Forcing TurboTax 2020 to install?

[enxio27]

Anyone know of a way to force/trick TurboTax 2020 into installing and running on Win7? (The install is insisting on Win10.)

 

[flavallee]

According to its support site, Intuit TurboTax 2020 requires Windows 8 or Windows 10.
Windows 7 is not supported.

 

[enxio27]

I'm aware of that, but I was hoping that perhaps I could trick it into installing anyway. A look inside some of the files tells me that there is still stuff from Vista and XP in there.

I'm planning to move my desktop computer completely to Linux, and as a last resort, I might put Win10 into a VM and run TurboTax that way. I REAAALLY don't want to use their online version for privacy reasons.

 

[LMiller7]

You may somehow trick the installer to install on Windows 7. But that is unlikely to help you.

The inability install on a Windows 7 system is not some arbitrary restriction. The developer knows that the software will not run properly with Windows 7 and is doing you a favor by preventing installation. It is the principle of fail early. Otherwise you could end up with installing the software and everything appears to be working well, but then when you try to send the tax return it fails.

Each new OS adds facilities not found in older systems. Developers like to use these facilities because it makes their job easier. Maintaining compatibility with an older OS is a burden for the developers. At some point it is decided that it just isn't worthwhile anymore and support is dropped. That often happens after the OS goes out of support which happened for Windows 7 in January 2020. Turbotax has dropped support for Windows 7. Someday it will drop support for Windows 8.

That there are files dating back to Vista and XP doesn't surprise me. In fact I would be surprised if it were otherwise. But that isn't relevant to your issue. All it takes is 1 system call not supported in Windows 7 and the software fails.

I am an amateur programmer and well acquainted with compatibility issues.

 

[BlueGuy]

StudioTax 2020 still worked for me on Win7, but this is Canada.
Got my refund last week. NetFile/w direct deposit. You need to search.

You have my sympathy, there seems to be less choice for US tax filers
certainly not in the free software arena. I just did a quick search.

 

[enxio27]

The inability install on a Windows 7 system is not some arbitrary restriction. The developer knows that the software will not run properly with Windows 7 and is doing you a favor by preventing installation.

The developer knows that the software will not run properly with Windows 7 because they MAKE it not run properly with Windows 7. There's no legitimate reason for that. I was hoping it was just the installer being stupid, but maybe not. Suffice it to say that this will be the LAST year I use TurboTax.

 

[dg1261]

Suffice it to say that this will be the LAST year I use TurboTax.

Welcome to the club. Intuit has never been a user-friendly company.

I had been a TurboTax customer for 8 years but jettisoned them in 2001 when they implemented secret technology that broke everyone's multi-boot systems. (It involved storing copy-protection data in the boot sector, trashing multi-boot managers.) Instead of apologizing, Intuit had the audacity to insist their right to copy-protect their product superceded my right to dual-boot my own system.

I switched to TaxAct in 2001, and have been a satisfied customer ever since. Additionally, their software still installs on Win7.

Another example of the kind of planned obsolescence you describe is Quicken, in which Intuit arbitrarily disables after 3 years the function to download data directly from your bank. It's not that the format has changed or become deprecated, it's an arbitrary design decision to force users to upgrade their Quicken version. (Users can work around that with a two-step approach, downloading the data from your bank and importing it into Quicken. It's only the one-step download directly from within the Quicken interface that gets arbitrarily disabled.)

 

[freddurst]

Just dont do your taxes tbh :roflmao: jkjk, honestly what i did was use the browser version on duckduckgo on a tor browser with a vpn so i wasent AS worried,its not like the NSA allready knows all your info anyways so i dont either bother anymore lol

 

[enxio27]

Welcome to the club. Intuit has never been a user-friendly company.

I had been a TurboTax customer for 8 years but jettisoned them in 2001 when they implemented secret technology that broke everyone's multi-boot systems. (It involved storing copy-protection data in the boot sector, trashing multi-boot managers.) Instead of apologizing, Intuit had the audacity to insist their right to copy-protect their product superceded my right to dual-boot my own system.

UGGGHHHH!! I have no clue how I managed to avoid that mess, because I used to run a multi-boot system. Maybe that's when I used HR Block's TaxCut for a few years.

I switched to TaxAct in 2001, and have been a satisfied customer ever since. Additionally, their software still installs on Win7.

I'll have to check them out. Hopefully I can take this TurboTax disk back to Staples for a refund. Any chance of a Linux version of TaxAct? I'm about to ditch M$ altogether (except for a VM window when I absolutely have to).

Another example of the kind of planned obsolescence you describe is Quicken, in which Intuit arbitrarily disables after 3 years the function to download data directly from your bank.

That's dirty! Makes me even MORE determined not to give them any more of my business ever again.

 

[enxio27]

Just dont do your taxes tbh :roflmao: jkjk, honestly what i did was use the browser version on duckduckgo on a tor browser with a vpn so i wasent AS worried,its not like the NSA allready knows all your info anyways so i dont either bother anymore lol

It's not the transmission of the stuff that concerns me, it's that Intuit would have access to all of my private financial info. And I'm not going to make things easy for anyone to spy on me, government or "private" entity.

 

[dg1261]

I'll have to check them out. Any chance of a Linux version of TaxAct? I'm about to ditch M$ altogether (except for a VM window when I absolutely have to).

They have online and "desktop" (installable) versions, but I think the desktop versions are Windows only.

I run the desktop version in a VM anyway, even though my host machine is Windows. I use a locked down, bare-bones Windows VM that runs nothing but TaxAct and is disconnected from the inet except when I want to check for updates or am ready to e-file.

I haven't compared TaxAct to the other competitors out there, so can't say whether it's the best for everyone. I just know that I'll use anything else before I'd buy another Intuit product.

That's dirty! Makes me even MORE determined not to give them any more of my business ever again.

Oh, I've got more horror stories!

I did some consulting for a small real-estate office whose office manager started using QuickBooks. A year later he wanted to get a second copy so the receptionist could do some of the mundane data entry stuff.

Nope. The copy they had would not install on a second computer, Intuit would only sell the current year's version, which would not share data with the prior year's version (different file format), and Intuit would not credit or upgrade the year-old version they already had. So they had to bite the bullet and buy two new copies.

Another year passes, and now the broker wants a third copy so he can monitor things, too. You can guess where this was headed.

I've also done some consulting for a handful of CPAs who use Intuit Lacerte professional tax preparer software, and there's additional horror stories from there.

 

[BlueGuy]

That's because these people don't bother doing research, they get stuck with whomever does the most advertising, passing over gems that do not get the same press.