Help! I’ve Lost My Serial Number.
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 is absolutely right that you should register your product with Adobe. You can go to the Adobe website to see your registration number.
The problem is if you have MULTIPLE licenses. It doesn’t tell you which serial number is installed on which computer. (Of course, the highly organized will keep a list matching serial numbers and workstations, but most of us….)
That’s where Peter’s excellent tip comes in handy!
I’m flattered.
And as far as using up the activations, I’ve done that, once, or something similar with a hard drive crash, and I called the phone number that’s also available in the dialog. The person on the other end was very nice, asked why I needed to reset the activations, and got me back in business in about three minutes. Honest folks have nothing to fear from activation.
Steve, for the multiple licenses you can retrieve a partial serial to determine which license is used on which workstation if you have the Suite. This trick doesn’t work for stand alone InDesign
1) Launch Illustrator or Photoshop CS3 application.
2) Go to Help > System Info
3) Scroll down to Serial Number, it will be after the OS and User Name entries.
4) This line has the first 20 digits of the serial used to install the suite.
Years ago I created a simple little FileMaker database with three fields — Software Name and Serial Number and Date. I enter every new application I install, and it has saved my life many times as I have moved to new computers. And, of course, there are lots of inexpensive programs that do the same thing.
I tend to list the software name, version and serial number in my address book. Always accessible, like a phone number as well as being synced and backed up regularly.
I had the problem of not having my CS3 serial handy when I wanted to install the Fireworks CS4 Beta at home, and was sure the serial shown in Illustrator and Photoshop’s System Info dialog was correct.
When I got onto Adobe’s live help chat thingamajig the person I got ‘help’ from didn’t tell me it wasn’t the complete serial but did know it wasn’t valid (duh!) so I still had to drive to work to pick up the serial.
I thought about deactivating and re-activating, but decided not to as I didn’t need the serial right away.
Saving the serials in one location is a good idea. I think I’ll use Google Docs for that as then it’s available everywhere I need it, in case I need the info at home while the software’s at work or vice versa. It’d also help save the info on whose name it’s registered to (I tend to register or order on multiple addresses).
Thank you for the help!
Thank you! This is exactly the info I needed! We have a number of legitimate copies of CS3 and they’re just on the wrong computers but we’ve lost the original boxes. Thanks again.
Can some one confirm whether this works for CS4? I did it with CS3, but I am not getting the activation screen when I restart CS5, so I can’t see my Serial Number.
I think CS3 was the last version this would work with, sorry.
Is there a trick to getting the computer to show the serial number on CS4
I have several sets of it. One is on my desktop and a laptop that has almost died. I got a new laptop and want to use the one from the dead one to the new one.
Adobe live chat couldn’t help.
Thanks
No. There’s no way to show it in CS4. To make matters even more complicated, it’s stored scrambled in CS4…
In CS5 it’s possible to show the serial number using a one-liner script:
alert(app.serialNumber)However, it only shows the first 20 digits (out of 24).
I know this post is old but I SO need an answer ….if I deactivate it, will I have to reinstall the software to REactivate it? I don’t have the discs at home with me but am trying to install CS5 on a new iMac and take my CS3 serial number from my old iMac ..but again, the original box is at work and it’s the weekend.
So, can I deactivate and reactivate without needing the discs to reinstall?
Thanks, in advance
You can activate and deactivate at will. Deactivating doesn’t uninstall the software.
To install the CS5 upgrade you only need the serial number from CS3. The installer won’t be looking at the activation status for CS3, only for a valid serial number.
I am trying to find this deactivate button to get my lost CS3 serial # so I can upgrade to CS5, any idea where under the help menu it’s supposed to be? I waited more than 2 minutes and there’s no “deactivate” showing anywhere.
@Cyril: Do you have an individual license? If so, it should certainly be under the help menu.
p.s. my CS3 version is 5.0.4
@Bob Levine
I’m not sure what license type I have to be honest because I installed CS3 years ago along with photoshop, dreamweaver, etc. (package), and have since migrated computers, moved office, etc. I didn’t realize there were different types of licenses. Either way, the only items I have under help are : InDesign Help, Welcome Screen, Registration, Updates, Online Support, InDesign Online”.
Volume licenses don’t have activation but they’re also not eligible for upgrade to single user licenses.
Ah, I see. Ok, thanks. I wonder why adobe didn’t tell me this after being on the phone with them for over 2 hours and getting transferred 3 times.
