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

[CatinaT1]

You are posting on an old thread. What do you need help with?

[RangerRobAZ]

I have been a TT user every year for over 30 years now. This is my last year using their product (TT 2023 Deluxe). Last year, the software miscalculated my return (which I noticed and managed to work around the software bug). This year, every time I launch TT after update it wants me to activate again. I have now burned 2 out of 5 activations. Clearly Intuit doesn't care about customer service or fixing any problems.

To summarize some suggestions by users in this long thread (one of which actually worked for me):

1. Try running turbotax as administrator
2. Try launching turbotax by double clicking on your .tax20XX file. (do no say yes to update)
3. Unplug all USB devices (especially drives) before launching
4. Similar to 3, but instead be aware of what USB devices you have plugged in when you install/update turbo tax and makes sure all of them are the same.
5. If using OneDrive, the personal vault drive counts as an external drive that can trip up TT. So Try launching with the personal vault open and if that doesn't work, lock the personal vault and try running TT again.

#5 is what worked for me, once I locked the personal vault, TT did not ask me to activate again.

This software is beyond terrible that after over 4 years, they still haven't fixed this problem and keep posting the same nonsense reply as to the 'fix'.

[Barxar]

I installed TurboTax and it asked for phone number, email, etc. It was unable to find any information.  I gave my SS # on another try.   I have used TurboTax for years but don't think I ever registered.  I have now have an Intuit\n account but when I put in the license code to activate, it says it isn't the correct code.  I  have spent hours trying to activate and start my taxes.

[CatinaT1]

Please call TurboTax Customer service.  Here is a link:  Turbo Tax Customer Service 

[death69inc]

11 pages of crap that doesnt work.

only 2019 has key issue for me stupid company forcing updates for old products. 

cant click file still asked for update or close. vpn etc. none that crap helps.

customer service is a joke...... why did I pay $120 for a product I cant use to open my file a few years later???????

[Garbage-Software]

I registered just so that I could post that the problem of TurboTax continually asking for your Activation Code exists on the Mac version of TurboTax Home & Business 2023.

And I can confirm that the solution posted years earlier in this thread continues to work, and it works on Mac - I was able to get TurboTax 2023 to launch without asking for the Activation Code by unplugging a USB thumb drive and re-mounting an external hard drive. This returned my Mac to the configuration it was in when I last Activated TT, and when I next launched TT, it no longer asked to be Activated again.

Side note - when I called and talked to support about this, the Level 1 agent said the solution was to return the product to the vendor and purchase a new copy. I asked to speak to Level 2 agent, and the solution offered there was "How many Activation codes do you need?" My conclusion - they have no intention of fixing this broken Activation scheme - it must be working as designed by Intuit.

Ridiculous.

[DaveT-SD]

@Garbage-Software    love your screen name...  very appropriately describing TurboTax and their obviously crap implementation.  They don't care enough about their customers to bother fixing it.

[mcbaseball10]

After following other advice, removing the thumb drive from the pc worked. I removed the thumb drive and then opened the file instead of opening the app and it worked. This is for Turbotax 2020 business download. Thank you VolvoGirl!

[RickIn603]

I just experienced this issue, and actually got useful help from the help desk via telephone. They believe that the failure to "remember" the prior activation was related to a dynamic IP address (who would guess that a software activation would depend on a specific IP address! Seems like a bug to me: what if I take my laptop to my friend's house and connect to their WiFi? That should not force a re-activation of my purchased software on my laptop, in my opinion). In any case, my ISP does provide me with a fixed IP, but my home network uses DHCP for the private IP address of my computer. I changed my network to give my computer the same IP address all the time (via a DHCP reservation on the router), and it appears to have solved my issue, at least for the first 2 restarts of the application. Only time will tell if the fix sticks, but it was encouraging enough that I thought I would post my experience here. If I feel adventurous, I will change my local IP and see if that breaks the current activation...

[mover]

@Nrodrick603 

Nice catch.  But correct me if I am wrong but what a bone-headed way to do authentication.  The hardware

MAC address of the primary network adapter, CPU Device ID or other permanent hardware-specific identifier could be used to perform that function.  This issue has persisted for years. It is either due to incompetence or

arrogance, or maybe a little of both

[gom]

You nailed  it mover!  There is no excuse. 

I've been using PC's since '88 or '89 and never have encountered anything like Turdo Tax's licensing snafus.   In part, it may be because in its greed they don't respect their customer base.  PROPUBLICA has an interesting article on it antics to keep the cost of filing higher than necessary.  See https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-fi[product k... 

[Oh_no]

Reinstalling TurboTax provided me with 5 new activations. Next year I will install TT on a PC that does Not have OneDrive, see what happens.

[Garbage-Software]

Posting to this thread again to keep it active - the same activation issue exists in TurboTax 2024 - if you add or remove any EXTERNAL hard drives or thumb drives to your Mac or PC so that your configuration is different from when you installed TurboTax, then TurboTax will need to be activated the next time you run it. If you make a note and can return your PC or Mac to have the same external drives attached as when you installed TurboTax, then no further activation will be required.

This is an extremely dumb way for Inuit to "profile" a PC for anti-piracy purposes, as external drives are regular added & removed from computers. 

As I said last year - ridiculous!

[fed1996soft]

RangerRobAz,

I think you nailed it with the Personal Vault with OneDrive.  Limited testing so far for me shows I can get TT 2023 to fail every time my Personal Vault if NOT open, but come up fine when Personal Vault is OPEN.

Same scenario for TT 2024, except for me its backwards unfortunately.  But I can uninstall and install them both the same.

I will continue to test if this Personal Vault with OneDrive is the issue.

[CatinaT1]

Here is what another user had to say:
I keep my TurboTax files in a secure personal vault on OneDrive. It appears that OneDrive might be related to the issue. I moved my saved file to the local computer drive and launched by double clicking the saved file. This bypassed the repeated activation codes, and when I closed Turbotax and then used the normal icon it did not ask for activation. However it comes back as a problem, when it does I just close out, and opening from the local saved file is needed to get back to normal.