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Desktop Accounting API

QBWC1039: Unique OwnerID/FileID pair value required

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The Web Connector found an older record of this app in your company file that does not match the connector you are adding. It stops instead of guessing which one is right.

What you see

Section titled “What you see”

When you add the connector file, or when the Web Connector runs an update, it shows a QBWC1039 error that includes the words “Unique OwnerID/FileID pair value required”.

Why it happens

Section titled “Why it happens”

When the Web Connector adds an app, it writes a small ID into the company file so it can recognize that file later. QuickBooks allows one such ID per app in each file. The error appears when that ID is already taken by an earlier entry.

Every connector file you download carries its own ID. A new connector file does not clash with other connections to the same company file, including a second connection for the same app, a replacement connector file, or connections of other apps that use Desktop Accounting API. You can add it next to the existing rows.

Older connector files for an app shared one ID, and an entry left from one of those is the usual cause. Removing that entry, restarting the Web Connector and adding the new connector file fixes it. Common reasons:

  • You ran a new setup link (for example after losing the password) while the app’s earlier entry, from an older connector file, was still in the Web Connector. This is the most common case: the new connector file is opened next to the old one.
  • The app was added to this company file before, removed from the Web Connector, and added again.
  • An older connector file for the same app was opened again, next to a newer one.
  • The company file was copied from another computer or another company file where the app was set up, so it carries the old ID with it.

How to fix it

Section titled “How to fix it”

The order of these steps matters. The old entry must be gone, and the Web Connector restarted, before the new connector file is added.

  1. Open the Web Connector. Select every row for this app, including a half-added row left behind by the failed attempt, and click Remove.
  2. Close the Web Connector completely: click Exit, or right-click its icon near the clock and choose Exit. Then start it again from the Windows Start menu. A Web Connector that showed this error can keep failing in odd ways until it restarts.
  3. Ask the app for a new setup link if your current link has expired. Old connector files and passwords do not carry over.
  4. Open the setup link on the computer that runs QuickBooks and follow every step, starting with downloading the connector file. See Connect QuickBooks Desktop.
  5. If the error appears again even though no old row was left, the old ID is still stored in the company file. Intuit’s QBWC CP3 tool clears it: back up the company file, open it in QuickBooks, run the tool, select the connector file, click Remove Stamp and approve the QuickBooks prompt. Then open the connector file again.

If you already have a setup link open, its download page has a link for this error, and the What changed? page offers I reinstalled the Web Connector, or it showed QBWC1039. Both lead to the same steps and give you a new connector file.

How to check it worked

Section titled “How to check it worked”

Adding the new connector file finishes without QBWC1039. The setup page passes Web Connector checked in and QuickBooks opened the company file.

When to contact the app’s support

Section titled “When to contact the app’s support”

Contact them if the error remains after a fresh setup link and after your IT person cleared the old ID. Send the time, the full error text, whether the company file was copied from elsewhere, and a screenshot of the Web Connector window showing every row.

Section titled “Related pages”

For developers, see QBD_CONNECTION_ERROR.