Home / , / The Federal 941 would not open. I kept getting a message that the file was not found. I still cannot open any federal tax forms.

The Federal 941 would not open. I kept getting a message that the file was not found. I still cannot open any federal tax forms.

Windows has security features that prevent the payroll program from writing the .fdf and .pdf files to the Program Files folder.

There are 2 options available to you as a user:

  1. Move the saved location of the payroll data set out of the Program Files folder to a location such as C:Program Data[new folder name]. This will allow Payroll to write the necessary files to print your federal reports for the quarter and the year. Choose File/Backup Company/Non-compressed Files. This option creates a folder. Change the “file name” in the Save window as it is really a folder name to an appropriate name and save to the new location. Close Company in the “old” location and Open Company in the “new” location.

2. Navigate to the Payroll folder using the Windows Explorer program. Open the Properties of the pay.exe. Select the Run as an administrator setting.