Migrating Tax Processors Plus Desktop to a New Computer
Desktop · Written guide Content date 6 min read
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If you purchase a new PC to use with Tax Processors Plus Desktop, we want to help you get it set up so that you can pick up your tax work where you left off. The below steps apply to these two kinds of offices:
- This is the only PC used to prepare tax returns.
- This is the PC that functions as the File Server in an office with multiple PCs preparing tax returns.
Migrating from the old PC to the new is best done if the old PC is still accessible or if you have an up-to-date backup that includes the entire Tax Processors Plus Desktop folder. This is the ideal scenario, and we can generally restore your client list as it is, including returns that were e-filed, paper filed, and in-progress, along with each year's program configurations.
On the other hand, if the old PC is inoperable due to a hardware or software problem such as hard drive failure or malware corruption, at a minimum we can help you recover the tax returns that were e-filed. You will need to recreate returns that were paper filed as well as those that were still in-process, and you'll also need to configure each year of Tax Processors Plus Desktop from scratch.
Step 1: Be sure Windows is up to date
Before installing and configuring Tax Processors Plus Desktop, we recommend ensuring that Windows is up to date.
To check for Windows updates:
- Right-click the Windows Start menu at the lower-left of your Windows desktop and choose Settings.
- Windows 11: Click Windows Update.
Windows 10: Click Update & Security. - Click Check for updates, even if its initial message is "You're up to date". After checking for updates, Windows Update will respond in one of two ways:
- "You're up to date" - Great! You are ready to install Tax Processors Plus Desktop.
- Updates begin downloading - Let Windows install the updates. If a reboot is required, do that, and once you are back at your Windows desktop reopen Windows Update and check for updates again (sometimes one update precipitates another update). Eventually after checking for updates you'll be told you're up to date.
Step 2: Download and Install Tax Processors Plus Desktop for Each Year
With a new computer, you must download and install Tax Processors Plus Desktop for each year you would like to have access to. Note that you are only able to download the years we support (the current and five prior years).
To download Tax Processors Plus Desktop, complete the following steps:
- Log in to Account Hub.
- Locate Software Options.
- Use the dropdown to select the program year.
- Click Download.
- Once the download completes, follow browser prompts, if any, to finalize the download.
Note: Your anti-virus or firewall software may prompt you to select Allow or Permit or Unblock to allow the Tax Processors Plus Desktop installation file to download and install.
To install Tax Processors Plus Desktop, complete the following steps:
- Double-click the installation file that downloaded.
- Follow the on-screen prompts to install the software.
After installing the software, don't double-click the desktop icon to begin the initial configuration process. Our tech support team will assist with that.
Step 3: Back Up the Tax Processors Plus Desktop Folder to External Storage
Is the old PC still up and running or do you have a recent full backup of Tax Processors Plus Desktop? Click Yes or No.
Yes
No
If you can log in to Tax Processors Plus Desktop on the old PC, run the Program Backup Utility to back up all years of the Tax Processors Plus Desktop folder.
Before starting the backup, plug into the PC an external storage device such as a thumb drive or portable hard drive with at least 2GB per tax year of free space. So, if you're migrating three tax years you want at least 6GB of free space. (You may need less, but this is a good starting point to ensure you don't run out of space during the backup.)
Please make sure when using external storage devices whether it be an external hard drive or a flash drive that you make sure that they are formatted NTFS and not FAT32 or exFAT. To determine if your external drive is NTFS, connect it to your Windows computer, open File Explorer, right-click on the drive's icon, and select Properties. The file system type, such as NTFS, will be listed on the General tab in the window that appears.
Why NTFS:
- Best for internal hard drives on Windows computers, where it is the default and most reliable option.
- File Size Limit - Very large, supporting huge and continuously available volumes.
- Compatibility - Primarily for Windows; read-only on macOS and Linux.
- Features - Includes advanced data security features like file permissions, encryption, journaling for error recovery, and disk quotas.
Log in to the latest version of Tax Processors Plus Desktop and select #8 Utilities. From there select #5 Program Backup Utility. Tax Processors Plus Desktop will quit and the backup utility will launch. In the "Program Backup/Restore Utility" window, click the drop down menu and select the external storage device to use, then click the Start button. This backup may take several hours to run. When the backup is complete, close the window and remove the external storage device.
Once the backup has completed, please call us to arrange for our tech support team to assist you.
Note: Migrating from one PC to another requires our tech support agent to connect with each PC, and the process can take up to three hours depending on the amount of data that needs to be transferred and the relative speed of the old PC.
If you do not have access to the old computer or don't have a recent full backup of Tax Processors Plus Desktop, you will need to download, install, and configure each year of Tax Processors Plus Desktop.
You can download and run the installation files from your Account Hub in any order, but to make the configuration process go quicker begin configuring the oldest year first, working your way forward year by year. Each subsequent year will pull its configuration from the prior year.
Tax Processors Plus Desktop can help you recover returns that were e-filed for the current and three prior tax years. When you have finished configuring each year, call Tax Processors Plus Desktop Support and let us know you would like your prior year e-filed returns recovered.
One final consideration regarding older years
If the old PC is still running fine, and Tax Processors Plus Desktop software older than five years continues to run okay on it, rather than migrating the older years to the new PC we recommend keeping this older PC on standby, with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse connected, for those occasions where you may need to amend or reprint a return. Older software may not run correctly on the newest version of Windows, and because it is outside our support window we won't be able to assist you with program issues.