TechNote (Archived)

Troubleshoot activation problems (Acrobat 7.0, Acrobat 3D, Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 on Windows)

What's covered

Reactivating software

Transferring activation

Beginning and intermediate troubleshooting

Advanced troubleshooting

Adobe requires that you activate your copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2.0, Acrobat 7.0, Acrobat 3D GoLive CS2, Illustrator CS2, InDesign CS2, and Photoshop CS2 within 30 days of installation. This document can help you resolve problems that occur when you try to activate your Adobe application.

If an activation problem occurs, do one or more of the following:

-- If the software prompts you to reactivate, then proceed to the "Reactivating software" section of this document.

-- If the software returns one of the following error messages, then 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."

"Adobe Activation: You are not allowed to continue because your account does not have the proper privileges. Please log in using an account with administrator privileges and try again."

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

Reactivating software

If an Adobe Creative Suite application prompts you to reactivate it each time you start it, contact Customer Service for a patch: Visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com , choose your country or region from the menu at the top of the page, and then click Contact Us. (For more information about this issue, see the following document at www.adobe.com/support/salesdocs/1008894.html , "Activation screen appears each time you start (Acrobat, Creative Suite 2.0 on Windows).")

Other reasons you may be prompted to reactivate include the following circumstances:

-- The file "Adobelmn_Cleanup.0001" is deleted.

-- The DAT files are deleted from Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe Systems\Product Licenses.

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

-- You installed the software on a computer that has two operating systems installed on separate hard disks. (Each product can be activated on only one operating system per computer.)

-- You reinstalled Windows or reformatted the hard disk.

-- You transferred the activation of the software license to another computer.

Follow the on-screen instructions to reactivate your software, or activate by phone. For more information, visit the Adobe website at www.adobe.com/activation .

Transferring activation

To run your software on a second computer, you must transfer the activation. This disables the software on the computer from which you transferred the activation. (To reenable the software on that computer, you must transfer the activation on the second computer.)

To transfer activation: Start the Adobe application, choose Help > Transfer Activation, and then click Transfer.

Beginning and intermediate troubleshooting

The tasks in this section can help you resolve the most common activation problems. Some of these tasks 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 by using the Error-checking tool utility included with Windows or a third-party disk utility (for example, Symantec Norton Utilities). Run the utility on each hard disk or partition.

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. Select one of the options and then click Start.

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

2. Establish a connection to the Internet before attempting installation.

If you have a dial-up connection for access to the internet, make the connection to your Internet service provider before attempting to activate.

3. Temporarily disable programs that perform virus scans or manage disk activity.

Programs that scan or manage disk activity can conflict with the activation process. Before you activate your Adobe software, temporarily disable the following programs:

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

-- Firewall software (for example, ZoneAlarm, Norton Internet Security Suite)

-- 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 or reenable a program, refer to its documentation. To disable firewall software, contact your system administrator.

Important: Disabling the software firewall may leave your computer vulnerable.

-- If this solution resolves your issue, then we highly recommend contacting your manufacturer's technical support for assistance with configuration of the firewall software.

-- Disabling the software does not ensure that all functions of the software are disabled.

4. Disable Norton Internet Security for Adobe Creative Suite applications.

1. For instructions on how to disable Internet Security for applications, refer to Norton's documentation, then disable Internet Security for one Adobe Creative Suite application such as Photoshop Creative Suite 2.

2. If disabling Norton Internet Secutity worked for the application you chose in step 1, then disable Norton Internet Security for the other Adobe Creative Suite applications.

Important: Disabling the software firewall may leave your computer vulnerable.

-- If this solution resolves your issue, then we highly recommend contacting your manufacturer's technical support for assistance with configuration of the firewall software.

-- If this does not resolve the issue, then please proceed to Solution 5. Disabling the software does not ensure that all functions of the software are disabled.

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 Adobe software. All tasks in this section require that you log in to the computer as an administrator.

5. Set the Adobe License Manager (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 menu, and then click OK.

6. Restart the computer and then try to activate the Adobe software.

6. 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 .

7. Reformat the hard disk, and then reinstall only Windows and Adobe software.

If activation data becomes corrupted or if it's written to a damaged sector on the hard disk, it can cause an activation error. To resolve the problem, reformat the hard disk, and then install only Windows and InCopy from the original installation media. Reformatting a disk erases all files that 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 Adobe applications instead of reinstalling them. If the problem is caused by Windows and Adobe applications, and either one is restored instead of reinstalled, the problem may recur.

After you reformat the hard disk and reinstall Windows and Adobe applications, 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 Adobe software 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.