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How to Activate CS5.5 Offline!

Participant ,
Nov 17, 2019 Nov 17, 2019

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I have a legitimate copy of CS5.5. Recently an MS update BSOD'd my SP4 (3rd time in two years - Grrr). I've reinstalled my CS5.5 (Acrobat and Dreamweaver only), but cannot activate online. I believe this is because my ISP now uses CG-NAT, so in effect I am double NATed and as a result CS5.5 thinks that I'm not connected to the internet - I AM, I'm posting this.

 

I was directed to an offline activation page, but CS5.5 does not generate activation request codes (it was designed in the days of telephone activation). CS5.5 only provides me with information that was meant to be given to adobe to validate the product. So how can I perform an offline activation for CS5.5?

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replies 154 Replies 154
Participant ,
Nov 17, 2019 Nov 17, 2019

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Some further information. I have now tried with a different internet connection and still cannot get to the adobe activation servers. The problem appears to be that the old servers are not responding. Attempting to access the pages through Chrome to access https://activate.adobe.com/servlets/status.jsp produces a 503 error. So the only possible way is to manually activate, or for Adobe to provide non activation versions like they have for CS3!

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Allan, sorry you are facing difficulties with the activation process.  What is the exact error that you are receiving when you attempt to activate?

 

I reviewed the upgrade license for Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium and we have never received an activation request for that license.  It does look like you were successful with the registration process however back on January 19, 2012.

 

For more information on the activation process see https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/activation-deactivation-help.html.  Also if you are receiving the message that the serial number is invalid then please see https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-serial-number-valid-product.html.  You will want to make sure to use the installation files that were provided with your purchase, Allan.

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Participant ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Hi Jeff and thanks for replying. The original error that I received was about not being able to connect to the internet for activation. A rep on chat pointed me to the offline activation page, but it requires a request code which CS5.5 does not generate (it was designed for telephone activation as a fall back and has various bits of information to provide the call centre). The call centre could not help as they do not have access to a manual method for CS5.5!!!

 

HOWEVER, the problem has now morphed, because I tried uninstalling and then reinstalling. Now I am being asked to provide my Adobe ID. This would not accept my then password as being "too long". so I've reduced my password to 12 characters and tried again. It now accepts that password, but says that it cannot start my CS live subscription(??). It has never done that before. So it's not even getting to the original screen that failed. Clearly I can login as I am to post this.

 

See image attached.Annotation 2019-11-19 093600.png

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Thanks for the additional information, Allan.  You can disregard the message you are currently seeing regarding CS Live.  That service was shut down several years ago.

 

The request for your Adobe ID is to help complete the registration process.  The login is the same as used on http://www.adobe.com/.  You can use the process listed in https://helpx.adobe.com/manage-account/using/change-or-reset-password.html if you are unsure of the password. You can also use the information listed in https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/find-serial-number.html to locate your registered serial numbers.

 

Please update this discussion if you face any additional errors, Allan.

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Participant ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Oh and a little more important information. This whole process began because an MS update totally BSOD'd my SP4 and the only way back was a complete wipe and reinstall of Windows (no preservation of any files would work). So I lost all my software. The registration you note from Jan 19, 2012 would be the original, but since that time I deactivated it from that machine and installed it on my current SP4. It's been working here for the last 3-4 years with no problems - including a previous reinstall after a similar MS wonderful update.

 

The licence is legit and the software accepts it. Please note that I have checked the hosts file, etc and that's all clean. I've also tried to access the activation page via a browser as suggested in another forum message below somewhere and that returns a 503 error. It appears that the activation servers are not responding. They do not respond to pings either (but that may be deliberate, I know).

 

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Allan, I already reviewed your activation history when I originally replied.  We have never received an activation request for your license of Creative Suite 5.5 Design Premium.  

 

Please do continue to post any errors that you receive during the activation and licensing process.  Please be aware though that this is a public forum, so verify none of the screenshots contain personal information such as a serial number or e-mail address.

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Participant ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Jeff, you may not have a record of that, BUT it has been active and in use since 2012. It has activated before!! I could not have used it unless it activated, or at least it thought it had activated successfully! I KNOW it has activated before because I used it on my old computer and moved it to my new one about 3 years ago. Does it make any difference if I point out that I'm in Australia? Did that use different activation servers at one time?

 

Besides, my most recent problem (before the above login failure) was that the activation page would come up and tell me I had no internet connection. When I tried connecting to that page with a Browser as recommended, I got a 503 error. You can review my chat support request at Case number: ADB-9978917-F3J5

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Allan, I am sure you did use the software previously I can only tell you what I found after reviewing the history for CS5.5 Design Premium that is registered under your account. You can see your registered software titles by following the directions listed at https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/find-serial-number.html.

 

Currently, though it appears the new computer is unable to contact our activation servers to even check to see if you have activations remaining or not.  I just checked again and we have not received either an offline or online request.

 

If you have already implemented the steps listed in https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/activation-deactivation-help.html, Allen, then can you provide more information about what was transferred to the new computer?  Did you attempt to move any applications from one computer to another?  What method did you use to bring over the documents and settings?

