While there can be a number of reasons why you might not be able to install or register your QuickBooks Desktop product, one of the most common deals with license or product mismatch.
These mismatches occur when the license and product codes are mismatched, your license is mismatched to your customer account, your product code is mismatched to the activation code, or a combination of these.
One way this happens is if you change your product, but your license number remains the same. For example, you have been using a 10-user Silver version of QuickBooks Enterprise, but you upgrade to a 30-user Platinum version of QuickBooks Enterprise. While your license number might remain the same, your product code should definitely change.
But you might have Enterprise installed with the right license number and the "Silver" version product ID, and when you sync with the license server at Intuit, you get a license mismatch message because your products should now be on the "Platinum" version product ID.
Well, sure you can just install the 20 new licenses with the new Product ID, but what about the old ones? Are you going to uninstall and then reinstall them just to change your ID?
No way, you need to change the qbregistration.dat file before you install any more copies of QuickBooks.
Change the qbregistration.dat file.
1. Open QuickBooks.
2. On your keyboard, press F2 (or Ctrl+1) and then F3 (or Ctrl+2) to open the Tech Help window.
3. Select QBREGISTRATION.DAT on the Open File tab, then select Open File.
4. The file will open in Notepad.
5. Create a backup of the qbregistration.dat file. QuickBooks won't open right if there are any typos in the file. This step is extremely important.
(a) From the Notepad File menu, select Save As
(b) Select Desktop in the Save As window, then select Save
(c) Close the file
6. Re-open the file from the Tech Help window.
7. Close QuickBooks, but keep the qbregistation.dat file open in Notepad.
Now edit the qbregistration.dat file
1. In Notepad, select Edit then Replace or Ctrl + H in the qbregistration.dat file.
2. Type in your old product number in the Find What field and replace it with the new one in the Replace with field. Use the format XXX-XXX when you enter the product number.
3. Select Replace All.
4. Select File and then Save and close the file.
Finally, verify your product code
1. Open QuickBooks.
2. On your keyboard, press F2 to display the Product Information window. (If F2 doesn't work, press CTRL+1)
3. Check the Product number field to make sure the product code is now updated.
4. If your Product code didn't change, restart your computer. If the old product code still is present after you have rebooted your computer, then you will need to remove and reinstall QuickBooks.
Please note, if you don’t feel comfortable performing any of the steps discussed in this article, Insightful Accountant recommends you reach out to a qualified IT professional.
Footnotes and Disclosures
As used herein, QuickBooks® and QuickBooks Desktop (including QuickBooks Enterprise) refer to one or more registered trademark products of Intuit Inc., a publicly-traded corporation (Nasdaq: INTU), headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Some feature content has been adapted from Intuit media source materials. Source materials adapted by Insightful Accountant are furnished solely for educational purposes.
Any other trade names used herein refer to products which may be registered or trademarked or otherwise held by their respective owners; they are referenced for informational and educational purposes only.
This is an editorial feature, not sponsored content. No vendor mentioned herein has paid Insightful Accountant or the author any form of remuneration to be included within this feature. The article is provided solely for informational and educational purposes.
The publication of this article, nor references therein, represent any form of endorsement by either the author or Insightful Accountant.
Note: Registered Trademark ® symbols have been eliminated from the articles within this publication for brevity due to the frequency or abundance with which they would otherwise appear or be repeated. Every attempt is made to credit such trademarked products within our respective article footnotes and disclosures.
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