P: Activation or Deactivation versions of Lightroom 6

[piotrt44076464]

Hello,

I have installed LR 6 on new machine. I can't activate it unless deactivated on other machine. So on other machine I did "Sign out". There is a message - "it will deactivate LR on this machine" - I clicked OK. Still can't activate. On my Adobe account there is nothing under Plans and payment->Activated devices.

So haw can I use a product on new machine? I know LR 6 is quite old, but still it is something I purchuased and I want to use.

[wooden_tree]

I am also struggling to install Lightroom 6 on my new PC.  I purchased it 5 years ago and still have a note of the serial number.  However, when I installed Lightroom 6 on my new PC (my old one is no longer usable), after it accepted my serial number for LR 6, it says "Serial Number you provided is valid, but a qualifying product could not be found on this computer."  It then goes on to say I must own an earlier version of LR (version 1-5) and enter the serial number for that old product.  Without my old PC I have no hope of finding my LR 3 or 4 which I used before I purchased LR 6.  Given I have proof of purchasing LR 6, is there any way I can get it up and running on my new computer?  Any help appreciated.

[Rob_Cullen]

If you have previously registered an earlier version with Adobe, then you should be able to recover the Serial Number as in this advice-

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/find-serial-number-1.html

I signed-in to this link and could recover my SNs for v4 and v5 of Lightroom.

If you never registered your earlier versions, and without the SNs, you will not get v6 working.

And seriously consider upgrading to v10.3 in the Photography Plan (20GB).You can spend money on a new computer- you must spend some on new software to support it!

v6 is Falling Apart- Petapixel article

$9.99 PHOTOGRAPHY PLAN (USA)

[wooden_tree]

Thanks for the suggestion.  It only gives me the serial number of my LR v6 (and it reminds me how much I paid for it!).  I had LR 6 working just fine on my old computer and I can't remember when I purchased LR v3, but it was a long time ago, and I probably didn't register it (which wasn't a problem when I installed LR v6 the first time).  It looks like Adobe has won this battle and forced me into a subscription against my will.  I will think about it a while before submitting.  I do feel a bit cheated out of my LR v6.  I thought I had a perpetual license.

[Ben500]

Same issue on Windows, so not an OS issue.

I did as you did, signed out, then checked by trying to use it again on the old laptop. Which it refused unless i signed back in and resubbmitted the key.

Installed on new PC, LR6 intall refuses to accept the key. Tried Adobe customer support, they just dont care.
Adobe`s business model is Pros on subscription only, amature users who dont wish to pay £40 per use (I use it like 2 or 3 times a year) are basically sidelined and Adobe dont want to know.

I am now looking at Key Cracking to break my legit copy so i can use it.. sad times.

[Ben500]

I have been around the houses with Adobe, who dont seem to care at all. I have made sure I followed all "deactivation" process when moving LR6 from old to new.
Everything, like App manager is up to date, Adobe have confirmed my Key is working and legit, its showing in my account. My account has 0 active devices.

So all that is left, is that Adobe are now blocking all activations for LR6 in a bif to force you into a £10 a month subscription. Which as an amature user who might use it 4 times a year makes it £30 per use. That is not value for money, espcially as I own a legit copy that I paid for and Adobe are blocking me from using.

My next step has been to contact Trading Standards, I have submited everything to them, inc. the chat logs and screen shots. Adobe might no longer support LR6, fine, but activly preventing the App Manager from allowing activation and blocking you access is not fine.

I will update here once I get more details from Trad. Std.

[GoldingD]

Two points

1. Your OS is not the same as the Original Poster, problem/solution may be very different.

2. You actually stated you may try pirating the software. That is exactly the main cause of Adobe going subscription. When you attempt a court remedy, Adobe will bring that up. You do know that Adobe interacts in these community pages do you not?

So, what to do, how to fix?

• Please post your own brand new discussion
• List exactly what your Operating system is
• List exactly what version of Lightroom you are attempting to install.L
• List the source of your copy (CD, web page, etc)
• List what steps you took
• List what errors are presented.

Bonus point. the above original posting has been marked as answered, hence many members who look to assist in unanswered problems, will not see it, so post your own. This community site, for Discussions, does not treat "Me To" very well.

[Ben500]

I stated the OS delta to showcase that the same issue is not dependent on the OS.
Installing the software is not the issue
We are all talking about LR6 as far as i can see.
Amazon Software store

Im not here for a solution, I was sharing findings to support the original post.

Being marked as answered is not the same as being answered, as you can see the Answer is utterly useless.

The issue sits with the Adobe Application Manager. Not the LR6 softaware itself. The AAM no longer parses LR6 keys and authorises them, it seems to be a super common problem in the last few months, I expect adobe made a change to in the AAM services and dropped all classic software, either by intent or mistake, it happens, I work in tech like this, you kinda over look old support methods. I expect now, they are manually authorising each key that pops up somehow or, my experiance, is they are just ignoring you and point you to a forum to be abused.

