This guide is provided by Conductor, the service that powers the QuickBooks Desktop integration for many business tools, including the one that sent you here.
QuickBooks Desktop and the QuickBooks Web Connector must run with the same Windows permission level. The normal, recommended configuration is for neither program to be launched “as administrator”. If you arrived at this guide because you are troubleshooting the “Could not start QuickBooks” error, a mismatch in permission levels is a common cause: one program is running with elevated permissions while the other is not. Follow the steps below to ensure the “Run this program as an administrator” option is unchecked for both programs.
1

Open the QuickBooks Desktop shortcut location

  1. Click the Windows Start button and type “QuickBooks Desktop” in the search box.
  2. In the search results, right-click the QuickBooks Desktop app and select Open file location. This opens the folder that contains the shortcut Windows uses to launch QuickBooks Desktop.
File Explorer window showing shortcuts for both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Web Connector
2

Disable ‘Run as administrator’ for QuickBooks Desktop

  1. In the folder that appears, right-click the QuickBooks Desktop shortcut and choose Properties.
  2. Select the Compatibility tab.
  3. Near the bottom of the window, ensure the box for “Run this program as an administrator” is unchecked.
  4. Click Apply, then OK to save the change.
Properties window → Compatibility tab showing ‘Run this program as an administrator’ unchecked
3

Open the QuickBooks Web Connector shortcut location

  1. Click the Windows Start button and type “Web Connector” in the search box.
  2. In the search results, right-click the QuickBooks Web Connector app and select Open file location.
This will likely be the same folder as the QuickBooks Desktop shortcut from the previous step.
4

Disable ‘Run as administrator’ for the Web Connector

Repeat the same steps you performed for QuickBooks Desktop:
  1. Right-click the QuickBooks Web Connector shortcut and choose Properties.
  2. Select the Compatibility tab.
  3. Ensure “Run this program as an administrator” is unchecked.
  4. Click Apply, then OK.
5

Close QuickBooks Desktop and the Web Connector

  1. Exit QuickBooks Desktop by clicking File → Exit to close the program completely.
  2. Exit the Web Connector - either approach below will work:
    • In the Web Connector window, click Exit. If a confirmation dialog appears, click OK.
    • Or, open Task Manager, locate QBWebConnector.exe, and click End task.
6

REQUIRED: Recreate the Web Connector log file

After closing QuickBooks Desktop and the Web Connector, you must complete this guide to delete the Web Connector log file and auto-generate a new one. This resolves a permissions-related issue that occurs after changing permission settings.
7

Open QuickBooks Desktop and the Web Connector again

After deleting the log file, re-open QuickBooks Desktop and the Web Connector:
  1. Launch QuickBooks Desktop as you would normally.
  2. In QuickBooks Desktop, click File → App Management → Update Web Services to open the Web Connector.
8

Stop the UAC pop-ups

Finally, we recommend completing this guide to stop the “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” prompts that can interrupt syncing. These pop-ups may start appearing after the recent permission change, which is why we recommend completing this step last.
Your QuickBooks Desktop and Web Connector are now configured with the same permission level. If you are still encountering the “Could not start QuickBooks” error, return to the main troubleshooting guide and continue with the remaining steps.