Photoshop CS3 [CS3 is a dead, locked]

[johnmacg]

Photoshop CS3 suddenly stopped working on Windows 10, with the message: 'licensing for this product has stopped working'. The message also said I had to uninstall, then reinstall. I've now uninstalled and attempted to reinstall twice. Both times I've got a message saying it was only able to install one shared component, but couldn't install Photoshop CS3 plus other shared components. What's the solution?

If I manage to reinstall Photoshop, how will I activate it? I have the program registered for two computers, so that's all my activations used up. After Photoshop stopped working with the licensing message, I was unable to start it again to deactivate the licence before uninstalling. So I imagine that, as far as Adobe is concerned, I've used my activations up and can't do any more.

This is why no longer having access to a live Adobe technician is a big problem. I'm using Photoshop professionally and this is a serious business disruption for me.

The only thing I can think that could have precipitated the problem was that earlier on the same day Photoshop died, I had installed and ran Acronis True Image. Maybe doing that image triggered Photoshop into thinking I was trying to clone the installation to install on a third computer? But that would be crazy...

Photoshop was installed on my C: drive and I've wondered if installing it on my D: drive partition might work. But I prefer to have it on C: and haven't tried that solution.

(This is only part of my current Adobe problems - the other problem was that my other computer (Windows 7) that ran Photoshop and InDesign was getting really scratchy and I reinstalled Windows 7. Foolishly, I forgot to first deactivate my Adobe products. And now I can't reactivate them. I'll do a separate post for this though. But again - where is a live technician when you need one!)

[John T Smith]

CS3 is SO OLD that you may never get it to install or run on Win10

An idea that MAY work to install and/or run old programs in Windows 10... works for some, not for others

-http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/15523-compatibility-mode-settings-apps-change-windows-10-a.html

-or Run as Administrator http://forums.adobe.com/thread/969395 to assign FULL permissions may help... says Encore, but sometimes required for ALL Adobe programs (this is NOT the same as using an Administrator account)

Also read Will Adobe CS3 work in Windows 10?

[johnmacg]

CS3 is not all that old and it's perfectly adequate for my publishing business. I ran it without a hitch  for 12 months on Windows 10 before it stopped working yesterday. The error messages were to do with licensing, not the ability of CS3 to run in Windows 10.

[cmarmalade]

Hello,

Just curious if you found any fix to this problem.  The same thing happened to me yesterday.  I had Illustrator open and running fine the day before, was forced to restart my computer due to a Design Space (Cricut) plugin I had to download and since then none of my adobe products will work (CS3 Web Premium, Captivate, Soundbooth)...don't know if the plugin or restart is coincidence to this problem or not.  I tried everything suggested here: Error: "Licensing has stopped working" | Windows finally ending on uninstalling and reinstalling.  I uninstalled but now when I try to reinstall from the disc, it goes no further than saying its initializing after selecting to install Web Premium.  I also have the license installed on two computers but was going to handle that hurdle when I got to it.  I also found this post but haven't tried the steps here incase this is helpful to you: http://www.kevinohara.com/how-to-fix-cs3-licensing-has-stopped-working .

[johnmacg]

I had a look at the compatibility mode possibilities that were suggested, but I can't even investigate that option if I can no longer install Photoshop CS3.

I made contact with Adobe, but they insist that CS3 is incompatible with Windows 10 and offered no solutions other than upgrading to the Creative Cloud. Photoshop CS3 ran faultlessly for a year before dying last week.

I found somewhere else on the web someone with the same complaint as me: He ran Photoshop CS3 successfully for some time in Windows 10 and then all of a sudden it stopped working and like me he cannot reinstall. It happened to him within a few days of it happening to me, and I'm left wondering if Adobe has engineered this issue so that we will be forced buy an upgrade that we do not want.

I don't want to pay an ongoing rental for a Creative Cloud suite, just so I can have a Photoshop that works on my computer. I want to continue to use my standalone versions of Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat that over the years, with updates, have cost me thousands of dollars and have been working fine in Windows 10. They are more than capable of high-level desktop publishing work.

