Lost Adobe CS6 Master Collection Serial Number

[lionlord63]

About a year or two ago, I had a friend give me his CS6 Master Collection code as a present, and it worked with no issues. However, as it wasn't an official purchase from Adobe itself, the serial number wasn't saved to my adobe ID. Months after I had gotten the serial code, my laptop was stolen and the working programs along with it. I have also backed up my storage once I had used the code to activate the programs, so I was wondering if there was something in the Adobe folder that I can check that contained my serial code.

[ssprengel · Accepted solution]

I think you’re out of luck finding the serial number in a simple files backup. If you have a disk image of the laptop then maybe, but otherwise, no.

Your friend owns the product and you didn’t otherwise document what it was. The easiest thing would be contact your friend, but maybe that is no longer possible.

If you still had your laptop and it was a Windows computer, then there is a program you could have run to find the serial number, but without still having the computer with the software installed on it I don’t think you can find it, yourself. It may be in the registry or in an encrypted file. Adobe makes their licensing very complicated in an attempt to thwart pirates. If the serial number was just in a plaintext file it’d be too easy to hack.

If you actually owned the product and could prove so with a sales receipt then Adobe might provide a new serial number, but with a story like you’re telling, where you don’t even have the computer anymore and it’s not associated with the AdobeID you can login to and give Adobe it could just be a made up story to get free software since all evidence of your legitimately having it is conveniently missing. I’m not saying your story isn’t right, I’m just saying Adobe can’t merely give software away based on a good story, they require some evidence.

If you do still have a way to contact your friend there is an official transfer-of-license process that can be used to assign the serial number to your AdobeID INSTEAD OF theirs. If the situation is that they have one install and you had the other then your install would be illegitimate and Adobe wouldn’t have a positive attitude toward your wanting it back. If your install was used as a basis of a cheaper upgrade to CC by your friend and they don’t have need of it, anymore, that still might not be legit because Adobe gave your friend a discount based on ownership of the CS6 license.

If you friend is willing and able to transfer the license to you then this is the process they’d need to follow and Educational versions are not eligible if that’s also a consideration in this case:

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/transfer-product-license.html

[lionlord63]

Could it be possible for the program to find my code to be found if I placed my entire backup in another Windows laptop

[ssprengel]

I would expect the program looks in specific files and registry keys that are in their standard locations on the system drive. 

Maybe if the folders you restore to the other laptop don't already exist on the laptop it might work, but not if the serial is in encrypted registry keys.  You can always try, I guess.  The program is called Belarc Advisor:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

If you do happen to find the serial number, the next potential problem is a serial number can be used twice at most.  The stolen laptop has one, and if there is another computer, somewhere else, like your friend's then you'll be at the limit and you'll need to contact Adobe to reset the activation counter.  If you don't have the information about the AdobeID it's registered to then you might be out of luck and if Adobe is suspicious they might blacklist the serial number.  It all depends on what your friend actually gave you.  If it was their second activation then they'll probably need to call Adobe not you.