Ongoing Activation/Deactivation Issues CS6 and CC

Report · Jul 11, 2013

Ongoing installation and activation issues with my CS6 licensed version and my Photoshop CC (which was purchased 5 days ago).

I have numerous case numbers dating back to February of 2013 regarding the issues with my CS6. Would appreciate a review of last few case numbers 0184475246 and 0184470650. My original issue involved CS6 starting and continue to popup a Trial Offer for CS6 Extended which support had me activate several times on my desktop, uninstalled, reinstalled, disabled my Windows 7 Security Maintenance, and changed settings inside the Adobe PCD folder. All to no avail ... as of yesterday I cannot open my CS6 without the Trial popup asking for Trial or License Software (as usual), and my Photoshop CC also wants me to Sign In for a Trial of CC (something I already purchased), every time I click on it.

The last two tech support people told me I could not run both versions on my Windows 7 Pro PC and, therefore, told me to uninstall both the CS6 and the Photoshop CC even though I could not deactivate and then reinstall just the CC. So I uninstalled everything last night and today I plan to attempt to reinstall only the CC Downloader and Photoshop CC to see what I get. But I would like to be able to also have my CS6 available to me.

Please don't tell me to contact Tech Support ... they are pretty much unable to resolve this issue.

Any help anyone can provide would be much appreciated ... especially you, Jeff. I hate to write off Adobe products entirely, but soon I will have no other option.

Thanks.

Report · Jul 11, 2013

Psychdoc_1 I am sorry for all of the difficulties you have been facing. Did you activate Photoshop CS6 on the same computer on July 2? Looking at your activation history I am seeing two separate activation requests on this day for two different computers. If you activated on the same computer then it is likely you are facing the difficulties documented in 64-bit products convert to trial on launch or prompt for activation after licensing | CS6, CCM - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/64-bit-creative-suite-applications-repeatedly.html.

On a related note how many computers are you using the Creative Cloud? Currently it appears that you have activated on two separate computers. Is this the case? I am showing an activation on one computer on July 7 and then a second computer on July 8.

Report · Jul 11, 2013

Jeff, thanks so much for your prompt response and for the feedback.

In answer to your first question: Yes, CS6 was activated on the same computer on July 2.

In answer to question two: I downloaded the Creative Cloud on my desktop only ... however, because of the numerous problems, Adobe techs have uninstalled and reinstalled to try to get it working with my "boxed" version of CS6. All the installations took place one day after the other and no deactivations were done. There were two call-backs from Adobe Tech Support (one on July 7 and one on July 8) in response to my online Case Update pleas for help.

After submitting my comments here on the Forum yesterday, I proceeded to uninstall my Adobe CC, the Creative Cloud app, and my "boxed" version of CS6 ... all without being able to deactivate.

I wound up having to contact the Adobe Tech Support again today (case number above ending in 5246) becauase my purchased or "boxed" version of LR5 would not download. So, while I had the Tech on the phone I told him about the problems with CS6 and CC and advised him of the number of activations reported.

To make a long story short, apparently:

... CS6 "boxed" version will not work alongside Photoshop CC on a PC so I did not try to have him reinstall it

... Internet Explorer 10 will not allow downloads of LR5, so I had to install another web browser to accomplish the task and the Adobe Tech was able to help with the download of LR5 and get it running

... The Tech was able to download Photoshop CC and, as of right now, it is working. Whether or not it will work over the next day or two ... well, we'll just have to wait and see.

... The Tech told me he had reset my "boxed" CS6 to allow 1 installation since I had removed the install from my desktop without deactivating (he could see it was no longer on my system)

... The Tech advised me that I currently have 1 CC download left.

Hopefully, between the feedback you've provided (thank you so much), and linking the Tech to my computer again today, the problem will be resolved. If not, well ... I don't know what to try next.

If you would like to know the final outcome in a couple of days, I would be happy to provide feedback.

Report · Jul 12, 2013

Sure Psychdoc_1 please feel free to post your feedback.

From your response it does appear you are affected by 64-bit products convert to trial on launch or prompt for activation after licensing | CS6, CCM - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/64-bit-creative-suite-applications-repeatedly.html. We are actively looking at a solution to users affected by this difficulty. I would recommend bookmarking this technical document as it will be updated once a solution has been confirmed.

Report · Jul 12, 2013

Thank you, Jeff. I have book-marked the article and will check it frequently, hoping that there is a solution soon.

Best regards.

UPDATE:

Jeff, I hate to have to report that tonight while attempting to use Photoshop CC up popped the "Sign in Required" and request to please sign in for trial software. Of course, I did not.

