how can a windows 7 only person do taxes

[FANOFJESUS]

She might look into something like this
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-8200-US...433848?hash=item41f989d478:g:IbIAAOSwtHRgEava
I have one with specs like it. Use it everyday.
Then she would be good until 2025

 

[zedd]

If you have Ubuntu just run Win10 in Virtual Box. Its free if you don't activate it, but still works fine with TurboTax. I admire your tenacity in trying for a direct Win 7 solution, but this way is fast, easy and cheap, and you can leave your primary Win 7 OS in place. This is probably even more secure since TurboTax will be the only thing you ever run in the isolated Win10 you run under Virtual Box.

^^^^^This

Am running Virtualbox (free) on Linux Mint. Created a Win10 container, downloaded Win10 (free) from the evil MS site and installed into that container. Activated Win10 with the key ($10) purchased online from a scraped windows machine. After tweaking Win10 to my specs, gracefully shut it down and take a snapshot. That's my baseline.

I then clone that baseline, creating a separate Win10 container, installing TurboTax (or Sketchup or whatever). I map back to my harddrive anything that I want to persist outside the container, like oh maybe my tax return.

If/when Win10 gets cranky I blow it away. Rinse, repeat.

I never have more than one instance of Win10 running at a time so I'm honoring the letter and spirit of the evil MS license.

 

[zedd]

PS
Forgot to mention the steps to temporarily disable/enable the microsoft.com block in my VPN for the duration of the download.

 

[easysurfer]

No Mac-Mac in this house either. The dumbest and most simplistic OS I've ever seen (I had a huge list made somewhere, of things I did not like about MacOS). But hey, that's my only personal opinion.

Okay, I mis-read your post thinking you were moving to a MacOS but now see that you hate Mac as well as Win 10.

Guess I'll let you happily make you own dinner .

 

[jim584672]

Virtualbox will run on Windows 7 as well. Run Win 10 virtually on Win 7.

 

[ejman]

She might look into something like this
https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-8200-US...433848?hash=item41f989d478:g:IbIAAOSwtHRgEava
I have one with specs like it. Use it everyday.
Then she would be good until 2025

I have one of these (actually the HP8300 version) running as my media server attached to A 55 inch VIZIO. Works beautifully and is fast enough for all my needs. I'm curious what happens in 2025? does it go puff or what?

 

[FANOFJESUS]

I have one of these (actually the HP8300 version) running as my media server attached to A 55 inch VIZIO. Works beautifully and is fast enough for all my needs. I'm curious what happens in 2025? does it go puff or what?

Windows 10 is good until 2025. A new operating system will be out then.

 

[smihaila]

If you have Ubuntu just run Win10 in Virtual Box. Its free if you don't activate it, but still works fine with TurboTax. I admire your tenacity in trying for a direct Win 7 solution, but this way is fast, easy and cheap, and you can leave your primary Win 7 OS in place. This is probably even more secure since TurboTax will be the only thing you ever run in the isolated Win10 you run under Virtual Box.

What does Ubuntu have to do with the only ability to host a Win10 in a VirtualBox? I could do the same by running VirtualBox in Win7. That would streamline the file transfer between my tax return from prior year, along with other tax receipts, from my Win7.

I do not wish to use Win10, in any way, shape or form. I simply hate it (big monolith, wastes a lot of disk space, no freedom of choice - did I mention that one cannot disable network services and protocol anymore in Win10, after a certain version got released?? Also the borderless windows look SILLY and disgusting. Absolutely no control on my file system / cannot set ACLs the way I want, it also makes it harder to run under full administrative role etc).

Hence my attempt at still making the TurboTax work with Win7. Win7 is simply ... beautiful and robust. I still consider it the best Operating System that Microshit has ever come, to date.

Anyway, I have made it HAPPEN. Turbo Tax 2020 US version, WORKS perfectly ... in Win7. This is a living proof that the Intuit's limitations are a marketing gimmick, and all of its joke of Software Developers and so-called "Software Architects" should have their hands ... slapped with a keyboard!

 

[ejman]

Windows 10 is good until 2025. A new operating system will be out then.

Ah OK you had me worried there I thought you had found something specific about that old HP hardware that would cause it to self combust in 2025 . I don't really care what happens with windows 10. I run Linux on most of my computers and enjoy the various flavors it comes in ( I use MX Linux and Manjaro). In fact the only reason I use win 10 in one PC is the subject of this thread - to run Tax software. Too bad no Linux tax programs are available - that I am aware of anyway.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

If you need Win 10 you can use a virtual machine. Microsoft has free VMs that expire in 60 days.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/

I tell students and others about this all the time.

Install virtual box (free) and then one of the window's appliances - presto you have Windows 10 running on top of your existing host (Windows, Mac OS, Linux).

 

[viking2]

Anyway, I have made it HAPPEN. Turbo Tax 2020 US version, WORKS perfectly ... in Win7. This is a living proof that the Intuit's limitations are a marketing gimmick, and all of its joke of Software Developers and so-called "Software Architects" should have their hands ... slapped with a keyboard!

