Activation Limit Error on Same Device every morning

[jjo5555]

Every single morning I'm told I reached device activatiuon limit and it shows me the two devices I'm signed in on. One of them is the exact same device I'm trying to use. So I have to click sign out of the hostname I am already on in order to use Acrobat on the same device.

It is getting boring having to log in and reactivate every single day.

Please make it stop!

[Meenakshi Negi]

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble.

As you get the error message repeatedly, please try to check the Active sessions on your Adobe account. Please use the steps suggested below:

1. Open the following link.

2. Sign in using the Adobe ID (email address) and password.

3. Go to the Account and Security tab and select Sign-in and security.

4. Scroll down the screen till Active Sessions Title.

Check the number of devices listed there.

You may also try to End sessions for all active sessions. Then sign in again to the application and check if you get the same error message again.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[jjo5555]

It is not repeatedly. It is every morning when I first use Acrobat after a reboot.

[jjo5555]

I did everything you asked and this continues. It is every morning when I first use Acrobat after a reboot. It is running on a AWS workspace.

Every day I am stopped from working, given a login prompt, having to log in and then chose a device to sign myself out from. I chose the hostname that exactly matches the hostname I am already on. So I have to tell it to sign me out of IP-C0A8C8D5 in order to let me sign in device IP-C0A8C8D5 (THE SAME DEVICE!!!!!)

This is really starting to annoy me.

Can't your team look at my logs and see whay your platform is broken and fix my issue?

[jjo5555]

Please do whatever you colleague Jeffrey did here as this seems to be an identical problem:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/activation-limit-error-on-same-device...

[jjo5555]

This is still happening. It is most annoying. this is not a brand new machine each morning. It has the same machine name and the same registry hive and the same user area. It is a desktop as a service. Thsi is the future for many corporate environments.

Every morning I get presented with the above dialog and have to sign out of the device I'm alreasdy on in order to use the device I'm already on.

PLEASE FIX THIS FOR ME

[jjo5555]

This is really really really starting to annoy me. It now sends me a verification code by email every single morning before I have to go through the whole process. So, it has become even more annoying.

PLEASE FIX THIS FOR ME

[Test Screen Name]

It's designed to keep working unless the machine changes. I suspect some system changes (which Adobe won't tell us about) are causing it to look like a new computer. I've heard of some "anonymising" apps that cause the machine to keep changing so it can't be tracked; do you have anything like that?

[jjo5555]

It is every morning when I first use Acrobat after a reboot. It is running on a AWS workspace so could easilly be some sort of system change every reboot.

[Test Screen Name]

Thanks. If you're running a private AWS instance, which is rebooted but remains the same instance, it seems like Adobe software should know it's the same computer. However, if the instance is recreated each time, as many AWS services work, then you can expect to need to sign in, with forced sign off - because the sign in was to a different computer. This isn't broken. I looked at a 40 page AWS deployment guide, and it basically says this is how it will be. It does however suggest you sign out, rather than just shutting down the instance.

If it's a private instance, and it still happens, then don't reboot. Just leave it running.

[jjo5555]

Maybe, like many others we have a business/comercial/budgetry need to reboot/shutdown. And maybe Adobe should realise that this in 2022 and many business environments are virtual. I know you are trying to help but telling me to run my enterprise another way just becasue Adobe doesn't like the way we run it is not actually helpful. 

[Dako1]

Just had a fairly similar issue but this time it thought the same computer was seven computers and kept stating I had to log out of them but would re-log that computer in seven times each time I reopened the app even when ending all sessions through my account. It appears whatever system adobe is using does not actively communicate with the Creative Cloud accounts other than to ask you to log in. I had to uninstall the entire CC suite then reinstall it to get it to work which was a waste of 2 hours of my work day, especially similar to your case the other individual I work with is not located in the same room as I am and i had to call them to get them to uninstall on their end too. It's disheartening to see this issue persist two years later. It seems that adobe has decided to partition server space for its experimental AI rather than making sure it can communicate with its clients who pay and require functioning software for their livelihoods, in an age where it seems to require an internet connection for its apps to work.

[kglad]

@Dako1 

enable 2fa on your account, https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/secure-your-adobe-account.html

[jjo5555]

Not relevant. I have 2FA and it still happens

[kglad]

@jjo5555 

good to know.  when you check your account, https://account.adobe.com (account & security > sign in security > active sessions) can you see the sign ins?

[jjo5555]

Yes
The issue is it sees the same device (same hostname and IP) as a new device each morning as these are virtual desktops. 

[kglad]

oh, adobe isn't made to handle virtual environments.  ie, sometimes things work for users and sometimes they don't.

in either case, adobe doesn't support them and won't do anything to help users with problems, and i don't know any way to help you other than the obvious.

[jjo5555]

> "and won't do anything to help users with problems"
No S Sherlock
This question is three years old
Completely understandable as virtual environments were really rare in the 1990's which is about the date Adobe stopped caring about their users.

[kglad]

adobe cares about their users, at least, up to a point.  it's easy to see adobe's side when their decisions appear cost-effective (eg, no linux support, no virtual environment support).  but adobe makes some decisions (eg, no links to older cc versions) that don't seem to have much upside to their bottom-line, only an obvious down-side.

so, i can't figure it out.  maybe they're just so large and communication is so clumsy some things don't get a thorough evaluation.

[Perif93]

I had the same issue this morning: Premiere doesn’t run on a computer where it was activated and asks me to disable devices, but the deactivation panel only shows up several times ( I didn’t count at the time, but it was at least five) on the same computer which was the one where I was trying to launch Premiere. I just quit without any deactivation and relaunched, and luckily the problem disappeared, so the limit of activation wasn’t an actual thing, but I don’t know if and when it will happen again, so it's stressful for me and the director I’m working with. Is it an Adobe Savior bug or did they make some change?

[kglad]

@Perif93 

at most, this problem is limited to a nuisance.  ie, you'll always be able to sign-in and use your apps on your current computer by signing out of the others (which you can do from your current computer).

[Perif93]

It is a limited nuisance if it’s happened again. The quit and restart solution works every time, but I can’t be sure of that. It’s not the same thing if I have to reinstall Premiere.

Also, the license is activated on another computer, but this device didn’t appear in the list of activated devices, so I couldn’t desactivated it. I had just installed the computer I was using in the devices list several times.

[kglad]

you should see the option to deactivate from all devices when signing in and that should deactivate the unlisted computer.