Question

QB Desktop on a network

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 18, 2022
2 replies
9 views

I have 3 computers networked together. One of the PCs is the “server”, and QB was installed in server mode on the server PC. QB works just fine on the server PC. The other two PC work ok, but often the get intermittent “Can’t communicate with the company file…” errors. If I run Scan Folders in the Database Server Manager, on the server, the other two networked PCs can open QB as normal again, but a day later the “Can’t communicate…” error pops up again. All three computers are Windows10 and Windows firewall is turned off on all three computers. QB version is Desktop Premier 2021.

Any thoughts?

QuickBooks Desktop

Fiat Lux - ASIA

Level 14

Do you have a Wireless LAN environment?

R

runmonkeyAuthor

No. The three computers are wired to a gigabit switch. Thanks

RenjolynC

Level 9

Hello, runmonkey.

I'd like to add a solution to help you fix the error.

If you haven't tried turning off the hosting on your workstations, let's do that to resolve the error. Before doing so, please update your QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release. Then, follow the steps below to turn off the Host Multi-User Access option ion your workstations. These are computers connected to your network that don’t host your company files. Your server computer should be the only one hosting.

Here's how:

Open QuickBooks on one of your workstations.
Don't open your company file. Instead, go to File > Utilities. If you see the "Host Multi-User Access" option, don’t select it. Move on to the next workstation. This one isn’t causing the problem.
If Stop Hosting Multi-User Access is an option, select it.

Once done checking your two workstations, move on to your server computer and reset your hosting settings by following these steps:

Open QuickBooks on your server computer.
Go to File > Utilities.
If Host Multi-User Access is an option, select it. Repeat this process and select Stop Hosting Multi-User Access. This resets multi-user mode.
Repeat the process one more time and select Host Multi-User Access. If you still see an error, reach out to our support team so we can help fix your firewall.

For reference, you can check Step 6 in this article: How to fix "Error: Cannot communicate with the company file due to firewall".

I'm also including these links to learn more about the system requirements and see other solutions when you can't open the program:

Please let us know how things go after trying out the steps above. We're here to help you out again. Take care and stay safe.