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Participant
July 8, 2026
Question

Can't no longer run CS5 after Windows crashes on 2 PCs

  • July 8, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 37 views

This concerns Adobe CS5. Recently, Windows 10 had catostrophic crashes on both my desktop and notebook PCs; after which neither was operable to be able run my Adobe software and Deactivate my licenses on each machine. Up until the crashes, my CS5 software has always worked fine on both machines. I upgraded to Windows 11 on the desktop, and reinstalled Windows 10 on the notebook. After reinstalling CS5 on both machines, CS5 won’t work on either, telling me “Activation limit reached...”

I called Adobe Support, but they refuse to reset the Activations, and I’m unable to do so when logged-in to my Adobe account. Adobe Support and their website states that “Activation servers for end-of-life software have been disabled.” But this is contradictory to the facts! If the servers are disabled, then why was I able to run CS5 on both computer under Windows 10 for all these years, including until recently? Something stinks. I’m a very light user of Photoshop, InDesign, etc., and I don’t want to have purchase an annual subscription.

PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THERE’S A WAY I CAN GET CS5 RUNNING AGAIN ON BOTH MACHINES. THANK YOU.

    1 reply

    Community Expert
    July 8, 2026

    @bill.adobe Resetting of the activation count can only be done if you deactivate a Adobe CS5 installation. If this isn’t possible you’re out of luck.

    The statement of the Adobe support is correct, unfortunately.

    Adobe has stopped supporting older CS versions and they can’t reset the activation count.

    It’s time to change to a subscription: 

    Creative Cloud Pro → https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html

    Additional Informations:

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI