Photoshop CS6 de-activation dilemma.

Plankton

Plankton

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I've been running Photoshop CS, Bridge and Camera Raw on a 2012 iMac .
It's also installed on a MacBook Pro.

I bought Creative Suite 6 on CD as a package with a serial number from Adobe in 2012.

The power supply on the iMac blew up and I've replaced it with a similar spec iMac 2013 running the same OS - High Sierra.

Now CS6 won't load as when I enter the serial number it says that the number of computers has exceeded the maximum and I need to de-activate on one of them.

My problem is how do I de-activate the one on my blown-up iMac.
Adobe support is no support..
Their only solution is a discount on the subscription plan.
Has anyone else encountered this problem and is there a solution?
 
steve_lyt said:
Contact adobe, they may be able to help
Click to expand...
I did.
They were totally unhelpful, offered no solution apart from a discount on the subscription plan .
12 months for the price of 9.
I think the way forward may be to remove the hard disk from the old mac and boot the newer one from it.
I might be able to de-activate it from there.
 
Plankton said:
I think the way forward may be to remove the hard disk from the old mac and boot the newer one from it.
I might be able to de-activate it from there.
Click to expand...

That is probably your best bet - you may be able to get away with a cheap SATA to USB adapter.*

TBF though, support for PSCS6 ended in 2015, three years after the final update v13.0.6 was released.

* PS there is a possibility this may still not work as IIRC the computer is identified by a combination of different parameters like the hardware address of the Ethernet interface, which will be different on the new iMac. It may register it as a separate installation again.
 
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ChrisH said:
Log into your Adobe account. I can't remember where but there's an option to deactivate devices. You can do it yourself online.
Click to expand...
Thanks, tried that.
It works if you are on a subscription plan, not if you have a perpetual licence.
 
I hope you can get your 2013 to boot from the 2012 HDD and successfully de-activate CS6. Sounds like a promising option.

Just thought I’d mention that I think the current Adobe Photography Plan will require MacOS 12 Monterey or later.
MacOS 12 requires a machine from Late 2015 or later. So unless utilising the OpenCore Legacy Patcher ‘fix’, the 2013 iMac won’t be able to run the current Adobe software.

I’ve considered using OpenCore on my Late 2012 iMac (running Catalina) to put a more current OS on it, but have so far decided not to. I’ve read that files transferred from a ‘patched‘ Intel machine to an Apple Silicon based machine may cause problems (recently got an M2 MacBook Air).

Good Luck…
 
GeeJay57 said:
I hope you can get your 2013 to boot from the 2012 HDD and successfully de-activate CS6. Sounds like a promising option.

Just thought I’d mention that I think the current Adobe Photography Plan will require MacOS 12 Monterey or later.
MacOS 12 requires a machine from Late 2015 or later. So unless utilising the OpenCore Legacy Patcher ‘fix’, the 2013 iMac won’t be able to run the current Adobe software.

I’ve considered using OpenCore on my Late 2012 iMac (running Catalina) to put a more current OS on it, but have so far decided not to. I’ve read that files transferred from a ‘patched‘ Intel machine to an Apple Silicon based machine may cause problems (recently got an M2 MacBook Air).
Click to expand...

FWIW CC does allow you to download and install previous versions of CC apps directly from within the Creative Cloud app


The oldest version of Photoshop I can see on my Mac today is v22.2, for which macOS 10.15 Catalina is recommended.


Screenshot 2024-04-16.png


Catalina will run on a late 2012 iMac.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/102765#:~:text=If%20you're%20using%20one,OS%20X%20Yosemite%20or%20earlier.

The minimum system requirement for PS v22.2 is macOS 10.14 Mojave.
 
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It’s also perhaps worth mentioning that Mojave (10.14) was the last MacOS to support 32-bit applications. Catalina does not run 32-bit applications. So worth checking if anything you want to run is 32-bit.

Photoshop has (I think) been 64-bit for some time, but the old installers and some other legacy support apps may not be. Certainly the legacy Adobe installers I have on my old machine are 32-bit. I installed Lightroom 5.7 (64-bit) before updating to Catalina, so it still works but the installers show up as greyed out.
 
Just a quick update.
Removed the HD from the fried iMac and used it to boot up the newer one.
All the data still there.
PS opened, Bridge opened but Camera Raw wouldn't.
The de-activate option was greyed out.
Second time I booted up PS asked for the serial number.
Pop-up said I'd exceeded the maximum number of devices and wouldn't go any further.
So no joy there.
Then Mrs Plankton, alerted by the swearing said "Isn't Photoshop on that old laptop you gave me that I don't use?"
It was.
And active.
I de-activated it on the laptop and now CS6 is up and running on the newer iMac.
The moral is I shouldn't underestimate my own lack of knowledge and also the sophistication of Adobe registration in recognising how many devices are using its products.
No more than two apparently.
It still doesn't detract from how poor the customer support from Adobe was but if anyone wants a dismantled, blown-up iMac it will
on a sales post soonest.
Thanks for all the advice
P
 
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