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DarrenGold
Participating Frequently
February 13, 2025
Question

Activation Issues with old Creative Suite CS5

  • February 13, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 1031 views

Hi

I have an old version of the Creative Suite Production Premium (CS5), which I've been using quite happily since I first bought it in 2010. Throughout the years I've successfully installed it on new computers, with no activation issues, however, my PC had to go in for repairs last week, and after it was returned to me, I get an:

 

'Activation limit reached for Adobe Creative Suite 5 Production Premium.'

The suite has only ever been installed on the one PC (currently Windows 11), so I'm not sure what's going on. There are no activated devices listed in my Adobe account so I can't do anything about it there. How do I get this sorted?

Any help would be gratefully received!

Cheers!

4 replies

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DarrenGoldAuthor
Participating Frequently
February 17, 2025

Update:

 

I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the suite, but there must have been some file (that didn't get uninstalled/deleted) that remembered my settings/preferences, because Photoshop, Illustrator and AE were all pinned back in my Start menu as if nothing had happened. And as you might have gussed, I was still getting that activation limit message.

I uninstalled the suite again using the option in Apps in my PC settings, then spent some time hunting down all Adobe files on my drive and manually getting rid of everything that hadn't been caught by the uninstall. After that I disconnected my ethernet connection, and only then reinstalled the suite. As soon as it was reinstalled, I opened up Kaspersky and blocked access to the internet for all Adobe apps/files etc. in my firewall settings.

I then tried opening Photoshop, Illustrator and AE... and they worked just fine. No activation message.

    creative explorer
    Community Expert
    creative explorerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 13, 2025

    @DarrenGold this is a long shot though, have you tried disconnecting from the internet—turn off the wifi or disconnect from the Ethernet? Maybe with no internet connection, maybe CS5 might allow offline activation?!

    m
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    DarrenGoldAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 13, 2025

    Sadly, this didn't work. In the dialogue box there is a 'Continue' button, and a 'Remind Me Later' button. A note above these buttons says that if I click on the 'Remind...' button, I'll have two days to rectify the issue, and then Photoshop (and presumably all of the apps in the production suite) will stop working. I'm not going to click on that button!

    If I click on 'Continue' the app tries to connect to (presumably) the Adobe servers to activate the app. However, the noitification then just reports that I've reached the limit of activations (even though none are activated - I can see/confirm this in my Adobe account). I can then either hit 'Quit', or 'Back'. If I click on 'Back', the notification box goes away, and I can use Photoshop normally.

    I don't know how long this will continue to be the case, but ideally I'd like to not see the notification box at all. There must be some way to disable it?

    creative explorer
    Community Expert
    creative explorerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 13, 2025

    @DarrenGold things change. While you've been using CS5 on Windows 11, things can change, and by sheer coincidence, likely it stopped being supported. According to this previous post, https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/can-my-ps-cs5-be-installed-on-windows-11/m-p/15035659 some people say it no longer works

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    DarrenGoldAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 13, 2025

    I was attempting to launch Photoshop at the time I received the notification, but when I clicked on 'Continue' in the dialogue box, that notification disappeared, and I could use Photoshop normally. Essentially, then, even though CS5 is no longer supported, the notification doesn't stop it from working. So, I just need to know how to get rid of said notification?

    Ged_Traynor
    Community Expert
    Ged_TraynorCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 13, 2025

    @DarrenGold what repairs do you have done, it doesn't matter if it was only installed on one PC, the issue is, was it deactivated from the help menu before doing an uninstall/reinstall or replacing hardware etc, you're only allowed 2 activation counts, Adobe no longer reset activation counts and activations only show for the subscription version in your Adobe account

     

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    DarrenGoldAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 13, 2025

    Regarding the repair, this is the technican's report:

    'We have completed our RMA repair of your system. During the testing phase we were able to isolate the fault to the RAM, this was discovered to have not been fully connected. The RAM has been re-seated and the system now boots into windows without issue. We have also installed the very latest Mainboard BIOS witch includes the new Intel CPU microcode.'

    Weirdly, I'd already removed and reseated the RAM (guided by their tech support on the phone) before sending the PC on to them. Either way, I'm assuming that there's nothing in their report that would have caused my version CS5 to now show that there are two installations?

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