Back up for a second, please. Are you talking about registration or activation? Two completely different topics.
I’m assuming you mean activation, but I can’t be sure.
Bob
And if it’s activation, it’s the pirates (the ones that activation is supposed to stop), that aren’t ever bothered in this way, only the paying Photoshop user.
Well, it’s gotta be activation. You aren’t ever required to register PS (although I’d say it’s a good idea).
it almost sounds as if the activation scheme is seeing the new monitor as new equipment every time? If yes, the activation scheme *definitely* needs fixing.
"if I change/add hard drives this is grounds for re-registering which I find absolutely absurd"
Hi Chris,
While Adobe’s activation process is defintely poorly implemented, adding a new hard drive is one scenario under which I would it acceptable that I be required to reactivate my PSCS installation. However, that is true only if the drive being replaced is that which contains the PS CS installation, the Windows Registry, and the boot sector…at least the latter two being where activation hashes are stored. If you replace the only piece of hardware where activation hashes are located, it’s not absurd to expect a reactivation be required. In fact, it would actually be seen as a new activation for which the user would have 30 days to accomplish that task in. However, if upon attempting to activate PS CS the activation is denied, then yes, there is again a problem in the process. Most likley though, such a situation would find you being deferred to personal support where an Adobe rep would grant activation upon being informed of the hard drive change.
Ideally, the unique code that is generated for your system and serial number of PS CS should somehow contain information that is tied to the harware IDs of 5 or 6 components. That way, if only 2 or 3 components (inclusive of the system hard drive) are changed, the code still contains enough common information to compare against existing activation records at Adobe, for their automatic activation process to grant a quick and easy reactivation. There really shouldn’t be a need for any assistance from Adobe personnel at all; if there is, then a new problem arises….whether or not you’re attempting the reactivation within their normal support hours. If the automated process for reactivation fails, then you’re facing what I consider one of the major problems with the activation process…Adobe isn’t ready and available to support you personally on a 24 hours/day basis as they should be.
<pedestal> The other major problem is that the activation isn’t purely tied to hardware IDs and the serial number as it should be; certain time factors can play in and force you to reactivate also and that simply should not occur. Time has nothing to do with proving that one’s system is the original on which they activated PS CS. </off pedestal>
Regards,
Daryl
I love Photoshop. I dont mind activation. I hate REACTIVATION.
Succint and well stated Q.
I love Photoshop. I dont mind activation. I hate REACTIVATION.
BINGO!
Where there any pirates stopped by the new thing anyway? Probably not. But thousands of honest customers pestered by it!
I think there were 3. Hmm. Yes. Three pirates stopped. That sounds about right.
Please stick to the technical end of the O/P’s problem.
Thanks,
Bob
A P/O’d customer without an O/P question, well F/M!
Since the door has been re opened, allow me to enter.
Activation isn’t much of an issue for those who have not had an issue with it. That’s to say, if it goes well, fine. But if it has caused you problems, denied use of the expensive program, embarrassment before clients, it’s a nightmare.
I backup from a WD 120 GB drive to another WD 120 GB drive. About as similar as two drives can be. However, when I have to clone the backup back to the first, activation is required. This activation happens flawlessly.
I’ve always been concerned that eventually re-activation will become an issue and I’ll have to call Adobe. I have made a few calls so far with me concerns about activation and got a different story for each different person. Doesn’t leave a warm and fuzzy feeling.
So now. Enough honest people have aired their opinions on CS activation that Adobe should have heard at least some of them. My first question is has Adobe released a statement that the noise has been received and either don’t care (one moderator said basically that Adobe doesn’t care about the word on the street, only Wall St.), or that they will look into correcting the activation algorithm to allow hard drive changes to occur w/o re-activation, or maybe something else?
My company has 83,000 employees worldwide, and 1,800 at this plant alone. I hear a lot of flax from XP users regarding activation. It seems as long as people don’t have much of a choice, activation won’t be corrected. Is that any way to run a business? I know one moderator will say it is, but for how long?
My second question is, what is O/P?
Thanks,
Tom Ireland
tom, adobe has stated in the past that activation will be looked at to be refined, but isn’t going away they "will not put naked bits" out there anymore for "hackers and pirates" to steal. they’re looking at ways of possibly doing "de-activation" to allow you to roll back your activation count before changing machines. they’re looking at making it work better with backup and restore programs. but i don’t think it’s going away. (shame that.)
I suggest you search for activation in this news group, specifically around the time (and a couple months after) that cs was released – about oct 2003. Also the Photoshop Macintosh Lounge and the Creative Suite Windows forums had some good activation threads. Search those groups as well if you’re interested.
O.P. stands for "Original Poster"
hth, dave
Thanks Dave.