Their subscription model was not because the avg joe user cut a copy off the net, they made billions from businesses and pro licencing who always paid to maintain support. The people that would have a cut copy are not now signing up, they are using something else. All its done is exclude amature users who dont live in LR 5 times a week.

This is a discussion, the reason it does not treat people well, is people who think they know it all commenting on every post about how super they are and acting all condisending to others like we have not lived with Forums, web culture, technology all our lives.. 

[bergmarmot]

Hi

I have a bought Lighroom 6 several years ago. This program still fits my needs and had it installed on my main PC and a Laptop. LR on the laptop I used only during travelling, otherwise I used the installation on my main PC. With other words, I never used both installations on same time. Now I bought a new laptop and wiped my old one (which had LR)

Now I want to install LR on my new laptop and I get the message that I can not activate my serial nr as I can only activate it on 2 computers and need to deactivate it on my other computers. That one is wiped and in my account there is also no registration of the activation, so I also can not deactivate it there.

The online help could not help me and trying to get Adobe at the phone is impossible ...more than 1,5 hours in the waiting que!!!!

I hope somebody can help me to solve this issue as this is very frustrating. I have a genuine serial number but Abobe is not accepting it anymore!

[Rob_Cullen]

If you want to reset your Activations for Lr6 then-

READ THE CORRECT ANSWER AT THE TOP OF THIS LONG THREAD.

And do what it asks.!

'Activation Reset' can only be done by a Chat with Adobe Staff- many will not oblige! But Careeeesa (in particular, and when available) has been VERY helpful for other Lr6 users resetting their Activation count.

[bergmarmot]

Hi Rob,

thanks for you reply.

I also did this. Nevertheless it is good to share our experience with the total lack of awareness from Adobe's side regarding the installation of standalone software. They force you to activate and they don't have a solution via your own Adobe ID account to solve it. So we are forced to contact the helpdesk which is nightmare to get into contact with. After more the 2 hours in the waiting ques during several attempts and finally via a different phone nr I was able to get a Adobe staff at the phone .... in India. Telephone line was so bad that I barely could hear the staff member but finally she was able to remove the block of the activation process. I am lucky that I do speak some English but for those who don't .... they will then be in a deadend road as support was not available in Dutch.

Meanwhile I contacted Careeeeesa to ignore my request as this has been solved meanwhile.

[liana_michelle]

I had Lightroom 6 standalone installed on my mac. I don't anymore. I'm trying to install it on my PC, but I get an error saying my serial number is already in use by the maximum allowed number of computers. I need all computers deactivated, so I can do a clean install on my laptop. because I don;t have the software installed on my mac anymore, I cannot sign out myself to deactivate it. I have no idea what other computers the serial is on, but they are probably old, and I don't have them anymore, so I just need ALL devices activated with Lr6 deactivated please. It cannot be done via Adobe Cloud; Lr6 is not showing under active devices. 

Customer support chat told me to post in here for Adove support to help. 

Thanks! 

[Pere226062132q5h]

Hi

I had a similar problem. I solved it by calling again until I reached a representative that was kind enough to solve the problem by eliminating the liimit of systems in which LR6 is installed. It worked perfectly then. But it depends on who picks the phone when you call, unfortunately. Tell them it is not technical support that you need (since LR6 is not supported anymore).

Good luck!

[Klaumich]

Hallo Community,
ich musste nach einem HDD Crash meinen Rechner neu aufsetzen, da das vorhande Systembackup leider nicht funktioniert hat! Nun hatte ich das Problem, dass meine LR6 CD nicht mehr ohne Adobe ID installierbar war, das entsprechende Adobe Account habe ich aber eingerichtet und auch die Zahl der Installationen wurde vom Support um 2 erhöht weil keine mehr übrig waren.
Nun hänge ich aber allerdings in einer Art "Endlosschleife" bei der Registrierung der Software, wenn ich auf das LR Icon klicke, es kommt immer die Abfrage der Adobe ID, mit anschliesender Zwei-Faktor-Authentisierung via Code über Email, was ansich schon nervig ist! Danach kommt das Fenster mit dem akzeptieren der Lizenzbedingunen und das wars ..... beim nächsten Klick auf das LR Icon selbes "Spiel" ....
Laut Support kann sich das Programm scheinbar nicht mehr auf dem Lizenzserver anmelden und der Support für LR6 wurde schon vor längerem eingestellt ....
Schön und gut, wenn die Software unter W10 nicht mehr lauffähig wäre oke, aber bis zum Crash der Platte war das Arbeiten problemlos möglich! Das ich nun die Software, die ich für 120 € erworben habe, nicht mehr nutzen kann, weil sie sich nicht mehr registrieren kann, ist für mich unakzeptabel! Jede andere Software, die ich sonst käuflich erworben habe irgendwann und die unter W10 lauffähig ist kann ich installieren und registrieren .... nur bei Adobe soll das nicht mehr möglich sein ?!?
Die Cloudlösung kommt für mich nicht in Frage, da ich nicht bereit bin für eine Software, die ich hin und wieder nutze, 140 € jedes Jahr im Abboverfahren zu bezahlen. Genau das war auch der Grund warum ich LR6 in der CD Version gekauft hatte. Das der Support für eine Software irgendwann eingestellt wird ist ok und wenn diese unter einem neuen OS nicht mehr lauffähig ist ebenso, aber eben nicht das "lediglich" keine Lizensierung mehr möglich ist, da ich für das Produkt, sprich Lizenz ja einmal Geld bezahlt habe!

