Adobe Illustrator cs2

[Julia282612380aak]

I have AIcs2 on my old computer, but the old thing is begging for death so I got a new computer. Problem is I got my old AIcs2 when I was in college nearly 10 years ago and so all of the packaging that might have come with it has either gone missing over the years or just plain been thrown out. The email that the program is likely registered to would be the school email that I had when I was attending so I have no access to it/it doesn't exist anymore. All I want to do is move my cs2 to my new computer but there was no way to do that. I decided to treat it like it was still the early 2000's and copy the program to a flash drive to move it to the new computer and for the most part it worked but now it's asking for the serial number. I found it in the program info on my old computer but when i try to enter it on the new computer it says it's invalid. I don't really know what to do at this point. I'd purchase AI again but the only thing it offers is some monthly subscription for all of their programs and their cloud storage and all i want is AI. I am not sure how to proceed at this point and any information would be appreciated.

[barbara_a · Accepted solution]

You don't have to purchase all the programs. You can purchase Illustrator separately. Unfortunately, it will be a subscription that will have to be renewed either monthly or yearly.

https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/pricing-info.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAofieBhDXARIsAHTTldqbDd5XJ...

[Monika Gause]

It's not possible anymore to install CS2. The registration servers are no longer operating.

Technically it's close to impossible, because it doesn't run on modern systems.

[Jacob Bugge]

Julia,

In addition to what Barbara said, as far as I remember the (old) About information only shows part of the serial number, so it would be necessaty to save and keep the whole serial number separately somewhere, including on your old computer, or at Adobe if you have registered it (and forgotten) in which case it would be here but only relevant if you can access it (requiring at least your being able to remember that old email),

https://account.adobe.com/products

Edit: And what Monika said while my answering was delayed.

[Julia282612380aak]

Thank you all very much, I'm a bit sad about loosing my old program and wish there was a way to just move it over so I didn't have to buy it again but on the other hand, once every 10 or so years isn't bad. I appreciate all the answers they were all very helpful.

[Bobby Henderson]

At least several or more years ago when Adobe was fixing to shut down the activation servers for CS2 products they gave registered CS2 users an opportunity to download activation-free installers. I strongly doubt if those installers are available to download anymore. I think a different work-around was used for CS3 when those activation servers went dark. I don't know what has been done for CS4, CS5, CS5.5 and CS6 products whose activation servers have gone off-line (or are fixing to do so). I have a CS5.5 Master Collection retail box I'd like to re-install on an old notebook PC that originally ran Win 7 Ultimate.

CS2 applications won't install in a modern version of Windows or MacOSX. It is possible to run older versions of Windows in a virtual machine. But one would need the activation-free CS2 version that was offered to registered users years ago for a successful installation.

[Kurt Gold]

Just a (basically irrelevant) side note, Bobby: Despite the official conjecture, this "special" CS2 offer actually was not dedicated only to registered users. In fact, it worked for anyone and everyone. Technically, no registration was required at all.

In my eyes, it was just some kind of promotion.

[Bobby Henderson]

That's interesting. I thought a CS2 user had to be signed into his account on the Adobe web site in order to access those installers.

[Kurt Gold]

No, that was not the case, Bobby. And I'm not sure if there were customer accounts as known nowadays.

Also, I even doubt that there were real operative activation servers at all. All you needed was a valid serial number. Just as it worked with Illustrator 9 or 10 or some older versions.

Adobe generously released the serial numbers for free without further conditions. Officially, only for registered users, but in fact accessible to anyone.

[Monika Gause]

There were activstion servers. This started in Version CS1 for WIndows. In version CS2 it was working like that for the Mac as well. 

The special version was special, because it didn't connect to an activstion server.

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm almost positive I had a user name and password at the time Adobe offered the activation-free version of CS2. They had been offering downloads of maintenance updates for various applications, and I'm pretty sure one needed a login for that.

[Test Screen Name]

No it was not a promotion. No Adobe did not generously give it away. You had to accept the condition that you already had a license. Of course some people lied, and were hence stealing the software. Many, many web pages gleefully promoted this theft.