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Participating Frequently
February 23, 2025
Question

PSE 2021 and upgrading to windows 11

  • February 23, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 849 views

I am curently using elements 2021 version. I have to upgrade my OS from 10 to windows 11. Wondering if the switch will have any effect on accessing it or if there are things I need to do/expect after the switch is up and running?
Thanks

4 replies

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 23, 2025

You might have to reinstall & activate Elements after updating your operating system.

As a layer of precaution, DEACTIVATE Elements BEFORE you upgrade.  See details below.

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/activation-deactivation-help.html

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
mark_7465Author
Participating Frequently
February 23, 2025

it looks like I just need to sign out of the app before I upgrade...if I understand the directions correctly...that it's the same as deactivate.

Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 23, 2025

Depending on the app, go to your app's HELP menu, click Deactivate or Sign-Out.

 

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
John T Smith
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 23, 2025

Upgrading in place from W10 to W11 **should** work without problems (I did that on my computer and had zero problems)

 

If you do decide to do a **new** install by wiping your hard drive you will need to uninstall your v2021 - which I **think** will DE-activate the program so you may do a new activation

 

If you have a 2nd internal hard drive, or an external of some kind that is large enough, you may want to make a full backup of your boot drive so you can go back if you have any problems

 

The product I bought and use is at http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-linux.htm
Note that I get NO benefit if you buy the program, I only use it and like what it does
Version 3+ allows restoring to a larger drive and expanding the partition to fit
.
Image runs off of a bootable CD or USB Flash Drive via Linux (the Zip you download includes a program to make the CD or USB, the program uses less than 1Gig) and it reads EVERYTHING on the drive, even the hidden registration information, so everything is restored when needed... and you may not only restore the image over a messed up install, you may restore to a brand new drive in case of a hardware crash, and not have to re-install anything
.
I do a backup a couple times a year to a second internal drive... the backup of my C drive is 'about' 45Gig in one file... depending on the space used on your C drive you should be able to do a backup to a USB flash drive that has the capacity... 128Gig flash drives don't cost a lot
.
I have actually done this restore one time... when a program I bought had a faulty installer that totally mangled the Windows registry... I had done a restore before installing the bad program so I did not lose anything when I had to do the restore

kglad
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 23, 2025

win 11 is problematic for many adobe users,  but most have no problems.  having the option to roll back your os, securing your install file and serial number give you the best chances of not losing the usage of pse

kglad
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 23, 2025

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.



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mark_7465Author
Participating Frequently
February 23, 2025

thank you, kglad. I'm old in life and new to this forum, which makes for a bad combination. I appreciate your assistance.

kglad
Community Expert
Community Expert
February 23, 2025

no problem, but i'm not sure why you need to upgrade your os, now.  i know in 1 to 2 years the lack of win 10 security updates may expose won 10 users to risks, but we have a while before that occurs.