QuickBooks Unable to Decrypt File with Password: Qbwin.log

QuickBooks users commonly encounter this error message in the Qbwin.log file: failed to decrypt the user’s master key. This QuickBooks error is mainly caused by the user list or your built-in user in your company data being damaged. If you are facing a ‘Failed to decrypt user’s master key’ error on Enterprise Suite, you have to contact Intuit QB Enterprise Support Telephone to fix this issue.

How to Fix QuickBooks Unable to Decrypt File with Password?

Solution 1: Verify if the QuickBooks admin user is disabled

• Log in to your company file as the Administrator.
• Update the Administrator password.
• QuickBooks will encrypt the data in your file again. Please be aware that this process may take a few minutes.
• Note: If QuickBooks crashes during the encryption process, please contact our support team. We may need to send your file to Data Services to remove any sensitive information from it.
• Log out of your company file. Navigate to the File menu, then choose Close Company or Logoff, and finally close QuickBooks.
• Open QuickBooks again and sign in as the Administrator to complete the re-encryption procedure.

Verify that the re-encryption was successful

• Verify data by running the utility.
• Check the log file for the most recent entry.
• Please contact us if you see any of the following errors. If not, proceed to Solution 2.
  • LVL_SEVERE_ERROR–GetMasterKey Failed: The decryption has failed.
  • LVL_SEVERE_ERROR–GetDataAccessKey Failed: The decryption has failed.

Note: You should only send your file to Data Services if the Admin user receives the Masterkey error. If the error affects non-admin users, you need to delete and recreate the users.

Solution 2: Repair Damaged Encrypted Fields

To repair missing or damaged encrypted fields, follow these steps. While these steps are specific to credit cards, you can use similar procedures to fix vendor tax IDs and employee social security numbers as well.

Step 1: Run the Verify Data utility

Use the Verify Data utility to check for possible data damage.

Step 2: Look for the error message in QBWin.log:

To see what is affected, check the QBWin.log error message.

• Locate the QBWin.log file and save it to a convenient location, such as your Desktop.
• Right-click on the QBWin.log file. Choose “Open with” and select Notepad.
• Take note of the customer names and IDs that are displayed in the QBWin.log file.

Step 3: Edit the Credit Card number of the Affected Customer

It is possible to edit the credit card number to remove damaged data. If many customers are affected, you can check Use advanced import to override damaged credit card information.

• Go to the Customers menu and click on Customer Center.
• Click on the small arrow ▼ icon located above the search bar, and then select All Customers.
• Locate the names of the customers or jobs that you previously noted.
• Double-click on the Customer or Job that you want to edit, and then navigate to the Payment Settings tab.
• Enter a 16-digit dummy credit card number and expiration date, and then click on OK.
• Return to the Payment Settings tab.
• Enter the correct credit card number and expiration date, and then click on OK.

Step 4: Verify if data no Longer has Errors

Check if the issue has been resolved by running Verify Data again.

• If no issues are found, the problem has been resolved.
• In case the verification fails, review the QBwin.log for any additional errors that may have caused the verification failure. If you still observe Customers being displayed, proceed to repeat Step 3.

How to Fix Qbwin.log: LVL_SEVERE_ERROR?

• Update QuickBooks to the Latest Release.
• Make a backup of your company file.
• Log in to your company file as the Admin user.
• Choose the users list:
  • QuickBooks Desktop Pro and Premier: Select the company menu -> set up users and passwords -> set up user.
  • QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise: Select the company menu -> users -> set up users and roles.
• Select the default admin user -> click edit user.
• Change the password to a temporary password.
• Click Next -> then finish.
• QuickBooks Desktop will re-encrypt data in your file.
  • If QuickBooks Desktop crashes while encrypting, send your file to data services for recovery fees may apply.
  • If the encryption process completes see a “working” window while the encryption process is working.
• It is very important to File -> Close Company/Log off) -> then close the program completely -> log in again as the admin user. This will finish the re-encryption process.
• The admin user’s encryption should be fixed so that you can log in with the new password.

To ensure that encryption is fixed, check the QBWinlog mentioned below:

• Run the Verify Data Utility to check if the encryption process is completed.
• Seek for the recent entries of the verify log (QBWin.log) such as:
  • LVL_SEVERE_ERROR–GetMasterKey Failed: The decryption has failed or
  • LVL_SEVERE_ERROR–GetDataAccessKey Failed: The decryption has failed
• The error is fixed if you find out that the errors above are for the admin user in the latest entries of the log you can change your password.
• If the error is not fixed, the errors in the latest entries of the log, you will need to send your file to Data Services for recovery. Send your file to Data Services for repair if the Masterkey error is for your Admin user.

Frequently Asked Questions