RobertG
Expert Alumni

Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Error 65535: Unexpected error is a generic TurboTax for Windows installation error with multiple causes.

Solution

First:

  1. Close the error window and try installing again.
  2. If that doesn't work, restart the machine and try installing again.

If you're experiencing this issue while installing from a TurboTax CD, download and run our fix-it tool. If that doesn't help, we've got additional steps for each operating system.

Windows 10

  1. Right-click your taskbar and select Task manager.
  2. Look for Intuit update service in the Process tab and select End process.
  3. Switch to the Details tab and look for MSIexec.exe. Select End task for all that are still running. There may be more than one.
  4. Install TurboTax from the CD again.

Windows 8 and 10

Start with the Windows 7/Vista/XP solutions below. If none of those solutions work:

  1. Right-click the taskbar at the bottom of the screen and select Task Manager.
  2. If the Task Manager does not have tabs in it, select More details.
  3. Select the Services tab and make sure the status next to msiserver is not Running.
  4. If the status says Running that means Windows is currently installing something, such as Windows Updates or another program. Make sure the other installation finishes and the msiserver status is Stopped before attempting to install TurboTax.

Windows 7 or Windows Vista

Try right-clicking the TurboTax icon and select Run as Administrator.

If that didn't help, or if you're using Windows XP:

  1. Log on to your computer with administrator rights.
  2. Temporarily disable your online backup or security software.
  3. Install (or update) TurboTax.
  4. Re-enable the backup or security software you disabled in step 2.

If you continue to receive this error while installing TurboTax after following the instructions in the solution, other issues with your system that are causing this error. See Troubleshoot installing and running TurboTax for more help.

If the problem occurred while attempting to update through TurboTax, download and install a manual update instead.

If the above solutions don't resolve the error, please follow the link below to restart into Selective Startup to install the program.

Related Information:

@Szymonik

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