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Unable to Deactive Adobe Creative Suite 5 Web Premium

New Here ,
Feb 19, 2025 Feb 19, 2025

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I've exhausted all the chat options and the pages are not helpful. 
I've purchased a copy of Adobe Creative Suite 5 Web Premium & had it registered to my Adobe account - I recently upgraded to Windows 11 from Windows 10 & reinstalled my creative suite, however it said that my activation limit has reached & I have no way of loging out or deactivating it on any other PC.
The Chat bot sends me in a loop & the "help" page is not useful for a product this old, apprently.
Would very much appreciate it if someone can help me deactive/reset my activation.

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Activation , Installation

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

then you're at the end of the road for activating cs5.  your only option, once you see an excess activation count message, is to deactivate using a computer with a current activation.  if that's impossible, deactivation is impossible and therefore, activation is impossible.

 

you can use unactivated for 30 days on any one computer.  you can then use a different computer or reformat the one with the expired trial.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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then you're at the end of the road for activating cs5.  your only option, once you see an excess activation count message, is to deactivate using a computer with a current activation.  if that's impossible, deactivation is impossible and therefore, activation is impossible.

 

you can use unactivated for 30 days on any one computer.  you can then use a different computer or reformat the one with the expired trial.

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New Here ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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😞 Perhaps so, but why does an upgrade from windows 10 to 11 cause the activation to fail?
It failed that's why i reinstalled it.
Should have logged off before I upgraded to windows 11...

Still hopefully an employee could reset the license key, though

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Community Expert ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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the license key remains unchanged, is independent of os version and is tied to your installation file.

 

upgrading your os should not have required a reinstalling/activation.  why did you reinstall?

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New Here ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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After upgrading to windows 11, I couldn't start up Photoshop, so i uninstalled and reinstalled it. It didn't make sense..

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Community Expert ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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quote

Still hopefully an employee could reset the license key, though


By Eliana T

 

They no longer have the ability to do that.

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New Here ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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😞 Guess its really end of the line then... I missed when they had one-time purchase softwares. I use the creative suite on/off maybe once a month so its not justified to subbing to the entire suite

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Community Expert ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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sorry about the problems.

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New Here ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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Thank you for the replies!

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Community Expert ,
Feb 20, 2025 Feb 20, 2025

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you're welcome, and good luck!

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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Unfortunatly, I too am at the end of the road with Creative Suite CS5 - a prehistoric group of programs but I still liked using Photoshop. I did deactivate my copy before migrating to a new machine. Apparently, that didn't register on Adobe's servers? When I login to my Adobe account it has 4 (of 6) of my registered products in its database but the Activated Devices page is blank. "You have no activated devices"

 

I ended up having a virtual machine of my laptop and use CS5 on that for a few weeks. When it balks on the activation I revert back to the original virtual machine and use it for a bit. Sort of like the perpetual loop people (including myself) experience with the AI chat. I also have the NIC disabled.

 

Thanks to everyone who monitors this community forum. At least I got a definitive answer.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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@ferdowsi940 

 

tell more about your virtual machine work-around.  do you have to create a new vm every 30 days?

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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Sort of. I make copies of the VM file and reuse it after 30 days or whenever the program stops working. Once it's configured, it's simply a matter of copying a file over the old file.

 

If an end user is able to install an Adobe product and it was coded to allow them/us to use it for 30 days, then you can insall the program on your VM after you make a copy of your VM. Don't install the program on the clean copy of your VM, just on your "working" copy. After it stops working, overwrite that file with the clean copy (or backup file) and start over.

 

There are Virtual Machine programs that run on Linux, macOS or Windows. I haven't used Virtualbox  in many years but I see there is still a free version. The base version of Oracle VirtualBox is free for personal, educational, or evaluation use. It is open source. You can use it to run multiple operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, and macOS. It was developed by Sun Microsystems who were bought by Oracle. Apparently, Oracle still has some sort of free version.

 

I've used VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop  on macOS. They probably performed better than Virtualbox.

I use a free version for Windows provided by VMware. It was little difficult to find. I use two programs:

VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Client to create (copy) a VM of my current laptop.

VMware Workstation 16 Player to run the VM. Looks like the Player is discontinued but they have a free version for personal use. Maybe that's why it was hard to find last November?