@smihaila,
Could you please share how you finally solved it?
When I execute WinPerReleaseMsi.msi, the installation starts, but I then get a Turbotax error window (asking me to submit what I was doing when error occurred)

 

[smihaila]

@smihaila,
Could you please share how you finally solved it?
When I execute WinPerReleaseMsi.msi, the installation starts, but I then get a Turbotax error window (asking me to submit what I was doing when error occurred)

Sorry, it's a tad complicated to explain the process of making it work - would require posting a big page of instructions and a longer than 1 hour of explanations.

The biggest issue with the pesky "WinPerReleaseMsi.msi" is that the US version of the product was not designed to be self-contained, possibly due to making one code base per-se, and driving the product price and flavor based on a separate configuration, which lies outside that MSI file. And unfortunately, it is still the "setup.exe" and "TurboTax 2020 install.exe" driving the MSI, and injecting the most essential part of the setup, which is the product type and limitations. It's like a sort of provisioning in a way. And those two .exe files are exactly the primary ones preventing Win7 use.

Btw, the Canadian version (of the MSI) is simpler, straightforward, fully self-contained, and robust. Not to mention more efficient and fast code (real men do not program in .NET or Java, but in C and C++ ;-) ).

You also need an open-source utility named dnSpy (as in Dot Net Spy), available here (32-bit edition is needed):
https://github.com/dnSpy/dnSpy/releases

I've managed to isolate the outcome of all work in the form of a full set of files (totaling about 400 MiB in zip form), which can just be copied to your win7 OS, and have the TurboTax 2020 Deluxe edition, just run from that, self contained and without any explicit installer or "installation".

So, it looks like a "portable format" in a way (similar to when you run all sorts of standalone utilities, without an install). I could post it somewhere upon request, but I don't wish to get into copyright shennanigans...

 

[viking2]

Sorry, it's a tad complicated to explain the process of making it work - would require posting a big page of instructions and a longer than 1 hour of explanations.

I've managed to isolate the outcome of all work in the form of a full set of files (totaling about 400 MiB in zip form), which can just be copied to your win7 OS, and have the TurboTax 2020 Deluxe edition, just run, without any explicit installer or "installation". So, it looks like a "portable distro" in a way (like you run all sorts of standalone utilities, without an install). I could post it somewhere on request, but I don't wish to get into copyright violations...

If I install a working version of the Home & Business edition on a WIN 10 PC, would it be possible to move it to a Windows 7 machine? Activation on a different machine is not an issue.

 

[Surewhitey]

Mom has been doing paper forms until this year. She goes to the library to get the different forms she needed. I offered to do them for her this year and e-file them. She was reluctant to send me her information, but did anyway.

Unfortunately (but fortunately) this is the last year she'll be doing taxes as she is tax-free from here. Just SS & little pension income & a little dividend income. Not enough to worry about...

 

[easysurfer]

Virtualbox will run on Windows 7 as well. Run Win 10 virtually on Win 7.

If you put Win 10 on a virtual machine, how do you handle the system updates? Do you just skip or are stuck with doing Win 10 maintenance/updates anyhow ... virtual or not?

 

[cathy63]

If you put Win 10 on a virtual machine, how do you handle the system updates? Do you just skip or are stuck with doing Win 10 maintenance/updates anyhow ... virtual or not?

Microsoft provides virtual machines that are updated to the latest production builds and are activated for a limited time. Back when I was working we used to use them a lot in our test environments. The current Win10 images are good until May. If you need to run TTax after that, then you'd have to download a new Windows image and reinstall.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/

 

[jim584672]

If you put Win 10 on a virtual machine, how do you handle the system updates? Do you just skip or are stuck with doing Win 10 maintenance/updates anyhow ... virtual or not?

It runs exactly the same as a bare metal machine, updates come in now and then.

I use Win 10 LTSC, which is Win 10 without any fancy stuff, or Candy Crush.

 

[skipro33]

I didn't read all the pages of this thread, but you can use CreditKarma and do your taxes on line though them. No software to load on your computer and it's free, even filing is free. My son did this without a PC, just used his Android phone.

 

[ejman]

I didn't read all the pages of this thread, but you can use CreditKarma and do your taxes on line though them. No software to load on your computer and it's free, even filing is free. My son did this without a PC, just used his Android phone.

I tried CreditKarma a couple of years ago in parallel with turbotax and it did fine with Federal Taxes compared to TT but it erroneously calculated the Oregon state tax and would have cost me several hundred dollars. I haven't tried it since.

 

[easysurfer]

Microsoft provides virtual machines that are updated to the latest production builds and are activated for a limited time. Back when I was working we used to use them a lot in our test environments. The current Win10 images are good until May. If you need to run TTax after that, then you'd have to download a new Windows image and reinstall.

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/downloads/virtual-machines/

It runs exactly the same as a bare metal machine, updates come in now and then.

I use Win 10 LTSC, which is Win 10 without any fancy stuff, or Candy Crush.

I've never used a virtual machine provided by Microsoft before. Sounds interesting.

Sometime back I thought about using Linux as my main machine and running Win 10 using a VM for the few things I still do on Win. But decided, since I'll be doing system updates all the time anyhow and am more familiar with Win, my best path was to have Win as main and Linux for more specific things. Different ways to skin a cat I guess .