Answered

Can't activate Acrobat Pro v17

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
December 3, 2025
3 replies
506 views

Dear support staff,

I have tried to reach Adobe via phone but there is no chance to get in contact with a real person. I'm still waiting since 15 minutes of phone call.

As mentioned above I can't activate my Acrobat Pro v17 license although there are no activated devices listed in my account. There was an incident that my former Lenovo Notebook completely crashed so that I was not able to deactivate this device the proper way. But after deleting all devices in my account I still can't activate Acrobat Pro v17.

Is there a way to release my license on your license servers again? I have bought this license in 2019 and it should still be working, as you still provide the desktop application as a download package.

Thank you!

Install update and subscribe to Acrobat

Correct answer Nancy OShea

Acrobat 17 reached End of Life in 2022.

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/end-of-support-acrobat-2017-reader-2017.html

To ensure stability & security on newer devices, it's highly recommended that you switch to a supported product.

MODERN OPTIONS:
==============
FREE Acrobat Reader
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pdf-reader.html

FREE Online PDF Editor
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-editor.html\

Acrobat (Standard, Pro or Studio)
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pricing/compare-versions.html

Hope that helps.

Nancy OShea

Correct answer

Community Expert

Acrobat 17 reached End of Life in 2022.

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/end-of-support-acrobat-2017-reader-2017.html

To ensure stability & security on newer devices, it's highly recommended that you switch to a supported product.

MODERN OPTIONS:
==============
FREE Acrobat Reader
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pdf-reader.html

FREE Online PDF Editor
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-editor.html\

Acrobat (Standard, Pro or Studio)
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pricing/compare-versions.html

Hope that helps.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

Peru Bob

Community Expert

there are no activated devices listed in my account.

By @kind_focus9818

That refers to Creative Cloud apps, not serial number apps like Acrobat Pro 17.

Jeffrey_A_Wright

Legend

Markus, please follow the suggestions offered by Kglad and listed at https://adobe.ly/444J3eG to deactivate any previous installations of Acrobat. Please see https://adobe.ly/48yH1oI for information on the requirements that will be necessary for the computer that is completing the deactivation request and the new computer that will be activated. If the previous computer is not up to date enough to contact our servers, then the deactivation request will not be received. ^JW

K

kind_focus9818Author

Unfortunately, this is the only thing that I am not able to do any more. My Lenovo laptop was completely broken and even the Lenovo support did not manage to repair that device again. There was no chance to deactivate that device and I am not able to figure out the former machine ID as the laptop was sent back to Lenovo.

It seems like there is no possibility to use that great program anymore ...

kglad

Community Expert

support can no longer reset your activation count. is that the problem you're seeing, an excess activation count message?

K

kind_focus9818Author

Yes, it says that the number of devices is exceeded although I have deleted all devices in my Adobe account.

kglad

Community Expert

you must "deactivate" using a computer that has an activation (before uninstalling).

in the past, there were several ways including asking adobe support to reset your activation count, but that no longer works.

use the computers (if they exist, still run AND can communicate with adobe's deactivation server) with the activations and open an app > click help > deactivate. if you've already uninstalled the app before deactivating, but still have an operable computer, you can reinstall on that computer and then deactivate.

the big catch is can those computers communicate the deactivation with adobe's servers.

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