Adobe claims I have non-genuine software

[Pixel_Master]

In 2012 I bought Photoshop CS6 and Illustrator CS6 from a re-seller in Delray Beach, Florida, who says he's an "Authorized Adobe Store, and all software is 100% genuine.  I believe this is true because during installation, Adobe gave me an "activation code" from their website so the software would work. 

For FIVE YEARS I never heard a peep from Adobe, until late 2017 when intrusive notifications began popping up that Adobe claimed my software is not genuine, which is utter nonsense.

Every time I called Adobe customer support, a person with a strong foreign accent spoke to me and I could never understand anything they said, so this matter is yet to be resolved.

The notices state among other things: "If you do not address this issue, you may lose access to key software functionality", and it goes on to say that "only genuine Adobe software provides protection against malware and viruses".

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[ooofest]

Most software has an expected shelf life of 3-5 years beyond which nobody can predict how it will behave with new operating & file systems.  CS6 is 7 years old.

I feel this misses the situation being addressed, as Adobe started rolling out the Integrity check more recently for its products, I believe since 2016.

My Photoshop has been executing per expectations on the current system for years and I am not posting about a system incompatibility with older software - e.g., when my old Illustrator 8 would not work with Windows 10 64-bit, I simply went the CC route because it was not reasonable to expect further support for the older product - but instead am mentioning how a more recent Adobe integrity checker application (which I did not explicitly install) seemed to hit a false positive in a rather threatening manner.

[Ussnorway]

yes it can give false positives and yes Adobe has been told about this many times

[wyne31126224]

I have been using ID CS6 for 18 months. This was purchased from a re-seller who supplied the serial number but the software was downloaded from Adobe. No problem until last week when the non-genuine pop-up appeared stating that the program had failed the test and I was advised not to use it.

I had a project on-going with a time limit so I telephoned Customer Service and was persuaded to subscribe to Creative Cloud. I think I acted in haste as some replies have disregarded the non genuine pop-ups an have kept on using CS6. If it was downloaded from Adobe, how can it not be genuine?

Adobe said the re-seller I purchased it from was not on their list of authorized sellers - the re-seller is adamant that the software is genuine.

Can anyone suggest a course of action?

[D Fosse]

wyne31126224  wrote

If it was downloaded from Adobe, how can it not be genuine?

The software itself is not the issue. That's not what you pay for. It's always available to anyone, for free, in the form of the trial version.

The serial number is what you pay for. That's how you legitimately license the otherwise free software.

The very fact that you bought this 18 months ago, at a time when CS6 was no longer legitimately sold, gives it all away.

In any case you now have a valid CC subscription, so you're good to go. Throw away your fake CS6.

[israela66768004]

Big mouth, two years ago was sold legitimately, at least if you had a 5.5, I don't know in other cases

[israela66768004]

I have the exact same problem, and I also run CS6 on Mojave, and I also bought them from Adobe themselves.

I have contacted them; wasted a lot of time, they asked me for the ID from the pop-up I gave it to them, I gave them the serial number, then they asked for the confirmation email, but I do not have it since it is almost two years old. I went to the bank and PayPal and figured out the company who charged me was "DigitalRiver". Digital River is indeed the legit distributor of Adobe. Digital River can resend the order and invoice if you give them the email and last four digits of the credit card you used for the purchase. But mine is expired and I have now another one, so go figure.... I am still waiting for their answer. But it really pisses me off that they assume I am a criminal, but they don't offer any proof you are using illegal software. I am guessing that all the CS6 users are having similar problems since many of them wouldn't keep emails from 5,4 .. three years ago. I hope is not true but it sure does look like A PLOY FROM ADOBE TO MOVE US ALL TO CC AFTER BEING PAID FOR A PERPETUAL LICENSE. That wouldn't be nice

[jennifert5776516]

I have, also, the exact same problem EXCEPT, I've kept the email! I even offered to show it to the chat rep but it was ignored because they had transferred me to the wrong department. I was transferred 3 times to 3 wrong departments and the last rep assured me that Adobe genuine (a department of theirs) would be the correct department to assist me but since I was transferred so many times already, they could not transfer me further... isn't that just brilliant. Now I am waiting for a call-back...

[D Fosse]

Same problem as who? Email from where?

[jennifert5776516]

D Fosse: Sorry, it was in response to " israela66768004  04-Dec-2018 19:54 "

[andreab39206719]

I am running Photoshop CC and am getting this error now so it appears to have nothing to do with Photoshop CS6....I have contacted Adobe who is of no help at all.

