Thank you for the EIN workaround, I'll try that next time I set up a new company.
I have run into this same issue with most versions of QuickBooks desktop (2019 to 2023), including the Enterprise edition (19.0 to 23.0). My workaround was to set up a company in QB 2018, QBE 18.0, or earlier, making sure to set up Admin passwords as well as one or more other users. Then I upgrade this datafile by opening it in the newer versions until I get it to the version I need. I also have to do it this way because you cannot set up any additional users in a newly created file, because QB requires the Admin password to do so, which of course I didn't set up and don't have.
Having been a ProAdvisor for several years, I have access to the older versions so many newer users may not be able to use this option.
The problem appears to have begun when they started requiring you to login/create an Intuit account when setting up a company. I haven't seen any way to bypass this step, and don't know if creating/logging in sets up some random password in the datafile where one doesn't already exist. I just know it is annoying to have to do this every time because I really can't justify billing for the time wasted upgrading a customer's new file through several upgrades just so they can use it on their version.
