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Janet1789
Participant
November 14, 2024
Question

InDesign CS5.5 froze, and after reboot thinks I was trying to activate on a new computer

  • November 14, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 876 views

I have used a licensed version of InDesign CS5.5 on several computers (consecutively) for about 14 years, with very few problems.  I have been using it on a Windows 10 PC for the past several years.  Today as I was working on a book the program froze; everything else on my PC was okay, but InDesign would not close properly & I could not save my files.  The only solution was to reboot the PC, but when I returned to InDesign I got a scary message saying my activation limit had been reached, and that I could not activate it on a new computer--and that it would stop working in two days (the really scary part).  But I was not trying to activate InDesign--simply open the program on my present computer, on which it has been running since 2021, and had been running moments before.

 

When I tried to access 'Help' in CS5.5, I got the message 'Help content is not installed, or the installation has been damaged. Please reinstall InDesign.'  If I click on 'Product Registration' nothing appears.

 

What do I do now?  Do I have to deactivate and reactivate even though I am not in fact changing computers?  I'm not sure I could locate my activation code, it was so long ago.  The AI assistant was useless and I could find no way to connect to a human agent.

 

 

Any help much appreciated!

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

Derek Cross
Community Expert
Derek CrossCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 14, 2024

Your version of InDesign is around 13 years old and probably won't be compatible with recent OS versions, it's time to upgrade InDesign 2025. 

J
Janet1789Author
Participant
November 14, 2024

Many thanks for the reply.  As I said, I have been using CS5.5 with no problems on my Windows 10 machine, and know other people still using this version.  My files all seem intact, and I have been able to continue with the file I was using when the incident happened.  I simply need to know how to proceed with regard to the false 'you have reached your activation limit' message.

Robert at ID-Tasker
Robert at ID-Tasker
Legend
November 15, 2024

Sorry, I forgot to say: no, I don't have another installation.  I have gone through two new PCs since I first installed InDesign, and each time I have successfully moved it to the new machine by deactivating it and then reactivating on the new PC.  The last time was in early 2021, when it went onto my current PC, which is running "Windows 10 version 22H2 for x64"., which of course runs out next year, when I will have to move on to Windows 11.

 

I am just leaving InDesign on with the message untouched until I get any advice.  Thank you again!


@Janet1789

 

As mentioned already - activation servers no longer support licence transfers - so if you have a message that you've reached the limit - it's game over, unfortunately.

 

The only thing you could do would be to try to resurrect some old machine - with activation still valid. 

 

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