 

Finally, regarding support case ADB-9978917-F3J5 I am showing that we closed the chat due to no longer receiving a response from you.  You can use the process listed in https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/customer-support-portal.html to update your recent support case regarding the errors that you are facing.

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Participant ,
Nov 18, 2019 Nov 18, 2019

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Hi Jeff and thank you for hanging in there. I checked the registered items under my adobe account and can see the original registration of CS5 in 2010 and the UPG to CS5.5 in 2012. So yes registration is not an issue.

 

Yes I have checked everything in the help file you referred to. As for "New" computer, there is no current new computer per se. My current computer is an SP4 which I've been using for several years. Around 3 years ago, I uninstalled CS5.5 from an old Dell Laptop, including deactivation. I then installed, using the correct Adobe CD-ROM and a USB connected DVD drive, onto the SP4 about 3 years ago. So this has been on this computer for that time. Recently, as in last week, MS wanted to install one of their so-called "feature updates". I let it run and came back to find my SP4 was BSOD'd. The only way I could recover was with a recovery disk and a complete wipe of all existing files. So for all intents and purposes a new install. I then let it update to the latest version of Windows 10. Now I reinstalled CS5.5 from the CD-ROM drive. As an upgrade it required that I enter the Serial number of the original CS5 - no problem, done. Install proceeds and all looks good. (Note I'm only using Acrobat and Dreamweaver and that is all that I installed). A couple of days in, the software pop's up an activation window. So I go ahead and it then tells me that it cannot access the internet! the internet connection is all good, but my ISP does now use CG-NAT so some investigation suggests that might be a problem. Hence, I attempt to perform a manual activation by contacting support. Support point me to the offline activation page. So next time the activation page comes up, I switch to the manual activation option. This page provides me with 4 items to give to a call centre rep. None of them are valid request codes for offline activation (it appears that CS5.5 does not provide that as it predates that approach). The call centre cannot help because they too only have activation to that offline page and have no information about the CS5.5 activation process. They closed the case, because they could not help me. They closed it immediately after I said "So that just leaves me stuck, thanks anyway" and ended the call.

 

So, at this point, CS5.5 activation will not connect to the internet. CS5.5 has no way to produce an offline activation request code and support have no information about how to perform an offline activation for CS5.5.

 

I am connected to the internet and everything else is working. Any ideas? There has to be a way to perform an offline activation for CS5.5

 

BTW, I have tried a different way of connecting to the internet via my sharing my internet connection from my mobile phone and ensuring that was the only way for my PC to connect to the internet - via my mobile data. That too still results in CS5.5 stating that I have no internet connection.

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 19, 2019 Nov 19, 2019

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Allan, if you review https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/activation-deactivation-help.html it states that offline activation is possible for CS5, 5.5 and Creative Suite 6.  Having personally supported these titles in the past I can confirm that they will accept the offline activation process available at https://exception.licenses.adobe.com/aoes/aoes/v1/t1?locale=en.

 

That does not mean that something else is not blocking the process on the computer.  Please try completing the offline process referenced in https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/activation-deactivation-help.html again.  If you continue to be unsuccessful, then I would recommend you implement the following steps:

 

  1. Uninstall all currently installed Adobe software titles using the included uninstallers
  2. Download and run the CC Cleaner Tool to remove any remaining shared components

 

Completing these steps should clear out any remaining licensing and activation files that remain on the computer.  You can then begin the installation again using the DVDs provided with your purchase.

 

Beyond the issues, you are facing with activation, Allan, I am also surprised that the education license you purchased for Creative Suite 5 is being accepted.  Due to the low cost of an education license, they are not considered valid for upgrades.  In fact, education licenses were often cheaper than the retail upgrade licenses that were available.  You can find more about the error I would expect you to receive at https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-serial-number-qualifying-product.html.

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Participant ,
Nov 19, 2019 Nov 19, 2019

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Hi Jeff. My problem with the offline activation process was how to generate a "Request Code". CS5.5 manual activation process provides 4 items, labelled something like "Problem, Type, Description1 and Description 2" - I may not have those label names quite right. It said to read these out to the Customer Support person. None of these was an acceptable request code for the offline activation page. Nothing on the local activation page had an option to generate a Request Code. I tried both D1 and D2, but neither was accepted as a request code.

 

Yesterday I uninstalled and re-installed the software (but did not do a CC cleanup). Since that time it has not prompted for activation. It also did not need the CS5 product codes, so presumably it was happy with an existing Registry setting. Given that so far it's not requesting activation I cannot even attempt anything else or provide a redacted image of the offline activation page to demonstrate the lack of a request code. Who knows perhaps it's activated - even though it failed to activate again on the reinstall... I can say that the deactivate options are not available on the products which would suggest that they may not be activated. I also don't know if the activation screen will come up later today.

