A QuickBooks Desktop error that starts with -6000 means the program could not open, restore or back up your company file. The error always carries a second number, such as -82 or -83, and that second number tells you which fix to try. Most people skip it and try random fixes, which is why these errors drag on.

What the Numbers Mean

• -6000, -82 and -6000, -106. These appear when you open or access the company file. Intuit says the usual cause is a workstation that is wrongly set up to host multi-user access. A space between the company name and the file extension can trigger it too.
• -6000, -83. This appears when you open, restore or back up a company file. It often comes down to where the file is stored or how the backup is named.

There are other -6000 codes. If yours is not on this list, note the exact two numbers before you search for a fix.

Before You Start

1. Update QuickBooks Desktop to the latest release.
2. Run QuickBooks File Doctor from the QuickBooks Tool Hub. Intuit recommends this before any manual fix.
3. Make a copy of the company file so you have something to go back to.

Fixing -6000, -82 and -6000, -106

Work through these in order and stop when the file opens.

1. Remove spaces from the file name. Close QuickBooks on every computer, find the company file, and rename it so there is no space between the company name and the file extension.
2. Turn off hosting on each workstation. Open QuickBooks without opening a company file, go to File, then Utilities. If you see Stop Hosting Multi-User Access, select it and answer Yes at the prompts. If you see Host Multi-User Access, hosting is already off on that computer. Only the computer that stores the file should host.
3. Check the hosting mode on the server (multi-user only). Intuit says to do this only if the first two steps fail. On the computer that stores the file, press F2 to open Product Information and confirm hosting is set to local files only, then choose File, Switch to Multi-user Mode and open the file from a workstation. The hosting computer must stay on, but QuickBooks does not need to be open on it.
4. Run Quick Fix my Program. In the QuickBooks Tool Hub, choose Program Problems, then Quick Fix my Program, and reopen the file.
5. Check for damage in the file. If nothing has worked, the company file itself may be damaged. Use Intuit’s data-damage troubleshooting steps or restore a recent backup.

Fixing -6000, -83

Start with what you were doing when the error appeared.

• Creating a backup. If the file sits on a server, Intuit says to move it to a local drive first. Close QuickBooks on the server, create a new folder with a simple name on the C: drive, save the backup there, and restore from it. If that works, use the restored file and rename the old one so nobody opens it by mistake.
• Restoring a company file. First remove spaces, symbols and special characters from the backup file name and its folder. If that does not help, create a portable company file from the original and restore from that. As a last step, copy the backup to a local drive and restore it from there.
• Opening a file stored on a Windows server. Turn off hosting on the workstations as above, run File Doctor, and try a backup restore. If it still fails, rescan the folder in Database Server Manager and check that the network data file (.nd) exists. Then copy the .qbw file to a desktop, open the copy, and if it opens, the original location was the problem. Our Database Server Manager guide covers that scan.

Common Mistakes

• Ignoring the second number. -82 and -83 have different causes, so the same fix will not work for both.
• Letting several computers host. Only the computer that holds the file should host multi-user access. Intuit says a workstation set up to host is what -82 usually points to.
• Working on a file stored on a network drive. For -83, test from a local drive first, then move the file back once it works.
• Skipping the backup. Several of these steps rename or move your file, so keep a copy first.

If the error looks more like a connection problem, see QuickBooks Error H202 and H303 and QuickBooks Multi-User Mode Not Working.

On a Hosted Server

Most of these causes come from the link between a workstation and the computer that stores the file. On a hosted server the company file and QuickBooks run on the same machine, so there is no workstation hosting to get wrong and no network path to the file. See QuickBooks on a Server: How It Works for how that setup looks day to day.

Source: Intuit’s help articles on QuickBooks Desktop errors -6000, -82, -6000, -106 and -6000, -83. Steps can vary by version, so check Intuit’s current guidance for yours.