pcm987 wrote:
WHY do I need to re-activate my 2020 Turbotax license now, when I initially did this in April 2021 to complete the Federal extension for my Form 1040?
Here's one common reason that folks are sometimes asked to reactivate a license and a quick workaround.
Since the license is linked to your system configuration at installation, a reactivation request can often be due to a change in your system since you installed the software. Commonly this is a USB drive or device that has changed since you installed TurboTax, such as insertion or removal of a thumb drive, other external drive, USB printer, etc.
If you have a USB drive/device plugged into a USB port at the same time you are launching TurboTax, then unplug (or turn off) the USB drive/device, and then try launching the TurboTax program again. See if that solves the problem. Or try it the other way around. i.e., if you had a USB drive/device plugged in initially when you installed TurboTax originally, but don't now, then plug that USB drive/device back in and try.
It can work both ways depending on what the system config was like at initial activation.
That happened to me one day when I forgot I had a USB thumb drive plugged in. TurboTax asked me to reactivate, but once I removed the thumb drive, TurboTax launched normally.
Another user reported it can also happen if one inserts one of those tiny SD memory cards after activation, or the other way around if there was one inserted at the time of initial activation.
