Run the TurboTax installer until the error dialog pops up. Click the close button since you can't go any further. Now press WinKey-R and type %TEMP% to go to the temporary folder. Copy the ckz_XXXX folder to the desktop. Select the Setup.exe file and press CTRL-C then CTRL-V to make a copy/backup.
Now use radare as follows:
Command | Description |
---|---|
r2 -A -w SetUp.exe | analyze and allow writing (thanks to @SureshotM6) |
axt str.CurrentVersion | look for references to this string |
s fcn.0041cc60 | seek to the function's location that was found in the previous command |
VV | Use visual mode |
p | optionally show addresses |
x | jump to xref |
l | seek to ref/xref |
( | reverse the opcode |
exit from visual mode | |
q | quit radare |
Now you can click on "Setup.exe" and install without error. (Note that the Verified publisher says "unknown" even though we only changed one byte.)
Paste these commands into a regular terminal window:
cd %TEMP%
cd ckz_XXXX
powershell
Now paste these command into a powershell window:
$bytes = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes("Setup.exe")
$offset = 120746
$bytes[$offset] = 0x75
[System.IO.File]::WriteAllBytes("Setup.exe", $bytes)
exit
Open the Setup.exe file and at offset 0x0001d7aa change the 74 to 75. Save it and you are done. Remember this offset only works with the version of TurboTax Deluxe mentioned above. If you have another version, follow the radare instructions above to find the right offset.
DISCLAIMER: This is for educational purposes only. Use TurboTax in Windows 7 at you own risk. It most likely will work just fine, but Intuit doesn't want to support older versions of Windows.
This is great! Scorpius is a legend. This will make life so much easier. I wish I knew about this last year.
I can confirm @drwizgeek 's idea that the cmd/powershell method works on H&B. As he said, it will probably work for all versions.
I'm fairly certain the installer is the same for all versions and your activation code is what determines which version actually launches.
I did get one small error message during the install which said there may be an issue with the installer but after clicking "ok", the install completed without issue. It was probably some sort of verification which noticed that an offset had been changed.
Updates are working.
Every time I launch I get a popup warning about the incredible danger of using Windows 7. It gives the option to continue with Windows 7 or to "Switch to Windows 10". LOL
Thanks Scorpius!