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September 26, 2026
Question

CS5 Master Collection Mac — genuine serialized licence, but Adobe registration rejects serial - please assist

  • September 26, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 4 views

Dear Adobe Legacy Experts and Community,

I have a genuine Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection perpetual licence for Mac, originally purchased and installed from the physical CS5 DVD set.

I still have a fully working installation on an older Mac. The installation contains Adobe's SWIDTAG licensing file identifying:

Adobe Creative Suite 5 Master Collection
MasterCollection-CS5-Mac-GM-MUL
activation_status: serialized

The SWIDTAG contains my 24-digit Master Collection serial number.

However, when I enter this serial in my current Adobe account under Products → Register a product, Adobe returns:

"The provided serial number is invalid."

I have verified the serial directly from the existing licensed installation.

I need to reinstall CS5 Master Collection on another Mac. Adobe's current documentation says registered CS5 products can be downloaded from an Adobe account, but I cannot register this legitimate licence.

Can Adobe provide the official CS5 Master Collection Mac installer, or otherwise associate this existing licence with my Adobe account?

I am specifically looking for an official Adobe download, not a third-party installer.

Many thanks for your time and consideration… I look forward to your replies

    1 reply

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    September 26, 2026

    It’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to do anything about it. CS5 reached end of life years ago and its activation servers are not maintained anymore. It there are ways to revive your license I’m not aware of, I’m sure others will chime in.