QuickBooks Online Error 101 occurs when trying to connect a bank account into QuickBooks Online. This happens due to one of the following reasons: Incorrect login information, Bank security restrictions, Recent updates made by your financial institution, QuickBooks is unable to connect to the banks server or if the financial institution you hold an account with is not supported by QuickBooks at the moment.

Furthermore, QuickBooks Online Error Code 101 often indicates that you will be unable to connect to a bank account and hence will be unable to update your transaction in QuickBooks while the bank’s website is down for maintenance.

Issues with your browser’s TLS settings may cause QuickBooks Error 101, also known as a scripting error. To comply with your financial institution’s security protocol for online banking or connecting your bank to web-based programs like QuickBooks Online, make sure your browser supports TLS 1.1 and 1.2.

QuickBooks Bank Error messages displayed on your screen

1. “We are fixing our connection to this bank, Please try again tomorrow.”
2. “The connection to business online banking is not available right now, Please try again in some time.”

Certainly, their are several ways to approach when trying to fix Error Code 101 in QuickBooks Online. Firstly verify that the online banking login information you are using is up to date and accurate, You can check this by logging into your banks website.

If your login information is correct than follow along to try these alternative methods to fix connection issues between your bank and QuickBooks.

11 reasons why QuickBooks Online error 101 occurs.

• You have a new bank account but Online banking is not yet activated.
• QuickBooks Desktop has not been updated to the latest release.
• Online banking User ID and Password is incorrect.
• Connection to your banks server is down.
• Banks website is under scheduled maintenance.
• Security updates or changes made to your account by your financial institution.
• Your Financial Institution or Bank is not supported by QuickBooks.
• Using an older version of Internet explorer may cause Bank error 101.
• Outdated windows files and components such as Flash, Java or .NET framework fails to start.
• Restrictions set by your security software.
• TLS Protocol also known as Transport Layer Security is deactivated in internet explorer as a result QuickBooks is unable to connect to your banks server for an encrypted secure connection.

How to fix Error 101 in QuickBooks Online?

Because the causes of the 101 error varies for each user, the following troubleshooting methods have been listed aiming to assist each QuickBooks user, with easy to advanced solutions as you progress.

Moreover, If you are about to perform these steps in QuickBooks desktop than backup your data before you being to troubleshoot.

1) Update bank login credentials in QuickBooks

QuickBooks Error 101 often occurs when you have changed the login information with your bank for example your user name and password. But, you have not updated the same in QuickBooks due to which the connection to your bank fails.

Here is how to replace your old banking credentials and update the new User ID and Password in QuickBooks Online and Desktop.

• From the dashboard Select Banking.
• Select Update.
• Now enter your User ID and Password.
• If you are prompted with Error 101 during update than select reconnect my account.
• Click on Edit and than select Edit my sign-in info.
• Next choose save and connect.
• You will get a confirmation message once the connection is successful.
• Click on I am done, Let’s go.

While this is the most common way for updating your new bank login credentials in QuickBooks, Sometimes the changes you made might not take effect immediately due to browser caching issue.

2) Clear Browser cache

Clearing browser cache can help you fix QuickBooks Error 101. If you are using QuickBooks Online on one of the most commonly used browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Safari than here is a way to clear old browser cache for QuickBooks to function efficiently.

In Chrome:

• Open Google Chrome on your computer
• From the top right corner “click on the three dots”
• In the drop down menu choose “more tools” and than select “clear browsing data”
• Now from the “Time Range drop down” select “All time” or a custom data range
• Check these boxes “Browsing history”, “cookies and other site data”, “Cached images and files”
• Lastly, Click on “Clear Data”.

In Firefox:

• Open Mozilla Firefox on your computer and click on “menu”
• From the drop down list select “settings”
• Go to Privacy and security” from the right panel
• After that “clear cookies and site data.”
• check all the boxes “cookies, site data and Cached Web Content”
• Now click the “clear button”.

In Safari:

• In macOS from the top menu bar “click on safari”.
• “Select Preferences”.
• Click on the “Privacy tab”.
• Choose “Manage Website Data”.
• Click on “Remove all” button.
• In addition to that Confirm by selecting “Remove Now”.
• Go back to the top “menu” bar and Click Safari select “Quit” to close Safari and “Save your changes”.

Once you have completed clearing cache data from your browser than restart your computer, login to QuickBooks and try reconnecting your bank account, If you were successful in connecting your account and are able download transaction without error 101 than your problem has been resolved.

3) Connect Bank account Manually to fix QuickBooks Error 101

While automatically connecting a bank account to QuickBooks may often return into Error 101 for some users, the alternative way to overcome 101 Bank error is to connect your financial institution or credit card account to both QuickBooks Online and Desktop using a manual setup.

