Acrobat 2020 perpetual licence, seemingly is not perpetual

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

As you can see, I bought Acrobat 2020 in 2021 and paid a pretty handsome sum for it, as I needed it as a student of law.

As time goes on, I have replaced hardware and always uninstalled it and sanitised my drive before reinstalling the OS. Now, here lies a problem. The remaining laptop I had died, right in the middle of an exam! On that laptop, there were three accounts, all on the same machine. The problem is that every time you add Adobe to the account, it thinks it is a new machine. This is incorrect and is a serious flaw in the software development.

The manufacturer, ASUS (whom I will never recommend again), deleted the data I couldn't access due to a motherboard failure and the installation of a non-removable NVMe drive, which I didn't know until I came to remove it. So, three sets of software, one machine, all deleted.

Now, let's look at the correspondence I get from Adobe when I get an activation failure notice. The Adobe agent tells me to 'deactivate' other installations. If an installation is uninstalled, it is deactivated by default. However, the Adobe website lists your activated devices – well, it would, if it actually worked. As you can see, the Adobe website clearly does not list any active devices, and the initial support I contacted stated there was none listed that he could see, either!

Ok, let's look at the software. Is there a 'deactivation' function provided? Not according to the screenshot provided. So, this is escalated to Support back-end five days later. As you can see, Adobe Support delivers a clear statement: "We regret to inform you that support is no longer available for the product you are enquiring about." Yet their own website states they DO provide support for Acrobat 2020 until the end of November 2025. 

So, not only are they misleading purchasers, but they are also breaching their contractual obligation to resolve technical issues with the software product that the end-user had paid a lot of money for. 

Adobe, to put it simply, if you state you provide support for a product of your brand, you are legally obliged to honour that support, not merely state 'it is no longer available'; that is a blatant lie.

[kglad]

adobe doesn't have a way to snoop on your installs or uninstalls.  you have to explicitly inform adobe's servers that you've activated or deactivated its software.  (by clicking help > activate or help > deactivate)

you can install on an endless number of computers.  adobe does nothing to block you and has no way to block you.

however, if you want to use beyond the 30 trail on any one computer, you must activate during installation and by clicking help > activate.

at this point, if you're seeing an excess activation count message and it's impossible to deactivate on a computer that has an activation, it's impossible to regain that activation.  there's no work-around.

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

If you observe in the screenshots (as provided), there is no functionality to activate or deactivate. To activate, you need to sign in, as per the pop-up that appears, and then the activation server performs a licence code handshake: genuine > go; counterfeit > no go. So they do have a way to 'snoop', as you eloquently put it for the Adobe Acrobat 2020 version. 

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

regarless of which, if it is a perpetual licence, then access to that software should be without restriction – especially if the activation server is no longer going to be available. Then, Adobe should provide a bypass patch so that they do not require a connection to validate software they no longer maintain or support. A bit of a bind for those who have just bought the software as a perpetual licence, only to find out that... using it twice means there is no way to deactivate it – the software is rendered useless.

[kglad]

restrictions now are no different from when you purchased except the activation/deactivation process is different and requires updated security, https://community.adobe.com/t5/download-install-discussions/signing-into-and-activating-legacy-adobe...

https://community.adobe.com/t5/download-install-discussions/activation-limit-reached-for-non-subscri...

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

If you are going to cite links, please be sure they are for the correct level of software. as I have stated, it is Acrobat 2020, not the older Acrobat 11 and most definitely not Adobe  Elements

[kglad]

i posted no link dedicated to acrobat 11 nor elements apps

[Nancy OShea]

Your license was perpetual, but not the software.  No software can be guaranteed to work beyond its support date— typically 3-5-years on the same equipment & OS for which it was built. See below for more details.

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/faq-acrobat-2020.html

MODERN OPTIONS:
==============
FREE Acrobat Reader
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pdf-reader.html

FREE Online PDF Editor
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/online/pdf-editor.html\

Paid Acrobat (Standard, Pro or Studio)
https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/pricing/compare-versions.html

Hope that helps. 

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Default, thanks for your long-term use of Adobe's software. In addition to Kglad's helpful response, please see https://adobe.ly/4o5pRVi for information on how to manage any remaining activations that were included with your purchase. As Kglad stated, you will need to deactivate on a previous computer to regain an activation, and I see from case ADB-42401100-T8L9 that you don't have access to the previous installations. In this case, you will need to look for a new solution to edit your PDFs in 2020.

