Unable to install Proseries 2020 since Feb 1

[HelenC]

Spoke to 3 agents for 4 hours today on the issue.  When I tried to install from Proseries 2019 I got a message "Proseries encountered an error while downloading your Tax Year 2020 Proseries product.  Please try again later".  Tried to install from Intuit, Proseries 2020 downloaded but while installing I got the message "In order to use ProSeries you must install at least one available federal product "  even after several federal products were selected. And when you click Next: "A problem occurred during installation" appears. I tried to install on another computer and I got the same result.

The first agent said my problem was Windows need to be updated which I did but it did not help. The second agent didn't know how to handle the issue and had to transfer me to another agent. The 3rd agent said I was the 4th call she got with the same problem and Intuit is working on it, gave me a case # and said I should get a call in 24 to 48 hours. At this stage, who can afford t wait 24-48 hours?  It takes that long for Intuit to resolve the issue?

Please help!  Been using Proseries and never had this issue.

Thank you.

[Just-Lisa-Now-]

@Orlando   is the install guru, maybe he has some ideas

Firewalls have been causing issues with many installs, he has a way that you can check your firewall and see if its the culprit.

[Orlando]

Thanks @Just-Lisa-Now-   You were right - looks like @HelenC is good now, based on the info in this post: https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/proseries-tax-discussions/discussion/re-can-t-update-my-pros...

Short answer - if you're a Comcast/Xfinity customer, turn off "Protected Web Browsing".

If you're not, you'll need to check firewall settings and/or router settings.

See this post for technical details on why this might be happening.

https://proconnect.intuit.com/community/proseries-tax-discussions/discussion/does-proseries-have-a-c...

I'm hoping to address this permanently on our side, but won't deploy until mid February because we don't want to risk  breaking something right before EF Go Live. After that point you should be able to turn "Protected Web Browsing" back on. In the meantime you might consider other options to protect browsing. For example, I use a Netgear NightHawk Router with Defense baked into that, as well as Circle to further restrict what my kids get access to.

[dsk]

Is this a recent change?  I am having similar issues and can not use my Lacerte software since 2/3/21.  I have always used comcast for internet service and never had an issue.  We did recently upgrade to xfi complete and installed the gateway.  As a test, we re-connected our previous modem and router (that had no issues) and I am still having the same program issues.  I tried to disable protected web browsing but do not see it in our account.

Any suggestions?  I have been waiting for a callback from Lacerte support since Saturday regarding case #559125297.  Please help, I am out of business!

[Orlando]

I can't say for certain, but we've been having funky problems with Comcast / Xfinity. We've had various customers get unstuck by..

1) Turning off protected browsing

2) Turning off 'Xfinity HotSpot'

3) Someone did this: Xfinity has an instruction on how to disable it.  1) Need to sign in to your xfinity account. 2) Select xfinity xFi from your services . 3) On next screen select 'More' on the upper right hand corner of the screen. 4) Next screen shows More Options, select 'My services'.  5) the next screen will give you the option to turn off /on Advanced Security.

4) We changed something on our end with our certificate

I don't know if this is the same issue as Lacerte, but we have the following check:

Try this url in a browser: 

https://ftpfp.proseries.com/pub/proseries/check.txt

it should say "connection to akamai... ok". If it doesn't.. then for sure you are dealing with this issue. If it does say that, it still might be an issue with lacerte.com or whatever it's using to install / get updates.

The easiest way to tell if it's Comcast.. use a different internet connection entirely to verify.  For example turn off wifi access on your phone, tether it and use it's connection; use a neighbors wifi, or carry the computer/laptop over to a non comcast house and try from there.  I know those are all pains..but probably less painful than calling Comcast.

[dsk]

Thank you Orlando.  Here's what I have done:

1.  Disconnected the xfi Gateway and reconnected the previous modem and router (we own)

2.  Spent most of the day today trying different suggestions found on the forums.  (Disable windows defender, install, re-boot - add Lacerte exe files to Inbound rules on windows defender, install, re-boot)

3.  Logged into Xfinity to disable advanced security and protected browsing.  Nothing there for me to disable.

4.  Logged in to my old computer and updated Lacerte 2019 through tools, Lacerte updates (this was the step in the new computer that created my problems)

5.  Re-booted the computer and it works!

6.  Tried the url referred to below (on both computers) and it does say 

connection to akamai....ok

Thank you for your suggestions! 

I guess I will have to wait until someone from support calls me but for now I can get my organizers out to clients.  I am very disappointed in Lacerte support response time - it's been a week and no call yet!

[Orlando]

It's very curious that your older computer is able to connect and update. Is it on the same network?

In your start menu of your new computer where Lacerte won't update... can you type "internet explorer" and then try these four different urls in it:

https://prodldfp.proseries.com/pro/2020/content/wdie/release/s2020us1040pro.xml

https://ftpfp.proseries.com/pub/proseries/check.txt

https://lacerteweb.api.intuit.com/productmanifest/productmanifest.asmx/GetCurrentProductReleaseLocat...

https://webservicesfp.lscsoft.com/downloads/zips/lacerte/Lacerte_Tax_2019/01_678/19BUS.Zip

The first three should just produce text in the browser.  The last would download a zip file. Hopefully one of those will give you an error we can work with, like ERR_CONNECTION_RESET.

[dsk]

The urls all worked fine with no error messages.  My error message was List index out of bounds (0).  I received this message after updating the 2019 program so I could prepare organizers.   I contacted support many times and we went through the whole list of their suggested fixes.  Nothing worked.

I compared the OPTIONS folders from the old computer and the new computer.  I found duplicate files.  I ended up uninstalling and re-installing 2019 and it works.  However, the 2019 system information shows workstation number 002 and 2020 shows workstation number 001.  Now when I login to 2019 it wants me to transfer files to 2020.  I have not done that because the files in 2020 were transferred before the 2019 issue and I have found that some client files are not the latest version of the returns.   When I setup my new computer in November, I logged into my Lacerte account and downloaded the programs as a standalone as I have always done.  Downloading from my Lacerte account sets up workstation 002 even though I selected standalone computer.  The new computer has 2 hard drives C & D.  C is for program files and D is for data files.  On November 11, support advised me to change the data path and shared K1 path from C to D through settings, options, setup.  I think the system file path and program path were still at C.  I believe that this is what caused the program to not function after installing the update.   (2 different workstations in system settings and files not in the correct place)  Do I need to run websetup again to get the workstation back to 001 so that I do not continue to have issues?  Or will this duplicate files again and I will be back to a non-functional program?  

I saved the error log to a pdf file but do not see where to attach it here.

[Orlando]

Unfortunately it sounds like we're entering areas where ProSeries and Lacerte are completely different.  We share a lot of things like Login, eSignature, TaxImport.. but not this. Let me forward your case to someone in that organization and see what he says.