Photoshop CS5 activaton-deactivation dire straits for elderly man who depends on using it

[mikev14392618]

Hello to this group.  I think I have backed myself into a corner with the 'help' of the Customer Support line.  The tech support were very nice people but referred me here as they are 'not trained to help' on no longer supported software.  My partner is 76, disabled, and spends his day taking pictures and editting them in Photoshop CS5 (and really enjoys the content aware feature).  He is cognitively impaired, not able to learn new software, and barely hanging on to his knowledge of CS5.  Our XP hard drive crashed recently, was not recoverable, and had a copy of CS5 that was not used.  He used the version on Windows 10 machine.  So bought a Windows 11 machine, had Windows 10 hard drive copied to Windows 11, installed from CS5 .exe and thought all was great.  Then got the activation error messages.  So called Customer Care, who explained CS5 no longer supported, could not help, told to go to Adobe Community, suggested problem was the XP copy making number 3, so needed to remove deactivate uninstall CS5 from Windows 10 machine.  I uninstalled, but that did not register and activation on Windows 11 still failed.  I reached end of activation tries on Windows 11, which then tells me I have to de-activate the other copy by running CS5, clicking Help, then De-activate.  A bit too late for that info as already had uninstalled from Windows 10.  So I look at the forum and find "If you can’t access your old computer, you can deactivate your apps from your Adobe account."  So I call Customer Care, they help me get into my partner's Adobe Account, which shows NO ACTIVATED DEVICES.  So I cannot delete the association to allow installation of Windows 11 to persist.  Can anyone help with this situation.  I have destroyed the one thing my partner enjoys doing unless I can salvage our 'perpetual' license or can find a workable CS5 out on internet to purchase.  I wonder if CS5 Extended is similar enough to CS5 for him to be able to navigate it.  Thanks for any help toward resolving my situation. 

I have only two ideas, but afraid at this point to try either:

a)  I have the link for loading CS5 in an email from Adobe in 2022 when we changed machines to Windows 10.  I could try running that on Windows 10 machine and if successful in installing, then just put the Windows 10 computer back in front of the window he takes pictures from (and edits at same time) and leave offline.  Put the Windows 11 machine for internet access in the other spot used in his office.  This might work because his account shows no associations.  But might not work if cannot have any association with a product that is no longer supported.

b)  Have the tech who copied Windows 10 hard drive to Windows 11 machine do a copy back to Windows 10 machine and just keep Windows 10 machine off the internet.

Appreciate any suggestions,  Please reply directly to my email [Personal email removed by moderator- please do not post personal info in this public forum] as Mike gets easily confused with emails he cannot understand.

Regards, Mike's partner Laura

[AxelMatt]

Try the offline activation for your product as described as Solutionj 2 in the linked document.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/serial-number-validation-launching-cs6.html

But be aware: if you have reached your activation limit and you don't have any chance to deactivate an older installation you're out of luck. Adobe has stopped the support of CS - CS6 applications and the resetting of the actiovation counter isn't possible anymore.

Your two ideas that you have doesn't work, because Photoshop MUST be activated otherwise it's been a 30 days - demo.

Here you'll find thread about the same issue:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/cs5-de-activation/td-p/14997195

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/creative-suite-5/td-p/14989686

[mikev14392618]

Thank you for the advice.  The activation box on CS5 on Windows 11 computer had no language for offline as suggested on your first link.  So decided I had nothing to lose and reinstalled to Windows 10 from email link of 2022.  The software down- loaded, I did provide Mike's serial number for CS5 that does appear in his account and it got the green check mark during the install.  Then I took Windows 10 offline and ran the CS5 program.  I now have CS5 functioning for two starts of computer and Photoshop.  Perhaps will only last the 30 days and self-destruct, but at least that buys some time to adjust to a new reality.  I checked his Adobe account and it still shows no associated items.  Maybe dodged a bullet and maybe not, but thankful for the help.  From what have seen in Community about CS5 and Windows 11 (not getting beyond the activation issue even when de-activate older instances), I am not going to try to get CS5 on W11 computer.  Regards, Laura