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kad.reg
Participating Frequently
June 21, 2017
Answered

Illustrator CS3 says my trial period has ended, refuses valid serial #

  • June 21, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 2217 views

The serial number for the "Web Standard" package is correct, I verified it with Adobe phone support. (They don't offer any real support for a product this old.) Other Adobe components from CS3 work fine: Photoshop, InDesign, etc. On a Mac running 10.12.5.

Is there a .plist file or some config file someplace that makes Illustrator CS3 think I started a trial more than 30 days ago?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer kglad

    assuming you're using a valid adobe serial number (6 groups of 4 numbers and confirmed by adobe), you have a mismatch between your installation file and serial number.  ie, you can have a valid serial number, but if it's for program A and your installation file is for program B, you will see an invalid serial number message.

    common mismatches are language/region (eg, serial number is for western europe and installation file is eastern europe), platform (eg, serial number is for a mac and installation file is win), license type (eg, education vs enterprise vs individual).

    and one of the most common is using a program installation file with a suite's serial number. eg, using a cs6 suite serial number with a photoshop cs6 installation file.  that won't work even though photoshop is included in that suite.  you must use the suite's installation file (and you can choose to only install one program from the suite).

    here's official info about that error,  http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-serial-number-valid-product.html

    3 replies

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 21, 2017

    assuming you're using a valid adobe serial number (6 groups of 4 numbers and confirmed by adobe), you have a mismatch between your installation file and serial number.  ie, you can have a valid serial number, but if it's for program A and your installation file is for program B, you will see an invalid serial number message.

    common mismatches are language/region (eg, serial number is for western europe and installation file is eastern europe), platform (eg, serial number is for a mac and installation file is win), license type (eg, education vs enterprise vs individual).

    and one of the most common is using a program installation file with a suite's serial number. eg, using a cs6 suite serial number with a photoshop cs6 installation file.  that won't work even though photoshop is included in that suite.  you must use the suite's installation file (and you can choose to only install one program from the suite).

    here's official info about that error,  http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-serial-number-valid-product.html

    K
    kad.regAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    June 21, 2017

    Thank you kglad! Very promising. In the process of DL'ing the entire suite now; hoping the problem was as described in the link, namely that I was using a suite s/n for an install from an individual product download.

    Will update here with results.

    K
    kad.regAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    June 21, 2017

    Some progress, no cigar yet.

    Licensing issue is solved. AI starts halfway — splash screen comes & goes. Nothing more. App is not selectable via ctrl-tab; can be quit from the Dock.

    I'll mark kglad's post as having solved the initial problem.

    Srishti Bali
    Community Manager
    Srishti BaliCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    June 21, 2017

    Moving to Downloading, Installing, Setting Up​

    Regards

    Srishti

    Mike_Gondek10189183
    Community Expert
    Mike_Gondek10189183Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 21, 2017

    You really should not update your OS to 10.12.5 when you are running older software such as CS3 that was never updated after 10.12 came out. It will work for the most part but all it takes is not being able to save and you will have put yourself in a bad situation by not flowing the System requirements | Adobe Illustrator​ which says leopard for CS3 . So you may want to downgrade you mac os prior to:

    Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems

    K
    kad.regAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    June 21, 2017

    Thanks MikeGondek. I don't have any option of reverting to an earlier OS. It's not certain that the Sierra upgrade was what broke Illustrator; I run it seldom enough that I probably hadn't tried within the last year or more.

    It's good to know about the Cleaner app, but it is scary: removes all traces of Adobe products it looks like. While I can download & reinstall CS3, there's no real guarantee that things will run after I do... and unlike AI, I rely on Photoshop every day.

    I did uninstall AI using the uninstaller in /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers; downloaded AI CS3 from [ Download Adobe Creative Suite 3 products ]; reinstalled from that. Absolutely nothing has changed: still thinks AI's trial period has expired, still refuses the valid s/n.

    kglad
    Community Expert
    kgladCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 21, 2017

    read message 3 for all the reasons a valid serial number will trigger an invalid serial number message.

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