Restore local backup not working

Issues like this can happen if the backup file contains special characters, JTEXAS.

You can review the file name and check if it has these characters: ( / \ < > ! $ ). If you find one, follow these steps to fix it:

1. Find the location of your company file.
2. Search for the files using Windows if you need additional help locating your file.
3. Right-click the file name and select Rename.
4. Create a file name that has no special character and Enter.

If the file name doesn't have special characters, let's isolate the issue by using a sample file. This helps us know if it's a backup or QuickBooks issue.

Here's how:

1. Open QuickBooks.
2. In the No Company Open window, click the Open a sample file box.
3. From the drop-down, select a file and see if it opens.

If the sample file opens, this means that the backup is damaged. Please give us a call so we can fix it for you.

To get our phone number:

1. Open this link https://help.quickbooks.intuit.com/en_US/contact.
2. Select QuickBooks Desktop and choose your version.
3. Click the Solving Issues & Error Messages topic.
4. Click the File & Network Management sub-topic.
5. Scroll down and click the Get Phone Number button.

Please keep me posted with the results. I'll be around to help you further.

This is not the right function: "but the problem is that qb closes out as soon as I hit the "Next" button on "Create Local Backup", and won't even let me select any file to back up from."

You want to use the No Company Open, the middle big button, for Open/Restore an Existing file. Browse to the backup.

"I've tried saving the backup file from my flash drive to the desktop"

Exactly. Then, you use the program to browse to that file, and it asks where to save the Working File it is going to create and you get to control the name here. You are not Creating a backup. You are pointing the program to the backup you just copied over, so that it can generate a Working File from it.

And it is time to get QB 2019. QB 2016 reaches end of life in May 2019; QB 2019 has been out for months, already.