Quickbooks - How to Regenerate a Damaged "entitlementdatastore.ecml" File

 

Intro:

If you need to wipe a QuickBooks installation of its registration data this article will help. You may also run into this issue if a Windows restore was done.

Fix:

1. Close QuickBooks and the Tool Hub if they are open.

2. Open the entitlement folder based on your QuickBooks version found in the chart below:

• QuickBooks 2007 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v3

• QuickBooks 2008 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v5
• QuickBooks 2009 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v5

• QuickBooks 2010 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v6.0
• QuickBooks 2011 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v6.0
• QuickBooks 2012 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v6.0

• QuickBooks 2013 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2014 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2015 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2016 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2017 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2018 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2019 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2020 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2021 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2022 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2023 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8
• QuickBooks 2024 - C:\ProgramData\Intuit\Entitlement Client\v8

3. Delete or rename "EntitlementDataStore.ecml" to "EntitlementDataStore.ecml.old".

4. Open QuickBooks and load your company file.

5. File the instructions to register the application.

Conclusion:

You can either choose to rename or delete the entitlement file. It's encrypted either way so there's really no sense in hanging on to a bad copy of it if there's an issue. It's not like you can edit it directly.

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