Restoring a backup company file.

any error message? To isolate the problem, create a dummy file on 2015 and restrore it on 2018. If you can restore the dummy file, your data file is damaged. Call and ask Intuit Data Service to fix it. Otherwise, consider purchasing a 3rd party file recovery service.

The error message is "This is an invalid format of a Post QB2007 backup file.

Thanks Fiat Lux-ASIA for your help. The error message I am getting is "Restore Failed. This is an invalid format of a Post QB2007 backup file."

How old is the backup? Do you still have the actual QWB working file in 2015 version available to just "open" within QB2028?   Can you restore it into QB2015 and not 2018? What happens then? It is possible your backup has either had its name type changed or is corrupt.

Thank you John-pero for your reply. The backup is a couple of weeks old and as far as I know its just a standard backup coming from a 2015 desktop version of Quickbooks. Nothing out of the ordinary. I actually restored a backup file from this same 2015 program several months ago and everything was successful with that restore. I talked to a QB specialist a few minutes ago and she told me that it sounded like the file might be damaged or corrupt in some way and that a better backup might be a portable file instead of a QBW file. I think I get my client to send the company file to me that way and see if that will work.

Thanks so much for your help

Hopalong

If your client works in 2015 and you work in 2018 you do realize you cannot send back any backup that they can restore at their end.

Yes I do realize this. Thanks for  your help with this.

Hopalong

John-pero, I just wanted you to know that I did find a solution to my problem restoring my client's backed up company file. I discovered along the way that having him create a portable file was the answer to the problem. He could even email me this portable file as an attachment and I could restore it and presto, I had the company file to work with. I really appreciate  your help with this. I think now we will both look into upgrading to the same version of Quickbooks so we can swap files back and forth.

Thanks again,

Hopalong

I am trying to restore a 2021 company file to QB Desktop 2022 that I downloaded.  When I try to do it it says the file is read only and can't restore.  What do I do?  do I need to save it differently?

I understand this isn't an easy process for you, @lispot.

Let me ensure you can restore the company file into QuickBooks Desktop 2022.

The error you're seeing is caused by mismatched Windows folder permissions, firewall settings, or internet settings.

This normally happens when you first access the company file, but it gets resolved when you restart QuickBooks. Aside from that, running QuickBooks as a Windows administrator will suffice. Run QuickBooks as Administrator by right-clicking the QuickBooks icon on your desktop and selecting it.

After that, you'll also have to update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release then restore the file once more.

If you get the same error, follow these steps to change the Properties section of the file:

1.  Click the Open option from the File drop-down menu on top.

2.  Choose the file(s) that are in read-only format.

3. Right-click on the chosen files and hit the Properties option from the menu.

4. Under the Attributes section of the window, uncheck the Read-only box.

5. Hit the Apply button.

6. Hit the OK button.

If the issue persists, kindly exhaust and follow the steps in Solution 2 from this article: How to fix payroll errors: “The file you specified cannot be opened” and “The file exists”. This will help update the windows permissions on your desktop.

Keep me updated by leaving a reply to this thread. I'm always willing to help if you have other questions reagarding this matter or with QuickBooks. Have a safe week!

Hello.

If you have still any doubts about restoring QuickBooks QBB file, Then you must go through the given article link where we have answered precisely How to restore QuickBooks company file.

Don't hesitate to post again here if you have other questions or concerns with QuickBooks tasks and navigations. I'm always around happy to help. Stay safe and have a good one!

Instructions on How to Restore a QuickBooks Company File from a Local Backup: Party City Feedback Survey

