Restoring QuickBooks Backups
In the QuickBooks user forums I often see people complaining that they have restored a backup (either to move QB to a new computer, or restore after reformatting their hard drive) and they find that their company logo, on their invoices, isn’t restored. Other files may be missing, such as loan manager files. Today I’ll give you a tip on how to restore these files.
Everyone who uses QuickBooks knows that they need to make backup copies, right? If you don’t make backups, STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW AND MAKE ONE! I’ll be nagging everyone more on this subject in the future. You should be periodically making backups with the QuickBooks backup function. However, if you restore that backup, there are some things you have to watch out for.
More than just your QBW file
When you use QuickBooks there is a file that contains your financial information, with a file type of “QBW”. This contains most of your information, but not all. Additional information may be stored in a number of places, including the company logo you put on your forms, dictionaries for spell checking, printer setup files, loan manager files, business planner files and more. If you are just backing up your QBW file by copying it somewhere (better than no backup at all!), you could be missing other important files.
When you use the QuickBooks backup feature all of these files are wrapped up into the backup “QBB” file, which is very helpful.
Restore might not do what you expect
When you restore a QuickBooks backup the program asks you for a location where you can restore the company file. However, the restore procedure only places the company (QBW) file in this location. The other files that were backed up would normally be stored in various places in your computer, and the restore does not put these back into the proper place.
Why not? You may be restoring an older archived backup to look at some older information, and you don’t want to lose your current information. You can put the company file in a different place, but not these additional files. So, the restore puts these files in a separate folder for safety. The only problem with this – you have to manually move these files.
How to fully restore those files
Once you restore your company file you will see a folder with the name “Restored_company name“, where company name is the name of the file you restored. For example, I’ve restored a backup for a company named “Generic Premier 08 bbtest” to the “qb” folder on my H: drive. You will see the following folders after the restore:
The Generic Premier 08 bbtest – Images folder is created by QuickBooks to hold the logo files that you place on your invoice and other forms.
Note that there is a folder named Restored_Generic Premier 08 bbtest_Files, which a number of sub folders. These sub folders (and there could be others than what I show here) contain files that would normally be placed
So, after you have restored your company file, you need to copy files from this Restored folder to particular locations on your computer:
- Image files (files used as logos) should be moved to [Company Name]-images.
- Word Letters and Templates should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version]\QuickBooks Letter Templates.
- Printer Setting (PrintEng.ini, wpr.ini, and QBPrint.qbp) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version].
- Spell Checker (spell.ini and UserDictionary.tlx) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version]
- Financial Statement Designer Client (FSD clients) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks\Company Files\FSD\Clients.
- Financial Statement Designer Data (FSD data) files should be moved to Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Intuit\QuickBooks [version]\Components\FSD\Data.
- Cash Flow Projector (.cfp) should be moved to the same directory as [Company Name].qbw.
- Business Planner (.bpw) should be moved to the same directory as [Company Name].qbw.
- Loan Manager (.lmr) files should be moved to the same directory as [Company Name].qbw.
In the Restore folder you will find a file named HowToRestoreExternalFiles.txt that will summarize this information.
Once you have done this you will find that your files are complete. By simply copying (for example) the image files your images will show in your invoice templates without any further work.
Category: General Tips
About the Author (Author Profile)
Charlie Russell is the founder of CCRSoftware. He’s been involved with the small business software industry since the mid 70′s, focusing on inventory and accounting software for small businesses. Charlie is a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Look for Charlie’s articles in the QuickBooks and Beyond blog, as well as his California Wildflower Hikes blog.
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Ok, another post to this thread. I really hope you can give me some simple and quick directions. It is about moving the loan manager. I loaded a new copy of QB2011 on my laptop when I purchased a business on dec 16th and the computer they had crashed. I setup the loan mgr, etc., etc., When I had finally purchased a new desktop for the business I transferred the data. Of course I now know that the lmr file doesn’t automatically transfer and I have made multiple attempts to copy it to the “same file as the company directory”. When I open the c drive and look in the intuit file, there it is, BUT it does not put my data in my loan manger on the new computer. I am sure that I am just not doing something right – my accountant who is a QB advisor has never heard of this and suggested I call – been on hold today for an hour and I need to open my shop. Please give me directions if possible, INCLUDING a picture of where I should copy this file on my new computer. All the directions I find online just say “place it in the directory containing your company file (companyname.QBW). Again, I have tried this MANY TIMES in many ways and it doesn’t work. Please help as I have loan payments coming due and I don’t want to have to figure things out backwards after the fact.
