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Can I install TurboTax on a removable drive?

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Can I install TurboTax on a removable drive?

Updated: 1/29/2009

Article ID: 7217

We often get this question from customers who wish to install TurboTax on an external or removable drive, for example a USB flash drive.

While you can install TurboTax onto a portable drive, the program will not work properly once that drive is removed.

This is because TurboTax, like most other Windows-based programs, creates registry entries which tell your operating system where it can find various information. Removing the drive breaks that path, and the result can range from error messages to missing functionality.

If you install TurboTax onto a portable drive, TurboTax will run properly as long as the portable drive remains attached to the computer that the drive was attached to when you first installed it – which defeats the purpose of a portable drive.

Portable drives are wonderful devices for storing tax return files, but not the TurboTax program itself.

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