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

[Janet1789]

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!

[Derek Cross]

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. 

[Janet1789]

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]

Unfortunately, there is not much you can do - neither you'll get any help from Adobe CS - as @Derek Cross pointed out - CS5.5 is long time after it's BBE date... 

I WILL NOT ADVICE YOU TO DEACTIVATE as it might not work and I don't want to be responsible - there is no clarification if activation servers fully work as they should...

[Joel Cherney]

Robert's advice to avoid deactivation is sound. Do you still have a computer with an old activated install of CS5.5? I think that one was to get back to a functional install of CS5.5 might be to copy that InDesign application folder to your current computer. If you do have another functional install and want details on how to make that work, I will happily ping one of the forums veterans who uses this technique on their CS6 installs to provide some details. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Joel Cherney

I don't think copying installation folder will work on Windows? Maybe on a Mac - as it's Linux.

[Joel Cherney]

I don't recall the exact details, but I recall Peter Spier has posted more than once regarding installations of Creative Suite-era InDesign. I'll @ him into the thread if Janet has a still-functional install of CS5.5 elsewhere to re-use. 

Janet, my understanding is that the activation servers are still running, but they're not accepting returned activations. So if Adobe had granted you a maximum of two activations back in 2008 or whatever, and you'd installed it in two locations, but wanted to uninstall one and reinstall it in on e.g. your laptop, you'd deactivate on the old computer, (returning one activation to Adobe) and activate it on the new laptop (using the activation you just returned). However, the ancient activation servers are no longer accepting the returned activations, so if you  installed both on your deskop and laptop and have none left, there's no way to ever reinstall CS5.5. You could deactivate one installation, whereupon that activation would Vanish Into the Aether(TM) and then you'd have only one valid activation going forward. Hence the possible workaround with just copying files from your old installation, if you still have one. 

Your old serial numbers for CS5.5 are, er, somewhere in your Adobe account. I just saw the spot a few weeks ago, and could probably figure out how to get back there if it would be useful to you for me to figure it out. But pretty much any solution would be more likely to succeed than trying do this the proper plug-in-your-serial-and-activate way. You don't have incremental backups, or Shadow Files, do you? Maybe a Restore Point to a day before your install of InDesign crashed?

[Janet1789]

Thank you everyone--I will have to think about this (it's 2 am where I am).  I just can't figure out WHY it happened that InDesign thought I was trying to reactivate, when it fact it is still running OK.  I am going to back up everything now, and as you say, see if I can get back to a before the crash moment.

Thank you all again--will update it anything happens!

[Janet1789]

I just closed InDesign and reopened, and I then got the following message.  "Activation limit reached ... this serial number has already been activated on 2 computers."  I am given the choice of entering a new serial number (which I do not have), or "retry activation--I have already deactivated one of my computers".

Does anyone think I should click retry?  It now says I have one day until meltdown.

Many thanks if anyone has advice!

[BobLevine]

Honestly, it won't matter. Unless you can deactivate on another computer, I'm afraid you've pretty much reached the end of the line. Not what you want to hear, I'm sure, but nobody here will be able to help, and I doubt Adobe will be offering much support for something this old.

[Janet1789]

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!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@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. 

[Joel Cherney]

Well, here's a post from an Adobe employee as of August of this year:

Activation limit reached for non-subscription Adobe desktop applications