Question

Quickbooks Desktop Automatic Update "No" Option Greyed Out

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
January 22, 2020
13 replies
0 views

In Quickbooks Desktop, on the Options tab for Automatic Updates, I cannot switch the setting from "Yes" to "No" because the No option is greyed-out. I cannot find anyway around this. As a managed service provider (MSP) we need to be able to control when these updates happen. Please advise.

QuickBooks Desktop

Jen_D

Thanks for bringing this , @ICSLLC,

This issue comes up when you're not logged on as Administrator or QuickBooks is not updated to the latest release version. To resolve the grayed-out option fro Automatic Updates, perform the following troubleshooting:

Download the update patch in the website:

Go to the Downloads & Updates page.
Select the Country,Product, and Version then click Search.
Choose the Get the latest updates link.

Next, open a test company file and check if the same issue is happening there. This platform has all the features of the actual working file making it a great place to check for corruptions and data issues.

To open a test file, click the Open a sample file drop-down on the QuickBooks Startup page. See this illustration:

If the problem does not appear on the test file, run the Verify/Rebuild Utility on the actual company. This built-in tool automatically fixes minor company file data issues.

Go to the File menu then pick Utilities from the list.
Select the Verify Data. tool then wait until the diagnosis is done.
If there are issues, proceed to rebuilding the company file.
Tap File menu then hover over Utilities.
Pick Rebuild Data then click OK.
Follow the onscreen steps to save a backup.

However, if the problem persists on the sample company, use the Repair Tool. It fixes most issues with the software. Here's how:

Create a back up your company file beforehand to avoid any accidental data loss.
Reboot the computer and tap the Windows Start menu.
Find Control Panel on the search field or select it from the list.
Press Programs and Features then Uninstall a Program.
Note: If you don't see Programs and Features, select Programs instead. Then select Program and Features.
Pick QuickBooks from the list of Programs, then press Uninstall/Change.
Click on Continue, or Next. then Repair.
Press Next again then wait for the tool to start its diagnosis.
Hit Finish when done.

To learn more about repairing QuickBooks and its complete steps, go to this link: Repair your QuickBooks Desktop for Windows.

After the Repair, run QuickBooks as Admin. Do this by right-clicking the QuickBooks icon in the desktop and selecting Run as Administrator.

Let me know the result once you've tried the steps. I want to make sure your concern is fully addressed and I'm here to provide further assistance whenever you need it. Have a great rest of the week!

J

jk8

Why would one need to open a test file?? This is not a file related issue.

@ICSLLC, did you find a resolution?

C

Charies_M

Hello, jk8.

Using a test file is one way to isolate this issue with Automatic Update option. Meaning, if it works in the test file, the issue lies within your company file.

The steps shared above were the basic solutions to fix the grayed out option for Quickbooks Desktop Automatic Update. Since you've tried the possible solutions above with no avail, it would be best to reach out to our QuickBooks Care Support. They have the tools to conduct a thorough investigation for a complete resolution.

Here are the steps to contact support:

Click Help at the top menu and select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
In the Have a Question? window, enter a topic.
Click Contact us.
Hit the Stat Messaging button.

Please take note our operating hours for chat support depends on the version of QuickBooks that you're using. Please see this article for more details: Support hours and types.

Keep me posted for additional questions or other concerns. I'd be more than happy to help. Wishing you the best of luck.

M

mcmurrak

Dear QuickBooks,

How about fixing the problem? This is a known issue, nothing in this thread fixes it. I called support, they had no idea how to fix the problem. I went through chat hoping to get someone at QB that knows what they are doing (again, no joy and not unexpected).

Every time they upgrade the program they introduce new bugs and stupid requirements (subscription anyone?) to use the software. If there were alternatives (no online versions do not count) QB would be out of business by now because they cannot for the lives of themselves solve a problem.

Nor do they care to.

All the care about is the cash cow that they have and nothing else.

So, again, I will reiterate my opening statement, hey QB, how about you fix the problem? Come up with a real solution or a patch to fix this problem. I know no one, especially in corporate areas, that want your automatic updates posting on their workstation. They want to be able to test them in an isolated environment to find out what new bugs you have introduced before turning it loose in production. I run a virtual machine at home to test the new versions and patches first for this exact reason. I had to upgrade this time to fix a payroll problem otherwise I would still be on 2020.

That's why we want, no, NEED the capability of turning automatic updates OFF.

Fix it and stop responding with worthless solutions and especially your worthless platitudes.

M

Marleahmg

I read through old comments but still don't see how to turn updates from auto YES to NO

Our church cannot afford to update every year right now. We only want to update the payroll part of QuickBooks Desktop Pro 2021. Can anyone help>?

S

SarahannC

Hello @Marleahmg. Appreciate you for joining here.

We have another way of turning off the automatic updates in the QuickBooks Desktop.

If you haven't tried it, you can follow these steps.

