CS5 Design Premium: Activation limit reached on both computers — unable to open apps to deactivate

I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but we need to keep a bit of perspective.

If all computers and servers froze in 2010, including your own, and never changed a single bit since, then Photoshop CS5 would still work perfectly today.

There’s a bit of psychology in this. Software is perceived as “immaterial” and thus people expect it to last forever, like a piece of music. And as such it does - the problem is that the environment it runs in keeps changing constantly. And so it’s rendered obsolete and stops working.

To be honest, I look around my house and don’t see much that is 15 years old and still works. “Lifetime” is the lifetime of the product, not the lifetime of the user.

And again, as Abambo suggests, I suspect the recent PHP issue was the coup de grâce for a lot of old software that was hanging by a thin thread, like CS5.

me too mine CS5.5 has ceased to work stuck with the new online invasive noisy version. still able to update at a cheaper price but takes a fight at each renewal has taken 3 months to get the latest update working.  I dont know what was done in side my computer to shut down the perpetual version and only allow the new online version. meanwhile years of Adobe files remain on my computer no idea if i need them so fed up with it all.

HI ​@Jovial_handsb0b4 ,

1. The official way to deactivate an installation is by opening an activated program (any program of the suite) and to deactivate that. Uninstalling the software does not remove the activation, and when your harddisk crashes, there is little chance to recover the software.
2. No. As the maximum activation count has been reached, you need first to deactivate an installation before you can use your serial number again.
3. I do not think that there is a press release for this from Adobe. 

There is no possibility for Adobe support to reset the activation count. That option got retired years ago, possibly because the management console used for this got retired or was not fit to run on current OS systems.

You say, you did not reinstall Windows? But if you did not change the Windows version, you are running a very old version of Windows and you are exposing your computer to great thread, if the computer is connected to the internet. 

At least to my knowledge, the CS5 installs do not need an internet connection to function, but small unintended changes to your computer may render the activation invalid, as this check tries to track small changes on your computer, and when a threshold is reached, it assumes that the software has been installed on a different, unlicensed computer. 

In addition, as a fact, all activation servers are getting retired one after the other. The issue with this is, that they too are aging and can’t be upgraded at a certain point. So basically, you CS5 Design Premium is out of order by now. 

BTW: this is a user to user forum, with some Adobe participation. Activation issues, except for the usual checking tips, was always tasked by Adobe customer support and not by these public forums.

Please understand that this is NOT a request to activate a third installation.

I purchased Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium for approximately $700 with a perpetual license. It was already installed and working on my two computers. Now none of the applications in the suite will open on either computer. Both display “Activation limit reached.”

I did not reinstall Windows, change hardware, or move the software before this happened. I cannot follow the advice to use Help > Deactivate because I cannot get into any of the applications.

I am not requesting updates, upgrades, new features, or compatibility with a new computer. I simply want to continue using the version I purchased on the computers where it was already working.

Please escalate this issue to someone who can investigate why both existing installations became blocked and provide an official way to restore access.

If Adobe cannot restore access, please provide a written explanation specific to my CS5 Design Premium license, the applicable policy, and a case reference number. An offer to purchase a subscription does not resolve my request.