CS2 - yes it's old, so am I but can you help, please?

[davidw18706308]

I downsized my business some time ago. I've been using CS2 for a number of years as it meets my needs. I know it's no longer supported and while I still have an Adobe account I can't get phone support. Upgrading is not a viable option as I wouldn't use it enough. I clicked on my shortcut as usual and got the following message "The installer seems to have written the wrong AUM Application ID"

[Ned Murphy · Accepted solution]

It is not clear what you are trying to do, but reading the information provided thru the first link, and downloading the software and activation code via the second link should be all you need.  If you happen to be trying to do this on a machine with a newer operating system you might be out of luck.

CS2: Error: Activation Server Unavailable | CS2, Acrobat 7, Audition 3 -

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/creative-suite-2-activation-end-life.html 

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs2-product-downloads.html?promoid=19SCDRQK

[davidw18706308]

Many thanks Ned. In the end I subscribed to InDesign CC, which meets my needs for the foreseeable.

[Kogarashikaze]

What I find frustrating is how random this error seems to be. I've been running InDesign CS2 and other CS2 programs fine on Windows 10 for two years now, but just today, InDesign gave me the same error, and there don't seem to be any consistent fixes for it, or even any explanation of why this happened. It worked fine a month ago. Photoshop still worked fine today. But InDesign threw this error, and most of the solutions found on the internet seem to be either "try deleting this registry key" or "go buy a newer version" accompanied by comments of "you're SOL" or "why are you even using such ancient software?" I don't use the suite enough for a subscription to CC to be worth my money, unfortunately, and there's no way to acquire a newer-but-not-subscription-based Creative Suite at this point.

However, if anyone else stumbles across this thread like me, what did end up working was a suggestion I did find in one thread. Use the Windows 10 Search box to get to the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter (searching "run programs for previous versions of Windows" worked) and run it, and let it find the best settings for the program, then save those settings.

[Sorciere]

I had this problem pop up, running CS2 on Win10

Thought I was toast but the fix was way easier than I thought it could be.

From Microsoft:

Enter the name of the program in the search box on the taskbar, press and hold (or right-click) the search result, and then select Open file location.

Press and hold (or right-click) the program, select Properties, and then select the Compatibility tab.

First, select Run compatibility troubleshooter to run the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter. (Note that DPI scaling issues won’t be resolved with the troubleshooter, so refer to the table below for other options.)

If you’re still experiencing compatibility problems, adjust one or more of the following settings and select OK when you’re done.

[billbled]

Thank you so much for this. I had the exact same problem out of the blue today. I went and found the InDesign.exe file in Program Files (x86) etc etc. and set it for Windows XP Svc Pack 3 compatibility and InDesign runs again. 
I too have this software left over from a previous lifetime in desktop publishing, and use it occasionally - but nowhere near enough to justify a sub to any CS options. 

So thank you very much for the fix - awesome!