Acrobat 7 - installation, activation, update and operation

[LearnedMan]

I have read a bunch of discussions in which the "correct" answer is "can not be activated", "will not run on Win 7", "was never free" and other incorrect answers. To dismiss these incorrect "correct" answers, I have provided the following links. If you use any of the links, I would appreciate you leaving  a response and marking this question and your response as it "helpful"

System Requirements:   ftp://ftp.crim.ca/pub/sinf/v7%20standard/ReadMe.htm

Limitations on x64 systems: http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331732.html

Acrobat 7 and Windows 7 : http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/can-i-use-adobe-acrobat-...

Acrobat 7 and Windows Compatibility : http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/compatibility/CompatCenter/ProductDetailsViewer?Name=Adobe%20...

Support Policy for Adobe Acrobat 7.0.x (Windows XP x64) : http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331732.html

Activation not needed: Activation server shut down for Creative Suite 2, Acrobat 7, and Macromedia products

Acrobat 7 (and all legacy versions of Acrobat) update files: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/

Acrobat Pro 7 - FREE:      https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs2-product-downloads.html       Click on "English" or your language

I think that the Forum members often give more useful responses than the "experts". Even if the moderator marks a discussion with an"correct" answer from an "expert"  but the answer does not solve the asker's question, please, if you know of a work-around, give the asker your solution. I am on the Forum to find workable solutions for situations where updates, upgrades and other issues have caused me a problem or stopped my program from working. Some of us have found a way to use our program in situations where "they" say it won't. Let's share our solutions. Also if you use a work-around or solution from a Forum member, please thank them.

[Dov Isaacs · Accepted solution]

On behalf of Adobe Systems Incorporated:

To clarify issues brought up here by a LearnedMan ...

(1)    Acrobat 7 cannot be installed and be fully functional on any version of Windows beyond 32-bit Windows XP or any 64-bit version of Windows. This includes using later versions of Windows in XP compatibility mode. Why? Very simple. The Adobe PDF PostScript printer driver instance used for PDF creation from Windows application via distillation of PostScript had to be changed in order to be compatible with versions of Windows beyond XP (beginning with Vista) and 64-bit versions of Windows due to (a) changes in the Windows print/spooling system effective with Vista and (b) requirements of 64-bit Windows for 64-bit components that were not available in Acrobat 7. If you want to use Acrobat 7 as a glorified version of Adobe Reader without integrated 64-bit browser support, you might get that to work, but absolutely not full Acrobat functionality including PDF production!!

(2)     There is absolutely no “free” version of Acrobat 7! The link provided at Download Acrobat 7 and CS2 products clearly states that only customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products may use the serial numbers provided during the download.Thus, if you download and install this software without having previously licensed it, you are in violation of the licensing agreement and are subject to legal action by Adobe, even if you don't need to activate the software.

(3)     Even if you download and succeed in installing Acrobat 7 on a Windows system beyond Windows XP 32-bit, and you are in fact legal, you are not getting all that much functionality out of such software per (1) above. Furthermore, integration with Microsoft Office is limited to versions of same released over 10 years ago at best.

          - Dov