diff --git a/src/sbbs3/main.cpp b/src/sbbs3/main.cpp
index 12345e0926448774a6aaf15d9218c33e98394ca7..ddaa20b26bcbbd24bb71ca8a360d04718034b966 100644
--- a/src/sbbs3/main.cpp
+++ b/src/sbbs3/main.cpp
@@ -2900,7 +2900,7 @@ void event_thread(void* arg)
 		}
 		// Read qnet.dab (legacy), and auto-upgrade to time.ini
 		SAFEPRINTF(str,"%sqnet.dab",sbbs->cfg.ctrl_dir);
-		if((file=sbbs->nopen(str,O_RDWR|O_CREAT))!=-1) {
+		if((file=sbbs->nopen(str,O_RDONLY))!=-1) {
 			for(i=0;i<sbbs->cfg.total_qhubs;i++) {
 				sbbs->cfg.qhub[i]->last=0;
 				if(read(file,&sbbs->cfg.qhub[i]->last,sizeof(sbbs->cfg.qhub[i]->last))!=sizeof(sbbs->cfg.qhub[i]->last))