How to Move or Upgrade Adobe CS6 from One Computer to Another
May 22nd, 2012 Leave a comment
OK, so your old computer is running out of gas, you’re upgrading or changing systems, adding a new machine, or switching from a PC to a Mac, or vice versa — and you want to move over your purchased CS6 (or CS5.5 or CS5 or CS4 or CS3 or any other) Adobe software — what do you do, and how do you do it?
As we’ve covered previously here, you are generally allowed to install and activate most Adobe software on up to two computers, with the restriction that the software can not used on both systems at the same time. So right off the bat, you might be good to go with installing the software on a second computer, although you may wish to double-check the licensing agreement for your product to be sure.
Adobe uses software activation to control how many simultaneous computers can install or run CS6 at once. So if you’re already at your limit of two computers and want to transfer your license over to a new or different system, then you first need to deactivate the software from the old computer. In the program, click Help > Deactivate, and then follow the instructions in the wizard to deactivate the software. If you have installed a suite product, you will be deactivating the entire suite by deactivating any one of the point products included in that suite.
Note: There are two choices on the Deactivation screen – so what’s the difference between Suspend Activation vs. Deactivate Permanently? The answer is that both will properly deactivate your product on that computer. But the first (“suspend”) will keep your serial number stored in the Windows registry just in case you ever want to quickly reactivate the same software on the same computer later, without having to reenter it. However there is no harm in choosing the second (“permanently”) option, because you can always later reactivate the same product on the same machine by just retyping the license key. In other words, it’s basically a convenience factor to store your SN.
If you’re uninstalling Adobe software from a computer, then deactivate it first to ensure its license is freed up. If you deactivate but don’t uninstall, the next time you run Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Acrobat, or any of the other CS6 applications on that computer, you’ll be asked for a serial number or to start a 30-day free tryout period.
After uninstalling any version of CS, you can run the Creative Suite Cleaner Tool if you like to make sure it’s completely removed from your system.
If you purchased the software but lost the serial number or no longer have it readily available, the first place to check is your online Adobe account. You will have one if you ever registered the software, or if you purchased it directly from Adobe… Just log in with your Adobe ID and all your serial numbers will be listed there. If you don’t see it, then try registering your product now and see if it appears there. As a last resort, you may be able to retrieve it from the computer itself using a free utility like Belarc Advisor (Windows) or Product Key Finder (Mac) – which will recover and tell you the activation keys for the programs on your system.
And if you’ve lost or can’t find your original installation file or discs/DVDs, you can download and install a free trial of your application from Adobe servers onto your new computer, and that will convert to a full and permanent version when you enter your valid SN.
OK, once deactivation is complete, you are free to go ahead and enter your serial number key to activate a copy of the software installed elsewhere, or use it to reactivate the same application on that PC after reinstalling (for example, if you are changing disk drives, or upgrading operating systems from XP or Vista to Windows 7, etc.). And you should be all set.
If you run into any problems with the deactivation/reactivation process, you’ll have a 30-day window during which the software will work in trial mode to give you enough time to contact Adobe Support and get things resolved.
How to Switch Platforms from PC to Mac
Now how about if you’re also changing platforms, like from Windows to Mac, or vice versa – and want to take your Creative Suite 6 license with you, and/or upgrade from CS3, CS4, CS5 or CS5.5 to CS6 while making the switch? After completing the deactivation process above it gets a little more complicated, because most Adobe software is licensed for a single platform only. But you can do what’s called a “crossgrade” from one to the other natively, which is no charge to you (except nominal shipping costs) and can be submitted online through Adobe Customer Service.
All product configurations (including Student and Teacher Editions) are eligible for exchange.
There are a few provisos. One is you need to have a registered serial number to qualify (but that just takes a few minutes if you haven’t already). You must also be prepared to delete the existing software from your computer and destroy any existing copies, as they will no longer be valid. But perhaps the most important is you can’t cross-grade from an older version to the same prior version — you can only move to the current version (now CS6), paying any applicable upgrade costs… If you’re already running the latest release, then there should be no additional cost.
So if you need to do both an upgrade and a platform swap, the fastest and easiest way is to first buy the upgrade online and then submit the crossgrade online. Then you can simply download and run the 30-day free trial while you’re waiting for the new box and serial number to arrive – and then later just convert the trial into a permanent full version with the license key for your new platform.
NOTE: Aside from crossgrades, there is one other option if you own computers with both types of operating systems and need to run on both Mac OS and Windows – see how.
Of course, if you purchased CS6 within the past 30 days and got the incorrect platform or language version of your product, then it’s even simpler – just return the software and get the right one instead.
How to Change from One Language to Another
Note that this same procedure will also work for requesting a change from one language set to another for a given Adobe/CS6 application… Just follow the crossgrade procedure described above – but choose a new and different language on the form, instead of a different platform.
After swapping platforms or languages, you cannot cross back to your original platform or language version. No more than five total (lifetime) cross-platform or cross-language upgrades or swaps are allowed per customer, regardless of the product. Products purchased second-hand or from an auction site such as eBay are not eligible for swaps.