On your keyboard, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.
Select Task Manager. Then, the Startup tab.
Look for QuickBooks Automatic Update.
Select Disable.

Once done, turn off shared updates in QuickBooks Desktop. Here's how:

Go to the Help menu and select Update QuickBooks Desktop.
In the Options tab, select No for the Share Download option.
Then, Close.

If the same thing happens, please give us a short call. We'll have to check your account in detail to figure out what's causing this one.

Within your QuickBooks Company file, select QuickBooks Desktop Help from the Help menu. You can also press F1 on your keyboard to bring up the same Help panel. To route you to the correct support expert, we need to know what type of question you have. Give a brief description of your issue and click Continue.

Alternatively, you can also use this link:

Go to this link: Contact Support.
Enter your full name and email address.
Then, follow the on-screen instruction to complete the process.

You may want to check these resources for more details about QuickBooks Desktop payroll.

Please let us know how it goes. The Community is always around to assist you. Take care and stay safe.

M

mcmurrak

Sorry, have to chime in here @SarahannC SarahannC as your answer is incorrect and will not fix the problem.

The first thing I do when installing QB is to remove all QB entries from the Startup Folder as none of the programs are needed unless QB is running, no need to waste the resources. And so, there's nothing to disable.

When the program runs it automatically starts the program in the "qbupdate.exe" program in the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Intuit\QuickBooks\QBUpdate". If you rename this program, the update process won't start (as expected) and gives an error message stating such and then you have no access to the Update options at all. Restore the program file name and it's all good, but still no access to change the option.

And just for due diligence, I installed QB on a “clean” system and started from scratch and the problem exists from the start. And even allowing things to start as a fresh install, none of the suggestions here or above work.

These three points alone should tell you my level of knowledge of the program. I have been using QB since it’s DOS based days so I am well versed in how the program works. Probably more so that most if not all of your support staff.

This is a bug. Let me repeat myself, THIS IS A BUG!!!

Your program is broken and it needs to be addressed. Trust me on this, I have done the research and everyone has this problem. And (as I have described above) it is of particular interest to multi-user environments as things have to be tested before they can be put into production. I have been bitten too many times by bugs introduced in your (and other software companies) update packages to just roll them out untested. Not going to happen.

I have called support numerous times and each and every time the support person tries to give me all the same options that are listed here or when I tell them all the options I have tried and ask for the case to be escalated, they either disconnect from the call/chat or put me on hold forever. Unacceptable.

So no, I will not be calling back into your so-called support desk because as far as I am concerned they are worthless. Now, if you want to call me yourself or have someone call me directly I can PM you my contact information. But only put me in contact with someone who knows what they are talking about. I’m sorry to be so blunt and I’m sure you’re just trying to help but if you read up in this thread you will see that I commented on each and every attempted solution, none of which work and in many cases, even reference the problem. QB’s so called experts are anything but.

So either post a “REAL” solution or stop replying with platitudes.

J

JBrow

Just updated to the 2023 version. Installed on 24 systems and ALL of them have this issue, where we've never had the problem before. The best that support could do was direct me to this thread 😕😕

MaryLandT

I appreciate the effort of updating QuickBooks, JBrow. It's part of the troubleshooting solutions to retrieve the No option.

It looks like the system is now forcing the download. I'll let you contact our Live Support Team. That way, they can create a case under your company and send it to your Product Team for further investigation.

Here's how:

Open QuickBooks.
Go to Help, then select QuickBooks Desktop Help/Contact Us.
Click Contact Us.
Give a brief description of your issue, then Continue.
Sign in to your Intuit account and Continue with my account.
- If you don't already have an account, make sure to Create a new account.
We'll email you a single-use code. Enter your code and select Continue.
- If you have more than one account, choose the one you want to use, then Continue.
Choose to chat with us or Have us call you.

In case you need tips and related articles in the future, visit our QuickBooks Community help website for reference: QBDT Self-help.

Moreover, to keep you updated with the latest features and business tips in QuickBooks. You can visit our QuickBooks blog. We're happy to share with you the 7 ways to be productive while working remotely using your QuickBooks software.

Let me know how the contact goes and leave a reply below. I'm always here to help you. Stay safe and take care always!

M

mcmurrak

Dear QB staff and Moderators,

Stop replying to the case telling us to open a ticket. Do you really think we are all that stupid. If you had actually read any of the case here you would realized that (A) everyone responding is much smarter than you and (B) we have already opened (completely worthless tickets) and (C) QuickBooks support, staff and whoever do not give a crap about solving the issue.

You have a template somewhere (as is obvious from your post below), that you just copy/paste into ALL posts these days telling us to open a ticket. We all do/have, and NOTHING IS EVER FIXED. EVER.

So I'll make it plain and simple for you to understand:

THE AUTOMATIC UPDATES OPTION NEED TO BE ALLOWED TO BE DISABLED! PERIOD! FIX THE PROBLEM!

