Daryl,
The version I have is from upgrades purchased from Abobe. The root version is 4. I’m going to try and contact Abode tomorrow.
Rgds, Nick
Do you even have to transfer activation?
The Adobe license allows for you to have it on TWO computers just so long as it is in use on one computer at any given time.
I had no problems installing and activating CS-1 on a new computer last week. As I’m the ONLY person using either computer, and as the new computer is a major upgrade, there is no chance I will be using Photoshop twice at once.
Now if I was going to sell the first one, I would un-install PS and advise Adobe. Actually I would reformat C: and re-install Windows XP Home before turning it over WITH its operating system CD.
Bill
Hi Bill,
No, of course you don’t have to transfer activation, but if you are swapping out the hard drive that hosts PS CS2 or changing to a new computer, then transferring the activation at least preserves being able to still "reuse" that activation and save the 2nd activation for use on a 2nd computer. It is pretty common for folks to have a desktop and a laptop computer for example, so installing PS CS2 on each is useful.
Regards,
Daryl
Daryl,
I’ve swapped out system/software drives and even a mother board without a re-activation hitch or telephone call. Even after all that on computer-1, computer-2 had zero auto-activation hitches. I was expecting to have to make a phone call, but didn’t have to.
Bill
Bill,
Glad you’ve had such good luck with PS CS activation; I’m rather suprised you were successfully swap out so much without having to reactivate. License management in PS CS was quite troublesome for most folks, especially if you did anything to affect the synchronization of the 3 activation hashes. Regardless, just be advised that should you move to CS2, it is highly advisable to go through the Transfer Activation process before you swap out the hard drive on which PS CS2 is hosted, as the activation is tied to the hard drive itself. All other components can be swapped as often as you like.
Daryl
Daryl,
Thanks for the heads up. I skipped the upgrade to CS-2 and will decide on 3 when it, and it’s features, are announced.
While my CS addition to the new computer, was made on a CLEAN drive fresh from CD install; I wonder if the way I make back-ups would handle a CS-2 (and 3?) drive change. I use a boot from CD program (Acornis – LINUX based?) drive imageing program and do sequentials with it to keep it up to date for software. It will do drive restoration from the CD boot as well so the CS-2 additions might simply be backed up as well.
Bill
Bill,
No, as far as I know from early tests of PS CS2, you cannot make a drive change at all unless you either use the 2nd activation on the new drive or do an activation transfer from the original. I don’t know what exactly is used, so let’s just pretend it is the hard drive serial number…when PS CS2 is activated, that serial number is integrated into a unique activation hash written to a hidden area of the hard drive. If you fully backed up the drive inclusive of that hidden area and restored the backup onto anothe drive, the license manager would, upon PS CS2 launch, look at the hard drive serial number and compare that with what is coded into the activation hash. If there is a mismatch, you’re prompted to activate.
Backup and restoration of your PS CS install, so long as it contained the hidden area of the boot sector could be restored to a different hard drive if I remember correctly, because the activation hash was not hard-drive dependent. The main problem with PS CS activation was that there were 3 hashes generated that, for all practical purposes of discussion, were time-synched. If you performed any operation that would cause one of those 3 hashes to have a different timestamp or othe such dynamic identifier from the other hashes, then PS CS would prompt you to reactivate. The biggest culprit was System Restore. While it might restore data that was inclusive of hashes in the registry or a data file, it would not affect the hash in the hidden drive area. So, if you had run PS CS at any point in time after when a restore point was created, then a System Restore to that point would potentially restore 2 hashes that were older than the one in the hidden drive area and PS CS would require reactivation. Fortunately that approach of using synched hashes appears to have been given up for PS CS2 and the problems are few to none with it as far as I know.
Daryl
