Participant

Question

Activate Elements 2025 for public computer lab machines

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
November 3, 2025
4 replies
250 views

Can I install the Elements 2025 bundle on multiple computers without having to create a separate Adobe Account for each? I have separate licenses for every computer.

I work at a public library. We have computers for public use. Due to Windows 10 EoL, I am preparing new computers to replace our old ones.

We purchased 14 licenses for the Photoshop and Premier Elements 2025 bundle, one for each of our new public computers. When I installed it on the first one, I ran into the requirement to activate it using an Adobe Account. Despite some alarm bells, I created a new Adobe Account for the library (I hoped) and activated the first of our 14 licenses.

Do I have to create a separate Adobe Account for each license? It certainly seems so! This is a pretty incovenient process already, and it will be much worse if I have to create 14 insitutional email addresses in order to create 14 Adobe Accounts. Then there's the problem of ongoing maintenance of those, and maintaining institutional knowledge of all this extra cruft.

I am also appalled that 1) the apps must remain logged in to the account to be useable and 2) clicking Manage My Account... from the Help menu opens the account in a browser window without requiring any password.

Thanks for any help,

--Matt

B

brooks_memorial_6292Author

Participant

Thanks, everyone, for your contributions.

I did just spend about 45 minutes with Adobe support chat. The frontline agent (courteous, with clear communication) indicated these licenses will need to be redeemed via 14 separate Adobe Accounts (and hence email addresses). That confirmed what was suggested here. I did not ask for any escalation in hopes of a workaround or other option, because it doesn't seem likely there are any.

I'm disappointed by Adobe's choice here, but largely resigned. These are "donated" licenses after all, though costing an admin fee of $30 per license. Restrictions and inconvenience aren't too surprising.

I should probably say that these licenses are the only ones offered for these products through TechSoup or directly through Adobe for Nonprofits. I haven't found any options for Enterprise or Teams licenses for any public computer scenario available to public libraries.

When these licenses expire in three years, I think it is unlikely we will attempt to relicense any Adobe products. For one thing, it seems very likely that the only options will be subscription-based by then. Every commitment to an annual expense is a risk for us, because our budget is always in question. It's also often much better to never offer something at all, than to have to discontinue it.

I know this is the way the whole industry is going, and increasingly beyond IT as well. I also dislike the ways Adobe seems to be leading that charge, with seemingly so little room for compromise.

kglad

Community Expert

you mayhave a choice: change to an enterprise plan.

kglad

Community Expert

do you have a teams or enterprise subscription?

B

brooks_memorial_6292Author

Participant

No teams or enterprise subscription, no. No subscriptions current at all. These are 14 separate licenses for what TechSoup called the "Photoshop Elements 2025 and Premiere Elements 2025 Bundle". This is the license that will expire in three years. We received 14 different "redemption codes" that are 24 alphanumeric characters divided into chunks of 4 with hyphens. I have redeemed only the first so far, but that was successful.

(Aside from the hugely problematic "Manage My Account..." issue. But I suppose that's one reason to create 14 Adobe Accounts just for these bundles, since that will be the only thing in each account. As long as it requires a password to change your password at least...)

Peru Bob

Community Expert

@Jeffrey_A_Wright

Are the licenses tied to a computer or to a user?

Ann Bens

Community Expert

Moved question to Account Payment and Plan forum for better help.

B

brooks_memorial_6292Author

Participant

It looks like this post got moved to Enterprise & Teams, though I thought I was posting in Download and Install. Apologies if I posted in the wrong place.

Additional info:

We obtained these 14 licenses through Tech Soup, as a registered public library.
I believe these are 14 individual licenses, and not any kind of volume licensing.
The fulfilment email from Tech Soup included this under "installation notes":
"During installation, you might also be asked to log in with an Adobe ID. You should enter your personal
Adobe ID that you've created or follow the instructions to create one."
The Adobe Account I created used one of our general-purpose institutional email addresses. I didn't want to use my work address, as A) it's not for my use and B) I might not be at the library for the licenses' lifetime.
As far as I can tell, the Adobe Account I created is a "personal" one, and not an enterprise account. I don't have access to the Admin console or anything.

S

Steve Grisetti

Legend

Have you contacted Adobe Customer Care about this? It really isn't a question for a user-to-user forum.

You can reach them via the chat box on this page. https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

B

brooks_memorial_6292Author

Participant

I figured I might need to contact support. I thought I'd try a post first because I found some helpful threads on similar topics in these forums. Also because chat is really an awful experience, especially in my job where I'm always being interrupted to help patrons, or staff with IT issues.

More specifically, I've had issues with Adobe support chat in the past. I was trying desperately to get a credit card removed from an Adobe account. We paid up front for a year subscription to Creative Cloud, but there was no option not to save the card deails, and no way to remove it afterwards. Literally hours of explaining why this was a very serious problem for us, to no avail.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded