How Many Computers Can You Install Adobe Software On?

This is one of the most common questions we get, and the answer may pleasantly surprise you… The place to look to find the answer is the Software License Agreement, also called the EULA. This agreement governs the use of your Adobe product, and is translated into 28 languages within each document. It also covers some basics about product activation.

So, in general, how many systems can you install Adobe software on, including CS5.5 and CS6? The answer for individuals (as opposed to businesses) in most cases is two. The catch is that both computers must be used only by you and the two systems cannot be used at the same time. This policy was designed so that you could run (say) Creative Suite at home on your desktop PC, as well as while travelling with your laptop. But the types of computers and their usage has blurred so much now that you can just pick any two you own and the product should install and properly activate on both…

For example, here is the key text from the EULA for Photoshop CS6:

2.5 Portable or Home Computer Use. Subject to the important restrictions set forth in Section 2.6 [having to do with volume licensees], the primary user of the Computer on which the Software is installed … may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exclusive use on either a port­able Computer or a Computer located at his or her home, provided that the Software on the port­able or home Computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary Computer.

In other words, the primary user may install another copy on a secondary computer for their own use, but the two installations cannot be used simultaneously.  Generally, for Creative Suite and Adobe Acrobat, the two machines should also be of the same operating system (Windows/Mac), because the software is licensed and delivered for use on a specific platform – but anyone who gets a “business license” can run the applications on both platforms.  Subscribers to the Creative Cloud can also install the tools on both a Mac and a PC.  Other Adobe products like Photoshop Elements and Lightroom are always sold multi-platform, making it a bit easier to mix-and-match Windows and Mac OS for your two installations.

Importantly, Adobe defines a computer as “a virtual or physical device,” not just a CPU – so that encompasses running on virtualization platforms such as VMware, Citrix, Parallels, and VirtualBox. The same thing goes for a dual-boot system with a product installed on both partitions, including Apple Boot Camp.

Note that these policies work exactly the same for Adobe’s Education versions – there is no distinction for those…  However, one major difference in restrictions for the Student and Teacher Editions is they can be run only on the customer’s privately-owned computer(s).

So there’s your answer for most current Adobe software, although we recommend confirming the terms for your particular product or suite because the license agreements are somewhat different for each package (including Creative Suite, Acrobat, Lightroom, Elements, etc.) and version (CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.5, CS6).

If you’re part of a company or business, and/or need more than one computer running the software at the same time, then you might want to take a look at the online discounts and ease of maintenance available through Adobe’s Volume Licensing Store. There you can save money, time, and headaches for multiple users.