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How do I resolve 'Unable to load preferences. Please restart QuickBooks Desktop to proceed.'?

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Overview

You are trying to access 'Preferences' under "File" > "AvaTax".  But you receive the error 'Unable to load preferences.  Please restart QuickBooks to proceed.'

Environment

QuickBooks Desktop

Resolution

  • Close QuickBooks Desktop
  • Open Task Manager
    • In the Processes Tab of the Task Manager, right click on any item in the list which begins with QB, QuickBooks, Intuit, and/or AvalaraEventCallback and select "End Process".
  • Go to C:\ProgramFiles (x86)\Avalara\AvaTax\Bin for QuickBooks
    • Click Unsubscribe three times in a row
    • Click Subscribe three times in a row
  • Right click on the following files and run as an Admin
    • Type "unregister_for_callback.bat" and hit enter
    • Type "unregister_for_adapter.bat" and hit enter
    • Type "register_for_callback.bat" and hit enter
    • Type "register_for_adapter.bat" and hit enter
  • Right click on QuickBooks icon run as Administrator (first time)
  • Log into QuickBooks as Admin