Then I opened the Creative Cloud app to which I had to sign in and there was an update with "bug fixes" to Photoshop CC so I installed. Now I get the Adobe Software License Agreement notification that says it will again "govern your installation and use of Adobe Create Cloud products which includes this software." I already did all this when the Adobe Tech helped me a couple of days ago as per my comments earlier in this discussion.

Can you please advise whether or not I must again accept the license agreement? I'm afraid that if I do, it will look like another activation when, in fact, it isn't. This is the same computer that Photoshop CC is installed on. I'm so frustrated by all this all I can say is HELP!!!

Thanks and regards.

Message was edited by: Psychdoc_1

Report · Jul 15, 2013

Jeff,

Please see my UPDATE post to my previous remarks. Can you help?

Thanks and regards.

Report · Jul 22, 2013

Psychdoc_1 due to the activation difficulty your currently experiencing Windows is causing the activation technology to detect your computer as a new computer. When prompted please sign in again and accept the End User License Agreement again as needed.

Report · Jul 22, 2013

Jeff, thanks so much for your response. Is there anything else Adobe can do to help with this since I don't seem to be the only one having these problems with popups for "Sign In Required" or for Accepting Licensing Agreement every other day, or even more frequently. I have notified the Techs again through my Support Cases, but I don't believe they have anything more they offer at this point.

For example, last evening I was in the middle of working on an image and it seems that CC signed me out and popped up a "Sign In Required" and then Accept License again. This continues to happen repeatedly every day or two.

There is a separate discussion going on this issue in the Forum titled "Repeatedly asked to accept license agreement." I, and everyone else with this problem, would be immensely grateful if you or one of your colleagues would have a look at this Forum discussion and see if there isn't a solution that can help us. This does not just include individuals, but company departments as well ... so I would say that Adobe really needs to have a serious look at this issue; maybe you can help move it in that direction? FYI, below are just a few of the recent comments from the Forum regarding this issue:

"It seems that I loose the connection with CC a few minutes after I plug in an external hard disk and have to log in again with all the ensuing acceptance of license agreements, it also happens when I unplug an external HD."
"I noticed it is kind of random. I have all applications set to run as administrator on Windows 7, but now and then PS:CC or AE:CC will ask me for licensing. I've spent a lot of my company time trying to resolve this little annoyance, now I will just have to ignore it. It is a feature of the CC bundle lol."
I'm using Windows 7 X64 Pro, and I get logged out randomly on my primary machine, but my secondary machine stays logged in (so far). This morning I tried to start Audition and got a sign-in prompt. I looked and ACC had dropped my login, so I closed the prompt to log in and logged in through ACC. I then tried to start Audition and still got the sign-in prompt even though I had ACC open and showing me logged in. I signed in yet again and needless to say, it treated me like a new user and I had to accept the license agreement and was then told to go to the Adobe website to complete my registration, which of course I can't since I already have. I just looked and ACC has dropped my sign-in yet again. This destroys my ability to use CC applications without an internet connection. Once I sign in properly, I'm supposed to be authorized for 90 days if I recall correctly, but I'm actually not even authorized for 15 minutes. This is upsetting to say the least."
"Happened again, this time with Audition. And this is after the recent CC app update."

Jeff, I sure would appreciate it if you can get back to me and let me know if there are any other steps I and others can take to resolve this besides constantly having to login and accept agreements.

Thanks so much for your kind attention and I'm looking forward to hearing from you again shortly.

Report · Jul 22, 2013

Psychodoc_1 we are continuing to investigate this difficulty. As previously indicated I would recommend bookmarking the previously offered document as it will be updated when a solution is found.

Report · Jul 22, 2013

Thanks for your prompt response, Jeff. I will continue to monitor the web page you had given me previously and keep my fingers crossed that a solution will be available shortly.

Until then ... Best regards.

Report · Aug 20, 2013

Jeff, I'm still having trouble with this popup issue only now it's for the CC version of Photoshop CS6.

Aside from the usual requests to sign in, accept the license agreement, and register the product, I have just started getting popups similar to the ones I used to get with the perpetual license of CS6 ...

Now Adobe Photoshop CC popups up with "Sign in Required" ... Terms and conditions for trial software ... Sign in now." So, I proceed to sign in and go through the usual hoops and finally end up with "Thank You ... Adobe Photoshop CC will now be licensed for [me]. Click continue to enjoy the software." Then it works for about 2 days and starts all over again.

I can keep on going through this ritual, but it is getting a bit ridiculous. Has Adobe gotten anywhere on this problem???

I keep checking the page you suggested, but nothing new is indicated.

Any help you can provide would be much appreciated. Heaven only knows how many activations for CC I have on my account as a result of all this. Hopefully, still only one.

Thanks much.

Report · Aug 20, 2013

I am sorry Psychdoc_1 but I do not have any additional solutions to provide at this time but to sign back in and accept the license agreement.

