why do I need activation code *again*

[MDTerp66]

I found the people who monitor TurboTax Facebook page much more responsive. They will message you back fairly quickly. 

[davewill]

I installed TT Deluxe 2020 (from a CD) about a month ago. Since then, I've used (open/close) it numerous times with no issues.  Today, I started TT and had to reenter the 16-character license code!!  Fortunately, I saved the package materials. 

Same thing happened last year, but lost license code and I spent an hour on the phone with TT support getting this resolved. 

Other users having same problem with TT 2020 Deluxe.  Needs a fix ASAP!!!         

[garycoryer]

That is almost right.  It's not that you need to remove the drives, it's that you need to have the same set of drives plugged in as when you activated TurboTax.   I had to plug mine back in to get it to skip the authentication.  There was no consideration that users would have different external drives plugged in when they try to use TurboTax.  This means I can only use my TurboTax on my desk at home because I have a bank of three large drives plugged in thru a port multiplexor attached to my laptop.  That would be most impractical to carry around.  Poor software design.

[Sewist]

That was the best answer - I removed the sd card and TT opened! 

Turbo Tax - Please add that little tidbit as the FIRST instruction for troubleshooting!

[stevekayak]

My connected 'drive' was a USB-connected Canon color printer that I turned on to print a Quicken Tax Summary for plugging in numbers on my tax return!  Turned the printer back off and got into TT with no problem.  Learn something new every day....  

[Slim Chance]

Removing both my external drives worked for me too. I agree that TT and Intuit need to fix this ASAP.

[Sunny15]

@garycoryer 

Thanks for the great solution. That was exactly the issue. The configuration has to be exactly the same as install.

This is really a dangerous situation - what if, we need to get into TT Deluxe 2020 in 2-3 years and have a new build. The software will most likely not activate (it'll have the same issue - i.e., activation code used on more than 5 computers). What happens then? Will there even be an option to buy a new code? 

Intuit just needs to fix this issue ASAP. Even if it means disabling this broken activation process. 

[wjcomment]

@Sunny15

I agree. This was such a bad programming decision. I have been dealing with it repeatedly this tax season. Turbotax deactivates every time I plug in or unplug an external drive. I have worked with numerous design teams at a Fortune 100 company for twenty years, and if anyone had slipped such shoddy code into one of our products, they would have been working round the clock to fix it as soon as possible (out of embarrassment, if nothing else). One can only assume that none of the programmers have ever actually used the product themselves, nor did anyone do much testing. No one should have ever authorized the product for release and sale with such a major bug.

[wjcomment]

@garycoryer

Exactly. External drives are added and removed from systems all the time. That's what they are designed to do. No team of professional developers would use ephemeral external devices as part of the system fingerprint for software activation, so that speaks volumes about the lack of professionalism with this product. It makes me very concerned that I have been relying on their tax calculations when they can't/won't even fix a major bug that keeps deactivating valid installations. Based on various comments in other threads, it appears that no one has bothered to fix the problem in more than a year.

[stevekayak]

@Sunny15 

Keep the TT disc, and the activation code, for 7+ years - the typical limit on IRS audits.  A new build computer would require re-installing all software from disc anyway - OS, Office, Quickbooks, TurboTax, etc.

Had a client who needed to amend back 4 years - we still have about 20+ years of TTax software in a box in the basement!  Load each year on the current pc and good-to-go!!

[Sunny15]

@stevekayak Thanks, Steve. I plan to keep them - no two ways about that. 

The issue, at least as I understand it, is from this year (2020 tax year) onwards, TT only allows 5 "installs". And the way install is defined is any change in configuration when TT starts up on a computer.

So - I installed it on my Windows machine (only once). Entered the code. That's one install.

However, I started TT the second time, with a USB drive installed. It asked for a code. That's two installs.

The third time I started TT, I had my external drive turned on. Code again. That was my # three install.

The forth time, I actually installed on my laptop thinking I'll work on my taxes on a trip I was taking. Ok That's a legitimate install. However, that was my 4th install. 

The 5th install was when I had a different drive connected to my main computer. 

So now, I've used up all my installs. Sure enough, when I tried to startup my desktop version of TT (and I had my USB and my external drive on that time), my code didn't work - error message saying that I now have used up the 5 installs. 

The kicker is that I didn't know that's how the software calculated "installs". It wasn't until @garycoryer posted the issue that I realized what was going on. 

And that's my concern with the future. I've used up my codes - and if I have to install on a new system in the future - I have to either buy a new code (if that'll be possible) or I have to hope that my Windows 10 build will never die (and I have no idea if adding/swapping a memory module or starting with a printer connected or any other subtle change) will cause a "new install" situation. 

Intuit - this is totally on you! Please release a version that does not require activation or fix the activation issue immediately!

[wjcomment]

@Sunny15 

It has been more than two months since the original issue was raised here and no one at Turbotax has bothered to reply or weigh in about a plan to fix the issue and make whole the customers that they have harmed with their faulty system fingerprinting logic. Their code is deliberately and prematurely disabling customers' activations. Eliminating the use of removable devices from their system fingerprint formula ought to be something that a single developer could fix in a few hours, so the time and cost to correct it would be negligible *if they wanted to fix it*.

[RBG53]

Absolutely right.  This is a churlish move by Intuit.