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echological
Inspiring
August 22, 2016
Answered

Staff needed - Acrobat Pro 9 will not accept serial number

  • August 22, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 1012 views

I recently upgraded to Mavericks (I know I know... but baby steps!). The only reason I stopped at Mavericks was to better ensure that my CS4 would still function for me (I can not currently upgrade to a new CS). I originally installed from my discs, but ran into problems starting with InDesign (error code 5 and then saying that it wasn't installed). Acrobat Pro would not accept the serial number, and after that Photoshop and Illustrator stopped opening and gave error code 150:30.

Because CS4 is an older version, there is no phone support. I went to Chat. Not much there either, just a parrot who repeated what I said - then finally said he couldn't help me "go to forums". I came to the forum and very gratefully received help with the uninstall, cleaning (CC Cleaner Tool, etc...), and reinstall. I was advised to reinstall from a DMG downloaded from Adobe. I did all of the above and it now works fine (at least seems to!).

My only problem is still Acrobat Pro 9. I seem to recall having this as an ongoing issue over the years (through a previous OS upgrade). In the past, I was able to get help from Adobe because at that point, it wasn't as old. I managed to get someone on the phone who helped me in an obscure way that I can not remember or repeat. In googling and searching the forums, this is apparently an ongoing issue for many other people - but I haven't found an answer that works, just a lot of frustrated people. I have been told (more than once) that Customer Care are the only ones who can finally resolve the issues with the licensing or activating/unlocking the serial number - which involved a second cycle of trying the phone, then chat, and now the forums. So here I am again!

Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 was installed with the whole CS4 suite - both times (first from my disc, second from the Adobe DMG). Not as a stand alone, but the licensing issue seems to treat it as one and ignores the suite with which it was installed. I only have one serial number on my box of discs, which does not work for Acrobat Pro 9. The initial CS4 install took that serial number, and since it was an upgrade from CS2 - it took that serial number as well. This is not an option in Acrobat Pro. It only asks for one serial number.

In desperation (since not getting anywhere with Adobe - so far) I downloaded a key finder, and it found the serial number for the installed Acrobat Pro. But it did not work either. ??? I noticed that the key finder said "Acrobat 9.0" not "Acrobat Pro 9.5.5" as in my applications folder (it is fully updated now - even though I cannot open it). I manually applied all CS4 updates - since the updaters no longer work on the newer OS. There were 23 patches for Acrobat Pro and it took a long time to work through the process, so not looking forward to doing that again!

I have exhausted most tips and troubleshooting advice. I have contacted as many sources as I can. I have spent over a week (full time) on this "project" so far.

What are we supposed to do? We can't use Time Machine either, it screws everything up in other ways...

Please help!

(I have no hair left to pull out...)

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer echological

I went through a lot of steps, mishaps, installs, reinstalls. But I finally resolved my issues.

The final install resolved all issues with Error: 6 / Error: 5 / Error: 150:30 and most importantly, the issue with Acrobat Pro 9 not accepting my key. The issue was mostly with my original installation discs, from the beginning of time. I was lucky (and persistent) enough in the past to get tech people help me workaround. Now, you are on your own - with some help from the forum!

I probably wrote what worked under the wrong subject (it was actually an update to a forum member who had helped me).

So I am posting it here too, just in case someone else is having a similar problem... and to answer myself ; ) I like to wrap things up!

I am not sure I mentioned this before... but one other thing that might have made a little difference, was that that Java was preinstalled by the third CS4 install. It was installed after the 2nd CS4 installation and I did not remove it after purging all things Adobe (as described below).

1 reply

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echologicalAuthor
Inspiring
August 23, 2016

A little more info, I just realized that the key finder found TWO serial numbers for Acrobat Pro installations.

I did not notice at first, because the second one was not named Acrobat 9.0 Mac (as the first one was). The other serial number starts out the same but is a different serial number (and actually matches some of my old records) but it breaks from the Naming protocol as shown for all other software (which simply show the name of the program). In this case, it is a series of numbers and letters instead. In alpha/numeric groups of 8 4 4 4 12 (with a space in between each group.

I don't know why there would be two sets of serial numbers with only one version installed - and none of them are accepted by Acrobat!

It's possible that the Acrobat updates created this? But the whole CS4 suite was updated as well, and only shows one serial number.

E
echologicalAuthor
Inspiring
August 23, 2016

It's as if Acrobat generates its own serial number each time... guess it if you can!

E
echologicalAuthorCorrect answer
Inspiring
August 25, 2016

I went through a lot of steps, mishaps, installs, reinstalls. But I finally resolved my issues.

The final install resolved all issues with Error: 6 / Error: 5 / Error: 150:30 and most importantly, the issue with Acrobat Pro 9 not accepting my key. The issue was mostly with my original installation discs, from the beginning of time. I was lucky (and persistent) enough in the past to get tech people help me workaround. Now, you are on your own - with some help from the forum!

I probably wrote what worked under the wrong subject (it was actually an update to a forum member who had helped me).

So I am posting it here too, just in case someone else is having a similar problem... and to answer myself ; ) I like to wrap things up!

I am not sure I mentioned this before... but one other thing that might have made a little difference, was that that Java was preinstalled by the third CS4 install. It was installed after the 2nd CS4 installation and I did not remove it after purging all things Adobe (as described below).

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