Quickbooks 2007 cannot open company file on server saying it is in use by another person (error -6000,-816)

No.  

When the QBW is on the server, I can open it on the server, but not on the workstation.

When I copy the QBW to the workstation, I can open it on the workstation.

When I copy the QBW back onto the server, the workstation cannot open it anymore.

 

The answer is somewhat strange because if you can open the ledger somewhere, you should be able to open it anywhere. Try this:

1. Make very, very, very sure you have a copy (or two) of the file on the server that you say you can open.
2. Copy it again to the workstation.
3. Run a Verify on it. QB -> File -> Utilities -> Verify.
4. If errors, run a Rebuild. QB -> File -> Uilities -> Rebuild.
5. Make sure you have installed the QB Server Manager on the Server. The Server Manager is is on your QB CD (assuming you are not using Multicurrency).
6. Copy the ledger back to the same physical drive on the server as the Server Manager is installed (usually drive C:)
7. Run the Server Manager and make sure you scan for the ledger where you copied it to.
8. Open QuickBooks on one computer.
9. Make sure QB is not Hosting Multiuser Access. Stop it if it is.
10. Make sure the folder where the Ledger is has been properly mapped to the one computer and make sure you can see the folder and the ledger with Windows Explorer.
11. Now try to open it with QB. Do NOT just open it from the recent file list. Use the button to open or restore a file and navigate to the ledger file on the server.

Where I said make a copy above, make a copy of the ledger. Do not use QB Backup routine right now.

... Thinkpads_User

Can you open the file on the server, from the server (Or did you just install the database manager there?)

Yes, I can open the file from the server on the server.

thinkpad,

I've run through your complete routine, step by step.   It still doesn't work.   When I copy the file back to the server, and try opening it up on the workstation, it gives me the exact same error.

Let us try some other steps.

First, deal with a test file until you get this resolved.
Now
1. Make a test folder on the Server on the same physical drive as the Server Manager.
2. Copy the ledger from the workstation to the test folder.
3. There are files that QB creates: In particular there is (or should be) a .ND file and a .TLG file along with the .QBW file. There may also be a .QBB file (backup when you did the verify/rebuild).  Do not copy these files to the test folder. So only the .QBW file is now in the test folder and no other file.
4. Do you have QuickBooks installed on the Server? If so, uninstall it.
5. Make sure every workstation that has QB installed is turned off (in my case, there was a test machine that everyone including me had forgotten about). Make sure every possible workstation is off except for the test workstation.
6. So now: One running workstation; QB not installed on the server; no files in the test folder except for the .QBW file. The .ND file will remake itself, but just be sure not to copy it from somewhere else.
7. Now scan again to the test folder only.

If after all of this, QB still says the file is in use then do call Intuit, because your file is likely corrupted.
... Thinkpads_User

I cannot copy just the QBW file to the server.   As soon as I copy -only- the QBW file, an ND file automatically appears with it.  I don't even need to launch Quickbooks to recreate it.  It just appears.   This happens copying from server to workstation too.

True. I just want a clean .ND file here. Delete the .ND file on the workstation first, then copy it over to the server into the test folder. Another .ND file will probably appear, but I want it to be clean of other references. I am becoming concerned that your ledger is corrupted.
... Thinkpads_User

I would create or open a sample file on the server. This will  first, assure the server install is good. Then, try to open that sample file from 1 work station. Lets try to see if it's the program or the data. (let's hope the program)

A sample file will (almost for sure) work. I have seen that error before, and normally isolating the ledger file and re-running the scan works. I haven't seen the actual program go bad in this way, but it is worth a try. ... Thinkpads_User

1) I launched quickbooks on a workstation and created a new test dummy company file.
2) I then copied the QBW (only) file onto the same server file share.
3) I deleted the QBW from the workstation
4) I opened quickbooks and opened the QBW from the file share.

And yes, it did work.  

So it's not a program issue, it must be an issue with the file.

So what you need to do now is call Intuit Support and explain the situation. If they can fix it over the phone, they will. But given all the steps you have followed, I don't think they can fix it over the phone (I assume you did a rebuild way back in these steps). They have a service for repairing ledgers. 2-day Courier service is around $500, but in this case, I would judge it worth it. ... Thinkpads_User

Hmm, I forgot a couple of things:

1. Did you try all this in Single User mode?
2. Can you delete all the users except the admin user, try again and see? Be careful on this one and only do it on a test ledger. It may damage your audit trail.

