Audition 3 and the activation service

Report · Jan 01, 2013

I haven't experienced this for myself, but apparently as of December 13th 2012 the activation service for Audition 3 and some other products has been disabled because of a security issue. So if you need to uninstall and reinstall Audition 3 you will have to follow the instructions on this page. [sept 2019 - Audition isn't available here any more - see below. This FAQ is only for reference now.]

It's important to note that the software you may have on a disk won't work any more - you have to use the version on the download page, and the serial number provided with it; no other combination will work.

If there are any other issues with this, please post comments on the appropriate forum.

Important update: Audition 3 isn't available any more. Upon advice from their legal team that we are not allowed to discuss the reasons for, Adobe have withdrawn any software downloads for almost all products other than the current version of them, or its -1.

Report · Mar 03, 2013

Thanks to KenWF for providing more information about this from AuditionBugs.

In some instances, where attempts are made to re-establish Audition 3 on the same drive that it was previously on, it won't re-install because the drive deactivation didn't happen, as the activation server doesn't exist any more. If this happens to you, you will have to perform your own deactivation in the registry - details follow: (I suggest printing this out, rather than working from the screen.)

"The activation method used in Audition 3 introduced problems when drives were cloned. Fortunately, Adobe has moved away from this method sincethen, but for these situations with the older releases, here are the stepsfor a full manual removal:

These steps should wipe almost all traces of Audition from the system andallow it to be reinstalled. If you're on a 64-bit Vista or Windows 7system, some of the folder names may be different, for instance""C:\Program Files (x32)\" instead of just "C:\Program Files\".

Delete folders:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Audition 3.0\

C:\WINDOWS\Installer\{53C141BA-4F9E-43FB-B4F9-0C01BB716FA8}

Delete these Registry groups:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\4CF9FE68902F02547B1E7CFFE0BEFDFFHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\AB141C35E9F4BF344B9FC010BB17F68A

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\AB141C35E9F4BF344B9FC010BB17F68A

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Audition\3.0\

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Adobe\Audition\3.0\

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Installer\Features\4CF9FE68902F02547B1E7CF FE0BEFDFF

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Installer\Features\AB141C35E9F4BF344B9FC01 0BB17F68A

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Installer\Products\4CF9FE68902F02547B1E7CF FE0BEFDFF

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Installer\Products\AB141C35E9F4BF344B9FC01 0BB17F68A

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer \UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\4CF9FE68902F02547B1E7CFFE0BEFDFF

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer \UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\AB141C35E9F4BF344B9FC010BB17F68A

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall \{53C141BA-4F9E-43FB-B4F9-0C01BB716FA8}

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall \Adobe Audition 3.0

Report · Mar 06, 2014

Other issues related to this:

It occurred to me when looking at the instructions above that no mention has been made of the Documents and Settings Application Data folder, which you also may want to delete (although not necessarily, if you are doing a reinstall). Its location on XP machines is:

C:\Documents and settings\{yourusername}\Application Data\Adobe\Audition

Although on later OS versions, you will have to look in Roaming data to find it.

If you have a copy of the download, you need to note that it was for the original version, and that there is a bug-fix patch for this. This is still available, and ideally should be applied, but only after you have a basic working version again. You can download it here:

Adobe - Audition : For Windows : Adobe Audition 3.0.1 Patch - English

As I mentioned in the initial post: It's important to be aware that your original serial number for Audition 3 won't work any more - it cannot be activated.

[Postscript: You've probably got the message by now that this download isn't available any more. The information here is to help anybody who already has the download to reinstall it if they need to.]