From what I’ve read so far, you’re right. But then, so far you always have been! 🙂 Adobe will not blow away activation even if only to keep from admitting it was a bad idea.
However, to know Adobe knows IS something. To know they are considering a de-activation scheme is GREAT! That would allow me to de-activate (rolling back the count)CS, backup from the second (stand alone) hard drive, and perform the simple initial activation or reactivation.
hth? I have GOT to learn my acronyms!!!
Thanks for the possible good news!
Tom Ireland
dave,
while I think that de-activation might be of some help, it can still hurt those that don’t have internet access (out in the field as I was recently, for instance) or when Adobe is closed for the weekends as they still have to RE-activate in order for PSCS to work.
readers/users in general,
I still feel it’s unfair to the "small" (read: less than 5 copies) Windows user to be required activation while both the Mac side and corporate licenses don’t require it.
The hackers and pirates don’t need to make cracks for the software, all they need to do is get a hold of a corporate version and copy away. Surely I am not the only one who has ever thought of this idea? I am not a hacker/cracker, but even *I* can see where this is a very likely approach. I am not advocating activation for the corporate users and in fact would like to see the activation go away all together.
So I am missing something here, just how is the activation stopping piracy?
I have PSCS, I have activated and not had any issues with it, BUT, that doesn’t mean I won’t! There are too many variables as to when re-activation might rear it’s head and I don’t wish to be caught in the middle of it. Heck, there are some users that actually had to buy new machines in order for PSCS to work properly because their system architecture, while welll within the requirement of PSCS, wasn’t fully compatible. I will leave PS7 on my machine as a backup plan to the poor activation scheme.
my $0.02 worth
grasshopper
edit: Tom, "hth" = hope that helps 🙂
Looks pretty good. Back in the pool in 15 minutes. Why did I have to get out in the first place?
Hi Thomas,
The scenario you describe…restoring a clone of a drive back to the original…is related to my earlier comment regarding certain "time factors" playing a role in the reactivation. While my earlier comments largely just referred to the "activation process", it really is more an issue with reactivation only. I’ve not yet seen anyone from Adobe respond with an admission that their reactivation scheme really is flawed in that time factors are considered, but Stephanie Schaefer has at least acknowledged what is occurring. While my explanation may not be 100% correct, it at least conveys the idea of what is happening:
When PS CS is activated, what I’ll just call activation hashes are created in reportedly 3 locations. I know that the Windows registry and the hard drive boot sector are two areas, but I’m not sure of the 3rd. Each time PS CS is launched, the license manager inspects these hashes AS WELL AS (and this is the problem) updates them in some fashion…I’m just going to say that they are each updated with a new time stamp. If on the next launch of PS CS the time stamps are not found to be in agreement, then the user is prompted to reactivate the software. Why? There is no good reason why; as I said before, time has nothing to do with establishing the authenticity of one’s system hardware configuration. If the hardware configuration of the machine in use is largely unchanged (no more than 2-3 concurrently changed hardware items), then the license manager should accept that PS CS is activated on the original machine to which it was installed.
But, what is occurring in the case of restoring a drive clone, is that you quite likely are not restoring the boot sector as part of that image. The result is that the "time stamp" on the activation hash in the boot sector is now out of synch with that in the Windows registry and perhaps the 3rd area also. Supposedly the one condition under which this would not occur is if you never ran PS CS after having imaged the drive. Similarly, if you use System Restore to go back to some earlier system state, run PS CS in that state, and then later decide to revert back to the original state, you’ll likely find a prompt to reactivate. While relatively painless in most cases, that it is even required is a major Adobe screw-up in my opinion. I also feel it is the one problem with PS CS right now that deserves an immediate solution and yet none has been provided by Adobe.
So, for the time being, just be aware that if you image your drive, you need to include an image of the boot sector also, if your imaging software supports that.
Regards,
Daryl
You know what I just realized? I did a system restore yesterday and didn’t get any prompt for a reactivation. I wonder if it silenly reactivated, as my system was net-connected when I rebooted?
You know what I just realized? I did a system restore yesterday and didn’t get any prompt for a reactivation. I wonder if it silenly reactivated, as my system was net-connected when I rebooted?
I’ve never run into this bug, but it’s got me thinking. Does anyone know if Norton Ghost supports boot sector imaging? I have Ghost, but I haven’t imaged or restored a drive since installing CS.
I’d RTFM, but it’s currently 50 miles away. 🙁
I’ve never run into this bug, but it’s got me thinking. Does anyone know if Norton Ghost supports boot sector imaging? I have Ghost, but I haven’t imaged or restored a drive since installing CS.
