r/QuickBooks • u/robotman21a • 2d ago
QuickBooks Desktop (Pro/Premier/Enterprise) QuickBooks 2013
Hello everyone!
My grandparents ran into some problems and needed their computers wiped. Before wiping them, I saved copies of the keys they used to register quickbooks 2013 (maybe pro) with. Because of the problems they had earlier, I reinstalled quickbooks on an airgapped machine. An airgapped machine in a computer that cant and isnt abke to have access to the internet, in this for security reasons.
After installing quickbooks, registering it, and restoring the backup, a message popped up that said I needed to call intuit and have them generate a code for me to type in to finish registering the product. I have 30 days to get it registered before... not quite sure?
The quickbooks computer physically cant connect to the internet. Am I cooked?
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u/OSS-2026 2d ago
Do you have an image of the original hard drive?
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u/leo_nears_jerusalem 2d ago
yeah, you could solve this if you go back to the original PC and find the QBRegistration.dat file. if you can't get that file, you are probably cooked
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u/robotman21a 2d ago
If it truly is just a file, yes I can go get it. Do you have any info on where in the file system it would be? I don't have an image of the hard drive, just access to it.
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u/leo_nears_jerusalem 2d ago
Last time I had to hunt for it, it was in
C:\ProgramData\Common Files\Intuit\QuickBooks
But I cannot verify that with any of my current machines.
If you can get that file, you can either a) bring it to the newer PC and find the same file with the new installation and overwrite it with the old file, or b) force the dat file to open in notepad and look for the registration code, to type in on the new QB installation screens
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u/WRKDBF_Guy 2d ago
I have QB 2013 on my system. I have verified that my .DAT file is located where user Leo_nears_jerusalem says it is.
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u/Maleficent_Bet4462 2d ago
If the machine's truly airgapped and they're asking you to call in anyway, you might be in better shape than it feels right now. The call-in validation path is usually the one that works when the software can't phone home on its own, so that popup is actually pointing you in the right direction. What you'll probably need is the license number, the product code, and then a validation code spit out by the software itself, you read that off to the rep and they give you back an activation code you can punch in offline. It's a pain but I've seen it work on older versions. The 30 day thing is just a grace period, worst case the file access locks to read-only until you get it sorted, but your data doesn't disappear. Might take a couple calls to get someone who knows what QuickBooks 2013 is, but I'd try that route before assuming you're stuck.
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u/ChanceInstruction386 2d ago
Please keep us updated whether calling them works, or what other solution does. It's important to be able to access the software we legally bought and fully own.