Unable to activate Photoshop CS5.

[alexis_kal]

Recently reinstalled CS5 on a new laptop. Apps all seem to work fine except for Photoshop. I am unable to activate Photoshop CS5. Message says:

"We're sorry. The activation system is not available at this time. Please choose one of the following:

- Retry

- Cancel. You will be prompted next time you launch your application. Or if you choose to be reminded at a certain interval, you will be prompted at that time. 

- If you need immediate assistance, return to the Phone Activation screen by clicking Other Activation Options, dial the number for your location, and choose to speak w/ Customer Service Representative."

None of these options work, and phone numbers provided for Phone Activation are no longer in service. Any advice appreciated!

[Govardhan.V]

Windows or Mac ?

[alexis_kal]

Windows 8.1 -- and unfortunately, I just got through with Adobe tech support chat and they no longer support CS5 on 8.1. Lame.

[Govardhan.V]

Hmm . ok.

Can you post screenshot of error ,. so that we can try with troubleshooting steps accordingly and give a try.

[alexis_kal]

[alexis_kal]

[alexis_kal]

Thanks for checking into this! So frustrating.

[John Waller]

That screenshot seems to be from CS.

The activation server for CS2 and earlier was shut down by Adobe a few years ago.

[alexis_kal]

It certainly looks like an old version of CS to me too. But I installed CS5 straight from the CDs -- is it possible that I did not remove the older version of CS first?If I uninstall the software and try to reinstall again, is there an extra step I can take to ensure all prior versions are removed?

[John Waller]

is it possible that I did not remove the older version of CS first?

Yes. Upgrade versions never overwrite previous versions. They install into their own separate folder so you can have multiple versions available for use.

If I uninstall the software and try to reinstall again, is there an extra step I can take to ensure all prior versions are removed?

Each version must be uninstalled separately.

Use the Adobe uninstaller (if available). Otherwise uninstall via the Windows Control Panel.

[alexis_kal]

Ah ah... therein lies the problem. I didn't realize a previous version was already installed on this computer. And the old CS programs are NOT showing up in the Add/Remove window of the control panel. Not even sure how this happened, but explains why CS5 wasn't installing properly.

[Govardhan.V]

If you wish to uninstall CS version , try Microsoft Fix it tool once and check if it is listed among the list of installed apps.

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9779673

Please post the screenshot of error you are getting during the installation of CS 5 Apps , it will be very helpful to analyze.

[alexis_kal]

Definitely seemed to be that I had previously installed (OLD) CS on the machine. It wasn't detected though, and was not visible in the Add/Remove Programs panel. I finally was able to manually uninstall all the lingering CS files. Now that the old software has been removed, I am going to try to reinstall CS5 -- but not til tomorrow.

Thank you both for your help and insight! It was a weird combintation of errors, but hopefully I'm good to go now.

[Govardhan.V]

Typically this issue occurs when you try to activate CS 2 apps :

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/creative-suite-2-activation-end-life.html