How can I turn off the automatic read only setting

Let me provide you an insight into why you have the read-only setting in QuickBooks, @biconix1. 

The read or view access only is set up by the Administrator, this is a restriction for users in QuickBooks to keep users from seeing the account balances.

If you wanted to remove this restriction, make sure that you log in as an Admin. 

To remove the view only restriction, here’s how. 

1. Go to Company menu, 
2. Select User.
3. Select Set up Users and Roles.
4. Select the user that you wanted to remove the View Only Roles/Restriction.
5. On the Assigned Roles, Highlight the View Only. Then, click Remove.
6. Click Ok.

You can refer to this article for additional information on how to create and manage roles in QuickBook: Create and manage roles in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise.

Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions. Keep safe.

Thank you very much for your reply and suggestion Pabz_L

This is not the solution since I am referring the the properties of the file itself, not the accessibility within QB. BTW, I am using QB Pro 2020 not Enterprise.

I always login as the admin and it seems that when I exit QB, the application changes the properties of the QBW file to be readonly, regardless of the property when I start the QB application

Hi, biconix1.

Allow me to take over and help you access your data without being change into a read-only access file.

QuickBooks Read-Only Error usually occurs when users try to replace the company file with a backup or portable file. To get this resolve, you can follow the steps below:

1. Launch the File Explorer application on your computer and navigate to the directory in which the read-only QuickBooks file is stored.
2. Right-click the affected file and click "Properties" on the pop-up menu that appears.
3. Click the "General" tab, if necessary, and then remove the check-mark from the "Read-Only" checkbox.
4. Click the "OK" button and then try opening the file again.

After that, try restoring the original file. You can follow the steps in this article in restoring your company data: Restore your file.

To know more about creating and restoring a backup company file in QuickBooks, check these out:

• Back up your QuickBooks Desktop company file
• Restore a backup of your company file

Please get back to me if you continue to get the same results so I can look further into this. I need to make sure this is resolved and you're back up and running.

Thank you for your reply

My question is not how to change the property, my question is how to prevent QuickBooks from setting the read-only flag in the first place

The problem does not exist on my main drive, it occurs on the backup drive becasue when I copy the QBW to the backup drive, it copies it with the read-only flag set. the next time i try to copy the file, I get an error since the file is read-only and the file is not copied. thus, i do not have an up to date backup

Hello there, biconix1. 

The files can be read-only like a particular configured flash drive and other like SD cards. Certain areas of your computer memory may also be set as read-only.

Other things besides these situations, the QBW file may be Read Only due to their location. If we are not the author or creator of the QBW, we will only have the ready only available option. With that being said, it is in our NT log in depending on the authorized person if they allow us to not have the read-only QBW file access.

Know that I am here together with my colleagues above to help you more. Stay safe and healthy!

These files are on my primary hard drive, C:

again, I believe it is the application itself that closes the file on exit and sets the read-only flag. is there a way to disable this?

Hi biconix1, 

The files appear as read-only because of the type of media they are stored on. Some files on your hard drive that are set to read-only can be made editable by removing the read-only attribute in the File Explorer. Let me guide you how.

1. Launch the File Explorer application on your computer and navigate to the directory in which the read-only QuickBooks file is stored.
2. Right-click the affected file and click Properties on the pop-up menu that appears.
3. Click the General tab, if necessary, and then remove the checkmark from the Read-Only checkbox.
4. Click the OK button and then try opening the file again.

But if the files continue to open as read-only, try running QuickBooks as an administrator and then opening the file.

1. Quit QuickBooks if it is currently running on your computer.
2. Right-click the QuickBooks icon on the Windows 8 Start or Desktop screen and select Properties on the menu that appears.
3. Click the Compatibility tab in the Properties window.
4. Click the Run this Program as an Administrator box in the Privilege Level section of the Compatibility tab.
5. Click OK, click the QuickBooks icon to launch the application, and then open the read-only file.

I have included these help articles for future reference about Account Management.

Reply to this post if you need further assistance. I'll be here to help.

Thank you everyone for you responses, but I think everyone is trying to say the same thing; but it is not the solution to the problem.

Let me explain this again.

• My QBW file is on my main drive, drive C.  it is not on an SD, USB, etc. drive
• I am the administrator. I have no trouble opening the QBW file. i am able to run QB and do everything i need to do.

These are the steps:

1. at start of day, using File Explorer I see the file's read-only flag is set to true
2. I clear the flag (through file explorer as you all have described). it now set to false
3. I open the QuickBook application and do my work
4. I close the QuickBook application
5. Using File Explorer I see that the read-only flag is reset to true.

Somewhere before step #5 the read-only flag is being reset to true.

I want to know how to prevent QB in step #4 from resetting the read-only flag as seen in step #5

thank you

Hi, @biconix1. 

You can also perform these troubleshooting steps to fix your issue.

Make sure that your QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) is up to date. If you don't have the latest release version, update your QuickBooks Desktop. Then open again your company file run as an admin. 

Then, toggle the UAC setting for your windows. 

For Windows 10, 8.1, and 8

1. Close your QuickBooks.
2. Hit the Windows icon on your keyboard and type User Account Control.
3. Go to the Settings menu and click Change User Account Control Settings.
4. Note the current level and then move the slider to the highest setting, select Always notify.

For Windows 7/Vista

1. Close your QuickBooks.
2. Go to the Windows icon and enter UAC or Control Panel.
3. Click Change User Account Control.
4. Note the current level and then move the slider to the highest setting, select Always notify.
5. Open QuickBooks and close again.
6. Re-open the user account control settings and move the slider to its original position.
7. Open the company file. 

You can also, log in as a Windows administrator.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Windows icon and select Log off.
2. Choose the administrator account and enter the password.
3. Open the company file

You can also check this article to keep you guided: Connection to QuickBooks company file lost.

Please let me know how it goes. I'll appreciate the opportunity to help you. Have a great day.

i have the latest version of QuickBooks Pro 2020

Please explain what problem your proposed solution fixes. I do not see how UAC affects the readonly settings?

Thank you so much for the details, @biconix1.

QBW is the extension when you create a company file, that's why you're unable to back-up this file. QuickBooks resets it to read-only file extension because this serves as the main file you use in the system. If you want to back up a file, make sure to create it in QuickBooks by QBB file extension (file for backup).

You can refer to this article to check what file types you can back up and file types handled by QBDT: File types and extensions used by QuickBooks Desktop.

You can also refer to this article on how to create automatic backups: Back up your QuickBooks Desktop company file.

Please let me know if you have further questions. I'll keep my notifications open. Have a good one!

SarahannC,  

I came upon your response when exploring options to provide a user with read-only access to QB premier .

Is there a way to utilize this to do that?

Thanks

Bob

Hello, @bobbieme.

Can you tell me more about the part where you want to have a user to have a read-only access?  That will surely help us provide an accurate solution to the concern that you're having.

You can click the Reply button below to add more details.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon! Take care and have a wonderful day!