QB data file marked as Read Only

I wish I had an answer for you but I'm really just commiserating. I am a computer tech and am finding the fact that the qbw data file is marked read-only upon exiting to be a royal pain-in-the ass.

I have customers using simple backup routines to copy over the old file and other customers that use Windows Briefcase to allow them to access their QB info on the road. Both schemes now fail unless they unmark the read-only attribute manually. This would seem to be easy, but not if they have a dozen QBW files in 3 diff folders.

I complained via a Bug Report to Intuit and asked them to fix the problem for 2008. I would love it if there's a solution in QB Pro 2007 but I don't think we'll see it.

If you are not able to back up your company data file with third-party software such as Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Briefcase), you can manually copy the company file using Windows Explorer. For additional information on copying files, please refer to Windows Help.

I have the new 2008 version and am having the same problems.

I have someone who uses two computers and likes to backup and restore his data between the two (home & work).

The problem when restoring is that he has to uncheck the "read-only" box to be able to write over the current company file. Does anyone know of a way around having to do this? Or a way for Windows and/or QuickBooks to stop reverting the file to read-only?

If not, is there a better way to sync data between 2 computers?

Thanks!

this has got to be a major gaffe on the part of QB programmers

they probably decided (in a vacuum) that QB data files would be safer if the pgm marked them read-only, each time it closed.

it didn't occur to them that they would mess with tons of their users who sync or backup their files in different ways

Hopefully they will undo this "feature" in future versions, tho I haven't had a chance to test with 2008 version yet.

to Quickcel
sounds like they didn't fix with 2008

For sync, I have stopped using Windows Briefcase
and started using AJC Synchronize from ajcsoft.com
but I don't know whether it gets around this problem
probably not

Well I see others have noticed this problem also, and since my original post in September I have upgraded to QB2008 and it also marks the data file as read only. I back up my entire "my Documents" folder every day onto a ubs drive and with the tens of thousands of files I back up, only the QB data files do i have to manually go in and uncheck the "read only" attribute. It's a slight annoyance, I guess I'll have to live with.

I use Laplink Gold to transfer my quickbooks file from the office to home. Even when I uncheck the read-only box, laplink thinks the file is still read-only. Is there another way to remove a file's read-only status?

There are actually 2 files that need to be unchecked

filename.qbw
and
filename.qbw.tlg

make sure you uncheck "read only" on both of these files on the the drive that you are backing up TO.

if that is done i see no reason you backup system shouldn't work.
It's a pain to have to do this every backup but until they change the way the file closes out, we will have to live with it.

use win explorer or my computer to drill down to the quickbooks data files or folders
right click and choose properties. uncheck the Read-Only box and click OK

If you right click a folder that has multiple files and folders, you'll get a msg that asks if you want to apply this change to all sub-folders.

Answer yes.

If anyone knows how we can get Intuit to change this back for 2009 edition, I'm all for it!

Thanks. This works. Have never run into this issue before 2008 Premier Edition. Couldn't figure it out until you noted the .tlg extension

Additionally, I figured out where I made my error. I was trying to open my newly converted 2008 file from the still installed QB 2005 version. So, if you have multiple versions of QB still installed for whatever reason, then be sure you're using the correct version to open up the correct file. (Might be nice if QB would add extensions like MS Money has so that you know which files are in which format. Maybe they have.)

Yes, this is an absolute PITA! HEY QUICKBOOKS PROGRAMMERS - ARE YOU READING THIS??? Wake up! I would hope they could readily fix it with a patch to 2007 and 2008. Completely ridiculous. I've been using Quickbooks Pro since 2001 and their little foibles are really starting to get on my nerves.

I use a Batch file to change the read-only attribue on the two files and open up SyncToy for me in one shot. Open Notepad and type the following, but change the path to the QB data files on your backup drive. My external USB drive shows up as I: every time.

attrib -r "I:\My Documents\Business\Company File.QBW"

attrib -r "I:\My Documents\Business\Company File.QBW.TLG"

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft\SyncToy\SyncToy.exe"

Save the file to your desktop as Start SyncToy.BAT and be sure to change the "Save as Type:" to "All Files". Then when you want to run SyncToy just double click the batch file. It will change the Read Only attribute, open SyncToy and allow it work without errors.

If you use the QuickBooks Backup feature to transfer the data you will not have the file lock problem. Go to [File]-[Save Copy or Backup] and follow the instructions. Quickbooks creates a backup file with the same company name but with a .QBB extensiom that can be restored. You can then just copy (I use windows explorer to copy) this QBB file between computers without the file-read-only problem. I maintain Weekly Off Site Backups as a service to many of my clients using this process and do not ever have receive a read only error message.