I’d RTFM, but it’s currently 50 miles away. 🙁
Dan,
When using the command line options of Ghost 2003 (and likely earlier versions) you *can* image the boot sector. This is from the manual:
-ib The image boot switch copies the entire boot track, including the boot sector, when creating a disk image file or copying disk-to-disk. Use this switch when installed applications, such as boot-time utilities, use the boot track to store information. By default, Norton Ghost copies only the boot sector, and does not copy the remainder boot track. You cannot perform partition-to-partition or partition-to-image functions with the -ib switch.
The last line bothers me though, are they saying you can only to a full *disk* to image and not simply a partition to image? That would make a very large ghost file for some of these 120GB hard drives!!
Dan,
When using the command line options of Ghost 2003 (and likely earlier versions) you *can* image the boot sector. This is from the manual:
-ib The image boot switch copies the entire boot track, including the boot sector, when creating a disk image file or copying disk-to-disk. Use this switch when installed applications, such as boot-time utilities, use the boot track to store information. By default, Norton Ghost copies only the boot sector, and does not copy the remainder boot track. You cannot perform partition-to-partition or partition-to-image functions with the -ib switch.
The last line bothers me though, are they saying you can only to a full *disk* to image and not simply a partition to image? That would make a very large ghost file for some of these 120GB hard drives!!
GH,
That does indeed sound like Ghost doesn’t allow single partition imaging if using the -ib switch. Keep in mind that while a full 120GB (for example) hard drive could result in a large image file, the file is actually only as large as need be to contain the data on the drive. So, if you only have 20GB of data total, the image to be restored would still define a 120GB drive size yet the image might only be 10GB in size if there was a 2:1 compression of the saved data.
With regard to System Restore and the interplay with reactivation, I know some have reported a reactivation being required while others haven’t, and I don’t recall how the sitations differed. My own experience with System Restore is limited, and the previous situation I presented is one which I’m pretty confident will result in a prompt for reactivation. If not, then it suggests that System Restore also tracks and recovers changes in the boot sector, which I did not believe to be the case. If it doesn’t, then I’m not sure why a reactivation would not be required in some cases, unless this has to do with whether PS CS was run before or after each of the system restore points was created. Frankly, I should’ve attempted the scenario I described before writing of it, but I’ve not.
Most of my experience relates to drive imaging, where I’ve seen reactivation prompts arise on numerous occasions. My imaging is always of one or more partitions, but never of a full drive, so that could account for the absence of boot sector data being restored. I use Drive Image 7 for my imaging tasks, and am not sure at the moment how it works with respect to the boot sector being imaged. I think that if you image the boot drive, then the boot sector is included, with the option then provided during restoration of that image to restore the original disk signature and/or the master boot record. At the very least, I know a separate tool is provided for saving/restoring the MBR.
Regards,
Daryl
GH,
That does indeed sound like Ghost doesn’t allow single partition imaging if using the -ib switch. Keep in mind that while a full 120GB (for example) hard drive could result in a large image file, the file is actually only as large as need be to contain the data on the drive. So, if you only have 20GB of data total, the image to be restored would still define a 120GB drive size yet the image might only be 10GB in size if there was a 2:1 compression of the saved data.
With regard to System Restore and the interplay with reactivation, I know some have reported a reactivation being required while others haven’t, and I don’t recall how the sitations differed. My own experience with System Restore is limited, and the previous situation I presented is one which I’m pretty confident will result in a prompt for reactivation. If not, then it suggests that System Restore also tracks and recovers changes in the boot sector, which I did not believe to be the case. If it doesn’t, then I’m not sure why a reactivation would not be required in some cases, unless this has to do with whether PS CS was run before or after each of the system restore points was created. Frankly, I should’ve attempted the scenario I described before writing of it, but I’ve not.
Most of my experience relates to drive imaging, where I’ve seen reactivation prompts arise on numerous occasions. My imaging is always of one or more partitions, but never of a full drive, so that could account for the absence of boot sector data being restored. I use Drive Image 7 for my imaging tasks, and am not sure at the moment how it works with respect to the boot sector being imaged. I think that if you image the boot drive, then the boot sector is included, with the option then provided during restoration of that image to restore the original disk signature and/or the master boot record. At the very least, I know a separate tool is provided for saving/restoring the MBR.
Regards,
Daryl
Just to clarify my earlier statements and not mislead anyone:
I have a 120 GB WD hard drive installed in my PC as drive C, A 60 GB WD HD installed in the PC as drive D, (and not that it should matter) a Sony DVD+/-/R/RW/DVD/RW installed as drive E, and a 48X CD/+/-/R/RW installed as drive F.
