After each update Tubotax Application keeps asking for License code to be activated

[bbertolino]

I don't have a flash drive. The desktop computer is fundamentally the same since TurboTax 2019, 2020 and 2021 were installed. I tried the firewall suggestion for kicks.   I also don't have the media. TurboTax support told me to reach out to the retailer I purchased it from to get another license code. Maybe I am actually out of luck. 

[CassLO]

Please see the TurboTax FAQ's below for assistance with your license code:

• TurboTax 2019 and TurboTax 2020 requests license activation at every launch
• My code doesn't work

If you need additional assistance, please reach out to our TurboTax Customer Care team: Contact Us

@bbertolino 

[bbertolino]

Thank you for the suggestion. Neither of the 5 suggestions worked. Odd this just started happening last month.

[SForrestLO]

This FAQ will provide you with the steps to contact an agent. 
Customer support is available from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time daily.

@bbertolino

[DaveT-SD]

@VolvoGirl is spot on in my experience.  Read and heed, and life is better.  Just sayin'.

[mover]

I opened TurboTax 2021 desktop to print some forms on 03/10/2023 from my 2021 return.  The program

updated and apparently wiped out the license so it asks for the activation code when I open it.  I cannot find the

original 2021 disk.  The advice to double-click on the tax return file does not work, that is, it still asks for the activation code.  It seems to me that it is a bug in the 2021 version of the program that if you run it after the year

in which you would normally file it updates and destroys the license key/activation code.

So what can I do at this point?

[DoninGA]

@mover Try this suggestion from @VolvoGirl earlier in this thread -

Make sure your computer is the same way when you originally installed it.  Like with no flash drives plugged in or plugged in if one was.  It asked me again so I just closed the program and took out a flash drive that was plugged in and tried again.  It worked.  Or you may need to connect a flash drive or printer or something that was connected when you originally installed the program.

[mover]

Thank you VolvoGirl for the suggestion.  Unfortunately my hardware is unchanged but of course there have

been lots of software updates, mostly from Microsoft, that would be very messy to undo.  So, assuming your

suggestion is limited to hardware differences there is nothing to do/undo to make this work but I do

appreciate the reply.  My beef is with Intuit allowing this bug to persist at least since 2019.  I paid for the

software and prepared a return with it.  I should be able to use the program without re-activation on the

same computer.

Next year I am going with Block.

[bbertolino]

My computer is identical to last year. I can't use any of the previous 3 years of the software due to this problem.

I went with H&R Block this year. I can't risk not being able to use the software.

[J3ffr3y]

This started happening to me also for TT Home & Business 2022.  Thanks to previous posts about removing USB drives that triggered a thought for me.  I didn't have any USB drives plugged in at the time of install, but I did have my MSFT OneDrive Personal Vault opened when I did an update of TT.  So I open OneDrive Personal Vault again, launch TT and it worked.  It looks like TT is counting these online drives as a "drive" to determine if you switched computers.  This is such a bad design.  Hope this helps someone.

[DaveT-SD]

This post by @J3ffr3y, aka Jeffrey, has the ring of truth.  And I agree this is bad software design by INTUIT.  Why not simply use the MAC address of the computing device since it's unique?

[MaynardK]

How do you like HR Block's tax software? Do you have K-1's, stock, and other items that make it more complex?

Intuit is driving people away with their draconian approach. "Sorry, you can't buy a new computer over the next 20 years or we will make it difficult to access your own tax forms".!

[mover]

@MaynardK

I don't have Block as yet.  That is what I will be using next year assuming Block doesn't have the same larcenous and exploitive approach to license/activation. 

[bbertolino]

So far so good. My tax situation is fairly simple. It dawns on me that I do have a 2nd google drive mapped (for work). Who knows? Maybe deleting that will help. Regardless, it's absurd and I moved on. 

[teddeman]

This is beyond annoying.   I just installed Premier 2022 from download.  I tried to open  2021 to verify information and I am being prompted for a license code.  This was previously installed via CD.   Why is 2022 breaking older versions of Turbo Tax?   I don't know if I kept the boxes for the last 10 years.  All versions now seem to have a forced update as well.  2019, 2020, and 2021 were all working previously and are all now requesting activation keys.