Debra, I just ran a test here, all I had to do was to copy the LMR file into the same folder as the QBW file, and then I could access it. I did this in single user mode, but that should not make a difference. If you have opened loan manager in QB and your loans aren’t there, I would guess that you moved the LMR file to the wrong location. And, when you opened Loan Manager, it would create a new, empty LMR. So – first make a backup copy of the LMR file in the backup folder (for save keeping). Erase any LMR file found in the same places as the QBW. Copy the backed-up LMR to that folder. Try opening Loan Manager again.
If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what else to say, other than to try contacting a Certified ProAdvisor who can look at your system directly.
I have QB Pro 2010 and I am trying to do a restore from a backup copy that is QB Pro 2011. It says it cannot restore due to it being a newer version. Is my only solution to purchase the newer version? My accountant saved the backup copy for me. Thanks.
Rick – if your accountant gave you a backup copy from a QB 2011 program, you are out of luck. You need to either buy QB 2011, or tell your accountant that he has to do this the right way and give you a QB2010 backup. Or, more professionally, he should be working with you with the “accountant’s copy” method which would get around that. QuickBooks has ways of allowing accountants to work with different years of client files – but they have to do things the right way.
Fernando
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Elisa
My husband’s son’s printer is down, so he asked me to print out some gov’t-required forms from a file of his, from his QB. (I have 2010 Pro; his is 2006, I think.) So I made a new company, and tried to open his file (using restore) — a QBB. But mine is looking for a file extension of QBW.
What am I doing wrong, please?
Thanks,
Debb
Debra, if the program is looking for a QBW, then you are trying to “open” it directly, rather than restoring from a backup. QBW is the company file in its normal state. A QBB file is a backup file. You have to select “restore a backup copy”.
Is there any way that I can restore a backup of a UK edition using Quickbooks US edition?
Lady: Sorry, no, you can’t mix national versions that way. Take a look at the utilities from Karl Irvin at http://www.q2q.us
I would like to install QB on my C: drive but have all my data (Company) on a Flash Drive, is that possible?
Dave, you can try, but usually QuickBooks balks at putting the data file on removeable media. Sometimes it works, often it doesn’t. Why do you want to?
I have always gone to St Louis from florida to help with year end on my friends restaurant. This year I decided to do it in Florida. He sent me the disc QB 2006 and I installed it on my computer. He sent me a flash drive with QB and quicken on it. The quicken did it’s thing picked up what it needed and up loaded the information on my computer. The QB files are QBB File, OB network data file, OBW file and OB Company file. I don’t know where to begin? Do I open QB to transfer files, do I store the files on my hard drive, do I restore one at a time which over rides what i HAVE PREVIOUSLY DONE? As you can tell I am a newby at this never worked with a flash drive.
Bonnie, I’m not sure what all the details are for what you are trying to do.
If you are just trying to move the QuickBooks data onto your computer, the typical thing to do would be to run QuickBooks and “restore” the backup file. I don’t recall the exact menu options in QB 2006 as they keep changing the details, but it will be something like “File” then “Open or Restore Company”. You want to restore a backup. It will ask for the location of the file – you look for the “QBB” file, then it will ask where you want to restore it to, and you should pick a location on your own computer.
If you pick a location where you had your OLDER copy of the file, it will OVERWRITE and replace the old one. “Restore” won’t “merge” old and new files.
This assumes that you want to just work with the restored file, that you aren’t trying to merge it with other work that you’ve done (which is really, really hard to do unless you buy extra software). It also assumes that the “QBB” backup file is the most current copy of their data. So ask them if they made a backup and gave that to you, using the QuickBooks backup feature.
If the QBB file isn’t the most current data (for instance, it was just hanging around from some backup done in the past), you can copy the QBW file onto your computer in a good place, then use QuickBooks to open that file.
