Hi Pattie -- I wanted to make sure you saw that I figured out a solution to this highly annoying problem finally (one year later, and by myself, with no help from QB).  If you ever get this error again, make sure you're NOT connected to the internet when you next try to open the company file.  At that point, it just prompts you for a NEW password, and doesn't ask for the non-existent Admin password.  Cheers!