Nowadays, customer can upgrade from Volume License to single-user license, but this is not really advisable unless you will take the burden of doing the Unlocking process everytime you will install the Upgrade version. Eventhough you have a valid previous qualifying version serial number, that serial number will not work because it is under the volume license program. So the last resort is to contact Adobe Customer Service to unlock your software so you will be able to activate it.
I just tried to find my registration number in CS5 using the Deactivate instructions. It did not show the serial number. I didn’t use the deactivate permanently option, but what can happen to my CS5 now? How do I re-activate it? I opened up Illustrator just fine, but will it end? Also I still don’t know my serial number… to register it.
Unfortunately this only works with CS3. CS5 does the activation in the background.
If you successfully launched any app in the suite and it worked, you’re fine.
So if I am reading these posts correctly it is impossible to get the serial number from a runnning CS4 version?
I went to system info and received only a partial
The download from adobe is too old to retrieve, they now wnat us to prove a purchase from 3 years ago?
@al,
Did you register the software? If so, log into your Adobe.com account and you’ll find the information there by clicking on “My Products” under the My Products and Services section.
So how do I find it for CS5? I saw the script… but where do i enter that in? So confused, please help
@Aschmalz: This article was written for CS3. Same response to you as to the poster before you:
Did you register the software? If so, log into your Adobe.com account and you’ll find the information there by clicking on “My Products” under the My Products and Services section.
I did not register it. Am I stuck then? or is there anything i can do?
I know of no way to get that number. That’s not to say one doesn’t exist, but as I pointed out in the original article, this is why you should immediately register the software.
You can try contacting Adobe if you bought directly from them.
I went back in and registered it, then it showed up under the My Products page! Woohoo! So apparently it doesnt matter when you register it? Just as long as you do? Is it really that easy of an answer?
worked like a charm, thank you!
But I can’t register, whitout the serialnumber.. And it is my serialnumber I need??
RE Harbs post:
January 31st, 2011 • 1:29 pm • Link
No. There’s no way to show it in CS4. To make matters even more complicated, it’s stored scrambled in CS4…
How do you make/run this script work???????
In CS5 it’s possible to show the serial number using a one-liner script:
alert(app.serialNumber)
If I remember correctly, if the software is installed you can find a link to register under the help menu in CS3.
Thanks Bob, but I was asking about how to run that script for CS5 revealing the first 20 numbers….
In CS5 it’s possible to show the serial number using a one-liner script: alert(app.serialNumber)
A co-worker’s Mac was upgraded to CS5 last spring and I can’t figure out which serial # and hence copy she’s running. If I had even 20 characters I’d know.
It’s such a pain on Adobe’s part for not allowing legal users to double-check the #s of the copies they’re running.
When machines get wiped, hard drives go down, and old Macs are passed down the food chain, licenses get upgraded over 5 generations, it can get really confusing for law-abiding license users to keep track of all their copies. I can call Adobe and check registration dates and HOPE that I can figure out which of 5 upgrades this was for.
Fairfax
RE CS5 Serial # Script:
Adobe helped me figure it out based on installation dates.
Thanks All,
Fairfax
hi there smarties,
i’m stuck. i’m at my (relatively new) job and my boss wants me to upgrade from CS5 to 5.5. sounds good, but i need the serial number from 5, which she has no idea about. i read the conversation you’ve been having and am wondering… this command – alert(app.serialNumber) – will that work? if so, where do i put it to make it give me what i need?
also, the boss thought the person who installed DID register, but just found out they did NOT.
any help is greatly appreciated.
thanks a bunch!
What about CS2? Is it available through the deactivation process?
I don’t even remember if you could deactivate CS2. Look for an item in the help menu for either deactivate or transfer activation.
Hi, I have CS3 on old computer (Vista Business) and have installed it on new computer (Win 7 – 64 bit). The old computer deactivated ok, and the serial number was displayed. When the serial number is entered on new computer, there is a red cross displayed at the end. This indicates to me an invalid number. I’ve triple checked the number on both old and new computers. Does the Win 7 version have an impact ?
Hi there! Many thanks for the info. I followed the instructions here of deactivating without the check mark, but upon re-launching the app, nothing happened at all; as if I didn’t even deactivate. Any reason why?
Regards,
PS. I’m working with Photoshop CS4
CS4 and later activate in the background as soon as an internet connection is detected.