New for 2024: Lacerte Background updates

New Windows Task Scheduler tasks

Background updates utilizes the Windows Task Schedule. It's set to run when the user is logged in, and check every hour for new updates. The task can be found in the Task Scheduler Library, inside the Intuit_BU folder. It is configured by default to run when the user logs into Windows, and again each hour.

If Lacerte 2024 Tax Planner is also installed, a separate task will be present to check for updates to the Tax Planner.

Changes to Lacerte's file and folder structure

As a result of the implementation of Background updates, we have made the following changes:

• The System File Path remains the same, so your options and data will still be in the same places as before.
  • Standalone: C:\Lacerte\24Tax\
  • Network: Your usual server path, typically similar to X:\Lacerte\24Tax\
• The program files will now be in a subfolder based on the version. For example:
  • Old path: C:\Lacerte\24Tax\w24tax.exe
  • New path: C:\Lacerte\24Tax\2024.0.41.0\w24tax.exe
  • Note: To limit the impact on drive space, the folders for old versions will be removed after updating.
• To avoid updating shortcuts every time Lacerte is updated, you can use a shortcut to the new launcher programs:
  • Lacerte 2024: C:\Lacerte\24Tax\w24tax-launcher.exe
  • 2024 CLPack: C:\Lacerte\24Tax\24clpack-launcher.exe

Besides that paths mentioned earlier, when Background updates runs, the updates for Lacerte are stored in: %appdata%\lacerte\lacerte_tax-downloads\. Much like the program files, these will be saved in a subfolder based on the version number.

Trustee Rights and Background updates

Background updates is designed to accommodate your existing settings for users' ability to update set in the Trustee Rights. Users who have been denied the ability to update Lacerte will not have the ability to enable or disable Background updates.

For users who do not have trustee rights, TaxSetup will continue to be used to install the update on the workstation. The experience will be the same as in prior years.

Update Notification with Background updates

The Lacerte Update Notification is a setting that is located in Settings > Options > Setup tab. This setting has been used in previous years to disable the notification of available updates while working in Lacerte. This primarely occured when a preparer connected to e-file a return or get REP access, and Lacerte detected a new update was available.

With Background updates, this setting will also control if the user is notified when an update is available. This will allow users to have Background updates enabled, but not be notified of the update while working in Lacerte.

Files for Background updates

The files for Background updates program itself are stored outside of the normal Lacerte locations. Depending on your firewall/anti-virus software, you may need to add its installation location to your allow list.

The files are stored at: %appdata%\Intuit\BU\. You will see 4 folders:

• Data - This folder contains the ProductInventory.json file which has the configuration for the auto-updater.
• Install - This folder will contain subfolders for versions of Background updates. Similar to the new versioning for Lacerte, if there is a new version of Background updates available, it will download into a new subfolder.
• Logs - This folder contains the log files for Background updates.
• Patch - This folder stores the version information for Lacerte. It is used to determine if updates are available for the program.

Command Line Arguments

The Lacerte program allows support for several command line arguements. Some of the more commonly used ones are show and clgrid, which are often used by our support team. These will continue to function with the new launcher program, w24tax-launcher.exe.