reinstalling Photoshop CS4 invalid serial number

[Guest]

I have had this software since 2008.  It has been running on the same PC for the last five years, now I have finally upgraded the PC, my serial number is invalid and wont activate.  Customer service chat says its an incorrect number and could I provide Proof of Purchase (?)  Are you kidding me?!  They don't show the software was registered -ever- then why was it functioning just fine for the last five years?!  To make matters worse, India chat hung up on me -twice!!  So I get to thinking, I wonder what our corporate serial numbers say on the Adobe Volume Licensing site -guess what?!  They're invalid too!!  Coincidence?!  I think not!  I want an answer as why any serial number I enter from Creative Suite 2 Premium, Technical Suites 2, 3 and 3.5 and a privately owned Photoshop CS4 Extended are ALL invalid according to Adobe?!  Is there a translation error from English to Hindi?!  Or are your corporate systems so screwed up, you have no clue as to what is a valid serial number and what is not, so you just lead them around and around and around until you just hang up on them or they get so frustrated and angry, they go get a pirated version and generate a key so they never have to speak to you again.  I'm certainly not spending another $800 on another Adobe product that may or may not have a valid key.  I want the key I legally own validated!!  Today!!!

[Invalidthis]

You know what? This exact same thing just happened to me today and it is complete hogwash. I am every bit as angry as you are. The worst part is, we are dealing with a large company that simply does not give a flying bleep about either one of us. I made sure to deactivate my copy from my other computer before upgrading to this one and but when I re-installed suddenly I am basically accused of pirating. I have the receipt to prove I bought a retail copy but what is this crap? Why would it work for years with the computer online when I open up the software...only to have it suddenly decide today that it is "invalid" and I am some kind of crook or naïve fool that bought a stolen copy. Not likely! I will stick with Corel products from now on, this is total crap.

[Guest]

I too have just been victimized by this same scenario, Windows XP machine replaced by a Windows 7 machine, installed CS4 extended to new machine, no serial # acceptance, deactivated XP CS4, reinstalled CS4 on to Win 7 machine, deleted Adobe PCD cache as seen on blogs and chats, activated Win 7 CS4 and it still tells me invalid serial #'s. No help from Adobe! Adobe!, if you care,

Advertise a phone number that allows us to speak to a human being that knows what to do! Don't use delay tactics like people in India that can't make decisions or hope people just give up and buy a new software package!

This is a situation that has me disappointed in Adobe. I always had great performance and stable software until now. And to find out how difficult it is to rectify the problem only because of Adobe's unwillingness to do so is really sad. This is how companies fail, People will spread the word if something is not done to correct and or at least set up a means to help those suffering this debacle.

I for one, am fed up with the hunt and peck search online for an answer and the lack of getting hold of an English speaking person that has a solution that will correct ADOBE'S mistake here. I, like so many I have read about, have a valid copy/ license of CS4 Extended and have only used it on 1 computer until now for many years. We are licensed to use on two computers at a time at different locations, up to 20 reinstalls! This record of valid users and serial numbers is an easy archive by Adobe and should be self explanatory to anyone that researches it. Activated year one on one computer, used for many years on same computer, being activated on a new computer due to Windows XP no longer being supported! How difficult is that? What makes my serial numbers invalid? No one is accusing me of being a thief or Pirate, Adobe just made my serial numbers invalid for no good reason and I have to spend many frustrating hours chasing it down a dead end road! Adobe! See the problem and come forward with a place users can go for a centralized solution! I am a professional that can not afford this interruption to my schedule. A class action law suit is sure to follow if something is not done soon.

Bad press is sure to follow. Your loyal customers will look elsewhere for what they need. I can't believe this is the plan.

If anyone that cares at Adobe is reading this please call me or email me at:<Removed by Moderator> Adobe records have my contact info from my registration of my software both originally and while trying to set up my new computer.

This software is expensive to buy originally. This software may just get a reputation that it is too expensive to purchase if Adobe is going to randomly shut it down by any claim they choose. Abuse of power? yes!  A company that does this sort of extortion to it's loyal clients won't be around long. If this is a way to force users to upgrade or pay more money to Adobe for a product they invested in years ago, with the expectation of uninterrupted use until the clients chose to upgrade, than shame on the corporate persons behind it. If this is just a bad string of poor judgement, than fix it fast- make a solution for the damage being done to your loyal customers.

There are many other software solutions out there that do many of the same things for a lot less money than Adobe. Without the professional support of their product in the long run, Adobe may be just be another Greedy corporate monster that WAS!

Prove me right in my being a satisfied long term customer, believing Adobe supports its products long term, and fix this serial number problem. My new computer and the old computer are both without a working CS4 system now. What are you going to do about this major software BUG?