 

As for the question of my CS5 being an Academic Version, I remember (all those years ago) that I purchased the upgrade direct from Adobe and that it was confirmed at the time that it would work and not be a problem. I was very conscious that my CS5 had been purchased as an Academic Version and remember being pleasantly surprised that it was acceptable for the upgrade. I was advised that my copy was a full value product simply sold at an Academic price. Things in Australia were (and probably still are) very different from the rules in the US. FWIW, even Academic versions were very expensive in Australia (for Adobe software generally, we paid at least twice as much as the US pricing even after allowing for exchange rates and our Academic pricing was still pretty high) and I paid the full upgrade price.

 

I'll report back after I see what happens. If I do not get an activation screen then I'll wait out the remaining 19 or so days to see if it's still working or in trial mode. If you know how to get CS5.5 to generate the Request Code I'd be grateful.

 

cheers,

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 19, 2019 Nov 19, 2019

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Thanks for the update, Allen.  You can use https://exception.licenses.adobe.com/aoes/aoes/v1/t1?locale=en to generate your own offline request code.  You will need to use a computer, smartphone, or tablet that is capable of reaching that address to complete the process.  This is the same website that is used by Adobe Employees to generate the response code.

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Participant ,
Nov 19, 2019 Nov 19, 2019

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Okay so am I missing something here. The screen for the form looks like this:Annotation 2019-11-20 112453.pngSo to get a Response code I need to give it a valid Request Code. BUT CS5.5 does not generate a Request Code and none of the codes in the screen that were meant to be read out to the Customer Support person work as a Request Code. It's the Request code necessary to generate a Response code that I cannot provide. Am I missing something here or are we talking at crossed purposes?

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Adobe Employee ,
Nov 20, 2019 Nov 20, 2019

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Allen, the details on how to access offline activation can be found at https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/acrobat-offline-activation.html.  The steps are for Acrobat but the dialog is still the same for the much older Creative Suite software titles. You will want to click on the link that states you are having trouble connecting to the Internet.

 

I do feel we have reached the end of what can be done in a public discussion forum, on this topic, if you continue to face difficulties with the offline activation process then please contact our support team at https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html so that direct assistance can be provided.

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Participant ,
Nov 20, 2019 Nov 20, 2019

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Thanks Jeff. Interesting that the support team said that they had done everything that they could do and directed me here - sigh. Please note that the instructions in the link you provide are for Acrobat XI. CS5.5 has Acrobat X which as I have said does not have the option to generate a Request code. I too feel we have come to an end. Either the current installation which, since my reinstall has not asked for activation (uninstall with deactivation turned on and then reinstall and no further request for activation... we'll see.), or I will have come to an end with Adobe.

 

The one consistent problem with all of my interactions with Adobe over this has been the failure to respond to my point that CS5.5 does not generate a request code. It operated differently. Ce'st la vie.

 

Thanks at least for trying. I appreciate your time.

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Participant ,
Nov 25, 2019 Nov 25, 2019

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Adobe sent me an email requesting that I mark the correct answer. This will be the correct answer with demonstration of the problem. In effect, there appears to be no answer to the problem and this is the one that I will mark as correct.

 

There are two screen captures included here. (Comments continue below the images)

Annotation 2019-11-26 095723a.pngAnnotation 2019-11-26 095723blackout.png

 

As you can see, we select no internet connection and get the screen in the second image. There is no way to generate a request code and the two blacked out numbers are not it, even if you combine them. They are simply not long enough as the request code has to be 44 characters and these are not.

 

So the correct answer is you are royally stuck with no solution.

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Participant ,
Dec 07, 2019 Dec 07, 2019

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I was told by your online techincal support on the live chat that that only applies within 7 days of first purchasing gthe product, and my product was quite a few years old, so I couldn't use that tool. I have asked to activate it offline, but they don't seem to know how. I just wanted the 6 x 4 number code to enter it into the offline activation screen, but they couldn't provide it to me. So they said it owuld be escalated and someone would get back to me in 48 hours .

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Participant ,
Dec 07, 2019 Dec 07, 2019

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The person I chated with online told me that that offline activation only applies within 7 days of first 'purchasing' the product. 

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New Here ,
Nov 15, 2022 Nov 15, 2022

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Is online activation still available for CS5.5 on an Apple Mac?  Are the activation servers still up?

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New Here ,
Nov 15, 2022 Nov 15, 2022

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Can CS5.5 still be activated on an Apple Mac?  Are the CS5.5 activation servers still up?

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Community Expert ,
Nov 15, 2022 Nov 15, 2022

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cs 5.5 activation servers are up.

 

and yes, you can activate off-line, but it's not easy and still requires contact with adobe servers.

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New Here ,
Nov 15, 2022 Nov 15, 2022

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I have the installation disc and serial number to activate it.  Will this work?

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Community Expert ,
Nov 15, 2022 Nov 15, 2022

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there are serveral ifs, but the first is having a compatible os.

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New Here ,
Nov 15, 2022 Nov 15, 2022

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I'll be using Mojave.  

This link shows how to make it work.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/install-creative-suite-mac-os-sierra.html 

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