I then have a third 120 MB WD HD on a shelf. When I’ve had issues with the PC, I found it best to install the third drive in the PC as drive C, and install the C drive as D by simply connecting the IDE cables and changing the jumper on the C drive that is now D.
Of course I have backed up all data files from C to D including email messages, address book, pictures and spread sheet, etc. prior to drive and cable switching.
With me so far? Good! Then I format the D drive (which is the original C), and copy all the files from the extra drive (now drive C) to it. This process takes about 30 minutes of my time to pull the PC out of the slot, remove the one side cover, switch cables and jumper and start the process. Once the original drive C (now D) is formatted, I start the copy process, and let it run overnight.
In the morning, I reverse the process, and restore backed up data to the newly restore drive.
I don’t run PS CS with the extra drive in the C drive spot, but I’m guessing once the process is complete, and the old drive C is back in place, PS CS sees that the date and time marked who-knows-where on the drive doesn’t come near the current date and time, and chokes requiring re-activation.
I think the complex world of video capture, editing, and production at home has caused me enough grief. It’d be nice if Adobe didn’t add to that by requiring re-activation so often. Daryl has a handle on the problem and the solution. Is Adobe listening?
What is RTFM?
Thanks,
Tom Ireland
Just to clarify my earlier statements and not mislead anyone:
I have a 120 GB WD hard drive installed in my PC as drive C, A 60 GB WD HD installed in the PC as drive D, (and not that it should matter) a Sony DVD+/-/R/RW/DVD/RW installed as drive E, and a 48X CD/+/-/R/RW installed as drive F.
I then have a third 120 MB WD HD on a shelf. When I’ve had issues with the PC, I found it best to install the third drive in the PC as drive C, and install the C drive as D by simply connecting the IDE cables and changing the jumper on the C drive that is now D.
Of course I have backed up all data files from C to D including email messages, address book, pictures and spread sheet, etc. prior to drive and cable switching.
With me so far? Good! Then I format the D drive (which is the original C), and copy all the files from the extra drive (now drive C) to it. This process takes about 30 minutes of my time to pull the PC out of the slot, remove the one side cover, switch cables and jumper and start the process. Once the original drive C (now D) is formatted, I start the copy process, and let it run overnight.
In the morning, I reverse the process, and restore backed up data to the newly restore drive.
I don’t run PS CS with the extra drive in the C drive spot, but I’m guessing once the process is complete, and the old drive C is back in place, PS CS sees that the date and time marked who-knows-where on the drive doesn’t come near the current date and time, and chokes requiring re-activation.
I think the complex world of video capture, editing, and production at home has caused me enough grief. It’d be nice if Adobe didn’t add to that by requiring re-activation so often. Daryl has a handle on the problem and the solution. Is Adobe listening?
What is RTFM?
Thanks,
Tom Ireland
Read The F*@£in’ Manual, anyway I was reading the re-activation issue from Adobe and they are leaking something like $700 MILLION (yes million) dollars not pounds a year.
If ever there was an incentive for activation this is it. I wonder how much Chris Stephanie and the team blow on dinners and parties LOL !
Maybe this activation is to cover up a multitude of sins. Sorry, merely jesting but think of it ¾ of a BILLION $. that’s even more than I earn in a year. Heavy stuff?
Regards
Mark
Grass, a belated thanks for looking that up. You’re right, it doesn’t sound too promising. My 120 Gb primary hard drive is carved up into several partitions, and I’ve always imaged them one partition at a time. I think I’ll keep it that way and take my chances with activation.
I stated earlier that I hate REACTIVATION. Basically, my PC has Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Excel & Money and a program for burning CDs. Internet, but no games. I dont add new programs very often. I try to keep a tidy machine. Now, this is what I dont understand. I have used Go Back twice on my computer and both times I had to REACTIVATE Photoshop. Win XP did not ask for reactivation, but Adobe did. I understand that it has to do with the clock, but I dont understand WHY it has to do with the clock.
I hope to add a second computer (just for Photoshop) in about a year, and I dont want it connected to the Internet at all. That means that if the need arises, I will have to resort to the phone to REACTIVATE. This is stupid. Its unfair. I paid for my Photoshop and Ive paid for at least two upgrades.
Im fairly knowledgeable about running a computer but at a loss as to how a computer runs. To me, the registry is a dark, mysterious, place where evil & wickedness lurks. Hence, my use of Go Back.
I really do love Photoshop. As I said before, I dont mind activation, just REACTIVATION. I never thought Id say this but, could you just make your activation process work as well as Microsoft has done with XP? Adobe, I know you can do better than this and still protect your fine product.