Nick

[raffy07]

I'm having the same problem and I have volume licensing!!! This is utterly crazy. This is a commercial product license that I can't use since upgrading my computer yesterday.

[Guest]

Raffy07,

No one has contacted me nor seems to being doing anything about this "serial # invalid" blackmail. I have received an email AD from Adobe inviting me to Join CC for $9.99 a month. This appears to be a calculated plan by Adobe to force users toward the CC. I will attempt a few more avenues to find a fix from the company before looking at more aggressive tactics. A large CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT can't be too far in the future with so many of us being abused. Bad press is popping up everywhere and people like me and you have not even begun to add to that with our VALID stories of blatant abuse of power. The choice of using the terms "invalid serial number" will be the worst mistake Adobe could make. Having a valid serial number, meaning, I paid for, registered, used for years with Adobe having the right to challenge my serial number during that time during continual updates etc... proves that invalidating my use because they can is an abuse of the licensing agreement. That agreement gives me the user, rights too!

I am no lawyer but this is a slam dunk. I have read the licensing agreement, complicated as it is and heavily favoring Adobe as you might expect but NOT IF WE HAVE DONE NOTHING ILLEGAL OR WRONG TO CALL FOR ADOBE TO INVALIDATE OUR LICENSE. This shutdown of my ability to use this software and having to loose more valuable time trying to fix it is likely to be multiplied by many thousands of users just like me and you. Any lawyer seeing that, sees Multi-millions of dollars streaming in from a win over Adobe. An easy win as it develops further by more and more shocked Photoshop users innocently updating their Windows Software from XP, we are just the beginning of this.

Adobe need to address this issue for us VALID license holders of Photoshop. Each new day exposes more upset licensed holders being cut off. If nothing is done to reinstate these people a reaction is sure to develop quickly.

Nick

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Moving this discussion from the Enterprise Deployment for Creative Cloud, Creative Suite forum to the Downloading, Installing, Setting Up forum.

Nick if you wish to work directly with a member of our support team you can do so at Contact Customer Care.  I have edited your previous message containing your e-mail address as this is a public forum.

I would recommend verifying your serial number to verify that the license is still valid.  You can find details in Find your serial number quickly - http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/find-serial-number.html on how to locate your serial number at http://www.adobe.com/.  If the serial number you are currently using is not registered under your account then please try registering it to verify the validity of the license.

You also mentioned removing the Adobe PCD folder.  Did you also remove the SLCache and SLStore folders?  Assuming your serial number is valid then having incorrect file permissions or corrupted data within these folders could lead to your serial number being seen as invalid. 

You mentioned you moved from Windows XP to Windows 7.  Was any files or folders copied from one installation to another?  Was any type of EZ Transfer utility used?  Finally what version of Windows 7 do you have installed?  Is it 32-bit or 64-bit?

[Guest]

Hi.  I am encountering the same issue (as at Dec 2014).  I suspect the problem could be with the CS4 (mine is Design Premium) installer that is downloaded from Adobe website.  Can Adobe tech support download the installer and test a few of the serial numbers known to be valid?

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Kanay where are you downloading the installation files for Design Premium CS4 from?  Do you receive a specific error message?  Which operating system are you downloading the installation files?

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Hi Jeff,

The Adobe tech support assisted through to resolution just before your response.

It seems some or all of the following is necessary.

#1. Uninstall everything

#2. Create a new user with admin rights

#3. Ensure language setting is set to ENG US or ENG UK instead of any other language ENG variation (may this point is not significant)

#4. Install logged in as new user (use latest installer downloaded from Adobe)

#5. Input the serial number at the point of installation (at the very first prompt for serial number)

Thanks for checking in on this post.

[Guest]

I forgot to add.

I was using Windows 7 64bit with all the patches up to date.

Language was set to ENG Singapore but temporary switch over to ENG US for the installation phase.

[Jeffrey_A_Wright]

Thanks for the update Kanay!

[Guest]

For what is worth.  I just joined the club.  After using CS4 for years on my XP machine, I loaded it on my new Win 8 PC.   It worked for a while.   I thought I was on my second license but then it quit working and wanted me to input the serial number.  Says its not a valid number.   Then I went through the deactivation process on the old PC.  Still no good.  I online chatted support and they suggest I call the vendor for a valid serial number.    I said that doesn't make sense.   It worked for the last 5 or 6 years.   Got the same answer.    The part number on the box is.  P/N: 65014912    The bar code number is:  8   83919 15968  3     Any correlation to those having problems????

[amandac29683677]

The exact same thing has happened to me today and I am furious even down to the providing proof of purchase, Who do these people think they are?