[Guest]

Hi

Can you post you're Photoshop system info from the help menu, copy and paste the whole lot into this thread

[D Fosse]

I seem to remember that some users with a valid subscription, but specifically on MacOS 10.14 Mojave, got this.

It's simple enough to find out. Open the CC desktop app, click the blue circle to get to your account settings, and click "manage account". This takes you to adobe.com where you can check your subscription status directly.

Or log directly in to your account at adobe.com in a browser.

[andreab39206719]

I did check the cloud membership and it is valid! It is running Photoshop v.20.0.2.

[D Fosse]

Are you on Mojave?

I thought I'd seen a tech note somewhere about this, but can't find any now. In any case, the best thing to do is contact them through chat. You'll need to go through a couple of steps first to narrow down the issue: https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/support.html

[johng5002943]

I just started getting this message today with Photoshop. I bought an activation key from a friend who moved off of CS6 and onto CC, after they deactivated the copy they had. I downloaded CS6 Extended directly from Adobe and activated it with that key, and have been using it without issue until today when I got the popup. I too am running on Mojave 10.14.4.

[Nancy OShea]

johng5002943  wrote

I bought an activation key from a friend...

Did your friend officially transfer ownership to you?  If yes, then Adobe should have a record of it and there  should be no dispute over who owns the license.

Transfer an Adobe product license

If your friend did not transfer ownership as required, you probably have no  recourse because technically you don't own it.   For further information, Contact Customer Care  via online chat.

[johng5002943]

No, she did not transfer ownership. I did not even know that was a thing. We thought deactivation was enough. Down the road I'll see if we can transfer the license. In the meantime I disabled the checker.

[Nancy OShea]

Do yo have any old Creative Suite products installed on your system?

[Pete.Green]

Hi Andreab,

Sorry that Photoshop is showing you a non-genuine Photoshop dialog. Let's see if we can help out.

Which version of Photoshop CC are you using?

Is your computer's date and time setup correctly?

Regards,

Pete

[Paul_Taylor]

Started getting this pop today. I purchased CS6 directly from Adobe years ago. All the information is there in my account history. The software has only been installed in accordance with the guidelines on two machines. A desktop and a laptop (not for use at the same time).  Tried to ring the number of the pop up - nothing but endless music. Tried the online web chat bot support - wanted my serial numbers  - no one should be asking for that over the  web browser chat support ! I paid Adobe directly for CS6 - What the heck is going on???

[Nancy OShea]

This is a public user-to-user forum.  We cannot help you with activation issues.   

Contact Customer Care  via online chat .  When the chat bot pops up, type Agent.  If the rep asks for your serial number, you need to give it to them.   Without a serial number, they can't help you with CS6.

[Paul_Taylor]

So, finally got through on the support phone number and it appears the only way to get this fixed is to grant an agent FULL access to your computer! A huge invasion of privacy and security risk. You have a remote user digging around in your library and apps, downloading and running applications. Yes it got it fixed, but this has got to be the most invasive and unwelcome experienced in all my years of using Adobe products... no...my whole career. Having done my bit beta testing Indesign years ago, and having paid for all my Adobe products from the year dot (before many were even Adobe products) I'd not expect to be treated as some sort of criminal, I'm stunned at the way I've been treated by Adobe, essentially held to ransom to have my files audited.

[davescm]

Paul - If this is indeed the only way - then I agree with you.

There is absolutely no way I would grant access to a 3rd party to access my computer. As well as personal information , anyone in business with customer records on their computer could be in trouble for giving access to a 3rd party without adequate vetting (GDPR)

Dave

[Paul_Taylor]

This whole issue has been an absolutely horrible experience.

Incredibly stressful - trying to get a job out late last night - not knowing if my legitimate software was going to stop working.

Being forced to give access to my machine to fix a problem - and let's be honest - no way of know what information was collected.

Adobe data was breached a few years back, so there's no trust in the safety or security of any information taken in this recent session. Who knows what they collected from my machine during this enforced access, where they store it, or if its secure - nightmare!

Can't find the words to convey the upset this unwarranted intrusion into my privacy has caused.

[JonathanNook777]

I'm getting the same notice... and you can't even close the window on a Mac.

I paid for my copy of Dreamweaver CS6 and even contacted Adobe asking if the s/n was legal and legit. Adobe answered that it WAS legit and legal... and I still have the transcript they emailed me.

BUT today, I spent hours chatting with Adobe online and when they wouldn't budge I phoned them explaining again that I purchased the software legally and that Adobe approved it. They told me that they didn't know it wasn't legit back then and made a mistake telling me that it was. That would be their mistake not mine. I only paid for it because Adobe gave its blessing.  I'm waiting for further correspondence from them and will update this at that time.