... Thinkpads_User

I tried both single and multi-user.

Okay.... now I've got something interesting stuff to add.

1)  2 of the workstations were hosting multi-user access.   I had to go to the workstations and shut down multi user access.
2)  On the server was both Quickbooks 2004 AND Quickbooks 2007.  I'm not sure how that happened.  But I uninstalled both of them, and re-installed just the QB 2007 Database Manager.

Now I happened to have a copy of the QBW file on a backup tape.   I didn't want to have to use this, because it is a week old, and we would lose a weeks worth of work, but it sounds like it would be worth it.  So I:
1)  Restored just the QBW from last week's backup tape  (so there were no .ND or .TLG files)
2)  Opened it up with on a workstation connected to the file share in Single User Mode, and it opened!!!
3)  I exited Quickbooks.
4)  Tried to open it up again from the same workstation.  Now it won't open again, giving me the same error.    

Does that make any sense??

Wait....just for the heck of it, I tried it again, and I was able to open it 3 times in a row with no errors.
I then switched to multi-user mode and again I was able to open it 2 times in a row.

I'm not sure what just happened.

Re: your last post.  No, it does not make sense.

I just looked at a server and the only thing there is the QB2009 Server Manager. So when you uninstalled QB2004 and QB2007, they should have disappeared. So on the server front, I would uninstall the server manager again, check Add/Remove Programs most carefully and see that nothing is left over from prior QB installs, restart the server and install only the server manager from the CD. Do an Expert Install, and install just the server manager.

Now put your old backup (fresh file) back on the server in a folder of its own and scan for that file. Try your step above. It should open (because you restored once more from the tape).

Assuming it opens, keep it open. Check that there are no more than 5 users set up and check that there are no duplicates. Keep QB open and call Intuit Support. They may want the log file and will tell you how to send it in. See if they tell you anything. Keep the file open until/unless they tell you otherwise.

Now, close all windows in QB, and close the file, but do not exit from QB. This brings you to a login screen. Does the file open?

You can do these steps without calling Intuit, but be prepared to restore a file the third time when you call them.
... Thinkpads_User

I did do the uninstall and reinstall of the QB Database Manager just like you said.
I opened the file up in quickbooks, and did a verify and rebuild.   It is saying that I have some duplicates though.  
After I finished the verify/rebuild, now I cannot open the file again, either in Single User or Multi User.

Well, now I'm stuck.    I did a fresh restore from the backup tape, and now I can't open the QBW file again.

Thanks. You must now call Intuit and get a good support person on the phone. Duplicates that show up in verify/rebuild are fixable over the phone in most cases. The log file (they will ask you for it) points to the duplicates and where they can be deleted. ... Thinkpads_User

Do you think that's what's causing the problem?

I really didn't want to call Intuit support.   We are well outside of the support period, so we would now be paying for per incident support which is what we're trying to avoid.

It's being really intermittent, sometimes I can open it, sometimes I can't.

I don't know for sure. Your posts indicate a file problem. Fixing file problems is outside any typical QuickBooks advisor professional because special tools are needed. Another approach is to look up a QB advisor near you or as near as can be. Identify the problem to them and ask them to call Intuit. You will pay for their time, but sometimes their experience can be invaluable when working with Intuit. ... Thinkpads_User

Your error log says you have errors in the Customer Message List.  You can look in the Lists -> Customer Message List and see if you can spot the error. .... Thinkpads_User

Any luck at all?  And, how are you managing to work without able to load the ledger from the server?  ... Thinkpads_User

Well, I told my client to go throught the Customer List.    He said he found the duplicates, but I haven't seen it for myself yet.   So I just told him to do another verify/rebuild.

As far as being able to work.... remember the file opens up fine as long as it's local on the workstation.   So I've got a copy of the file on one workstation, and my clients, instead of doing everything on each of their 3 individual workstations, are all working off of one PC to do the accounting work.  

At this point, they don't really want to contact Intuit customer support.   They are just thinking of just upgrading to Quickbooks 2010, and then we would have a fresh 30 days of support, right?   So then we could use that support period to address the issue.   They are dealing with working off a single PC in the meantime.  

Thanks for responding.

