Turbotax won't stay activated

[DoctorDan]

Windows 11, purchased from Amazon. Every launch prompts to activate. It (so far) has activated every time but it's a pain and a sever flaw in the software. The Forum already has 4 pages of people complaining about this, No on from Turbotax as provided any response, and definitely no fix or solution. We paid good money for this junk? I must be daft. Their stuff used to be so good but lately, not so much.

[mesquitebean]

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@DoctorDan wrote:
Windows 11, purchased from Amazon. Every launch prompts to activate. It (so far) has activated every time but it's a pain and a sever flaw in the software. The Forum already has 4 pages of people complaining about this, No on from Turbotax as provided any response, and definitely no fix or solution. We paid good money for this junk? I must be daft. Their stuff used to be so good but lately, not so much.

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I agree it's a shortcoming and a common issue.   TurboTax should have a better way of identifying that one is using a licensed computer.    In many cases it turns out to be the following:

When TurboTax is launched, it looks at one's system configuration to be sure it is one of the "legit" computers it can be installed on (out of 5 activations.)   For some users, to verify the computer for part of that process TurboTax looks at the presence/absence of any USB devices present when the program was installed.  When a USB device is added or removed, TurboTax can see that as a system configuration change and think you are activating it on a different system. 

Be sure your USB setup is the same as when you installed TurboTax.  i.e., if you have added a USB device (external drive, printer, etc.) or have inserted a thumb drive  into a USB port that wasn't there originally, then remove the thumb drive, external storage, etc.   Likewise, if you had a USB device present when you installed TurboTax, be sure the USB device is plugged into a USB port.  If it was a USB printer or other device that can be turned on/off, you might have to also be sure the device is in the same on/off state as when the TurboTax program was installed.

It has happened to me before when I launched TurboTax while I had a thumb drive plugged in.

Depending on how many times you activated, you may be running low on activations.  If you have used up all 5 of your activations, or if you have not had success with the above info, you'll have to phone TurboTax Support.

Hours are currently 5AM-9PM Pacific (8AM-12 Midnight Eastern) 7 days/week.

You can use this contact form to get a phone number, or it may schedule a callback.
https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact

[Anonymous]

I have had that problem multiple times in the past - I am guessing that you have a CD - I have deleted the version that I installed from the CD and signed into the Turbo Tax web site, and downloaded the program from there and seeing how you should have an activation code that came with the CD it - should - could - might - fix your problem - I still order the CD but download it from the web and use the code that comes with the CD - Good luck    

[DoctorDan]

Thanks
It was a download from Amazon,  if that makes any differencd. 

[DoctorDan]

Thanks.

I'll add this to the growing list of things I don't like about the 2021 version. btw, there is no wy to redownload from tt if you bought from amazon

[Anonymous]

Hey Dan - this has been very interesting - I have had nothing but trouble finding out the answer to " MY " problem since I read your reply ----- I thought that I would just turn around and " Download " Turbo from the net on my wife's puter  - 

Note - once you download from a site your CD is not usable and also the other way around - you use your CD and you can not download - I bought the CD and did not know this, but in my case it did not matter I just wanted the " License code" so I was good .

Now I will assume that you had the same trouble that I had and had to continue to reenter  the code each time - I will assume that you have an " Intuit " log in - try this link and follow the info for " I have no CD Drive in computer " This takes to to the site then log in 

https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/cd-download/install-turbotax/  

I would believe that your copy of Turbo Tax should be there . This is just a shot in the dark but I now only buy a CD then download it from turbo Tax and have had not issues - GOOD LUCK - If I had tried to use the instructions that came with the Disc for downloading program  like it suggests , it would never have gotten  me to the right site - because  I tried it tonight 5 times  Good luck 

[DoctorDan]

The discussion sort of helped. I "returned" and bought from Costco (cheaper). It worked fine.

Also I've used autohotkey to let me paste into password fields and remapped NumpadEnter to send a tab to go to the next field. Everything is now the way it should have been and used to be.