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Peter JD Matthews
Peter JD Matthews
Participating Frequently
April 19, 2015
Question

Install CS4 upgrade to a newer computer?

  • April 19, 2015
  • 1 reply
  • 366 views

The CS4 Web premium I am trying to move from an old pc to a new one was bought as an upgrade, and I no longer have the older product on either old or new pc. True the serials of my prior purchases are on the web, but I never owned any of the products on the list of eligible old products - but they gave me a way of installing previously (my notes on this follow) but this does not work today. Is their a way forward here? (I still have the original CDs and serial #)

Notes

ctrlshift double click at screen asking for old sw serial # brings up a new screen which includes the number - 105276

Gave this to phone operator who gave this number back 373763 which when entered completed activation.

case # 0206338149

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    1 reply

    Ned Murphy
    Ned Murphy
    Legend
    April 19, 2015

    Moving applications between machines will not work.  You will need both the CS4 and the older serial number as a minimum to get thru the upgrade activation.  When you install and proceed to activate an upgrade version you are normally asked to enter the serial number for the upgrade followed by selecting the qualifying older version and entering its serial number as well.

      Peter JD Matthews
      Peter JD MatthewsAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      April 19, 2015

      Ned,

      Thanks for the reply, and I suspect you are correct. However it still seems strange, not to mention obnoxious, that Adobe have set things up so that a product legitimately purchased, and legitimately used for several years on one pc, can not be legitimately transferred to a new pc.

      Is there no way of actually talking to someone in adobe about this? I must have spoken to someone over the previous installation - per the case notes (I think that was when I upgraded from XP to 7) - but I cannot find any trace of a phone number on their web site.

      Ned Murphy
      Ned Murphy
      Legend
      April 20, 2015

      The installation process embeds the software in the registry of the machine which is part of what forms the installation's legitimacy.  I don't know what a legitimate transfer between machines could be since anyone would be able to take anyone else's machine and transfer the software to their own.

      There is definitely no longer any phone support for CS4.  You might be able to get some help thru chat but you best keep focused on the task at hand... getting the serial number for your older product.  Based on feedback in these forums they are seemingly quick to deny help when the topic goes beyond activation support.

      Chat support - For the link below click the Still Need Help? option in the blue area at the bottom and choose the chat option...

      Serial number and activation chat support (non-CC)
      http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/service1.html ( http://adobe.ly/1aYjbSC )

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