TechNote

Issue

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When you launch any Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications, you see the error message, "Licensing for this product has stopped working. You cannot use this product at this time. You must repair the problem by uninstalling and then reinstalling this product or contacting your IT administrator or Adobe customer support for help."

Important: For Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) products and Acrobat 9please use kb405970.

Reason

This issue can occur after any of the following circumstances:

• Initial installation.
• Product has previously started successfully.
• During regular use of product.

Solutions

Do the following in the order listed below.

Most of the solutions listed also have Adobe Captivate demonstrations that illustrate how to perform the procedures. Click the link at the end of each section to view the demo.

Solution 1: Apply the Licensing Service Update
Solution 2: Set the FLEXnet Licensing Service to Manual and Start the service. (Windows only)
Solution 3: Reset your permissions on the FLEXnet folder
Solution 4: Rename the FLEXnet folder

 Solution 1: Apply the Licensing Service Update

1. Close any Adobe application.
2. Download the Licensing Service Update.
3. Run the License Service Update.
   • On Windows
     1. Extract the LicenseRecovery109.zip.
        Important: A utility such as Winzip must be used to extract the contents on the zipped file. 
     2. Double click LicenseRecover.exe.
   • On Macintosh
     1. Double click the LicenseRecovery109.dmg
     2. Double click LicenseRecoveryLauncher.app.
     3. Enter your administrator username and password when prompted and click OK.
4. Follow the on screen instructions.
5. Start the Adobe Creative Suite 3 product or Adobe Acrobat 8.
   
   Important: The patch applies to Adobe Creative Suite 3 or 4 products and Adobe Acrobat 8 or 9. Run the patch again and enter option 0, when prompt, if your issue was not resolved on the first attempt. After running the patch a second time, if the patch did not resolve your issue, please proceed to "Set the FLEXnet Licensing Service to Manual and Start the service. (Windows only)".

 Solution 2: Set the FLEXnet Licensing Service to Manual and Start the service. (Windows only)

1. Choose Start > Control Panel.
2. Double-click Administrative Tools.
3. Double-click Services.
4. Double-click the FLEXnet Licensing Service to open the Properties dialog box.
5. Click the Startup Type menu, and then select Manual.
6. Click Apply.
7. In the Services Status section, click Start to start the service.
8. Click Apply, and then click OK.
9. Close all open dialogs.
10. Start your Adobe Creative Suite 3 product.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure.

 Solution 3: Reset your permissions on the FLEXnet folder.

Close out of all Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications. Follow the operating system specific directions below to modify permissions to the folder.

• Mac OS X
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows XP Home
• Windows Vista

 Mac OS X

1. Navigate to the /[startup disk]/Library/Preferences/FLEXnet Publisher/FLEXnet folder.
2. Control+Click on the FLEXnet folder, and then select Get Info.
3. In the Ownership & Permissions section, check to make sure that the You Can menu is set to Read & Write.
4. If it is not, do the following:
   1. Click on the Details option to show the various owner and group options.
   2. Click the lock icon next to the Owner field, choose yourself as the Owner, type in your administrator password when prompted, and then change the Permission to Read & Write for Owner.
5. Close the FLEXnet Info dialog box.
6. Start your Adobe Creative Suite 3 product.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure.

 Windows XP Professional

1. Choose Start > Control Panel.
2. Double-click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings section, and then deselect the Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) option.
4. Click OK.
5. In the Control Panel Explorer window, click the address bar, type %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data, and then press Enter.
6. Right click on the FLEXnet folder, and choose Properties.
7. In the Attributes section, deselect the Read-Only option.
8. Click Apply, and then click OK to close the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box.
9. Click the Security tab.
10. Make certain that Administrators and SYSTEM are listed and permissions for security are set to Full Control.
11. Click Advanced.
12. Click the Owner tab.
13. Select Administrators.
14. Select the Replace Owner On Subcontainers and Objects option and click Apply.
15. Click the Permissions tab.
16. Select the Replace Permission Entries On All Child Objects With Entries Shown Here That Apply To Child Objects option.
17. Click OK, and then click Yes in the Security dialog box.
18. Click OK to close the FLEXnet Properties dialog box.
19. Start your Adobe Creative Suite 3 product.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure.