(a) Duplicate records:  This should be resolved and then the file rebuilt successfully before upgrading. Why? The upgrade will do a rebuild anyway, so an upgrade may fail if duplicates are not sorted out.
(b) Updgrading: You should be able to upgrade from V2007 to V2010 in one step. Make sure backups are in place before doing so.
(c) Support: Yes, assuming a good upgrade, you can call support, but the upgrade may also fix the problem - one never really knows until we try it.

... Thinkpads_User

Just an update.

So my client did a new verify/rebuild after removing the duplicates.   He said that the rebuild completed fine, and now when he runs backups within Quickbooks, it's no longer giving him any errors.

So feeling lucky, I asked him to try copying the file back to the server and seeing if it works now.   But again, the same error message pops up.

Thanks for the update. I think now that when you try to upgrade to V2010, it should work fine. Once that is done, you can try uninstalling the existing server engine and installing the server manager from the V2010 CD. Then see if you can run from the server. If you still need to call Intuit, you will be in a much better position (rebuild good and new version of QuickBooks).
... Thinkpads_User

I am using Symantec EndPoint Protection.  In fact, SEP was recently installed on the server too.   But that doesn't seem to be the issue.

I went to the server and disabled SEP (running "SMC - Stop").   Then went to the services control panel and stopped all of the Symantec services, and set them to "manual".
I went back to the workstation and copied the QBW file over to the server again.
I ran the database manager on the server again.
Went back to the workstation to open the QBW file from the server share.....
and again, I had the same error (-6000, -816)

I was really hoping that SEP was the culprit.   But it looks like it's a different issue.  Unless I didn't disable what I was supposed to disable.

Hmmm... All I had to do was go to my SQL server and right click on the symantec shield and disable endpoint protection. Presto no errors, turn it back on and it's back. Do you use network threat protection? The Symantec firewall was such a problem for us we stopped using it. The cause of this paticular issue is proactive scanning. Try undoing what you did and disable Symantec on the server again if you are on the same version as we are. If you still cannot open the file make sure your not using network threat protection on the client and no firewall on the server to test. Also.... check your backup software ,if it runs periodically it can lock files as well.

Hang on.....

It looks like it's working now!    I had to completely UNINSTALL SEP MR5 from the Server.   Then I reloaded the QBW file to the server and tried again, and yep.  It works.  Opened it 6 times consecutively with no errors.  

This sucks.   Is there any solution from Symantec or Intuit yet?

What we eneded up doing is disabling  file system auto protect in the policies area on the manager and applying this policy on a group that contains all are SQL servers. At this point the only other option is if you have the MR4 install you could revert back to it. A pain either way but what can you do?

Thanks for all your help guys.    I never would've correlated the problem to be with Symantec Endpoint Protection.  

Thanks hardatit !  This solved our problem also.  QuickBooks 2008, multiuser access, SBS 2003, SEP 12

Just because it wasn't mentioned earlier, I was experiencing this issue recently when moving some company files around. My solution was to verify that the permissions for the company file were set for the workstation user (all users in my case) to be given read and modify rights (didn't need full control). We use Symantic Anti-Something or other and no problems. As a disclaimer, i will state that I was in QBs 2005 at the time.

infernizer -- they now have a Network Diagnostics Tool to help with those kinds of problems.  A lot of people have file permission issues or other problems that this tool can pinpoint.  Unfortunately this problem is with Symantec's Server Endpoint Protection software.

The link for this Network Diagnostics Tool is:
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/networking/nettool.aspx

I have somewhat of a similar issue. But the difference in my environment is...
I have only one user that this happens to if the QB file isn't opened. As soon as another user opens the company file he can get in. The entire disk on the server where the QB files and QB Manager are stored is excluded from within the Endpoint settings on both the server and the workstations. SEPM Version 11.0.5002.333. Any pointer are definitely appreciated!

Thanks,

Mike

Have a read of the following for details of what to exclude in the Symantec Settings to get this working:

http://service1.symantec.com/support/ent-security.nsf/854fa02b4f5013678825731a007d06af/6cc9274310e110968825763b0067ee3f?OpenDocument

The only change that made a difference for a customer of mine was adding the Firewall Exception.

Basically, create a blank rule and add TCP port 10180 for QB 2008 or TCP port 10172 for QB 2007.

Alan