A lot of people are migrating to new computers using Windows 10. As a result, my ProAdvisor practice has started receiving ‘distress calls’ from people using older versions of QuickBooks, especially people still using QuickBooks 2014, when they attempt to install those versions under Windows 10. In many cases users are having problems when installing QuickBooks 2014 getting it to either configure or run properly. We have seen two major problems with these installations, Error 3381, -11118 and Windows-10 Permissions Errors. In this first part of our 2-part mini-series we will look at Error Code 3371, we will look at 'Permission Errors' in part 2..
Error Code 3371, Status Code -11118
This error is synonymous with QuickBooks not being able to initialize license properties (even if you properly configured the license and product numbers during installation). If this encrypted entitlement client file is corrupted, QuickBooks will not open (it may display the error message shown above).
Intuit technical support documents point users to problems with Microsoft components such as .NET framework, MSXML, and C++ as the causes of these errors, but we have found that the most common source of the problem is a damaged ‘Entitlement Client file’ (which contains the license/registration information). I’m not sure why we are seeing this ‘more’ within installations of QuickBooks 2014 under Windows 10, than we were under other Operating Systems, but I know that our ‘distress-call’ (support cal request) frequency has gone up significantly since the release of Windows 10.
Intuit Technical Support will also tell you that you should insure that QuickBooks is up-to-date with the most current ‘release’; the problem is, how can you update QuickBooks if you can’t even get QuickBooks to open? Prior to attempting any of the other recommended ‘fixes’ first, we recommend attempting repair by deleting the Entitlement Client file.
To repair this problem you must be able to access the hidden Windows folder containing the encrypted data. Therefore you must insure that you have set the preference to ‘show hidden files’ in your file display options.
1) Insure that QuickBooks is closed, and that all QuickBooks ‘services’ are shut-down. This may require you to launch Task Manager and shut down all QuickBooks/Intuit services shown under processes.
2) Double-click to open the entitlement data by navigating this path for QuickBooks 2014:
- C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
3) Within that folder right-click on the file: EntitlementDataStore.ecml (shown in the red box within the illustration below.)
- Select the option to Delete (the file);
- Confirm YES, you want to delete the file.
4) Open QuickBooks, then open your Company-file
- Follow the on-screen instructions to register QuickBooks.
"9 out of 10 times this process will repair this error." Because this is the most simplistic resolution possible we always recommend attempting this fix prior to the more complex methods of attempting to make changes to ‘Windows components’.
Note: While this problem may occur when installing any version of QuickBooks under Windows 10 (or even older Microsoft Operating Systems), our increased call frequency has been associated with QuickBooks 2014 versions and Windows 10.
In part 2 of this article we will look at issues with permissions errors under Windows 10 as they relate to QuickBooks 2014.