QuickBooks Desktop Crashing after Payroll Update Error

Earlier today, my phone started ringing, and my cellular phone texts started dinging with messages about users of QuickBooks Desktop crashing when they attempted to run QuickBooks Desktop Payroll. 

I suspect that thousands of QuickBooks Desktop users were contacting Intuit Customer Support via their support phone number(s) and the online chat which reported 'chat unavailable.'

The culprit, as reported by Intuit several hours later, was a corruption that occurred when attempting to install payroll tax table update 22601 in Multi-user mode. When attempting to run Payroll within QuickBooks Desktop, users would be confronted with the 'Unrecoverable Error' depicted in the headline image of this article.

After running QuickBooks Update, Payroll Update, and Windows repair of QuickBooks, I decided to start the process over. These are the steps that I took that permitted Payroll to be processed in Single-user mode:

1. Log in to QuickBooks Desktop as the Admin user.
2. Switch QuickBooks Desktop to Single-user Mode.
3. Perform a 'complete' Payroll Update.
4. After the payroll update completes, close QuickBooks.
5. Reboot your computer.
6. After the computer has been successfully rebooted, Open QuickBooks Desktop.
7. Log in to QuickBooks as the Admin user.
8. Switch QuickBooks Desktop to Single-user Mode (if it is in Multi-user mode).
9. Begin either a 'scheduled' or 'unscheduled' Payroll.
10. QuickBooks opens the Payroll data entry window normally and allows the user to perform payroll in a typical fashion, with the exception that the user must be in Single-user Mode.

Remember, this is a 'temporary fix' only. Intuit has subsequently reported that they've "identified the 'source of the problem and are working to resolve the issue." Hopefully, after applying a patch, update, or problem-resolution for this issue, users will be able to resume processing QuickBooks Desktop Payroll within QuickBooks Desktop normally in Multi-user mode.  Until then, I suggest that you try my '10-step temporary fix' outlined above.

Note: Any updates to this article, based upon updated or new Intuit QuickBooks (related) 'Incident' announcements, will be passed along in chronological sequence in numbered updates below. 

UPDATE (1) to Original Content

At 21:440 Pacific Standard Time 12/22/2025, Intuit posted another service notification message indicating that the 'incident status' was now in the 'Monitoring'. The message indicated that impacted users should "peform a QuickBooks Payroll update" and citing this support document: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/update-products/get-latest-payroll-tax-table-update/L2Sgtt3Gy_US_en_US?uid=mji5m6vy

My recommendation would be to make certain to install the manual update (which they intend will resolve the earlier problem) while in single-user mode, NOT multi-user mode. In other words, go through my steps 1-7 above, but after you get through the update, close QuickBooks Desktop, and reboot your computer, when you log back in attempt to begin a 'scheduled' or 'unscheduled' payroll while in multi-user mode (rather than single-user mode), if QuickBooks Desktop Payroll behaves normally then it would appear that the prior problem(s) are resolved, if not, you may need to repeat all 10 steps again and then continue only attempting to run QuickBooks Desktop Payroll in single-user mode. 

Disclosures:

Some content is based on Intuit source information and on formal QuickBooks Desktop technical support notes or advisories. Intuit content adapted by Insightful Accountant from Intuit sources is furnished for educational purposes only.

As used herein, Intuit, QuickBooks Desktop products (Pro-plus, Premier-plus, and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions), and QuickBooks Desktop Payroll products, refer to one or more registered trademarks of Intuit^® Inc., a publicly-traded corporation headquartered in Mountain View, California.

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