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Question

Invalid Serial Number when installing Acrobat 9 on new PC

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
December 19, 2013
4 replies
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franks46908790

New Participant

I have successfully installed this product in the past; no errors; no problem. Now I have a problem: when installing, I get an error message saying I am using an invalid serial number. Is it because I installed in the past, had a crash, and now Adobe has invalidated my previously valid serial number? I don't know, but I am getting almost no cooperation from them.

Frank

T

Test Screen Name

Brainiac

The problem here seems to be that you have an OEM version which needs an OEM installer, as supplied with some other product. You must use your original disk, Adobe do not replace OEM disks.

Tayaba

New Participant

I am having the exact same problem.

Installing Acrobat 9 Standard and my serial is invalid. This is beyond ridiculous! Can someone please find a solution to this problem?

J

jlwhelan82

New Participant

i feel better knowing I'm not the only one stuck in a never ending support loop. I also have the same problem, I was told my support oem uses a different installer and can't help. They sent me this Error "Invalid serial number" | Acrobat 9 | CS4

I don't have cs4, but the last paragraph "If you previously installed Acrobat, then the serial number and activation information that was used during that installation is retained on your computer. This residual activation information conflicts with the activation of the newly installed version. It's necessary to remove the residual activation information from the previous Acrobat installation." Gave me a little hope.

Since I have nothing left to lose, so I will be trying it. Unless anyone has figured anything else out.

I also stumbled across this dell site from a different post https://smartsource.dell.com/ It should allow you to redownload all OEM software including Adobe that was purchased on the pc. That may help if its the same pc, unfortunately this is a brand new pc, and I can't even deactivate. What a waste of money.

A

Anonymous

I wonder if this is related to the previous version issue with Acrobat 8 that displayed the same or similar error?

Here is the text from a very old document for Acrobat 8 KB if you want to try it but I don't know if it will work

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Error: "You have entered an invalid serial number..." when you try to launch Acrobat 8 Standard on a Dell computer

Issue

When you try to launch Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard on a Dell computer, the program returns the error message, "You have entered an invalid serial number. Please re-install Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard and enter a valid serial number when asked."

Solution

Check the alm_config_files folder for a duplicate AdobeConfig.xml file.

Navigate to the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\alm_config_files

The following two files should appear in this folder:

AdobeConfig.xml

AdobeConfig.xml.aiwbf

Delete the AdobeConfig.xml file.

Rename the AdobeConfig.xml.aiwbf to AdobeConfig.xml by deleting the "aiwbf" suffix.

Launch Acrobat 8 Standard.

Additional Information

On some Dell computers, a duplicate AdobeConfig.xml file is created when Acrobat 8 Standard is installed. The AdobeConfig.xml file without the "aiwbf" suffix is written for a volume-license version. The correct AdobeConfig.xml file is given the suffix. When a retail version of Acrobat tries to read the volume-license AdobeConfig.xml file, Acrobat returns the error.

D

davidg

New Participant

I appreciate the response, but I believe the software in question is Acrobat 9, and reinstallation. There isn't such a file on a computer that doesn't have Acrobat installed. I don't know about OP, but I'm simply trying to re-install the software on a computer that was already licensed with this same key. This is an infuriating technical difficulty, that shouldn't even exist. I tried running the Acrobat 9 cleaning tool, but I'm still getting the invalid serial error. I know that the serial is correct, and that this is the very same computer that was using it earlier.

The reason people come to the forums is because Adobe's customer service center, in India, tells them that they can't help (and in my case gives a phone number that doesn't work) and to go to the forums for support. The people on the forums say that they aren't official support reps and recommend you call the customer service hotline. It's truly maddening.

B

Bill12

Inspiring

Likely you are installing an upgraded version and the SN being requested is for the qualifying product, not AA9.

M

meercat1234Author

New Participant

I don’t think so. The CD is the original Adobe Acrobat 9 Standard CD. For bundles only.

Any other ideas?

B

BJ_Ryder

New Participant

I wonder... that basically makes it an OEM version, like the copy of Windows or Word that might come with a PC. The thing about those OEM products is that they are licensed for the original machine only. I don't know if that's the case for Dell's bundled version, but it might be that it only installs on Dells, or something like that. Not what you want to hear but maybe the original package has a clue to this.

I'm having the same problem, and my software is not OEM. It's a retail product I bought a few years ago. I needed to replace my hard drive and now I cannot re-install Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. I realize it is not a supported product, but the serial numbers should still work, right?

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