 

There are also VM's on the cloud that perform great but you'd need access to something like Azure or AWS.

 

VM's can get pretty large but if you can fit it on your internal drive, it will perform better. Mine were on an external USB 3.0 HDD and ran painfully slow. I might try it on one of my external SSD's. Or just run it from my internal drive not that I ran into this activation issue this week.

 

A VM requires a little configuration, primarily for hardware - HDD, video, optical drive, network interphase, audio and how much resources are allocated to the "guest" (or VM). It's not a requirement to have all the hardware configured though. You don't need the network interphase or audio to work but the optical drive might help to install legacy programs from the media. If you have difficulty getting the optical drive running, one could copy the files to a folder and share the folder with the guest operating system.

 

Hope this helps someone. It's a little dissapointing (but not surprising) that Adobe pulled the plug on activating/deactivating EOL programs but they still keep monitoring the activation limits. I spent a good amount on Creative Suite Design Premium.

 

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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@ferdowsi940 

 

so, create a vm

install adobe app 

copy and save the vm with the fresh adobe install

 

after the adobe trial expires, paste the copied and saved vm over the vm with the expired adobe trial.  is that correct?

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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That would work.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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thank you very much for that info.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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No problem but I misunderstood your previous post - my mistake.

I wouldn't install the program on the clean/original copy.

 

If I were to install it on March 1 then save the copy, when I revert back to that saved copy on April 15 it will be over 30 days.

Install the program every time to use a fresh copy.

Kind of a pain but the 30 days will start on the date it is installed.

Sorry about that.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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No, do not install the program on your clean copy.

Please see post from a few minutes ago.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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@ferdowsi940 

 

thank you for correcting that.

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 23, 2025 Feb 23, 2025

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There is another workaround using cloning software. This would require more resources but would perform better.

You'd need to have an old/spare machine that you have not installed your Adobe product on or you can reinstall your operating system.

 

Configure it as you'd like without your Adobe program(s) then clone (the disk) it or create an image file of the disk. You could just image your system partition but it might be less complicated to get the restore up and running if you can do the disk. However, dumping an image of the system partiton is quicker and requires less offline storage.

Keep that (disk) clone, disk image or system image as your "clean" version (w/o your Adobe program(s). Install your Adobe program(s) on your machine. If it is coded to run for 30 days, use it until it stops. Then overwrite your disk with that (disk) clone, (disk) image file or system image file from your "clean" config and install the Adobe program(s) again. Like the virtual machines, it's a bit of of pain but better than nothing.

 

I started using cloning/imaging programs in 1996. As technology progresses, things got a little more complicated but they are pretty straightforward to use. I've used CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) on macOS and it was fine. I haven't in some time but it looks like you can purchase one copy for all your machines in your household (personal use). The creator (Mike Bombich) puts out a good quality product. It does not look like a subscription based product.

 

On Windows I've recently used Macrium Reflect and Acronis True Image. There are a few more which get good reviews. Those two I've used recently are European companies. Acronis has phone support and chat, as well as email, community forum and knowledgebase. Macrium has email, customer forum and knowledgebase included. No phone support or chat. These are subscription based products and go for about $50 per yr for 1 computer.

 

You can also search for, Open source disk cloning.

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

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Community Expert ,
Feb 23, 2025 Feb 23, 2025

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LATEST

thanks again. but yes, significant work no matter how it's done.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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quote

I spent a good amount on Creative Suite Design Premium.

By ferdowsi940

=========

14 years ago.  It's fair to say you got your money's worth and then some.

 

MODERN OPTIONS:
==============
Photoshop Elements (3 year license):
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

Creative Cloud Photography Plan (12-month plan):
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

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Community Beginner ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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It certainly is. I've gotten my money's worth with Adobe products in general. I suppose they got their money's worth out of me as well since I've been supporting their products since 1994.

 

Fortunatly, there are alternatives. Adobe has terrific products. It's nice having a choice.

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Community Expert ,
Feb 21, 2025 Feb 21, 2025

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I've tried the alternatives, but they pale by comparison to modern Photoshop.  

 

I'm too spoiled after 12+ years on CC to go backwards.  That said, hobbyists & amateurs who just need a quick photo editor might be perfectly content with lesser alternatives.  Everyone's mileage varies.

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

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