The Windows Registry can be dark and mysterious, but it’s not too bad…. <spoken by someone who’s been trying to rebuild a corrupt registry for the past 4 hours!> Grrrr…
Q, to answer your question regarding reactivation and about "why it has to do with the clock", the answer is simple…. Because Adobe screwed up. There is no other valid reason that I can think of.
Daryl,
I will now quote Dave. BINGO!
What I don’t get is that the original poster was using the very same machine, but it was physically moved to another location. If it has and Internet connection, then it just reactivates and you’re done. But if there is no connection, hence no IP address, what’s different?
Even a new monitor did not cause my CS to re-activate, but one day out of the blue it wanted to re-activate for no apparent reason.
My machine always has access to an Internet connection, so I don’t really care, but I am curious as to why it would do something like that. Is the oringinal poster using a laptop or a desktop? Is he or she using a different keyboard? Not enough information!!
Dana,
The fact that CS decided to reactivate on your machine "one day out of the blue" testifies to how flaky the activation process is. Makes me wonder how stable the rest of program is. Unstable programs can cause application and OS failure, which often cause the machine to freeze and the only way to get it started again is to turn it off at the power source. This is something that we are warned repeatedly NEVER to do.
Suppose you had been away on vacation or in an otherwise remote location with a laptop and it wanted to reactivate for the fun of it. You would have been deprived of the use of the program you purchased.
What’s more, since the CS activation process is said to write to the boot sector of hard drive, can it be corrupting stuff there? Scary!
Tom Ireland
Unstable programs can cause application and OS failure, which often cause the machine to freeze and the only way to get it started again is to turn it off at the power source.
tom, not exactly true. ok, not true at all. <g> yes, unstable "programs" can cause "application" failure because programs are applications. and neither can crash the os. win2k and xp (the only systems cs runs on) are "process isolated" so that a crashing program can not bring down the rest of the system. they simply allow the issolated session that the program is running in to go down, while protecting the other sessions you’re running at the time. this is to save you from losing data across the board in case of one flaky app. The only cause of a hard freeze like you describe under 2k or xp is a hardware failure or bios problem.
What’s more, since the CS activation process is said to write to the boot sector of hard drive, can it be corrupting stuff there?
I doubt it. I think they would’ve been careful to check for that.
dave <– just tryin’ to keep it real, yo. peace out! 🙂
chris skeeles,
Here’s an idea. After activating photoshop, backup all the files in the directory where photoshop is installed (i.e. C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop CS) except the sub-directories (the folders in the directory) to a CD or ZIP drive.
If the annoying activation prompt comes back, close photoshop, overwrite the files in the photoshop directory with the ones from your backup, fire up photoshop again and see if the activation prompt comes up again.
I’m not sure if this will work but it’s worth a shot.
If it does work, let us know so everyone having that problem will be able to do the same.
I’m not sure if this will work but it’s worth a shot.
it won’t as described above.
How do you know this dave, did you try it?
Gabriel,
As I mentioned earlier, at least two areas are written to with activation hashes…the boot sector of the hard drive, and the Windows registry…and reportedly there is a 3rd area also. I’ve not seen anyone mention where this third area is, and it could be anywhere on the hard drive, including the PS installation path.
While I won’t rule out your suggestion definitively, I’ll agree with Dave and say that it is highly unlikely to work. If the 3rd hash happened to be in the installation directory and was captured as part of the backup you describe, then that hash is still quite likely attributed some sort of synchronization tag that would be out of synch with the other 2 hashes if the backup copy were restored.
As much ranting has occurred regarding activation, myself included, I’m not sure just how much attention any Adobe reps visiting the forum give to activation-related threads such as this. But, it would sure be nice to see Adobe acknowledge this problem and state definitively whether or not they are working to provide a fix and what sort of time frame the users might expect to see said fix released. While seemingly not a widespread problem, the nature of the problem regarding reactivation is such that even if it prevented 1 user from getting their job done, then that is 1 person too many. This is not a "bug" in the software, but rather an "anomaly" for the simple reason that it runs the risk of actually causing a stoppage of work to occur.
Regards,
Daryl
The only times I have had to reactivate is after a system restore on XP Pro no hardware changes had been made. I think it is fair to call this a bug on Adobes part. If PS has not been run in the interval between creating a restore point and going back to the restore point no reactivation is required, but if I have run PS since making the restore point and then go back PS requires reactivation the next time it is run. So far it has activated over the net without a problem.
Its probably good practice anyway but if you are making any changes to the system make a new restore point. If you can test things out after the changes without running PS and you do need to go back then PS should not need reactivating. If you find you need to go back after running PS then be prepared to activate PS.
Also note: Unlike the initial installation it does not allow the 30 day grace period immediate activation is required.
After doing a little searching around I found this message on some web page.
