Expired Legal Serial Number for Photoshop CS2
 

I know you closed the other tread about this topic as it wasn't clear whether the posters copy of CS2 was illegal.

I have a legal copy of CS2 and I have the same problem, when I start Photoshop a message comes up saying that my serial number has expired and that the application must quit, all the other CS2 applications start up fine.

I've contacted Adobe and they say my serial number is fine and advised me to reinstall CS2, I've tried that but still Photoshop wont start, called Adobe again and they sent me a new serial number but the same thing happens.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Pretty clear he didn't have a legal copy.

You aren't giving enough detail.
Does the message that comes up when you run PS refer to the new serial number or the old one?
Have you tried this when logged in as a different user?
Is your user account an 'admin' account?

Any more detailed error messages in the logs?
E.g. try running /Applications/Utilities/Console.app and see what messages are in the console log.

Maybe you need to uninstall CS2 before you do the re-install?

Maybe you should ask Adobe to send you a replacement installation CD. If you mistakenly got a beta installer, it would expire at a certain point, regardless of the serial number (because it's the build that expires, not the serial).

What's the build number of Photoshop? Get info on the app. You should see the Version field. For example, "9.0 (9.0x###)".

I initially started the thread with this problem, not sure why it was yanked down so fast. I didn't get a chance to answer.

I have a legal copy of CS2. If it was illegal, wouldn't the other applications in CS2 be giving me the same problem as well?

All my applications work fine in CS, it's just Photoshop that is giving me the problem. I called Adobe and they wanted to charge me for support so I came here hoping you guys can provide me with a solution to the problem. I am working in PS (8.0) at the moment until I fix the problem with 9.0.

I'm not as computer savvy as most of you here. I don't have multiple users on my computer. I get the same message as ChrisG5. I'll look at the build number tonight when I get home from work.

Thanks,
Harry

The CS2 apps do not know if your copy is legal or not. Only you know that.
If one person buys a copy of CS2 and then installs it on his computer and then gives the CD/DVD to his friend (along with the serial number), then the first installation is legal, the second is not.

I understand what you are saying. But being that PS is a part of the CS package, wouldn't I be having the same problem when trying to launch the other applications? If memory serves me correctly, I believe we bought a total of 8 licenses for the company. :confused:

So, just to make sure: you should have used one serial number to serialize all the CS2 apps, not separate numbers for each app, right?

And did you buy a volume license that gives you 8 seats for the one code or do you have 8 separate serial numbers?

You misunderstood the focus of my original comments.
I was not addressing the question of why you were having the problem with Photoshop. I was merely saying that we won't help you (with any problem) if you don't have a proper license to use the app.

Adobe adobe adobe !!!
 

I support offices with Adobe programs. Since the advent of their activation we have had problems. They do something very funny not locking the software to the MAC address of computer but something to do with files on the hard disk and the type of hard disk or something....???? and clever transfering activation between computers...great.....

possible senario....designer works on G5 at office monday to thursday.....Friday and over weekend catches up with work on powerbook....so transfer activation on thursday night activate on powerbook then back in office on monday transfer again....great. Long gone are the days of giving two installs !!!!! any cockups in the procedure can leave both machines in the lurch....

example of major flaws in their implementation of copy protection.

user has a computer, install CS2 and activate....all good
hard disk breaks.....but hey i have recent clone of disk.
Put new disk in computer
clone back...
CS2 does not work...
so remove CS2
try to reinstall.....and activate...no go...
phone adobe.....blah blah from themmmmm ahhhh
you must have used the serial too many times....not !
time time time time......frustration....ahhh
wipe computer start fresh....
copy all files back, correct permissions manually piss around...
install CS2 for 1 hour....activate
and eventually it is all working again.....

now that really sucks.....6 hours to correct this....not good..

We also have one machine that CS2 is fully working but not Photoshop CS2 so
suck my _ _ _ _ adobe.... cant wait for other machines to cock up !

I guess I'm not the only one with this problem.

Yes, I only used one serial number when I initially installed CS. We bought one volume with 8 seats. Initially, we had trouble reading one of the disks so we had Adobe send us over another box.

Build number is 9.0X196.

Thanks guys.
Harry

It happens with both the old and new serials number and in both admin and non admin accounts, before reinstalling i removed the existing installation.

