Hello, I'm the OP of this thread and I don't know who's going to get a notification that I've replied again, but I needed to share this -- I stumbled on a way to save a company file if this idiotic error happens again!
THE SOLUTION -- DO NOT BE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET WHEN YOU TRY TO OPEN THE FILE AGAIN!
This happened again to one of my files at the beginning of December 2022 when my computer crashed (and it was a newer file, so I did not have any EIN or sensitive data in the file). After the crash, I tried to open the company file I'd been working on and got the dreaded screen asking for my Old Admin Password and to create a New Password. That's the entire problem here, I had never created any admin password, so I was never able to get past this screen and I thought I'd have to recreate the file again, since the "reset my password" link also does not work.
However! After rebooting my computer a few times and trying everything, even the QB Tool Hub (which is a joke), one time I tried to open the file again -- and got a different screen! This time it didn't ask me to input the old password, I just got a "create a new password" screen! I was able to enter a password and open the file perfectly fine, as if nothing had happened. (Be sure to write down your new password somewhere safe immediately!)
I realized what was different -- I wasn't connected to the internet at the time! And I'm here to crow about it because the same thing happened AGAIN with a different file last night, and after fighting with the thing for a few hours today, I finally remembered how I'd solved the last one -- and when I disconnected my internet, and tried to reopen the file, it gave me the "create new password" screen WITHOUT asking for the old, nonexistent Admin password!!!
I hope this helps somebody. This error that they've never been able to fix, explain, or troubleshoot, on top of the fact I recently received a notice saying I won't be able to use the QB 2020 Desktop program that I purchased after May 31, 2023, and that I'll have to upgrade to their QB Online program, has got me looking for new software to migrate my data into. But for now, at least this solution will save your data if this happens to you. Cheers, Happy New Year!
