Will CS3 work in Win7?

[SportstHER]

Desperately need a new laptop and I know it will come with Win7.  Can anyone tell me DEFINITIVELY if my full CS3 suite will run under Win7?  My current machine has XP and I don't have the dollars to buy a new full mastersuite, but need to upgrade to a new laptop.  Has anyone been successful with an unistall and re-install on a new Win7 harddrive? Any observations that might help would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[Jeff A Wright]

It has certainly never been tested with Windows 7.  What particular applications are you planning to use?

[Mylenium]

What Jeff said - since it was never officially tested on W7, there is no definitive guaranteed answer. Many users still run it successfully, but depending on what programs you plan on using and what features you plan to use, there may be limitations or it might not work at all...

Mylenium

[SportstHER]

@Jeff - In a perfect world, I would want to use each program in the suite. As a webmaster, the majority of use is with Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator.  (I do use after effects, flash and the movie editing tools on occasion). I love it and use them daily!

I recognize that CS3 is an unsupported product due to its age, but I cannot afford to go without it!  I'm  between a rock and a hard place now that my hardware is maxed out and the funtioning of CS3 is driving my purchase choices. Only after doing the homework to find out if my previous purchase of the full suite absolutely will not work in Win 7 will I consider cobbling together the funds for an upgrade, which I already know is prohibitive, (not exactly sure how to do an install with an upgrade with a new harddrive too).

So, it boils down to asking for help.  If you've heard that others have successfully installed the 32 bit version under Win 7 and had it run in compatibility mode, I would be willing to try that.  If that won't work, oh gawd, how much is an upgrade nowadays. 

Thanks,

Carla

[Jeff A Wright]

SportsHER I would go ahead and install Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Illustrator.  Acrobat is the application which would be the most incompatible from that time period.  It may work it may not but feel free to respond back with your results and I can certainly look into any errors you end up running into.  In regards to upgrade pricing it will depend on which suite you are looking for.  You can locate additional details at http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.html?promoid=ITXQM.

[SportstHER · Accepted solution]

Follow up to my original question about CS3 mastersuite working under Win7. I found a workaround. 

If you purchase the upgrade of "Windows 7 Premium", you get the option to download "XP Mode" that runs in a remote XP mode window under Win7. Essentially, you have two functioniong operating systems and Win7 calls the function "Windows Virtual PC". I've installed the full CS3 suite and have been using all the components as normal within XP for a couple months now. XP mode also lets you install software that works in XP and not in Win7 by emulating XP (acutally I just think its a dual O/S)  The XP mode also funtions as normal needing the usual updates and such, so you periodically get odd Windows notifications and pop ups when using the XP mode. The remote application window displays the resolution of the active program a little weird, but so far other than some accessing and saving speed, has not affected the output in anyway. Now, it does tax my system resouces a bit using 2 O/Ss which makes it run a bit slow, and browsing the directory structure is also somewhat hidden, but I can live with all of that.  Its a good trade off. The Windows 7 Premium upgrade was $99 as compared to who knows what for a full upgrade to CS5.  As soon as I win the lottery, I'll upgrade. In the meantime, I'm super happy to be able to use my favorite Adobe tools again.  YAY!