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colind67061357
Participant
May 26, 2017
Answered

Adobe CS3 Volume Licensing - Too Many Activations

  • May 26, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 836 views

As the title suggests, I am trying to install CS3 on a standardised desktop for a school but when entering the VL key I get "Too many activations". This software hasn't been used in about 5 years for the school so no machine has it anymore.

From reading it was suggested I contact support and ask for them to reset the activations tied to the key and after an extremely helpful conversation *cough* I was told to buy CS7 or failing that someone on the forums might help me have them reset.

Many thanks,

Colin

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Jeffrey_A_Wright

    Hello Jeff,

    Thank you for your prompt and informative reply. I have the CDs and have used them, unfortunately when I use them I run into a different error regarding activation "unable to reach adobeereg.com" (there are a good amount of topics existing on this already) which I think is to do with some legacy activation servers not being there anymore. I was provided this install I am using now by the customer support team when I was troubleshooting that - but I think you are probably right in that this is the wrong installation set.

    What should be my next move?

    Thanks,

    Colin


    Colin can you please post a screen shot of the current error you are seeing?  It sounds like you are receiving an error during the prompt for registration pop up.  Kglad responded to a similar discussion at Eregistration page for Illustrator CS3 can't display .  If this is the case then please click on the option to Do not show this screen again.

    Details on how to post a screen shot to a public forum discussion can be found at FAQ: How do I capture and post a screen shot or video?​.  Please make sure to obscure any personal information, such as serial numbers, as this discussion is publicly available to anyone with Internet access.

    The Adobe electronic registration service was retired many years ago.  Since then we have added the capability of registering serial numbers to http://www.adobe.com/.  In Creative Suite 5.5 and 6 we also added the capability to register the software during the installation process.  This process occurs automatically if the serial number is not registered to another account.

    1 reply

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 26, 2017

    only adobe staff can help you with an activation count reset, but that's usually for single-user licensees. 

    for volume licensees you should manage your activations at your enterprise portal, Adobe Licensing Website | Serial numbers, orders, and accounts

    Jeffrey_A_Wright
    Community Manager
    Jeffrey_A_WrightCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 26, 2017

    Klgad is correct retail licenses Creative Suite 3 licenses/serial numbers utilize activation.  Creative Suite 3 volume licenses do not.  For more details regarding activating Adobe software see Activate and deactivate Adobe products​.

    Colin if you have a volume license for Creative Suite 3 then you will also need to use the volume license installation files.  The retail installation files will not work and will give you an error that the serial number is invalid.

    If your organization choose the option to have the volume license installation files available for download then they will be available at https://licensing.adobe.com/.  Please be aware that only the Deploy-to ID/e-mail address originally assigned to have download access will be able to access the software.  It is not possible to enable any new accounts to have access to Creative Suite 3.

    If you are unable to determine who may have access to the volume license installation files at https://licensing.adobe.com/ then please contact our support team directly at Contact Customer Care so a search can be performed.  Please be prepared with any details you can discover regarding the volume license agreement your organization signed with Adobe.

    Finally Colin, your organization was likely provided installation CDs with their purchase.  This was the default during the time period and it was necessary to pay extra to have access to the download.  I would recommend seeing if you can locate the installation CDs for CS3 that were designed to work with the volume license serial number.

    For more details on Adobe serial numbers see Find your serial number​.

    Jeffrey_A_Wright
    Community Manager
    Jeffrey_A_WrightCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    June 1, 2017

    Hi Jeff,

    Using the original CDs, I get exactly the issue in the discussion you have mentioned (I read it previously also)

    While it's all well and good that I can ALT-F4 out of the pop up, this simply solves it for me, kind of. if I include the software on a student desktop image, every child is going to have to do the same thing if they want to use it and this is not ideal. This also doesn't solve that I believe it's not registering the serial with the adobe servers. If I put a bodge in place to redirect adobeereg.com to adobe.com will this issue be resolved?

    Thanks,

    Colin


    Colin I am sorry there is not a way to work around this dialog.  Please make sure that you are not using Creative Suite 3 on more computers than your volume license allows.

    There are resources available on how to deploy Creative Suite 3 to Windows operating systems from that time period.  You can find more details at Run a silent installation of Adobe Creative Suite 3​.  If you face additional difficulties with imaging the computer then I would recommend you utilize the method discussed in the document to install Creative Suite 3 on the student's desktops.

    It does look like Creative Suite 3 was designed to be run on Windows XP or Vista.  You may also face additional difficulties when running Creative Suite 3 on Windows 7 or later.  The system requirements can be found at Adobe - Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection : System requirements​.

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