[quegs]

I too am experiencing the same issue. It started about 5 days ago. I suspect it is related to a windows 10 update since windows 10 is not supported under CS3. I've tried various steps that I have found online but none seem to work. If I can't get a solution to work, I will likely revert back to Windows 7.

[johnmacg]

I can't even reinstall CS3, let alone attempt to reactivate it. You too?  I find it hard to believe that a Microsoft update to Windows 10 would prevent an Adobe installation - even an installation that wouldn't work properly. I think it's more likely to have been an internet intervention by Adobe.

Now I'm paranoid that my also old (CS5.5) version of InDesign may be interfered with in time, so I've set up Windows Firewall to block all communications from Adobe.

While I can still manipulate images on a separate computer, it's a considerable nuisance that Photoshop and InDesign are no longer working together on my production computer. For this reason I'm having to consider subscribing to the Creative Cloud Photography Plan and paying through the nose for the rest of my professional life.

[cmarmalade]

I've spent the better part of the past two days trying various things recommended online without much luck... some of it even from Adobe.  Was still having the installation from the disc blindly fail (apparently a known problem by Adobe).  I had no choice but spent many hours trying to remove EVERYTHING Adobe from my computer that I could.  I just restarted and re-ran the installation from the disc and... the installer runs (this is progress) but the bad news is that it only installs Acrobat, it fails to install any of the other applications. My last ditch effort (which was the one that worked???...who knows, could be combination of things, I tried so many things) at trying to get this to work was by following these steps to a T: Kevin O'Hara | How To Fix CS3 Licensing Has Stopped Working | Kevin O'Hara .  For the clean-up software that he doesn't have links to a simple google search will find them.  Just for reference I'm running Win7 Ultimate and the failure didn't seem to coincide with any Windows automatic update.

I did run into this common problem when trying to install on 64-bit where the file AdobePdf.dll is needed but I had this file saved from last time I installed and (apparently) ran into this problem so that hurdle was easily overcome.  Anyhow, progress but certainly not 100% success.  I have found on the forums where A LOT of people had the same problem with the install on Win7.

[gener7]

I apologize if this turns out to be a repeat, but have your tried the License repair Tool?

Adobe - Adobe Licensing Repair Tool

Also instead of your discs, download the CS3 installer: Download Adobe Creative Suite 3 products

[johnmacg]

Interesting that Adobe chat help made neither of those suggestions.

I ran the licensing repair tool, which completed without any comment or warnings. Of course it had no Photoshop CS3 to work on, because I'm being blocked from installing it. Then I downloaded Photoshop CS3 as suggested and tied to install with that, rather than from my disc. Exactly the same result as before. It installed some additional components but not the application itself.

Frustration doesn't begin to describe where I'm at. Effectively I've been diddled out of a large sum of money. I'd like to see Adobe address that in this forum and tell us what they can do to either fix our problems or compensate us.

[gener7]

I just assisted "ecological" in restoring her CS4 on her Mac.  She was persistent and it paid off.

She did not want to wipe her drive, so she weeded out every CS4 related file she could find. She succeeded in getting a working install. It's not what I want to go through. I'd rather backup and restore from Time Machine. But look at the next to last post.

acrobat 9 pro reinstall won't accept valid serial number

Gene

[quegs · Accepted solution]

So I was able to resolve the error that I was having with minimal effort. I ran Process Monitor and found that there was an application called AGSServices.exe that was getting lots of errors trying to connect to the following folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe PCD\cache. I deleted the cache.db file in that folder and the next time I opened up photoshop it asked me to reenter the license information. Presto! That fixed it. In order to delete the cache.db file, I had to go into safemode but you could probably delete it without going into safemode if you have not tried to open an adobe product since a restart.

I guess the cache.db file got corrupted. Hopefully this helps someone who is having a similar issue.

[gener7]

Sounds like you found something here. so if this clears johnmacg's problem, I'll see it is credited as the correct answer for future reference.

Gene

[johnmacg]

No it doesn't resolve my problem. This fix works on an actual installation of Photoshop. The problem I and others have had, is that we've got the 'licensing for this product has stopped working' message. That message said to uninstall Photoshop,  and then reinstall. But we can't reinstall.