No has the ability to remotely deactivate your previous activations, nor are you able to manage them online, due to modernization updates that were necessary to allow older Adobe applications to continue to activate at all. Please see https://adobe.ly/43FjYqw for information about the updated sign-in process.

I do appreciate that it can be frustrating to be unable to reclaim any previous activations for your purchased software. We do offer subscriptions for Acrobat that you can use the current and secure release of Acrobat on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. Feel free to update this discussion if you are curious about more details about Acrobats current offerings; otherwise please see my previous suggestions. ^JW

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

Sorry to have to inform you, but you are sadly mistaken in your input as regards activation as well as deactivation,  and for an employee, I would have thought you would know better. 

I also point out that your link - as was posted by kglad is for the following products

• Photoshop Elements (versions 2018 and earlier)
• Premiere Elements (versions 2018 and earlier)
• Captivate (versions 5.5 and 2017)
• Creative Suite 6 and earlier
• Acrobat 11
• eLearning Suite 2.5
• Technical Communications Suite (versions 3.0 and 3.5)
  
  I do not see Acrobat 2020 in there, nor do I see any reference to it, especially given the dates of the software as indicated for each version in brackets. 
  
  Adobe clearly has and has used activation servers – it is common knowledge, which is why it can track the number of installations. However, they screwed up because one PC can have multiple accounts, and that should not be considered as various machines. So you might want to rethink your response, given that Adobe says it provides support until the end of November 2025, and I have provided screenshots clearly stating that it no longer provides support for Acrobat 2020. That now constitutes misrepresentation, or in other words, a breach of contract.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Thanks, Default, you will notice that I am also the author of the post. Regardless, you will need to deactivate your previous installation of Acrobat if you want to use it on the new computer. Since this is not possible, you will need to find a new solution for your PDF creation needs. ^JW

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

Then Adobe should not sell a product as a perpetual licenced product if that is not the true nature of the product, they did exactly the same thing for the Acrobat XI, hence why I had to change to Acrobat 2020, both have a perpetual licence, but in reality, that is not true, so Adobe has sold these products under a false pretence.

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

See, I have been using Adobe for a long time, so I am pretty sure I know what I am talking about when I tell you, Adobe software does NOT provide ANY method of deactivation! So you can state all you want about deactivating hardware from software, but if Adobe does NOT give the functionality, then it cannot be done. Even when registering the software, it does NOT record activations – so that is the fault of Adobe, not the product user!

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

What I will do is find someone who can reverse-engineer Acrobat XI and 2020, have them write me a configuration report, and tell me whether it reaches the activation servers and how. It is proven, then Adobe will have some explaining to do, and maybe it will face a class action suit.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Default., you will need an up to date computer to complete the deactivation process successfully. You can find more information at https://adobe.ly/48gHSKC. ^JW

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

You are delusional, to say the least. Look at the attachments in my previous posts, then look at the latest one I just took off the Adobe website, and see if you can spot the difference.

For your information, I am running Windows 11 Pro, 25HT, 128GB RAM, Suprim RTX 3090 Graphics, Intel Gen 11 Processor and Asus Godlike motherboard with watercooled processor - the same machine that provides the screenshots in 4k resolution. You seriously shot yourself in the foot, as this machine is literally 6 weeks old. My previous laptop, the ASUS Vivobook OLED, packed up, and they were the ones who deleted the drive software under warranty. So before you tell people they need an 'up-to-date computer', be advised, it's best to ask and not assume they are running a ZX Spectrum. So ALL the screenshots provided in this thread are as per date of a 'new machine' so what is your next attempt of defending your employer going to be. 

[kglad]

@defaultslxwn65uym15 

also, https://community.adobe.com/t5/using-the-community-discussions/adobe-community-guidelines/td-p/47881...

[defaultslxwn65uym15]

TLS, seriously? That post was dated 12 march 2024.. I have over a dozen IT Quals and MSCP under my belt, ye gods, come back with something more credible than trying to blame the browser transport and the operating system and thinking the user is a technophobe with little to zero knowledge. you picked wrong, dude. I'm afraid

End of Life for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 support

Last updated on Mar 12, 2024