The only other change I've made to my to my system was installing Apple's latest security update.

Please Help!
 

I can't fix this problem. Golive and Photoshop will not open. I uninstalled all of CS and reinstalled it. Same problem. What should I do??

I ran into this on a couple of computers. Since they wanted to charge for support, I simply downloaded a "pirate" copy from usenet via easynews.com and installed that. Worked fine.

Illegal software feels just as bad as downloading unpaid-for music, but the lure is unavoidable... plus CS2 is very expensive (i do have a paid for legal copy of CS2, but there is other tidbits of software i have that isn't exactly legal.. :(

So still no suggestions, Adobe have now sent me new install media, it worked fine for about to days then i got the same problem again.

OK, after 3 weeks of banging my head against the wall, I figured it out!! I can now begin to work at 100% capacity.

You can do one of two things to get PS running in CS2 if you received the above error message. Go to your prefs., and change the clock back a year. That worked for me. BUT, it can be a pain in the ass to keep changing the time on your comp just to launch an application. One could argue that you can just flip the time back after you launch photoshop, and this is true. (This all applies to GoLive as well in case you are having the same problem)

The other way to do it, is to get another working serial number that does not expire. I paid a great deal of money for this package and it's unfair that Adobe would not help me, I had to figure this out on my own and it took me DAYS to do. I'm VERY upset with Adobe. I think I'm going to make the switch to Quark from ID.

Thanks for the help guys.

Same problem
 

Only now in my case changing the date won't work anymore. I am going to try a different serial number now and see if that will make the difference, but since photoshop won't start up how do I change the serial number? Do I need to reinstall it, or is there something I can do through illustrator as a CS2-wide change?

To make it clear, this isn't an illegal copy, but because of Adobe's penchant for charging customers to provide service to fix problems that shouldn't be happening anyway, I have to resort to using a crack to obtain a different serial number. Way to Go!

Its funny because my IT guy just doesn't know what to do, so I'm forced to figure it out for myself. I should get paid for IT services. :)

If you have a paid copy of CS2 which doesn't work, downloading a copy from the web is a morally sound alternative. Adobe has gotten too agressive with their licensing scheme IMO. Hurting paying customers in attempt to catch cheap-skates and casual users is not good for business.

That scenario doesn't match the license agreement I read. The license agreements says you can activate up to two machines. A designer should be able to activate on both a desktop and a laptop. In fact that is what the license agreement says. The days of two installs are not long gone. If what you are describing is true, you may be activating/deactivating when you don't actually have to be.

In fact if you closely read the fine print and on their web site, here is the truth: You can install as many copies as you want, but you will only be able to activate any two at a time.*

People keep confusing the number of installs with the number of activations. Yes, that is because the whole activation thing is confusing and I wish we didn't have to put up with it at all. But at least stick to the facts.

*I suppose it is possible that some companies might have special site licenses that have different terms.

Yup, where I work we have a CLP License (Corporate Licensing Plan???) which seems to activate an infinite number of seats. Needless to say us in IT keep this close by and would not date let it out in the open.

I'm not sure if it logs the IPs from which activation is initiated, but it's one license for ~450 Macs.

Adobe screwed up, here are the gory details:

http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/331943.html

If they put as much energy in porting their stuff to Intel than they do to come up with obnoxious "copy protection" annoyances, they'd be far better off.

BTW, in the darker alleys of the net, it is obviously a corporate version stripped by Adobe of most of these problems that circulates.
Oh how very efficient: Pissing off paying customers yet unable to stop pirate copies.

This is almost always the case. These DRM schemes end up frustrating the good customers, but hardly ever deter the real pirates. I would be surprised if you cannot purchase CS2 for $10 at a street corner in Asia.

Have you by any chance followed Adobe's instructions for uninstalling CS2? It's a royal PITA but I've had problems with CS2 similar to the ones you report and have completed removed CS2 following the instructions, rebooted, started Disk Utility and ran the "Repair Disk Permissions" voodoo, rebooted again, then installed CS2 all over, and somehow it all magically worked again.

I can't find my bookmark to the uninstall instructions, and they seem to be mysteriously hid on Adobe's site. Try using Google with the "site:www.adobe.com Manual Uninstall CS2" and you just might be able to locate it.