Adobe Photoshop CS3 Serial Number Archives

Every now and again, I’ll spot a post on the User to User Forum from someone who’s misplaced the cases that his/her software came in and now want to install on a new machine or just got a laptop for travel and wants to take advantage of the two allowed concurrent activations.

As long as the software is available, installing is easy, but activating it without a serial number isn’t going to happen.

Before I get into a little trick to find the serial number on a machine that’s already running allow me to step up on soapbox and point out that the best way to avoid problems is to register your software online IMMEDIATELY after installing. You’ll need a free account with Adobe but this will assure you of access at any time to your records.

If you didn’t do that, here’s a little trick originally posted by forum contributor Peter Spier to use when you’re in a pinch. Just deactivate the software. You’ll find the deactivate command under the help menu. (note: it may take a minute or two to become available) When you begin the deactivation process you’ll get a window that will contain a check box to remove your serial number. DON’T CHECK IT.

Once you deactivate, the application will automatically close. Upon relaunching, you’ll be greeted with the activation wizard with your full serial number already filled in.

And to repeat my earlier advice, once you have this taken care of please register your software with Adobe. You’ve invested a lot of money in it and registering the product is the best way to protect that investment.

One final note, this will use up one of your twenty activation/deactivation choices which I wrote about here.

Bob Levine is a graphic designer and a consultant focused on providing InDesign training and guidance in developing efficient, collaborative workflows to those moving from QuarkXPress or PageMaker. An Adobe Certified Expert in both InDesign and InCopy, Bob has written articles for InDesign Magazine and is an Adobe User to User forums host. He has more than 15 years of industry experience and has been using InDesign since version 1.0. For more background, visit his website, www.theindesignguy.com or his blog, BobLevine.us.

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December 19, 2006

Photoshop CS3 serial number update

[Update June 2, 2007: If you’re here because you’re trying to rip me off by somehow stealing Photoshop (via serial number, keygen, crack, etc.), you’re a thieving putz, and you’ll get no satisfaction here. May someone steal your hard work as you try to steal ours. Adios. –J.]

We continue to receive inquiries about Photoshop CS3 beta serial numbers.  There are a number of issues here:

1. On Friday we discovered that a small percentage of the more than 3,000 product combinations that include Photoshop weren’t in the authentication list.  Unfortunately this bit quite a few people trying to obtain CS3 serials. We fixed that issue on Friday afternoon.
2. Licensing customers have been in bit of a bind: even though they’re authorized to use a CS2 serial on multiple machines, the beta site is configured to issue serials that can be activated on only two machines.  If you’re a licensing customer, please send mail to photoshopcs3beta@adobe.com so that we can follow up with you (see details below).
3. Some people are typing in the 20-digit serial number that’s visible in the CS2 About box. That makes total sense, except that the serial number is actually 24 digits long!  That is, you need to get your serial number from your product materials (tips here). Again, we’re working to make this clear on the serial number acquisition page.
4. A lot of people aren’t reading the instructions on the Labs site.  Many are typing their CS2 numbers into CS3, then complaining that it doesn’t work.  We’re working to make the instructions harder to miss.

If you’re still having problems with serial numbers and CS3, please send mail to photoshopcs3beta@adobe.com.Important: in order to handle the process efficiently, your email needs to contain the following info (I suggest copy/paste):

• Email address in the subject line (a weird eRoom quirk, but without it we can’t reach you)
• First and last name:
• Issue statement:
• CS2 serial number (24-digits long):
• CS3 serial number (if applicable):
• Are you a CS2 single or volume license customer? (Y or N):
• If volume license, approximately how many CS2 licenses do you own?:
• Daytime phone number with area code:
• Daytime e-mail address:

Customer service says they’ll turn things around in 48-72 hours.  (There’s no need to call them, as phone support is not available for the beta.)

I know that it’s frustrating to hit any delays, and we greatly appreciate your patience.  We’re just four days into a huge, never-been-done-here effort, but we’re making good progress.

Thanks,
J.

Posted by John Nack at 11:50 AM on December 19, 2006

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Question:Q:Archive and Install X & CS3 Products