License Code Multiple Request by TT 2019 Desktop App

[Turb0taxSucks]

Thank you. Hours spent looking for my original package. Unbelievably poor coding. I had a dongle that allows me to plug in an internal hard drive to my computer connected. It didn't have the a drive in it, put it was pulling power.  As soon as I removed it the problem went away.

[fg2001gf]

I have TT 2020 home and business and the activation bugs are still there.  It keeps asking for activation code every time if there is any USB drive connected.

I ended up using up all activation attempts and now it get error 603 All available activations for that code have been used.

This is crazy, they cannot even remember if the activation was done on the same machine.

The instructions say it is valid for 5 machines not 5 attempts.  

This is really stupid and needs to be fixed by Intuit.

[sinkczrt]

I'm glad you posted. I was toying with the idea of getting TT again although I had planned on going to HRB.  Would you tell me please, did you have a DVD in the drive or a jump drive or dongle in any of the USB ports? TT says that this makes a difference but maybe not..............

Thanks in advance! I await your info with baited breath.

[Dell795]

I am surprised that TT is apparently still using the same flawed system that caused problems with TT2019. 

I ran through over 10 activations on TT2019 trying to figure out what was going on (spent hours on the phone with TT and finally got them to give me additional activations two different times to replace the ones I had "lost" just trying to get TT2019 to work).  On one machine with multiple internal hard drives, I could never get TT2019 to stay activated.  On a second machine, with just a single internal hard drive, TT2019 stays activated as long as I do not connect an external hard drive or a thumb drive.  If I accidentally have a thumb drive in the USB port, I have to remove the thumb drive and restart TT2019 and then it runs without requiring an additional activation.

TurboTax really needs to go to a different activation system.

[PMH54]

12/19/2020; I asked the question on the Amazon page. TT continues to refuse to acknowledge they have a coding issue. They are still giving the standard BS reply that the computer is unable to communicate with the TT server to verify the license. In other words, according to TT, it's a problem on my end, not with the software. Folks in this forum have proved numerous times this is not the case. It is soooo frustrating with the large number of folks experiencing this issue, that TT hasn't done anything to rectify it. The only thing that will apparently get their attention is a decline in sales.

[sinkczrt]

Thanks for the replies about the activation. I'm right back on the fence - I have loved Turbo Tax but last year was the pits. It had a major issue with Wisconsin's taxes as well......  So there seems to be a possibility that if, and only if, your USB ports and any external drives are empty, TT might work properly?

[Dell795]

@sinkczrt , with TT2019, I had no problems running it after I installed it on a computer with a single internal hard drive and no attached external drives.  As I mentioned before, once I installed it, if I accidentally started TT2019 when I had a thumb drive inserted (where TT2019 would act like I needed to activate it again), I just needed to remove the thumb drive and restart TT2019 and it remembered it had been activated and appeared to run fine (I used it to figure and file my 2019 taxes). 

I have bought TT2020 and plan to use it for my 2020 taxes.  I have not yet installed it, but plan to install it on the same one internal drive computer and will make sure when I install it that I do not have any thumb drive (or any other USB device, for that matter, just to be safe) attached to my computer.

[lshaffer]

I had to reopen and file an amended return and was locked out because of multiple requests--one phone call and the tech sent me a new program to down load I really should have got his direct phone number in case I had a problem later on.  I will give Turbo Tax another chance

[sinkczrt]

Thanks. Good to know!

[sinkczrt]

Thank you!!!!

[krusher]

Just went to resume work on my 2019 taxes and TT needed to run an update. After running the update it kept asking for my license and eventually i got the 603 error - too many installs with that license code!

I had lots of hard drives that I needed to throw away and I had attached an external hard drive reader via USB in order to wipe the drives before tossing them. 

After reading this thread, I disconnected the hard drive reader (USB Connection) and tried starting TT 2019 again. The program started and ran without a flaw!!! No more license requests or 603 errors.

I'm an IT person and worked for the Feds for years. This is a problem with the licensing program that Intuit is using for TT. IF anyone from TT reads these threads, you better change your licensing program or you will start losing customers ... Lots of customers like me, who have used TT for close to 20 years now!!

Thanks to the user community for posting a work around until Turbo Tax WAKES UP!!!!

[fg2001gf]

Hi krusher, 

What a messy code !😜

I just found out another bug caused by the presence of a USB flash drive.

Turbo tax was trying to install an update for 2020 Turbo Tax Home and Business on Jan 21, 2021, it downloaded the update and started the update process it got up to 31% and then got completely stuck.

I had to kill the update using windows Task manager.

I then realized I had left a USB flash drive connected to my desktop,  so I removed it and tried the update again.

Sure enough the update completed without any further issues. 

In conclusion Intuit and Turbo Tax have more than just one problem related to the presence of a USB flash drive.

1) Is the activation problem already reported earlier by other users and verified multiple times.

2) Turbo tax update hangs and have to kill the update process then remove the USB drive and retry the update again.

This is getting ridiculous. I'm sure they can easily reproduce these bugs in their test labs.

How long does it take for a company like Intuit to fix these stupid bugs ?

Where do they hire their programmers and testers ?

I'm using the latest Windows 10 Pro, version 20H2, Build 19042.746.

[fg2001gf]

Hi sinkczrt,

In my case the problems were caused by the presence of a USB flash drive, but I saw other users reporting the same issue when they had a USB DVD drive connected or other USB external drives.

Not only they have the activation problem when the USB device is connected, they also fail the online updates.

In my case I got stuck on an update on Jan 21, 2021, it stopped at 31% and was not going any further.

Had to kill the update using Windows Task Manager then remove the USB device and start the update again and finally it completed correctly.

Intuit needs to wake up and fix these bugs.

Do they care about their customers ?

[lshaffer]

I had the same problem a few days ago when after the up date wanted the registration code again--I think I had a flash drive in the computer ,  The next update there was no flash drive and everything worked ok--However I keep my fingers crossed every time I open turbo tax

[fg2001gf]

Here we go again, tried to start Turbo Tax and it asked for activation code again, this time I have no USB connected device. This **bleep** activation bug is really becoming annoying. This worked before for days without a problem and now it is doing it again ????