Posted by: Jack
"mdavis" wrote in message
news:g7hib.xxxx$
The activation files are: >AdobeLM.dll >emu.dll >Tw10122.dat >If you
install CS then activate it. You can backup these 3 files and if You do a fresh install, restore these file to the Photoshop directory and go On using your software. >This information was given to me by an associate whom I believe, has successfully re-installed CS on a fresh hard drive and not had to re-activate it.
This must be a system-specific set of files as I do not have the emu.dll file anywhere on my HD. There are, in addition, many other files with the exact same time and date of creation in my \Photoshop CS folder, so it would be prudent to back up everything with the exact same time and date stamp As the AdobeLM.dll, I would think.
If it works on different computer without activation then it’s not system Specific, maybe serial number specific set of files. Still, if it’s that Easy it defeats the purpose of activation.
I’m still wondering about Adobes statement about no need for reactivation After re-formatting of HD. If that’s the case then something is written to Harddrive what can’t be deleted or read by user. I remember reading something for a while ago about not published ATA Commands and not accessible areas on harddrives (reserved for DRM purposes). If Adobe somehow makes use of these it means others can too and now I need To worry about spyware I can’t even see or delete. Assuming Adobes statements are correct the thing is becoming scary. I do more research.
I can only understand some part of what these people are talking about but it looks like I was on the right track.
Gabriel,
The file "emu.dll" is not provided by Adobe. Read between the lines on that and I think you’ll understand.
Daryl
The file "emu.dll" is not provided by Adobe.
Ok fine but maybe backing up AdobeLM.dll and Tw10122.dat will solve the problem? <scratching my head>
Pavel Sokolov,
Try doing what I suggested and maybe it will work!
I can not test my theory since I don’t have Photoshop CS but I would really appreciate it if someone that is experiencing the problem tried it. If it works or not please post the answer here so everyone will know if we found a solution to this problem.
Gabriel,
Unfortunately, no, that will not work either. I’ll go ahead and say this on the assumption that one of the moderators may well decide to delete this posting eventually:
[edited by forum host]
Regards,
Daryl
I’ve deleted the parts of the topics that deal with piracy. While readily available elsewhere I find it inappropriate to find it here.
Daryl, thank you for trying to be discrete.
Gabriel, please think a bit more before posting this type of thing here.
Thanks,
Bob
the nature of the problem regarding reactivation is such that even if it prevented 1 user from getting their job done, then that is 1 person too many.
they should take the same stance that they took with psicon.dll when it was causing customers to lose data. they should pull the plug on activation. the psicon problem is precedence for this action.
All,
I’m guessing the forum hosts may be tiring of beating up on Adobe for the activation thing. I’m hoping they let us continue to air our frustrations and concerns though. I suspect I’d tire of this thread too, except there MAY be a reactivation issue.
Apparently unlike some other CS users, but similar to Dave Milbut, it hasn’t been a major problem for me, and each of the 3 or 4 times I’ve had to reactivate, the process went smoothly.
I’ve noticed a lot of chatter both here and other places about how to override the reactivation thing and, well, I have to admit it smacks of hacking and/or piracy. I’m not into this to find a way around reactivation as such, but because this is new and unknown territory it’s a little scary if not just concerning.
I agree with Darly Pritchard when he says "it would sure be nice to see Adobe acknowledge this problem and state definitely whether or not they are working to provide a fix and what sort of time frame the users might expect to see said fix released.". It would SURE make me feel better about this entire issue.
I could then stop worrying if/when CS will no longer activate for me because I do a lot of upgrading and such, and have had several PC issues related to getting my machine up to speed for video capture and editing.
That would allow me more time to worry about what to do when I win the lottery, what to do if dinosaurs made a comeback, what if those meteors hurtling toward Earth miss the dinosaurs and only hit us in the cities….
Tom Ireland
Dave,
Just as Q Photo stated and you "BINGOed" earlier, I really don’t see a problem with activation. Windows XP requires it and works great as far as I can tell. Photoshop CS requires it, and that initial activation also seems to work great. I don’t recall anyone ever saying that activation failed, although perhaps a few might’ve encountered it. From the time that PS CS is installed, once 30 days has elapsed and the user has been required to activate PS CS or lose use of it, time should never again be factored into how the license manager determines the need to reactivate. But, that doesn’t seem to be true, unless some of the randomly reported problems such as Pavel’s are caused by some other bug in the process that has yet to be identified. If the synchronization of the activation hashes is truly some time-based decision as it seems to be, then Adobe should bite the bullet, admit their mistake, and fix the process so that it is strictly hardware-based. Otherwise, to simply reply to a problem as Chris Cox did to Pavel’s posting does seem a bit arrogant or stupid. I don’t say that with any disrespect toward Chris, as I do respect his knowledge, but such a reply implies the only source of a problem is with the user’s system (or some user action performed) when the fact remains that the product itself equally suspect.
