Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 ‘Access Denied’ issue, after recent successful installation

[david_3931]

Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 ‘Access Denied’ issue, after recent successful installation: "The serial number is not valid for this product"  – Help!

   Hello.  I have an off the shelf purchased Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium, purchased in 2012, which I recently successfully installed, on Jan 4, 2025, on a new laptop running Windows 10 Home. I had to interact with my existing Adobe account on their website to complete the process. Nothing popped up to say this started a trial version; this was a purchased version installed from my original disks, and appeared to be successful.

    I used Photoshop on Feb 19th to create files for a print/poster of a painting to take to a printer to have prints made for an upcoming event, on a tight deadline. An Adobe pop-up window popped up on the screen I believe on the 19th or 20th saying I had just one more day to use the product, which made no sense to me, and I had to be somewhere else, so I shut down without taking a screen shot of the exact warning message. At my appointment with the printer on the 21st we discovered I needed to make an adjustment to the PDF file. I went back to my laptop and when I tried to launch Photoshop an Adobe pop-up window told me to enter my serial number, which I did, and received the message: "The serial number is not valid for this product." I had no access to my Adobe software program. In a panic I had to find someone else with Photoshop to help me with the file to complete the print job, at great expense.

   I finally attempted to resolve my ‘Access Denied’ issue, on Feb 23rd, through Adobe Support Chat, which has produced no resolution. Most recently they concluded that I should turn to the Adobe community forums.

   Is anybody familiar with this twist, and know how to resolve the access problem?

[kglad]

for access denied, use an updated non-opera default browser 

invalid serial number message not preceded by the above is a different issue.

[sprinklr-integration-user]

David, in addition to the suggestions offered by Kglad, please see https://adobe.ly/4iLwwSB for information about the updated sign in process to activate Creative Suite applications including Creative Suite 5.5. ^JW

[david_3931]

I appreciate everyone's replies to my reaching out for help.  Nancy's assessment is probably accurate, but I am still holding out hope.  To Peru Bob - Yes, I entered the Serial Number from the sleeve of the Install Disk, and watched it go through all of its steps on installation. I can no longer say with certainty, but I believe it was happy, I think it claimed the process had "finished." And then I launched Photoshop to do a test to prove it really worked. Again, no indication that this was a Trial vesion - (but who knows what Adobe was really thinking.)  Kglad, thank you.  and Sprinklr, I followed that link, but my pop-up window looks unlike the Sign In screenshot in the article. No QR code.  Mine is hopefully attached to this message.  Ps. If there is no Fix for this, my biggest sorrow is in not being able to open work files that I created using Flash 15 to 25 years ago.  It was an incredibly versatile program.  I built many websites with it back in the day as a graphic artist with minimal programming knowledge.

[kglad]

@david_3931 

open a cs app and click help.  is sign-out or deactivate clickable?  (DON"T click it.)

or is sign-in or activate clickable?

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post (like this one has already been moved) if it helps you get responses.

<"moved from using the community">

[Peru Bob]

 "The serial number is not valid for this product"  usually indicates a mismatch between the installation file and the serial number.  Did you install from the original disc?

A suite serial number won't work on an individual app installation file.

[Nancy OShea]

"The serial number is not valid for this product."

I should turn to the Adobe community forums.

By @david_3931

==========

CS5 is unsupported and about 10 years past its 'replace me' date.  That's why Adobe can't help you.

By the looks of it, you've been riding free on the introductory trial since you re-installed.  When that trial ends, you'll need to replace CS5 with a supported product.

MODERN OPTIONS

=============

Photoshop Elements (3 year license, no subscription needed).
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

Creative Cloud Photography Plan (Annual or Monthly plans available)
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html

Hope that helps.