Possible solution to TurboTax dropping Windows 10 support?

Forum|Forum|11 months ago
August 28, 2025
7 replies
80 views

Hi Folks,

Given the dreadful decision by TurboTax to drop WIndows 10 support for 2025 onward, I wanted to share a thought for any techies on the forum as a possible solution for us Win10 desktop users...

What about creating a portable Windows 11 USB drive? From what I've read, it seems possible to simply buy a USB drive and use a readily available free 3rd party product to create a bootable, portable Win11 drive that can be plugged into an existing Win10 PC and run Win11. Then install TurboTax on that Win11 platform. This would leave us Win10 PC users intact for another year (or more) without having to purchase new PC's or risk upgrading existing machines to Win11, as Microsoft will continue to support security updates for Win10.

Thoughts?

robtm

Level 10

I'm not a techie so this is just my opinion. I don't think this would work. Windows 11 is more than a software upgrade. It depends on hardware features that most Windows 10 computers don't have. If your Windows 10 computer supports Windows 11 then you can just install it. Otherwise you can use online TT for 2025 taxes on your Windows 10 system. If you try installing Windows 11 on a flash drive, reply back to this thread and let us know how your idea works or not.

Mike9241

Level 15

it might work but the caveat is that hacking the registry probably is needed so the check for TPM 2.0, CPU model and OS version are not checked. another potential issue is that apps installed under w10 may fail to work while running w11. Another option is dual boot drives one drive w10 one w11 but the w11 registry will need to be hacked if the system does not meet w11 requirements.

Mike9241

Solar EclipseAuthor

Level 5

Yes, dual boot approach yields similar outcome, but the Win11 on USB approach is much easier and less invasive, and almost any user could do it, not much technical ability required. I'd post a link to an article I found on how to do it, but I'm not sure if the forum rules allow?

Ultimately I hope TurboTax comes to it's senses and allows the 2025 product to run on Win10. Between no longer including a CD with the product, jacking up prices in recent years, changing parts of the UI to look like a phone app and now dropping Win10, all this is going to negatively impact the bottom line as customers leave, never to return. At the present rate I suspect we'll soon encounter the ultimate ignorant decision to drop desktop support, leaving the online version as the only option.

normkelly

Level 2

There is absolutely no reason for TurboTax to drop support for Windows 10 on TurboTax 2025! TurboTax says it is because Windows 10 will be vulnerable to security issues after October 2025. However, Microsoft is offering Extended Security Updates (ESU) through most of October 2026 for free! This means that there will not be any more security risks than in the past on Windows 10 until after all 2025 tax returns are due, including with the 6-month extension.

IMHO, this is just BS excuse to try and force more people onto Windows 11 and to force more people to buy new computers so that they can support Windows 11! It seems like Microsoft and TurboTax are in cahoots here to force more revenue to Microsoft and to make it easier for TurboTax b eliminating one platform from their support requirements!

Norm Kelly

normkelly

Level 2

One more potential motivation could be to force more people to use TurboTax Online instead of the desktop! I, for one, am totally opposed to putting all of my very personal information into TurboTax Online, so it won't work for me. I may be forced to move to another tax software!

Norm Kelly

baldietax

Level 12

all the above reasons

desktop s/w is $200mil revenue and 4mil users which is not nothing, but it's somewhat a legacy business now, and only 1% of their revenues and declining 5%, while online/live and other business areas growing 10%. in the last earnings statement they referred to yielding share for "low average revenue per return" users and seem fine with that as long as there is growth in higher revenue areas.

this year they are killing desktop basic edition which likely most overlaps with online capabilities, ItsDeductible, Win10 and Mac OS 13 (not unusual for MacOS as they have been dropping support for an OS version and certain hardware annually in recent years).

Intuit has also been lobbying hard to kill IRS Direct File which appears to be in the works, and likely hope to capture those folks into online.

I would also think this decision was made in conjunction with MSFT to help project what % of users would convert or be lost, and help influence/accelerate Win 11 adoption within the significant Intuit user base, while simplifying support for Intuit in what is now a legacy business.

So the bottom line is Intuit doesn't mind what you do - upgrade to Win 11 in next 6 months and continue to use Turbotax, or upgrade in 12 months or never, use their desktop s/w or don't, move to online or competitor or don't - they are focused on the other $20bil of revenue and will do just fine.