ... no one on the network can open the file until we reboot the server. 

Very frustrating, we've been dealing with this since about Quickbooks 2019 or 2018. Never happened before an upgrade. 

I feel like the best experience we had was possibly 2016 or 2017 with this configuration but along the way Intuit introduced this very annoying bug. 

Welcome aboard to the QuickBooks Community, niagarasys.

Multi-user mode support access for two different company files with two licensed users at the same time. Also, it allows three licensed users access one company file at the same time. 

Since the issue persists after following the steps shared in this thread, I highly suggest contacting our Support team. They have tools such as screen-sharing (remote access) that can pull up your account in a secure environment and check the cause of this error. They can also perform other troubleshooting steps if necessary.

Here's how to reach them:

1. In QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), go to the Help menu at the top.
2. Select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
3. Click Contact Us.

For future references, you can check on these articles: 

• Features Available And Tasks You Can Perform in Single or Multi-user Mode.
• Host Your Company Data File in Multi-user Mode.

Feel free to get back to the Community team if you have more questions. Have a good one!

SOLVED!! I spent many hours researching this issue and tried everything in all the solutions posted here without success. Through a series of testing steps I discovered an article that said to either restart the QuickbooksDB Service (which I had tried several times) or disable QUICKBOOKS MESSENGER! What?? Apparently it wasn't shutting down properly and kept thinking that the user was the host. Not sure about all of that but my issue was solved. Just wanted to let you know.

UPDATE...since it's impossible to delete my post above. Disabling QB Messenger did NOT solve the issue. It is still happening. Unbelievable that I cannot find a solution to this issue!! I've done everything in every article I've read and I still (on the host computer) have to log out of QB in order to let a user in. So frustrating!

Thank you for visiting the QuickBooks Community, liann62. I understand that things have been challenging for you with managing multi-user in QuickBooks Desktop. I also appreciate you for performing some steps to fix the issue. With this, let's perform another troubleshooting instruction so your user can log in to the other computer without logging out of your host computer.

Since disabling QuickBooks messenger nor restarting the Quickbooks DB Server didn't work. I suggest opening this article: Fix locked file errors in QuickBooks Desktop. This provides different methods how to fix multi-user issues, then start following solution three so you can begin resolving your concern.

If the issue persists, I suggest contacting our QuickBooks Desktop Support Team. They have the tools to pull your account and investigate the cause of the issue.

1. Press F1 to open the Help window.
2. From the search icon, type Contact Support.
3. Click Contact us at the bottom part.
4. Give a brief description of your issue about the multi user and click the Search button.
5. You'll be routed through How to connect with a QuickBooks expert and you choose which one is best for you.

Lastly, you may refer to this article to view unexpected errors that you might encounter that can block the multi-user connection and how to fix them: How to fix Error H202 and H505.

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you should have any questions about this or anything else about the multi user. Take care and have a good one, liann62.

I am encountering issues with QuickBooks Enterprise 2023 in Multi-user mode. Specifically, I am receiving Error H202 and H505, which are preventing me from using the application effectively.

PROBLEM:

I know this is an old post but here it is 2023 and still having same problem.  I have had this problem a lot lately on Enterprise Solutions 23.0.  Usually we get a QB or Win update and that messes up anyone trying to log in except for host computer.  Sometimes running file doctor and database manager and restarting all PC's fixes it.  Today for 3 hours i go around and around and none of the fixes work just like everyone above says.... 

FIX:

Finally I saw somewhere about the "CompanyFile.QBW.ND" file has the hosting information.... I opened that file in notepad, and instead of the host pc's local ip showing "ServerIp=192.168.1.X"  it was showing 169.125.x.x or some address that is unknown to me.  I changed that ip to the local host pc and that fixed the problem instantly.  Not sure why we should have to edit ip's on our own but here it is.  Hopefully this helps someone else down the road.... 

ProTip: if you don't know how to find IP's, on server PC hit WIN+R, type CMD.  then type ipconfig /all and look for IPv4 address.  Good luck!

@bonzii34 

Thank you for sharing the solution that helped me to fix the issue with QuickBooks Error in multi-user mode. I'm sure it will be helpful to others who encounter a similar issue.

Hi Everyone,

I spent over 30 hours working with Quickbooks support to try to solve our Multi user mode issue and kept going in circles without a resolution.

We found a AMAZING IT Company that has delt with a lot of quickbooks issues and scenarios

They were able to solve our multi user mode issue and plus more.

Highly recommend them!

name of the company is MTech Solutions 

Website:   mtechsolutions.tech

Ask for Mark

Hope they can fix all your guys issue also 

Your post didn't directly fix my problem (unable to open the QB file simultaneously on two computers, even though the file was in multi-user mode), but it guided me to a fix.

See #5 in the following link.  

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/product-setup/nd-files-quickbooks-des...

1 for Hosting On; 2 for Hosting Off

Both of my .ND files were set to 2, not 1.  I manually edited the files in Notepad (changing the 2 to 1).  Next time I had no trouble opening the QB files from both computers.

Your post didn't directly fix my problem (unable to open the QB file simultaneously on two computers, even though the file was in multi-user mode), but it guided me to a fix.

See #5 in the following link.  

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/product-setup/nd-files-quickbooks-des...

1 for Hosting On; 2 for Hosting Off

Both of my .ND files were set to 2, not 1.  I manually edited the files in Notepad (changing the 2 to 1).  Next time I had no trouble opening the QB files from both computers.

Your post didn't directly fix my problem (unable to open the QB file simultaneously on two computers, even though the file was in multi-user mode), but it guided me to a fix.

See #5 in the following link.  

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/product-setup/nd-files-quickbooks-des...

1 for Hosting On; 2 for Hosting Off

Both of my .ND files were set to 2, not 1.  I manually edited the files in Notepad (changing the 2 to 1).  Next time I had no trouble opening the QB files from both computers.

Hi, RealityChex.
 

I'm glad to hear that the guidance provided led you to a resolution for opening your QuickBooks file simultaneously on multiple computers. Your proactive approach to troubleshooting and sharing your solution is greatly appreciated, and it contributes valuable insights to our community.
 

If you have any questions or require further questions about QuickBooks Desktop in a multi-user environment, we'll be here to assist. Take care. 

I have been dealing with the same issues for the last couple weeks with Quickbooks customer support and 3 out of every 4 have no idea what is going on. Countless hours have been spent trying to figure this out and it has been very frustrating. I needed two seats for our growing company and I was told by sales that it would be a really easy transition, as I was hesitant to purchase another seat. This has been nothing but easy. I will read through this thread and hopefully find something that works on my own. 

@bbarso 

Which QB Desktop year version and edition do you have?