TechNote

Troubleshoot activation errors (Photoshop CS on Windows)

What's covered

Reactivate Photoshop

Beginning and intermediate troubleshooting

Advanced troubleshooting

Adobe requires that you activate your copy of Adobe Photoshop within 30 days of installation. This document can help you resolve problems that occur when you try to activate Photoshop.

Once activated, Photoshop continually verifies activation. Activation problems can manifest themselves in different ways.

-- If Photoshop prompts you to activate again, proceed to the "Reactivate Photoshop" section of this document.

-- If Photoshop returns one of the following errors, proceed to the "Beginning and intermediate troubleshooting" section of this document:

"The configuration for the activation license is missing, please uninstall and reinstall the application."

"An error has been detected with a required application library and the product cannot continue. Please re-install the application."

-- If Photoshop returns the error, "Current user account does not have the privileges to perform Product Activation," proceed to the Advanced troubleshooting section.

For more information on activation, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/activation . For a list of phone numbers for the 24-hour automated Activation Voice Response system, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/activation/phonenumbers.html .

Activation problems with RAID configurations

When you activate an Adobe product, the product license data is stored on a secure location of the hard drive. The license data includes an identifier for the machine, which is constructed based on certain parameters of the hard drive. On certain RAID configurations, the license data or the machine identifier could be misconstrued. If you experience problems with activation and have a RAID configuration, call Customer Service and choose option 3. To locate the Customer Service phone number for your country or region, visit www.adobe.com/activation/phonenumbers.html .

Reactivate Photoshop

Photoshop may prompt you to reactivate in the following circumstances:

-- You used the Back Up utility to restore eitherthe registry (System State)or your Documents and Settings folders. This triggers a repair scenario, which requires a reactivation.

-- You used System Restore or other imaging or backup software to restore Windows or the hard disk (System Restore and other imaging or backup software may restore Photoshop but not activation data, causing Photoshop to prompt you to reactivate).

-- The file "~e5d141.tmp" was deleted.

-- The DAT files in Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macrovision\SafeCast\Product Licenses were deleted.

-- You removed Photoshop by using the Advanced Uninstall option.

-- You installed Photoshop on a dual-boot computer. (You can activate Photoshop on only one of the installed operating systems.)

-- You reinstalled Windows or reformatted the hard disk.*

Follow the on-screen instructions to reactivate Photoshop. For more information on how to reactivate Photoshop, see the How To Install ReadMe on the Photoshop CD.

*In this instance, you must call the 24-hour automated Activation Voice Response system to reactivate Photoshop. For a list of phone activation numbers, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/activation/phonenumbers.html .

Beginning and intermediatetroubleshooting

The tasks in this section can help you resolve the most common activation problems. Some of the tasks in this section require that you log in to the computer as an administrator.

1. Repair hard disks.

Activation problems can occur if hard disks contain damaged sectors. Repair hard disks either by using the Error-checking tool utility included with Windows or by using a third-party disk utility (for example, Symantec Norton Utilities). Run such utilities on each hard disk or partition. More information about the Error-checking tool appears below; for more information about a third-party disk utility, refer to the documentation for the utility.

The Error-checking tool repairs bad sectors, lost allocation units and file fragments, cross-linked files, and invalid file names. To access the Error-checking tool, choose Start > My Computer, right-click the desired hard disk, and choose Properties. In the Local Disk Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab, and then click Check Now in the Error-checking section.

If the utility returns errors, remove and reinstall Photoshop, and then try to activate it again.

2. Delete the DAT files.

If Photoshop returns the error "The configuration for the activation license is missing, please uninstall and reinstall the application," and reinstalling Photoshop doesn't resolve the problem, the DAT files may be corrupted. Delete the DAT files in Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Macrovision\SafeCast\Product Licenses, and then try to activate Photoshop.

Note: This task requires you to locate files by their full file names, which include extensions (for example, filename.ini). By default, Windows Explorer hides file name extensions it recognizes. For instructions on how to display all file name extensions, see Windows Help.

3. Temporarily disable programs that scan or manage disk activity.

Programs that scan or manage disk activity can conflict with the Photoshop activation process. Temporarily disable these programs, activate Photoshop, and then reenable these programs.

Programs that scan or manage disk activity include:

-- Virus protection software (for example, McAfee, Norton Anti-Virus)

-- Firewall software (for example, ZoneAlarm)

-- Software that manages hard disk activity in the background (for example, Norton Utilities)

-- Software that stores deleted files or removes temporary files from the system (for example, Norton SystemWorks).

-- Software that manages the system boot functions or boot sector (for example, BootXP or PowerQuest BootMagic.)

For instructions on how to disable a program, refer to its documentation. To disable firewall software, contact your system administrator.

Advanced troubleshooting

If the tasks in the previous sections don't resolve the problem, you may be able to resolve the problem by reformatting your hard disk and then reinstalling only Windows and Photoshop. All of the tasks in this section require that you log in to the computer as an administrator.

4. Set the Adobe LM Service to start automatically.

1. Log in to the computer as administrator.

2. Choose Start > Settings > Control Panel.

3. Double-click Administrative Tools and then double-click Services.

4. Right-click Adobe LM Service and choose Properties.

5. Choose Automatic from the Startup Type pop-up menu.

6. Restart the computer and then start Photoshop to try to activate it again.

5. Reformat the hard disk, and then reinstall only Windows and Photoshop.

In some cases, activation data becomes corrupted or written to a damaged sector on the hard disk, causing activation errors. Reformatting the hard disk, and then installing only Windows XP and Photoshop from the original installation media, may resolve the problem. Reformatting a disk erases all files it contains, so be sure to back up all personal files first. Also, make sure that you have all application and system disks.

Note: Don't install additional software or hardware until you're sure that the problem is resolved. Don't back up the hard disk and restore Windows and Photoshop instead of reinstalling them. If the problem is caused by Windows or Photoshop, and either one is restored instead of reinstalled, the problem may recur.

After you reformat the hard disk and reinstall Windows and Photoshop, try to re-create the problem:

-- If the problem no longer occurs, install other applications one at a time and try to re-create the problem after each installation. If the problem occurs after an installation, the recently installed application may be the cause.

-- If the problem occurs when only Windows and Photoshop are installed, the cause is hardware related (most likely the system disk), and you should contact the hardware manufacturer or an authorized reseller for assistance.