Is that simple enough for your alleged brains to comprehend? I doubt it very much. So please, do not reply again unless you are stating the problem is fixed. Until then, JUST SHUT IT!

J

JBrow

As others have said in this thread, changing the first "BackgroundEnabled=1" line in the QBUpdate.dat file to "BackgroundEnabled=0" does seem to disable Automatic Updates. The update overview screen says "Automatic Update is OFF" after making this change, but in the Options, it's still greyed out and appears as if "Yes" is selected.

I've written a script to do this for me on all systems where I've installed this, and wanted to share it.
You'll need:
- Python3 installed
- A text file named "computerlist.txt" in the same file as the python script with each computer name on a separate line

- To run the script with an account that has the necessary permissions (e.g., Domain Admin) on all computers on the list

It will also write a log file, so you know what it did or didn't do on each system.

Note that this is written for the 2023 version of QB Enterprise. If you're running a different version, you'll have to update the datfile_location in line 14.

From other things I've seen here, it looks like it's possible that things can trigger the system to turn Automatic Updates back on, so my plan is to run this as a scheduled task a few times a day.

IMPORTANT:

This forum won't allow me to upload a python file, nor will it let me just change the extension because it validates the file type, so here's the code:

Note that python is a whitespace sensitive language, so the formatting is important. My test of copying and pasting the text below seems to be formatted correctly when pasting.

import datetime

import shutil

nowstamp = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S')

logfile = open(".\\logs\\qb_noautofix_log_" + nowstamp + ".txt", "w")

computerlist = open("computerlist.txt", "r")

for computer in computerlist:

log_msg = ""

computer = computer.strip()

print(computer)

try:

nowstamp = datetime.datetime.now().strftime('%Y%m%d%H%M%S')

print(nowstamp)

datfile_location = f"\\\\{computer}\\c$\\ProgramData\\Intuit\\QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 23.0\\Components\\QBUpdate\\"

datfile_name = "Qbchan"

datfile_extension = ".dat"

datfile = open(datfile_location + datfile_name + datfile_extension, "r+")

except:

log_msg = "Could not open dat file"

break

line_counter = 0

data = datfile.readlines()

last_line = len(data)

while line_counter < last_line:

line = data[line_counter]

if "BackgroundEnabled" in line:

split_line = line.split("=")

value = split_line[1].strip()

if value == "1":

try:

shutil.copy(datfile_location + datfile_name + datfile_extension, datfile_location + datfile_name + nowstamp + datfile_extension)

except:

log_msg = "Could not create backup copy"

break

data[line_counter] = "BackgroundEnabled=0\n"

try:

datfile.seek(0)

datfile.writelines(data)

log_msg = "File updated successfully"

break

except:

log_msg = "Could not update file"

break

elif value == "0":

log_msg = "No change needed"

break

line_counter += 1

datfile.close()

tab_padding = "\t"

if len(computer) < 8:

tab_padding += "\t"

log_write = f"{computer}{tab_padding}{nowstamp}\t{log_msg}\n"

logfile.writelines(log_write)

computerlist.close()

logfile.close()

M

MeadowsHyd

We have downloaded and installed QBES v23 r1_4 and installed as admin and the auto update option is greyed out. We have updated fully to v23 r3_182 and it remains greyed out. However, when we update to r3_182, we get unrecoverable errors upon software close which is corrupting our company file. I HAVE to have a way to stop auto updates to hold the version to r1_4 until Intuit figures this out. And yes, it is still greyed out on all four sample files, so it is NOT a file issue.... It's a software issue. Please fix this ASAP!

T

theonlybaldone

It is ridiculous that this hasn't been fixed yet.

Go to HELP --> Send Feedback Online --> Bug Report

Report this issue and maybe if enough of us report it they will fix it. Calling or chatting with general support will get you nowhere.

M

Meeeeeeeeeee

Deleted post to correct elsewhere..

M

Meeeeeeeeeee

My version no longer auto updates. It now asks me a in the past. Not really sure what I did. I can say that I like to open QB after unplugging the internet to the desktop, it doesn't like this, sometimes gives you warnings, and options, just click skip, or ignore, QB WILL proceed to open, I then reconnect the internet. Upon closing QB, whether you are performing a backup or not, this is where the QBUpdate command is initiated in the task manager. As soon as the QB has closed, and or backed up, I open the task manager and "Shut Down" the update task. The payroll still is able to update.

Screenshots, got it figured out now....

D

disappointedfordecades

Here for the same reason and can't say I am surprised to see this inept company doing nothing to assist those of us who have handsomely padded their coffers (25 years in my case). They rank right next to Comcast for service (though Comcast has them beat on functionality and reliability) and have never helped me on the few times I have had to contact them. Imagine how much worse this might get now that they won't sell you the software and will only offer a subscription service?? If (or more likely when) your information gets corrupted or locked away, you should have no confidence the people in this company will be there to effectively help you. I will go back to hand written accounting for my veterinary practice before I put all of my data on their servers.