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tonyt72492866
Participant
November 28, 2017
Question

Reactivation error unresolved by new serial number from Adobe

  • November 28, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 1365 views

I have CS3 that I've run at home for years. At the beginning of this year I needed to move my work from home to another location. Upon setting up the CS3 on my new computer, I started getting the "You must reactivate to use this product" message. It counted down for a few days but then went away. Then inexplicably, about a week ago, the reactivation came back and within a few days my CS3 no longer works. Strangely, my CS3 at home still works fine (so far).

Long story short, I was instructed to request a new serial number and got one from Adobe, but upon uninstalling and reinstalling CS3, I was not prompted to put in the new serial number. I was then instructed to delete the cache file on my computer and did so. I was then finally prompted to put in the new serial number. I did this and the "You must reactivate to use this product" message came back as if I had done nothing.

This is an especially frustrating experience. Adobe got my money long ago, but this bug has reached out and rendered my CS3 useless. Nothing on the forums seems to be working.

Help!

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2 replies

Jeffrey_A_Wright
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 28, 2017

Tony thanks for posting this publically .  Please try the suggestions offered at the link offered by John in message #1 of this discussion.  If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to update this discussion.

tonyt72492866
Participant
November 29, 2017

I've tried pretty much everything in the variety of forums related to this topic.

I Uninstall everything CS3, delete the cache file and then reinstall using the new serial number. But here is where my experience is differing from those who are having success. They're getting an option as to whether or not to register.

I'm not getting any registration option. It goes straight to the re-activation notification.

And as I've said before, CS3 works just fine on my home computer, also an updated Windows 10 computer.

I was told by John that I simply need to spend $650 for CS6. Not an option.

There are too many people on here who seem to be figuring this out and I'm still holding out hope.

Jeffrey_A_Wright
Community Manager
Community Manager
November 29, 2017

Tony, I would recommend as your next step you remove any installed Adobe software on the computer.  I know you have gone through this step before but you must complete it successfully if you ever want to have a chance to reinstall Creative Suite 3 successfully.

Once you have uninstalled anything with the name Adobe on your computer you can then download and run the CC Cleaner Tool from Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems .  The CC Cleaner Tool is only designed to work after you have run the uninstallers.  Please make sure you use the uninstallers to remove any installed Adobe software first.

John T Smith
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 28, 2017

See if the various links inside Installation Document Type will help

-includes links to help with activation problems