Report · Sep 02, 2013

Jeff, just an update on the problems I had been experiencing as noted above ...

After the most recent CC update was issued and installed I have had no more problems with either the trial popup or sign in popups. I have not yet rebooted the system, but in the coming days I will do so and see if Photoshop remains stable. I'm certainly very hopeful at this point.

I'll post back to let you know.

Again, thanks for your help and support.

Report · Sep 03, 2013

Excellent thank you for the update Psychdoc_1.

Report · Sep 12, 2013

Jeff, I hate to have to inform you of the latest, but I just updated Photoshop CC a day or two ago, and now I am again getting the CC Trial, Sign-in Required, and Accept License Agreement multiple times. I have been clicking on the license tabs and accepting the agreements and then registering, but I'm afraid it is just ticking away the number of installs again until it won't work at all.

I am going to try to attach these popups so you can view them. Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Report · Sep 12, 2013

Psychdoc_1 I checked and your membership still appears to be in good standing. Please try the following steps:

Close the Creative Cloud application
Go to C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Local\Adobe\OOBE
Delete the OPM.db file
Open the Creative Cloud application and sign back in.

Message was edited by: Jeff A Wright

Report · Sep 12, 2013

Thanks, Jeff. I will give it a go tonight and report back.

Report · Sep 12, 2013

I will look forward to the update. Also I noticed I lised OPM.db as being a folder that should have been the OPM.db file instead. I have updated the steps above.

Report · Sep 12, 2013

Okay, thanks, Jeff. By the way, just out of curiosity, what exactly does deleting this file do?

Report · Sep 13, 2013

It contains your sign in information as well as other information regarding your account. By deleting the file it will force the Adobe Creative Cloud application to sign back in and rebuild the list of installed applications and updates. My hope is that this will then refresh the licensing files and alleviate your current difficulties.

Report · Sep 13, 2013

Thanks for the additional information, Jeff. It helps to understand what the fix is hoping to accomplish.

The good news is ... so far so good, but let's see what happens in a few days from now. Also, I noticed something I wanted to ask about. It would seem that when I plug in an external drive with images on it and open Photoshop CC, these issues pop up again. Now, maybe it's just coincidence, so I am going to experiment a little bit and see what I come up with. I'll give you some feedback on both issues in several days.

In the meantime, have you gotten any reports of external drives causing problems with these types of popups appearing?

Report · Sep 14, 2013

Interesting No Psychdoc_1 not that I am aware of. You may want to look at your login items to see if there is some type of helper application which might be launching when you attach the drive. I know a few of my external drives over the years have included bundled software which is only active when the drive is mounted.

Report · Sep 14, 2013

I'll check it out further, Jeff, since I have one external that I reformatted and then loaded images onto and one that has the software still on it along with images. I'll post what I find.

Report · Feb 05, 2016

I have experienced this same problem. I was able to fix it on my system.

My System is Ae CS6 and is setup on a PC with Windows 7. Ae started showing a "Trial Pop-up" on startup, for no known reason, two years after installation and asked: "Continue Trial or Register". It wouldn't register and there was no error message displayed. The "Deactivate" line in the "Help" menue was also grayed out.

My problem turned out to be in the SLStore folder (c:\ProgramData\Adobe\SLStore). I took all the files out of the SLStore folder and moved them to a "vault folder" for safe keeping (about eight files). I restarted Ae and that regenerated some new SLStore files. (Four files regenerated.) I moved the remaining files that were not regenerated back from the vault to the SLStore folder, then restarted Ae.

This fixed the registration failure and the repeated "Trial Pop-up". Also, the "Deactivate" line in the "Help" menu is no longer grayed out.

Report · Dec 19, 2016

Activation/Deactivation Issues with CS6

FWIW, all ye who are suffering the absolutely RIDICULOUS runaround that Adobe deems acceptable in trying to reActivate a legally-owned copy of their software... Seriously, 2-3 DAYS of tail-chasing through circular URLs to absolutely no end is beyond the Pale for a company selling the most expensive software investment many of us are likely to make in a lifetime....not OK, Adobe. Having got that off my chest:

I went through the above to no avail, not once, but twice, as in between I tried reinstalling Windows to see if that would make any difference - for the record, it didn't, but MAYBE it triggered something, somewhere?? Photoshop stopped working after the 7 day "grace" period with the first install. Today, thinking I now had only 5 days left to try to find a human to help me, I prepared to go through it all again. I started Photoshop, and to my delights noticed that the "7 days to register" now read 37 thousand and something. I checked the register button and Presto! I am now registered. So, perhaps persistence and desperation permeate the system...who knows. I'm just saying, nil desperandum!!

HTH someone else. If not, good luck!!