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joe6pac
Participant
October 24, 2025
Question

Acrobat Pro DC 2015 - Change Active Device

  • October 24, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 106 views

I use Acrobat Pro DC 2015 (perpetual) on my desktop and laptop.  Well, my laptop died (unrecoverable bios failure) so I junked it on eBay and bought a new laptop.   Acrobat Pro DC 2015 won't activate on my new laptop.  The message I get says the serial number is already in use by the maximum number of allowed computers.  The error message dialog box provides a retry activation fuction, if you've deactivated one of the other computers.   My old laptop is no longer listed under activated devices in my account but my new laptop and desktop are.   For some reason, Acrobat Pro DC 2015 still thinks my old laptop is still present.  How do I deactivate my old defunct laptop so I can activate Acrobat Pro DC 2015 on my new laptop? 

 

Thanks

1 reply

creative explorer
Community Expert
creative explorerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 4, 2025

@joe6pac The activation servers for the older perpetual products have been retired. Since the old laptop had an unrecoverable BIOS failure, you can't use the standard method: Help > Deactivate within the Acrobat application itself, which is the only way the software is designed to communicate with the old activation server.  If a computer dies, the license remains tethered to the defunct hardware record — maybe, this will help, https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/apps/troubleshoot/licensing-activation-issues/cant-activate-reinstall-legacy-apps.html

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joe6pacAuthor
Participant
November 10, 2025
Thanks for the info, but the activation link fails for Acrobat Pro DC 2015. Apparently, the link works on Acrobat version 11.

It's too bad that lack of support includes perpetual activation management, ideally within your account.

I still have Acrobat Pro DC 2015 on my desktop computer (Windows 10, extended), but the dark clouds have formed.

I'm a lite Acrobat user, now on the market for an alternative Acrobat product (perpetual), any recommendations?


Thanks
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