• Log in to Open QuickBooks Online dashboard.
• Go to transactions tab and select Banking
• In the banking page you will see two options “Connect Account” or “Upload Transactions”.
• Select Connect Account.
• Now you will see a list of the most popular bank names.
• Choose one from from the list, If you don’t see your Bank in the list than type your bank name on the search bar.
• Than select the bank from the list and continue
• Next sign into your bank using your online banking user name and password.

Note: Some banks might need you to go thru additional security steps to help you sign in.

• Once logged in find the list of different account types you have set up with your bank for example: Expenses, Checking, personal and so on.
• Select the accounts from the drop down you would like to connect with QuickBooks.
• If you have already created these accounts in Chart of accounts in QuickBooks than choose the relevant account and QuickBooks will automatically categorize your transactions.
• Or simply select an account type and QuickBooks will create one for you.
• Now select the current year or choose a custom date to instruct QuickBooks on how far you want QuickBooks to go when downloading transactions from your financial Institution or credit card account.

If you come across QuickBooks error 103 during this process than we recommend you to visit your banks website and make sure the issue is not occurring from your Financial Institution or Credit card company.

4) Enable TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2 in Browser to Fix Error 101 in QuickBooks

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) including all financial Institutions requires TLS 1.1 or TLS 1.2 for compliance.

What is a TLS?

TLS also known as (Transport Layer Security) is a commonly used security protocol for improving privacy and data security in Internet communication. Encrypting communication between web based applications and servers, such as web browsers accessing a website, is a common use case for TLS.

Most modern web browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla or Safari would automatically have the TLS 1.2 enabled which should securely help you connect QuickBooks Online to your Bank or credit card company.

When initiating a bank connection with QuickBooks Online if you encounter QuickBooks error code 101 this means that the latest version of TLS is not enabled on your browser and your bank account is unable to connect or update due to a security or privacy issue.

Here is how you can manually enable both TLS 1.1 and 1.2 on your web browsers.

1. Microsoft Edge:

• Open Edge or Internet explorer.
• Go to the Menu bar click Tools
• Select Internet Options.
• Go to the Advanced Tab.
• Scroll down to security options.
• Check the following Boxes: TLS 1.1 and 1.2.
• Click Apply and than OK.
• Close the browser and restart internet explorer.

2. Google Chrome:

• Open Chrome on your PC.
• Press Alt + F simultaneously to go to Settings.
• Scroll down and select Show Advanced Settings.
• Now go to Network and click on Change Proxy Settings.
• Select Advanced Tab.
• Scroll down to the Security Options.
• Than, Check the following options from the list: Choose TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2.
• After that Hit apply than OK.
• Finally, Close Google chrome and restart the browser to log back in to QB.

3. Mozilla Firefox:

• Open Firefox.
• Type about:config in the address bar and Hit Enter.
• In the search bar type tls.
• From the list find security.tls.version.max and double click on the entry.
• Now set the integer value to 3 to force protocol of TLS 1.2.
• Hit Enter or click on the check box on the right.
• And than Close Firefox and reopen the browser for the changes to take effect.

4. Opera:

• Start Opera Browser.
• Press Ctrl + F12 from your keyboard.
• Go to the Network section and select change proxy settings.
• Now Select the Advanced Tab.
• Click on the Security Tab and from settings check these boxes: Use TLS 1.1 and TLS 1.2.
• Next, Hit Apply and OK to Save.
• At this point close Opera and restart the browser.

5. Apple Safari:

• Safari does not offer a manual choice to change TLS protocol settings. Therefore, the only way to confirm that the latest version of TLS is enabled is by ensuring you are using the latest version of safari or update safari to Version 7 or later.

5) Update Java, Flash & .NET frame work files in windows.

Update Java in Windows 10:

• Right-click on the Start button and select the Control Panel option.
• In the Windows Control Panel page, Choose Programs.
• Click on the Java icon to go to Java Control Panel.

Update Flash:

• Open adobe.com/go/chrome.
• Select your computer’s operating system and version – If you’re using Chrome, the version will be labeled under “PPAPI.”
• Click “Download Now,” and follow the instructions in the file you downloaded to install and update Flash.

Update .NET Frame Work:

• Visit the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.8 site:https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet-framework/net462
• Click the Download .NET Framework 4.8 Runtime button (Do not select the Pack for developers)
• Open the Downloaded .EXE file.
• On Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, Select Run button from the bottom of the page
• In Google Chrome, Click the up arrow then select Open
• Restart your computer when the update is finished
• Now Launch QuickBooks.

Conclusion

To sum up for most users reconnecting their bank account and clearing browser cache has solved QuickBooks Error code 101. We hope that you found the solution you were looking for to overcome QuickBooks Banking errors so you can continue to download and categorize the transactions to prepare bank reconciliation reports.

Under any circumstances if you were unable to solve the issues please simply Get in touch with our QuickBooks Pro Advisor team to receive further help.