Hi everyone! I’m planning to leave Windows due to the privacy concerns surrounding Windows 11, but I’m hitting a snag. I’m currently on Win 10, and I’ve learned that the latest TurboTax now requires Win 11 to run.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to run TurboTax on a Linux distro? I’m also curious about my current workflow. I mainly use:
Web Browsing & Zoom
Office: Word, Excel, PDF
Creative: Filmora Video Editor, Paint
Utilities: 7Zip, Surfshark VPN
I’m still learning the lingo, so please “educate, don’t hate!” If these specific apps won’t work, are there Linux-friendly alternatives you’d recommend? Thanks!
I don’t use TurboTax, but a buddy of mine does. He says it doesn’t work in Linux but he set up a Virtual Machine on his Linux PC and runs windows 11 inside that just for TurboTax, Theres some information online on how to do this. I have Linux but do not use TT so I cannot assist further.
I use Firefox, Brave, Mullvad and Vivaldi on Linux Mint - no issues. I use browser isolation for shopping, general surfing, banking, etc. Not sure if Zoom works. I use Signal on Linux as my video conference platform.
Libreoffice works well enough for me on Linux. I am not a heavy lifter so I cannot vouch for whether it will do everything required for you. I can work with and save docx files if needed.
Kolourpaint works as a Paint alternative. Very similar.
7zip works fine. I use PureVPN and it works well on Linux.
Hope this helps. I really should research virtual machines because I have 2 programs that are windoze only with no Linux alternative. But I decided to keep an older win 11 laptop kicking around just for these issues. I only need the programs once a year or so, so I haven’t fired up my win laptop in 5 months.
Good luck. I’ve been happily running Linux Mint for 2 years on 2 different laptops
I have been using linux mint for a long time and had many favorite windows programs. You might look into a software called crossover, it allows you to install and run windows programs right inside linux. You can go to their website and see if it will run your apps. Only downside is that it is a pay for program but works very nicely and is continually updated. I run some older Microsoft programs and around a dozen older windows programs. they are seamless with a desktop icon you can start the program right up just like it did on windows and there is no speed degradation. I have been using it for years. You can test run it before buying with what you want to run. I use Photo impact for images and believe it or not Microsoft frontpage 2003 for web pages and Designpro 5 for labels. the Libre Office Suite in Linux works very well and can do just about anything and is way better than microsoft office and can open any Microsoft Documents and edit them, without all the spy stuff in it. One other software you might have to pay for is top of the line PDF editors and creators. Pretty much anything else Linux has in it or can be installed from their software manager which has thousands of titles for free in it that can do just about anything you can imagine.
Linux mint has a video editor in it called OpenShot video editor
When you go to Crossover website they have a search function and it showed turbotax 2020 was working with crossover. So depending on which one you have it may work. Not sure about the newer ones. You can ask there.