1. To restore a QuickBooks company file from a local backup, select “File| Open or Restore Company…” from the Menu Bar.
2. Select the “Restore a backup copy” option button.
3. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
4. Select the “Local backup” option button to restore a QuickBooks company file from a local backup saved to your network or to removable media.
5. Then click the “Next” button to continue.
6. Use the “Open Backup Copy” dialog box that appears to navigate to and then select the local backup copy to use for the restore process.
7. After selecting the file to use, click the “Open” button within the “Open Backup Copy” dialog box to return to the “Open or Restore Company” window.
8. As an alternative to steps #1 through #7 above, you can instead select “File| Back Up Company| Restore Previous Local Backup” from the Menu Bar and then select the name of the local backup file to use from the side menu of choices that appears. Either way, you will then proceed to step #9 below.
9. The “Open or Restore Company” window will display the “Where do you want to restore the file?” screen. Read the information within this screen and then click the “Next” button to continue.
10. Use the “Save Company File As” dialog box that appears to navigate to, and then select, the corrupted company file to overwrite with information from the backup copy you selected.
11. After selecting the company file to overwrite, then click the “Save” button to continue.
12. If overwriting a corrupted company file, QuickBooks may ask you if you wish to overwrite the file. Click “Yes” in the message box that appears to overwrite the selected file.
13. Next, to confirm you want to do this, type the word “YES” into the text box within the “Delete Entire File” window and then click “OK” to begin overwriting the corrupted company file with the data from your selected backup file.
14. To finish restoring the company file if you already created a password for the “Administrator” user account, enter the password for the “Administrator” account into the “Password” field in the “QuickBooks Login” dialog box that appears and click the “OK” button. You can then skip to step #20.
15. To finish restoring the company file if you did NOT create a password for the “Administrator” user account, if desired, enter a different name for the “Administrator” account into the “User Name” field in the “Sensitive Data Protection Setup” dialog box appears.
16. Then enter a password for the user account into the “New Password” and “Confirm Password” fields.
17. Next, select a challenge question and enter your answer in the “Answer” field.
18. Click “OK” to finish restoring the file and be sure to write down and safely secure the administrator user name and password, if you created one!
19. Click “OK” in the information box that appears to tell you to change your password every 90 days.
20. To make the company file up-to-date after restoring the company file, re-enter any transactions into the company file from the time that the backup copy was created until today.

Hi there, Alan.

Can you tell us if there's an error message when you tired to import the changes? We just want to make sure that we're giving you the right steps and information that can resolve the issue.

Please add a reply below to share more details. We look forward to it. 

@JenoP 

She/he won't respond your question. They just want to promote their website.

When trying to restore a backup file from QuickBooks Desktop 2015 to QuickBooks Desktop 2018, a "Restore Failed" message appears. Check the backup file's integrity, compatibility, and location. Running QuickBooks Desktop 2018 with administrator credentials and temporarily deactivating firewall or antivirus applications can fix permission or blocking difficulties. If the problem persists, QuickBooks' built-in repair tool may fix software issues, and Intuit QuickBooks support can help. [Removed]

Hello there, @Bradley69.

I'd be glad to help you resolve your error message when trying to restore a backup file in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT).

To start, before restoring a backup copy of your company file, I suggest checking your backup file first. A reliable backup should be at least 6MB (6,000KB) in size. If the file size is less than that, it may not be a true backup file and you'll need to create a backup from the working file. To check the file size, simply right-click the file and select Properties.

In addition, these errors may appear when:

• The company file name includes special characters ( / < > ! $).
• The backup was restored over an existing company file.
• The backup was restored from a USB flash drive to a network drive (Error -6189, -816).
• The backup was made in a newer version.
• Example: Backup was created in QuickBooks 2019 but you're restoring it in QuickBooks 2018.
• The file you're trying to restore isn't an actual backup file.
• The company file is compromised.

To resolve this error or problem, perform the solutions below:

Solution 1: Remove special characters ( / \ ! $ ) from your company file name.

1. Locate the location of your company file.
2. Right-click the file name and select Rename.
3. Create a file name that has no special character and Enter.

Solution 2: Avoid overwriting an existing file when you restore your backup

1. When you are on the window that asks where you want to save your file, browse to your standard location for saving your file.
2.  If you see a message stating that the file name already exists in that folder, select No. 
3. Then, rename the file to something different from the existing file name.

For solutions 3, 4, 5, and 6, refer to this article: Get help with Error: Restore Failed.

If you receive prompts regarding resetting an admin password and missing payroll data, check out this reference to learn what you can do: Fix backup company file issues in QuickBooks Desktop.

With this information, we should be able to narrow down the reasons why you cannot restore a backup. If you have follow-up questions about this matter, comment them below. I'll be here to answer them for you.