Tax Years 1996 - 2001 Lacerte can be installed by downloading the self-extracting executables from Web Downloads on the My Account website.
A prep file will need to be installed for Tax Years 1996 - 2001. If you do not already have a prep file, they can be obtained from My Account. For 1990 - 2002 programs, you would select Older prep files from 1990 to 2015 (.zip) on the dashboard of My Account.
The following are requirements for installing and using 96-01:
- For 96 and 97: 32-bit Windows or Virtual Machine (these programs are 16-bit and will not run on 64-bit Windows natively)
- 98 - 01 are 32-bit programs and can run on a 64-bit system.
- PCL compatible printer.
Note: It is highly recommended to install 1996 - 2001 Lacerte as a standalone install.
If you have the program CD's, install Lacerte from the CD otherwise download the self-extracting executable from the My Account website. The following are the final CD for each year:
- 96: 1996-10 version 17.1231
- 97: 1997-9 version 18.11060
- 98: 1998-7F version 19.1104
- 99: 1999-8P version 20.1102
- 00: 2000-6A version 21.1107
- 01: CD6B version 22.1106
Walk-through
Tax Years 1996 - 1999 have both a DOS and Windows version. When installing the Windows version, the DOS version is also installed automatically. If one version doesn't work, use the other. The following instructions are for the Windows installation. To install only the DOS version, run DOSSETUP.EXE instead of SETUP.EXE.
- Prepare the installation directory by opening the C: drive, creating a Lacerte folder if it does not exist, then in the Lacerte folder create a new folder called YYTAX for the year being installed. For example, when installing Lacerte 1997 you will create the following path: C:\Lacerte\97TAX
- Copy the PREP.XX file for that year into the appropriate folder. Using the previous example, copy PREP.97 into the 97TAX folder.
- Right-click the prep file and choose Properties. Ensure that Read-Only is NOT checked.
- Go to the My Account dashboard page and click on previous years.
- Select the applicable year from the select previous year drop down.
- Click the Download Full CD Image button for the year you want to create the CD.
- Save the LACERTEXXXX-CDS8P.EXE to your downloads folder.
- Locate the LACERTEXXXX-CDS8P.EXE file in your downloads folder, double click the file.
- In the extracting window, set the Destination folder to C:\, and click Extract.
- Browse to the C:\ location and open the folder LacerteXXXX-CD8P.
- Select all files and folders in this folder (Ctrl+A) and copy.
- Return to the C:\ location, and paste the copied folders and files (be careful not to paste into another folder here). Note: Destination Folder Access Denied may appear, check the box for Do this for all current items and click Continue.
- Once complete, locate the SETUP.EXE found in C:\. This will initiate your installation.
To open the programs, use the Start Menu shortcut which will be found under Lacerte or whatever was selected in step 11.
To launch the DOS version of 96-99 instead of the Windows version, browse to the installation directory and double-click 9xTAX.EXE. To change the DOS window to full screen or back to windowed mode, press ALT+ENTER on the keyboard. Note that not all monitors support full-screen DOS mode
Additional Notes:
If you receive the error "Setup has determined that source directory, C:\0TAX, does not exist. Please contact your system administrator for assistance." copy and paste the contents of the extracted folder LACERTE2000-CDS6A (00TAX, LES, LSCUTIL, autorun.exe, autorun.inf, cd011107.ver, dun.dll, dun.hlp, inst00.dat, LES Tutorial.exe, LSC_CDRO.M and Setup.exe) directly onto the C drive then run setup.exe again.
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If you use Lacerte 2016-2022 you won't be able to sign in on outdated Operating Systems. See the 2023 Lacerte system requirements for the currently supported operating systems. 
