Activating CS3

[freddysmith12]

I have a legitimate copy of CS3 Design Premium purchased when I was a student, hence an education licence. Recently had a major issue with my PC and had to rebuild the O/S without being able to de-activate CS3. I have now reinstalled the O/S and CS3 but the activation wont work, it says there are too many activation. There is now no telephone activation and the instructions on the website don't seem to apply to the education version, i.e there is no way to sign in using my Adobe ID. I don't use this suite very often, occasion picture to edit and a website to update so purchasing a new suite is out of the question, can anyone help please?

[TriciaLawrence]

Moving this post to Creative Suites forum.

[Steve Werner]

Moving to Downloading, Installing forum

[bself]

Have had a very similar problem with upgrading my hard drive in my computer and the deactivation/activation schema employed by Adobe is unfathomable – as is the lack of support to be able to reset the session count on the Adobe computers. I've spent the better part of an hour going in circles with someone probably in India giving me lethal doses of politeness – but failing to help solve the problem. Because I need a bigger scratch drive for editing, it was necessary to upgrade the size of the hard drive. Adobe doesn't make the transfer an easy process at all.

Anyone know the answer? Thanks in advance.

[bself]

Do questions just get moved around – or is there someone here that also answers them? Not trying to be too testy. I'm not sure where the thread was moved to in order to follow it.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Freddysmith12 and Bself I am sorry you are facing difficulty activating your Adobe software.  Do you have a case number from your interaction with our support team that I can reference?  I would also recommend reviewing Learn to activate or deactivate Adobe applications which discusses how to resolve a variety of activation related issues.

[bself]

How can I get a case number if Adobe herds CS3 customers to the forum and refuses to help them? I've reviewed the "Learn to activate or deactivate Adobe applications" link you sent – several times – I have followed the direction – and it doesn't work.

I need someone at Adobe to reach into the computer system and do something very simple – reset the number of session that are activated. I was simply upgrading a hard drive to continue using CS3 as I always have – and the deactivation/reactivation process is NOT WORKING to activate CS3 on the cloned hard drive after deactivating on the old one. The notice says I have too many copies – when I don't.

Adobe's poor customer service is why I terminated my Adobe Cloud membership. I've been using Adobe products since the early 90s, and before Adobe had a monopoly on the design industry.

All I want is the simplest of things done – and there appears to be no way to contact a real human being inside Adobe to address the issue.

Profoundly annoying.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Bself I reviewed your case 0217620458 on 1/19/2016 and can confirm what you were told.  There are additional activations remaining on your Creative Suite 3 Production Premium for Mac OS with the serial number ending in 6607.  I also do not see any recent activation requests on that serial number.  The most recent request was on March 19, 2011.

What specific error do you receive when you install Creative Suite 3 Production Premium?  What version of Mac OS are you attempting to install Creative Suite 3 on?

I did also see that you have an education license for Creative Suite 3.  This may have utilized different installation files than the files available at Download Adobe Creative Suite 3 products.  The installation files on this page are for the Retail license of Creative Suite 3.  An educational serial number may not be accepted and may result in an Invalid Serial number message.

[bself]

Thanks for finding the case number. Unfortunately, it vanished for me when the chat session ended. Both are valid licenses. I'm merely moving CS3 from one hard drive to the other, releasing the license on one and reactivating on the new one.

The applications were cloned along with the other files on the hard drive. I have the original CDs to installation, but would prefer not to have to start over installing gigabytes of Adobe app files on the new hard drive – since they're already there. I don't need to use the Adobe Creative Suite 3 products download link. I have the files already on the original CD. The installer is the one for the educational serial number, they match, so I wouldn't think that was the issue.

I have CS3 installed on my laptop and then on a second computer, which is permissible under the terms of the license. I am upgrading the hard drive on the second computer.

I'll try to activate the license for the CS3 Production Premium instead and see if that works.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright · Accepted solution]

Thank you for the update Bself.  Yes the cloning, or transferring of the applications, from one drive to another is likely leading to the current error.  The licensing data either has become corrupted or the incorrect permissions are set which is causing your current error.

To resolve the error I would recommend running any available uninstallers in the Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers folder.  Once the uninstallers are run you will then want to run the CC Cleaner Tool to remove any remaining installation information.  You can find details on the use of the CC Cleaner Tool and the download at Use the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems.  Once you have ran the cleaner tool the licensing files will be removed and you should then be able to install successfully.

As mentioned I would recommend utilizing the original installation files if available.  If not you are welcome to utilize the retail installation files discussed in message #7.

[Hulamike]

‌Aloha Jeff. Please allow me to jump in here. I have a similar situation I believe.

the computer I originally installed CS3 Extended, student license, on died and I'm trying to reinstall original discs on another Windows XP PRO laptop. My problem is that this computer IS NOT hooked up to the internet, it's merely used as a controller for a large format printer in a studio. Therefore I cannot activate online or download newer versions that don't require activation, etc. I know that phone activation is no longer possible.

is there a way Adobe can simply furnish me an activation code to type in? I read on another forum that this is possible. I can verify myself as the original, legal owner of this SW. All I need is an activation code!

MAHALO FOR ALLOWING ME TO JUMP IN.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Hulamike you will only need to provide a network connection long enough for the software to activate.  You could use a cell phones personal hot spot to conduct the activation request.  There are no additional activation requests after the initial activation request of the Internet.

[Hulamike]

‌Correct! Can't seem to find the avatar for that but limited online connectivity worked.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Thank you for the update Hulamike.

[Hulamike]

Thanks for helping.

Step 1, the Photo...

Michael O'Hara, Digital Art

Kaneohe, Hawaii

[millifiore]

HI Jeff I am jumping in here too. trying to reactivate cs3 premium suite after hard drive failed and a new hard drive put in ….  no can do. (educational version serial number with downloaded cs3 premium suite off internet.)  I followed advice above.   No luck. "chatted" with adobe and they did something and told me I could activate now but still does not work. any ideas. thanks

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Millifiore the only software title registered under the account you used to post to this forum is for Photoshop Elements 5.0 for Windows.  Do you have a case number from your interaction with our support team that I can reference? 

Have you utilized the CC Cleaner Tool which was previously discussed in this discussion to resolve connection errors?

[millifiore]

I am having problems as well reactivating cs3. My serial number does not work and I get the message I have used up the number of computers the suite can be installed on.  Nothing seems to be working. I had my hard drive replaced on my aging mac book pro and am just trying to get another year or so out of it as well as cs3.  I have an educational version serial number for creative suite cs3 and downloaded the version off the internet. (Is that the problem so then what?)  I tried what was suggested above with the adobe uninstallers as well as the cc tool. (my whole or most of my old hard drive including all applications is now on an external hard drive)  I tried deactivating the suite off of the old hard drive but that did not work or I did not do it correctly. The other copy of the suite is on another computer I no longer own. Any ideas. Thanks.