Ich wäre sehr erfreut wenn sich hier eine Lösung ergäbe, dass ich die Software auch weiterhin nutzen kann, bis dies bedingt durch ein späteres, neueres OS vielleicht nicht mehr möglich sein sollte ....

Gruß K. M.

[dj_paige]

From the translation to English

Now I had the problem that my LR6 CD could no longer be installed without Adobe ID, but I set up the corresponding Adobe account and also the number of installations was increased by support by 2 because there were none left.

Please contact Adobe staff member named @CMass here by private message. She has been addressing these issues.

[lschaerer]

Hi!.  After turning on my computer today, and clicking on LR6 icon, I got a box stating that my browser is no longer supported, and requiring that I sign into Adobe, which I did.  All my browsers are up to date according to what is listed on the Adobe site (and they update automatically anyway), and LR6 was working perfectly last night.  I can't access LR6 at all.  Help,. please.  Thank you.

[TheDigitalDog]

What "Browser" are you speaking of? Can you post a screen capture.

[lschaerer]

When clicking on the LR icon in my task bar, a box from Adobe pops up that says "Sign In Required", and gives me a sign in link.  When I click the sign in link, a box pops up that states "Update Required. Your browser or operating system is no longer supported.  You may need to install the lates updates to your system."  

I'm not really sure why my browser (Firefox, Chrome) has anything to do with opening LR6, but I'm not really tech savvy.  Anyway, Firefox, Chrome and Windows 10 are all up to date.  shut down computer and restarted but same thing.   Next signed into Adobe website and found my LR6 product serial number.  Clicked on download link next to it, and got a message stating the download is no longer available.   Again, it was working just fine last night, and now I can't access it.

[TheDigitalDog]

So originally, this was LR6 with a serial number or you had subscription? Do you have a subscription to any Adobe products? Of so, you need to sign in using the Creative Cloud app, not a web browser.

Otherwise you need to get that serial number and contact Adobe to activate it:

https://www.adobe.com/about-adobe/contact.html

[lschaerer]

Yes, I purchased LR6 years ago, along with Photoshop CS5 (which IS working, by the way).  I don't have any Adobe subscriptions.  Adobe won't talk to me about LR6 because they don't support it any longer.  (tried already).

[TheDigitalDog]

The activation servers are probably long gone. Your only fix is to contact Adobe with the serial number and have them activate it on their end.

Or upgrade.

[lschaerer]

Adobe says my only option is to find support in the Lightroom community

[TheDigitalDog]

Whoever told you that is wrong. This is mostly a user to user forum. We can't activate your serail number. Call them back, try again.

[RICKY23445257qpr3]

I am trying to deactivate lightroom 6 and it keep telling me to connect to the internet

[Rob_Cullen]

Lr6 (the old 'perpetual' version) cannot "connect" direct.  To De-Activate you must open a chat window and request Adobe staff to Reset your Activations.

Do NOT ask for "Support". Ask only for a RESET OF ACTIVATIONS.

Stay Signed in (with this forum), allow cookies in your browser, click this link for a Chat window-

Auto Open CHAT link

[negentro]

I have purchased, long ago, Lightroom 6. I have version 6.14.0.10 installed now.

I have valid serial number that came with my purchase.

Serial number shows in my adobe products (accounts.adobe.com/products)

Adobe "Activated devices" is empty

I fire up Lightroom, it says "Activation Failed"

I go through "Offline Activation", use "request code" to get "response code"

Offline activation page responds:

"Activation limit reached for Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6. This Serial Number XXXX-SOMENUMBER has already been activated on 2 machines. Please deactivate one of the other computers and try again."

It has only been activated on the one machine I'm facing the above problem on.

This started to happen about 2 weeks ago.

Prior to that, I had no problems for years.

What do I do to get it to run again?

Thanks.