Daryl
It’s possible with the money leaking Adobe may stick by with this current set-up. Don’t forget the note copying issue and slow loading times. That and with all the other issues either seem to have been swept under the carpet(After minimal exposure) or neglected("No News is good News")
At the end of the day? It gets dark. As we say in NI when something doesn’t get dealt with!
Regards
Mark
Ah-h-h-h-h-h-h-h! Version 7, haven’t had a problem, soo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o, no reason to upgrade!!!!!!
Still so much fun to be had and so little time to do it all. Still a wonder every day.
I also received a second "activation" screen about 3 weeks after installing Photoshop CS and a day after upgrading Premiere Pro to 1.5. I’m wondering if the Premiere Pro upgrade installation did something to cause this since I haven’t installed any Windows updates since I last ran Photoshop CS. Anyhow, if I have to re-activate Photohsop CS over the internet or by telephone before I can use it, every time my configuration changes, that’s going to be a problem since I do a lot of system tweaking for 3D design, video editing, and post production, and often in remote locations where I don’t have access to the internet, or during crunch time when I don’t have time to call. I guess I should keep my copy of PS 7 around.
I also received a second "activation" screen about 3 weeks after installing Photoshop CS
yes we know. 3rd time. please stop posting it in every thread!
I guess the "activation" checking method is not too good. I also think that basing it on hardware configuration changes is a bad idea. The only thing that likely doesn’t often change often on a particular system, in regards to what a power Photoshop user might change, would be the ethernet hardware number (not the I.P. address). But then, what if I want to use Photoshop CS on a system with no ethernet or dialup installed…?
Gabriel, please think a bit more before posting this type of thing here.
Bob,
I didn’t intend to post to promote piracy. I am trying to resolve the issue of what seems to be a legitimate user.
I don’t exactly know the answer to the question since I don’t have Photoshop CS to test my theory but I was still trying to help by trying to find answers and sharing my knowledge on this topic.
AFAIK, that was the only way to get rid of the annoyance of re-registering over and over again.
Are you suggesting that helping on this particular topic or finding a way to stop this bug is wrong? I’m really confused now.
Looking around the forum, I can see that this is not the only user that is having issues with this activation thing. Either Adobe needs to release a patch or posting a solution should be permitted. I don’t remember what exactly was said in the part that was deleted but if it was the solution, it should not have been deleted.
If you want to help, help. You don’t have CS so please stick to what you know. What you posted was an illegal hack.
Bob
What you posted was an illegal hack.
Oops, I found the content through google. I didn’t even see what the home page was. All I know is that it was a forum and it looked like someone had that problem on that forum too.
Please let me know how or what I should have seen that would have indicated to me that it’s crossing the line between what is considered legal and illegal.
You don’t have CS so please stick to what you know.
I may not have CS but the information I posted was something that could or might have been useful if it wasn’t illegal.
Bob, I saw your other posting, would you please define "hack" I am currently on limited use of my internet connection. In other words, I can only visit some pages that are allowed by my system administrator so I can not go into a dictionary site or something else that will tell me what exactly hack means, when it’s legal or when it’s considered illegal.
Actually, what I really need to know is what YOUR defenition of hack is.
Call me an ignorant idiot or whatever but honestly I don’t know the law on resolving this stuff.
I am asking so that I don’t post anything else having to do with another topic that you may consider illegal.
Oh BTW, I am glad to hear that there are engineers working on the problem already.
Thanks for the info. Maybe that should be a sticky or added to the FAQ so that all the POed customers will know that Adobe is aware of the problem and they’re working on bringing a solution to everyone that currently uses Photoshop CS.
Thanks
Anything that changes the way the program works is a violation.
Bob
Bob,
Then how come you allow posting of scripts written by other users? I don’t understand how that can be legal if it does exactly what you’ve described. Technically scripts are hacks are they not?
Thank you,
Gabriel
They don’t change the way the program works. Hacks do.
I’m through arguing with you about this.
Bob
Ok,
I anticipate I wont get banned or anything wild like that if I mistakenly post something in the future that’s considered a hack by you or any of the other moderators.
Thank you for your reply.
Gabriel,
The link you posted was to a ‘patch’ that alters the program code in violation of the EULA. There is a huge differences between extending the capabilities of an application with plugins or scripting and altering the program core code!
The link you posted was to a ‘patch’ that alters the program code in violation of the EULA.
Thank you Len. It makes more sense to me now.
