Can't use Fireworks after Windows 11 upgrade - license issues

[andrewh62499449]

I just bought a new computer and it has Windows 11. I tried loading Fireworks, but like everyone else, I got the issue with serial numbers. I had to basically uninstall Creative Suite, log out and log back in. Ridiculous.

That got me past the first issue. Now I have a new issue.

I am only signed into 2 computers. But I humor them and choose to have them sign me out. Then I get an error that says my operating system is out of date and needs to be upgraded before I can do anything!

I'm on the latest version I can possibly be on. So has anyone else successfully installed Fireworks on Windows 11?

If so, how!

Thanks for any help!

(PS, option 2 just brings me back to this same screen)

[Navid5CB9]

It solved it for a single use for me.

I predict you will see this again, though I hope not!

[AdamJessop]

This issue is currently driving me mad, I have tried all of the things listed in this thread to no joy, I constantly see the same issues of the Limit Reached screen and then the out of date system / browser.

Does nobody have a proven process of resolving this?

[Nancy OShea]

Fireworks ended 10 years ago, long before Win10 much less Win11 came out.  I know it's frustrating.  But short of using an old computer that's compatible with legacy software, there's not much more to suggest.

Fireworks alternatives.

ADOBE TOOLS:
===========
- Illustrator CC: https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html
- Photoshop Elements: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html
- Photoshop CC: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html

OTHER TOOLS (raster & vector):
===========
- Affinity Photo & Affinity Designer: https://affinity.serif.com
- CorelDRAW Graphics Suite: https://www.coreldraw.com/
- GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/
- Gravit Designer: https://www.designer.io/en/
- Inkscape: https://inkscape.org/
- Krita: https://krita.org/
- Paint.NET: https://www.getpaint.net/
- PaintShop Pro: https://www.paintshoppro.com/
- PhotoPea: https://www.photopea.com/
- Photo Pos Pro: https://www.photopos.com/PPP3_BS/Default.aspx
- Pixlr: https://pixlr.com/
- Vctr: https://vectr.com/

Hope that helps.

[johnc68281745]

Wrong! The tools you list are NOT Fireworks alternatives. Photoshop is one of the most bloated software products ever developed. Fireworks represented a lean and mean graphics editor for amateur users. Photoshop may be a godsend to highly trained highly paid graphics professioals but Fireworks was quick and easy and cheap for the everyman needing to do some clipping or cropping or flitering. Not even comparable.

[rik ed]

100% agree

[Nancy OShea]

=========

If you say so...

Photoshop Elements is consumer-grade software with a short learning curve, easy enough for a child to use. While it lacks many of the more advanced bells & whistles of pro-level Photoshop, it does support the same file types.  See screenshot below.

[B i r n o u]

did you try using a virtual machine ?

[Paul-M · Accepted solution]

This is a Windows 11 solution for the 'Limit Reached' issue :

1) Download the Adobe Creative Clouder Cleaner Tool from here

2) Remove Fireworks by running the cleaner tool (run as administrator) => select language => agree to terms type'Y' => select 1. All => 2. Adobe Fireworks CS6

3) Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE\ and rename or delete the folder 'PDApp'

4) Go to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\ and rename or delete the folder 'CS6ServiceManager'

5) Now open the Creative Cloud app and turn off automatic updates; click your profile icon (top right) => Preferences => Apps => make sure Auto-update is off (if you leave Auto-update on, Fireworks will be updated, and you'll most likely end up with the same issue again).

6) Reboot your system for good measure

7) Download this offline Fireworks installer that I saved  unzip it and install Fireworks **NOTE** Choose 'Try' when presented with options, you may additionally be asked to sign in with your Adobe credentials.

8) When you launch Fireworks for the first time, you may be prompted to sign in with your Adobe credentials, if you then see a button 'license this software' click it, and you should be good to go.

[ErnieBro]

Thank you for this detailed process and the associated links.

I went a step further and went to the Fireworks.exe file and right-clicked to run the Windows compatibility test. I needed to do this because the menus and some interface items were teeny-tiny small and completely out of proportion to the rest of the program. I tested a few options and then found one that made the fonts a little too big, but not so big that they interfere with the use of the program. I saved that compatibility setting so that whenever I use Fireworks it will come up that way.

If anyone at Adobe is listening, I think those of us who continue to struggle with the idea of leaving Fireworks behind would benefit greatly from an option in Photoshop and/or Illustrator that set up the interface to be similar to Fireworks - the tool bars, etc. to be familiar to the Fireworks user so that we could become more comfortable in Photoshop and Illustrator.

One last thing: when you've got Fireworks up and running again, be sure to go back to your Creative Cloud app and re-enable automatic updates :).

Thank you, again, Paul!

[Nancy OShea]

If anyone at Adobe is listening...  Fireworks [users] would benefit greatly from an option in Photoshop and/or Illustrator that set up the interface to be similar to Fireworks

By @ErnieBro

========

Don't count on it.  This won't happen for two reason.

#1 Nobody can hear you. Adobe hasn't monitored this space for years, since FW was discontinued. 

#2 Photoshop & Illustrator are very sophisticated, pro-level tools with millions & millions of subscribers who don't care about FW.  It would be a hurclean task to dumb those apps down for a hundred or so FW users.  Too much pain & too little gain.

Best advice, get your feet wet now with other tools before you're forced to.  FW won't last much longer. 

Photoshop is for rasters.  Illustrator is for vectors. Substance is for 3D.

• https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/tutorials.html
• https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/tutorials.html
• https://substance3d.adobe.com/tutorials

[fbaillie]

Many thanks for your work on this problem. My one hope is that it works under Windows 11 ver. 23H2 which just went out. Adobe doesn't think my browser or operating system is up to date. Sort of like the old Y2K problem I guess. I'll respond when I know if this works. 

[Nancy OShea]

My one hope is that it works under Windows 11 ver. 23H2 which just went out.

By @fbaillie

==========

Don't count on it.  If support for legacy apps is important to you, keep a dedicated legacy machine that can support 12+ year old apps.

Get a 2nd computer for Windows 11+ and modern apps.

OTHER TOOLS (raster & vector):
===========
- Affinity Photo & Affinity Designer: https://affinity.serif.com
- CorelDRAW Graphics Suite: https://www.coreldraw.com/
- GIMP: https://www.gimp.org/
- Gravit Designer: https://www.designer.io/en/
- Inkscape: https://inkscape.org/
- Krita: https://krita.org/
- Paint.NET: https://www.getpaint.net/
- PaintShop Pro: https://www.paintshoppro.com/
- PhotoPea: https://www.photopea.com/
- Photo Pos Pro: https://www.photopos.com/PPP3_BS/Default.aspx
- Pixlr: https://pixlr.com/
- Vctr: https://vectr.com/

Hope that helps.

[fbaillie]

Thanks Nancy as you can see below Coreldraw will have to do. I already have 2 computers going, 1 for banking only since I've been hacked so badly, that one, a chromebook seems to be helping so far.

[fbaillie]

OOPS - nope it gets to sign in, even as administrator and you get the nasty out of date problem. It's the Application Manager that's stopping the process.As was stated above Adobe won't do anything with FW. It's too bad because so many of us dummys have used it for years and love it. I messvery amateurly  with graphics for signs etc.& FW does agreat job. I'm 85 and danged if it's going to be easy to learn a new program. I actually worked with Coreldraw in the day and I'll probably go back there to see if I can get it to do what FW did. SHOOT! Actually I'm Canadianb so I should be thankful 🙂 

[Paul-M]

If anyone is on a Windows machine and still struggling with the 'Limit Reached', let me know, and I'll walk you through the fix.