Don’t worry about the ND file, or any TLG file, or anything else.
My brother had all of his company info on a WIN 98 computer which totally crashed. He did have backup copies of QB on floppy, we got him set up with a new WIN 7 laptop and loaded QB pro 2009 on it. We transferred the files from his floppy copies(3 total) to usb but now we cannot open/restore them into the new program… any ideas? I believe the old QB is 2000/2001.
Em, I don’t have a good answer. I don’t have the older versions of QB. I would contact http://www.qbornotqb.com to see if they can help (they might, they might not), or try to find someone who has an installation with the older version of QB so that they can do a restore, and then give you the data file.
when i did my restoration i receive messages like “conversion failed”, “corrupt file”, “could not restore” and “verinfo.txt then prompt for password. pls cansomeone help me with what to do to restore all my backup. Thank you.
Vincent, that kind of thing requires more info, and really is best handled by someone actually looking at your system. I can’t really give you help on that via blog comments…
Hi,
im trying to get help, i got a laptop and i imported my quickbooks company file enterprise.9 from a usb drive i also copied the lmr.file into same folder i deleted the lmr that already existed there but when i go into the loan manager its empty i checked the location where my files are saved and the deleted lmr was there again i deleted it again using a shredder but as soon as i try to open the loan manager the file comes back alive and the loan manager is empty.
please help me if possible,
thank you!
Amron – make sure that you are copying the lmr file to that location, and that QuickBooks isn’t running at the time you put it there. I’m having a hard time following what steps you took – did you copy the lmr file to the folder where QB is creating the new blank lmr?
charlie- thanks for responding, i appreciate your help!
i put my usb into the laptop and by windows explorer i did a copy and paste into the folder where i have my company file i then opened quickbooks and i my loan manager was blank so i went back to the folder where i pasted the lmr file and saw that quickbooks has created a new lmr so i shredded the new file and opened again quickbooks and i saw that the loan manager is still empty so i went back to windows explorer and saw that quickbooks has again created a new lmr
i appreciate your response
amron
yes it was in that same folder
hi, its me again, i tried copying the quickbooks file to a different location on the hard drive and then when i tried opening up the loan manager i got a message that it cant be opened because the file name was renamed without ..lmr so i renamed my lmr file with the ..lmr and when i tried opening loan manager again i got the same thing happening, it keeps on creating a blank lmr file.
thanks again for your help!
This is a bit difficult to follow, my apologies. It sounds like you are just moving the files over manually, rather than using the “backup” and “restore” features as described in this post. If you are manually moving things, you have to get ALL of the files and put them in the right place. You have an LMR file in the same folder as your QBW file on the source system. You need to move the original LMR file, without changing the name, and put it in the same location as the QBW file. Then open QuickBooks, and you should see your info.
If that isn’t working, it isn’t something that I can address any further in comments in a blog like this, as there must be something else that you are doing differently that I just can’t determine from here.
thanks very much for your help i will start from A hopefully i will be successful
thanks again
Is is ok to delete these extra tlg, nd, lgb files (and the restored folder) from my desktop as long as I haven’t used my qbw files at all in the meantime (since sending to my accountant and getting his qbb file back to restore after his aje’s).
recall that question. Discovered my mistake in the restore in choosing the file name and location of the restore. It defaulted to desktop and I didn’t change to C drive. Those extra files are not on desktop when I restored over again.
I just installed QB Pro 2011. A client has sent me a backup file form the 2009 version. I can restore it but none of the passwords she has sent me will work. Am i missing a step ?
Thanks for your help
Pat, not that I can think of at this time. You should have been able to do that, I believe, but I’ve not tried it lately. Keep in mind that if you do work with this, you can’t give the modified file back to them because it is converted and their product won’t open it.
I am not able to restore my old quickbook premier file(uk ver) with my new Quickbok accounting 2011(In Australia). It keep prompting that not able to restore backup file because it is not US version.
Appreciate your advise because my computer having the uk ver had crashed.
Thank you.
Kind regards,
Lester
Lester, if your new version is the Australian version, you most likely can’t restore a backup from the UK version. The different national versions of QuickBooks aren’t compatible with each other.