On my system I did plug the laptop into a couple of new FireWire hard drives which caused some reshuffling of drive letters, I also installed a Premiere Pro update and changed my login ID to conform to my ID on my home network. However, even after all those changes, I was able to launch and use Photoshop CS several times before the re-activation dialog finally appeared.
The dialog also indicated that I was past the 30 day activation period, even though I had just installed Photoshop CS 2 or 3 weeks earlier, so there’s a bug there too. I haven’t even had my new system for 30 days!
One other thing, I installed Photoshop CS from the Creative Suite package, not from an individual Photoshop CS package, in case that makes a difference in the way activation is handled since it’s a "bundled" application and installed with Illustrator, GoLive, InDesign, Acrobat, Version Cue, etc.
Hey wait a minute Len, I don’t want to beat a dead horse but I want to clarify one thing.
I didn’t post links to anything or anywhere. I only copied and pasted what was posted in another forum.
The dialog also indicated that I was past the 30 day activation period, even though I had just installed Photoshop CS 2 or 3 weeks earlier, so there’s a bug there too. I haven’t even had my new system for 30 days!
Wow 8o that’s pretty scary.
I use Ghost and after restoring my c drive I still have to re-activate.
I have 3 removable drives, the C drive is only for my main programs etc Adobe and the OS system and my browser and burning software and a couple system programs,the 2nd hard drive is for software I don’t use often and a graphics folder for work in progress and the 3rd drive for my archive and I have 2 extra for archives and a small drive for making my ghost backups of the c drive.
So it is a pain in the as…. everytime I change a drive I have re-activate. If I format my c drive to do a fresh install if for some reason my ghost gets corrupted then I have to call Adobe and talk to a real person to re-active as it won’t work over the net or by the the automated telephone activation.
I have a PC and laptop so with the fresh install the activation won’t work as it thinks I’m trying to install a 3rd version on another system
If Adobe really believe they are cutting down on pirating then they are just fooling themselves and costing us honest users a hell of alot of unnecessary grief and expense.
I appreciate they are trying to make their software pirate proof but do it without penalizing the paying users.
Adobe should do some lateral thinking and find a better way of tagging the C drive and leaveing the rest of the system hardware alone as it has nothing to do with them anyway.
Xp has no problems with me changing drives so please Adobe talk to microsoft as they seemes to have found a answer not to interfer with my work.
Gabriel,
It was advocating performing an illegal operation. Whether as a link or not doesn’t alter that
Bob implied that I should stay out of it because I don’t own CS but this sounds like a severe problem.
I love using Adobe products but I don’t think I’d reccomend upgrading from PS 5.5 to CS to my employer or anyone if we have to keep stopping our work for activation prompts.
What do you think the final answer is on this topic?
From what I am understanding, the official verdict is that users having activation issues should just tough it out until the engineers at Adobe release a update patch which they are currently working on but we do not have an ETA on.
Is that correct?
I’m asking because we’re up to 67 posts and no real answer to this problem.
I’m sure everyone suffering from this would like to get an answer.
I didn’t imply it. I flat out said it.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Remember the old adage about remaining silent.
Bob
I’ll shut up now and move on to other topics.
I would suggest that everyone having this reactivation call 800-833-6687 and tell the Adobe Customer Service representative that you want to file a complaint about activation. I was connected to a man who was bored out of his mind, but took the information. I’m sure it went directly into a trashcan, but it made me feel a tiny bit better for having done it. It doesn’t fix the problem and I still get a reactivation dialog every few weeks without having changed anything on my machine, but if enough people call, maybe something will finally get done. And as for a fix being in the works, I just plain don’t believe it. I don’t think Adobe cares about users and users’ problems one iota any more. Until their sales drop and that drop is specifically attributable to activation, they won’t do squat.
For what it’s worth, perhaps I should be the one blamed for anything hinting of a crack or hack or whatever, when I replied to Gabriel’s earlier post where he’d included the message snip taken from another forum. Neither Gabriel nor supposedly the author of that other message made any reference to a software crack. Given that I have seen and used the activation crack, I immediately recognized the files in question and felt it appropriate to elaborate on them so as to clarify to Gabriel why backing up the PS CS installation folder is useless in avoiding the errant reactivation prompt.
And yes, you read me right…I’ve "used" (past tense) the activation crack and will so again, should I ever encounter another reactivation prompt when and if immediate reactivation is denied and no support is available due to the hour.
Regards,
Daryl
BennyBlancPuertoRockStyle wrote:
I have in my possesion a authentic copy of Adobe creative suite 2, but I have no serial number or activation key…Is there any way I can activate it, or do I have a useless piece of $600 SOFTWARE
Did you look in the CD case – the serial number is usually on a sticker attached to that.