Please don't press the correct answer button yet!

[gener7]

Ok, no worries.

Gene

[ScottOram]

This is the solution we are all looking for!

[heyitslauren]

For what it's worth, this solved the issue I was having (not the OPs issue - sorry and good luck with that) where I was getting this message but had the CS3 apps installed on my Windows 10 machine. Just stopped working one day.

I didn't have to go into Safe Mode to delete the cache.db, though. Windows let me know that it couldn't be deleted because it was tied to running service called "Adobe Genuine Software Integrity Service". Searched in my start menu for Services, opened that, found that Service in the list and stopped it. Once it was stopped, I deleted the file no problem. I started the "Adobe Genuine Software Integrity Service" again, closed out the related windows, and opened up one of the CS3 apps. Bah-boom. Asked me for my product key and opened right up after.

My thanks to quegs. I wouldn't have realized that the db had gotten corrupted - just assumed Windows 10 had an update that CS3 was allergic to. CS3 is perfectly sufficient for allowing me to put impact font on picture of cats so hopefully I'll never need to upgrade.

[mkj22102182]

CS3 has been working on Windows 10 OS for over a year.  Why did it just stop, licensing issues due to age of Adobe  server?  Tried all possible solution options listed above with no success.

[sono_administrator]

Legend! thank you, all solved!

[Bani Verma]

Hi,

As the error message says "Licensing for this product has stopped working" i would suggest you all to try the troubleshooting shared in the below links and see if that helps:

Error: "Licensing has stopped working" | Windows

Error: "Licensing has stopped working" | Mac OS

You are welcome to update this discussion in case you need further assistance.

[johnmacg]

What a huge set of things to do and try to understand!

It seems to me that these solutions assume that you actually have an installed version of Photoshop. As I have said several times, I don't have Photoshop installed at all. And I'm not the only one who was hit by this situation earlier this month. The licensing error message we got (see my opening message in this discussion) said to uninstall Photoshop and then reinstall it, before addressing the licensing issue.

The problem is that after we uninstalled, we couldn't reinstall Photoshop CS3.

Incidentally, at the end of the link you mentioned, there's a list of circumstances under which this licensing error can occur. My situation is similar to that reproduced below, in that Photoshop has already been running for some time (a year) before the problem occurred. However my machine conditions are very different. I have a 2Tb hard drive and 16Gb of RAM.

• If the application previously started successfully at least once, or if it has been in heavy use, the issue is likely related to a system resource.  (Causes include low memory, low disk space, or simultaneous launch of several programs.) The result could be a temporary failure in the licensing system or corruption of the permanent licensing data.

[Bani Verma]

Just to confirm have you tried deleting the folders given in "Solution 8" in the above shared help document?, if not i would recommend you to delete the below mentioned folders:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe PCD

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\caps

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\backup

C:\Program Data\Adobe\SLStore  ***( Program Data is a hidden folder please see, Show Hidden Files and Folders in Windows 7, 8.x, 10, or Vista )

After this you may download a fresh setup of Adobe Photoshop CS3 from here and install: Download Adobe Creative Suite 3 products.

Let us know if this helps.

[johnmacg]

Before I delete those folders I need to know if it will affect my installations of InDesign 5.5 and Acrobat 8.0.

[Bani Verma]

Yes, this will affect the activation of all the Adobe software's installed on your machine.

Hence, before performing these steps kindly share the list of Adobe programs installed on your machine or you may share the screen shot of the "Program and features" in control panel.

Also, i would like to know if you have used the Adobe cleaner tool after uninstalling the Adobe Photoshop CS3 from your machine?

[johnmacg]

If the only effect is on the licensing of my other Adobe apps, I can live with your solution. There was another suggested solution that involved uninstalling every Adobe app, then rooting out any residual Adobe stuff on the hard drive.  I really don't want to do that - there are limited hours in the day and I have a business to run.

So can you confirm that I won't have to uninstall/reinstall my other Adobe apps?

I won't get a chance to do any more fixing for a couple of days.