 Windows XP Home

1. Restart in safe mode.
2. Restart Windows.
   
   1. Press F8 before Windows starts (when you see a message such as For Advanced Startup Options).
   2. Select Safe Mode from the list of startup options.
   3. Safe Mode should appear in each corner of the desktop.
      • If Safe Mode doesn't appear in each corner of the desktop, then repeat steps a-c.
      • If Safe Mode does appear in each corner of the desktop, then log in as administrator of the local machine.
   4. If a dialog box indicates that Windows is running in Safe Mode, then click OK.
3. Choose Start > Control Panel.
4. Double-click Folder Options, and then click the View tab.
5. Scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings section, and then deselect the Use Simple File Sharing (Recommended) option.
6. Click OK.
7. In the Control Panel Explorer window, click the address bar, type %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data, and then press Enter.
8. Right click on the FLEXnet folder, and choose Properties.
9. In the Attributes section, deselect the Read-Only option.
10. Click Apply, and then click OK to close the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box.
11. Click the Security tab.
12. Make certain that Administrators and SYSTEM are listed and permissions for security are set to Full Control.
13. Click Advanced.
14. Click the Owner tab.
15. Select Administrators.
16. Select the Replace Owner On Subcontainers and Objects option and click Apply.
17. Click the Permissions tab.
18. Select the Replace Permission Entries On All Child Objects With Entries Shown Here That Apply To Child Objects option.
19. Click OK, and then click Yes in the Security dialog box.
20. Click OK to close the FLEXnet Properties dialog box.
21. Start your Adobe Creative Suite 3 product.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure.

 Windows Vista

1. Choose Start > Computer.
2. Choose Organize > Folder and Search Options, and then click the View tab.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the Advanced Settings section, and then deselect the Use Sharing Wizard (Recommended) option.
4. Click OK.
5. In the Computer Explorer window, click the address bar, type%ALLUSERSPROFILE%, and then press Enter.
6. Right-click the FLEXnet folder, and then choose Properties.
7. In the Attributes section, deselect the Read-Only option.
8. Click Apply, and then click OK to close the Confirm Attribute Changes dialog box.
9. Click the Security tab.
10. Make certain that Administrators and SYSTEM are listed and permissions for security are set to Full Control. If not, do the following:
    1. Click Edit.
    2. If the User Account Control (UAC) elevation prompt appears, then follow the instructions to accept it.
    3. Make the necessary changes.
11. Click Advanced.
12. Click Edit, and then accept the UAC elevation prompt if it appears.
13. Click the Owner tab.
14. Select Administrators.
15. Select the Replace Owner On Subcontainers and Objects option and click Apply.
16. Click the Permissions tab.
17. Select the Replace Permission Entries On All Child Objects With Entries Shown Here That Apply To Child Objects option.
18. Click OK, and then click Yes.
19. Click OK, and then click OK in the Windows Security dialog box.
20. Click OK to close the Advanced Security Settings for FLEXnet dialog box.
21. Click OK to close the FLEXnet Properties dialog box.
22. Start your Adobe Creative Suite 3 product.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure.

 Solution 4: Rename the FLEXnet folder that contains the Trusted Storage File

1. Rename the FLEXnet folder to FLEXnet_old in the following locations:
   On Windows XP:
   \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FLEXnet
   On Windows Vista:
   \ProgramData\FLEXnet
   On Max OS X:
   /[startup disk]/Library/Preferences/FLEXnet Publisher
   Important: Deleting this folder discontinues any Adobe product trials that are installed.
2. Start your Adobe Creative Suite 3 product.

View an Adobe Captivate demo of this procedure.

Incomplete Installation

For an incomplete installation, follow the steps in TechNote kb401401 for Windows, or TechNote kb402151 for Mac OS.

Adobe Captivate Demos of Procedures

 Solution 2: Set the FLEXnet Licensing Service to Manual and Start the service. (Windows only)

For more information about viewing this demo, see "Viewing Adobe Captivate Demos in Knowledgebase Documents" (TechNote kb403894).

Return to Instructions

 Solution 3: Reset your permissions on the FLEXnet folder -- Mac OS X

For more information about viewing this demo, see "Viewing Adobe Captivate Demos in Knowledgebase Documents" (TechNote kb403894).

Return to Instructions

 Solution 3: Reset your permissions on the FLEXnet folder -- Windows XP

For more information about viewing this demo, see "Viewing Adobe Captivate Demos in Knowledgebase Documents" (TechNote kb403894).

Return to Instructions

 Solution 3: Reset your permissions on the FLEXnet folder -- Windows Vista

For more information about viewing this demo, see "Viewing Adobe Captivate Demos in Knowledgebase Documents" (TechNote kb403894).

Return to Instructions

 Solution 4: Rename the FLEXnet Folder

For more information about viewing this demo, see "Viewing Adobe Captivate Demos in Knowledgebase Documents" (TechNote kb403894).

Return to Instructions

Additional Information

Related records

kb401401: Error "Some problems occurred during installation," "Component install failed," or "Shared components failed to install" (Adobe Creative Suite 3 on Windows)

kb402151: Error "Some problems occurred during installation," "Component install failed," or "Shared components failed to install" (Adobe Creative Suite 3 on Mac OS)

kb402004: "The licensing subsystem has failed catastrophically," when you open an Adobe Creative Suite 3.x application