Two notable exceptions are Adobe Lightroom 3 and Photoshop & Premiere Elements 9, which are now sold as multiplatform and multilanguage software so would not require a crossgrade.
Hopefully that should do it! Please let us know if this article helped you out, or any questions you may have in the comments below.
If you’d like to move away from shuffling serial numbers altogether, check out an easy Adobe CS6 volume license to simplify management instead of single-user copies… For a lower cost, you can get a flexible site license with a single serial key for your entire team.
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Ah, thank you for such a kind and quick response. It took a good number of tries, but yes, after following the directions very carefully, I was successful in downloading the program.
Thank you SO much and I am sorry I was blind to the directions to begin with!
No problem at all Stefanie – glad it worked out and thanks for circling back to let us know. Be sure to make another disc backup of the installation files now just in case you ever need to install your software again!
J*sus! CHR*ST! How complicated and long winded is this! Absolute madness! I am upgrading from PC to MAC, I thought I could run my PC CS5 software through a Windows emulator on Mac? Now I have no idea what to do… madness
Steve, as mentioned in these previous responses, you can run most PC software on Mac OS using virtualization, emulation, or multi-boot software… This article is talking about how to run Adobe Mac software natively, which by far is the end result that most people want.
Hello,
My Macbook recently crashed, I had the Adobe CS4 suite installed on that computer and my work computer. I recently purchased a new laptop and it will not let me fully install the CS4 Suite saying that the SN is already being used on too many computers. My hard drive on my old laptop is fried and I cannot turn it on to deactivate the suite so what are my options?
Thanks
Hi KD, that’s not uncommon – and here’s the answer from a previous comment… Sorry about your computer!
Hello,
I have the Windows version of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 and Adobe After Effects CS3. How can I get this version to run on my new Mac OS X Snow Leopard? Is there a way to switch from Windows to Mac software without the pricey upgrades?
I talked to Adobe recently and they want to charge a bundle for the upgrades to do this. Any thoughts on how I can get this software running on my Mac?
Also, do you know if there is a website online where I can trade with somebody my Windows for Mac software?
Thank you!
-Ryan
Welcome Ryan, the only way you could do it without buying new Adobe software is using some technique to create a Windows environment separately on your Mac computer – this is possible with multi-boot or virtualization software. If you’re interesting in learning more about this (what is involved and the expenses), see these two earlier comments.
But outside of that, you can’t switch or change older Adobe software to be cross-platform. You can however buy or upgrade to new Creative Suite products that will run multi-platform, on both Windows and Mac OS.
Regarding options for older versions, we know of no good or safe way to exchange operating systems other than Adobe’s crossgrade process described in the article above. As for trying to find someone else wanting to go in the opposite direction, it’s unlikely because almost everybody is looking to go from the PC to Mac now – and it’s also problematic because trying to find used or older software online on someplace like eBay is enormously risky – so something like a “swap” would not be recommended unless you personally knew and intimately trusted the other person.
Sorry the news isn’t better but hope this helps!
Thank you so much for answering my questions! I appreciate it and I think am going to save up to upgrade.
You bet Ryan – glad to help!
Thank you for the explanation. I presently own a single-user version of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Standard for Mac. I want to reinstall onto a new Thinkpad PC.
Do I need to employ the crossgrade process through Adobe, or will the software allow me to simply install into my new PC? I’m afraid to mess up the new PC, which was “difficult” to get my Mac files on to, but I did it and want to use my Adobe programs.
I own the license and have not installed in any other machine. What problems will I encounter?
Thanks for your help.
Kenny G
Greetings Kenny, sorry to say we know of no good and simple way to run native Mac Adobe applications on a Windows PC… You could try to find and set up virtual machine software that would allow you to install Mac OS X on a Windows partition, but there might be additional costs, performance could be slow or uneven, and you might have to employ hacks and/or break Apple’s licensing.
The easiest and most direct approach would be to move up to the current release of Creative Suite – either via the platform crossgrade as described above, or upgrade to a new version of CS5.5 that will run on both operating systems.
The good news is that any new release of CS will open and import all your existing older project files without difficulty.
Thank you for the response, it saved me much time.
Kenny G
Sure Kenny – happy to help and good luck with it!
What if I use both Windows AND Mac on two separate computers?
My desktop runs OSX, and my laptop runs Windows 7. Is it not possible for me to install a copy on both?
Hey there Derek, please see:
How to Install or Run Adobe CS5.5 on Both Windows PC and Mac OS
okay, so I’m having a bit of an issue here….I just bought MY FIRST MAC!!!
(early 2011 macbook pro 15.4′ i7 quad 2.2GHz 500MB/7500 running Lion 10.7.3)
So I bought it off craigslist, and the guy said he would give me the disks for cs5. (master suite) of course he lied, its hacked.
Now I already own a copy of cs5 (design standard version, that i bought of course) BUT ITS FOR MY PC
My problem is that all his cs5 programs work on the mac EXCEPT InDesign (which i need the most).
every time I try and start ID, it says “network connection was lost for the file InDesign, saved days or the file was modified by another process” then it says “A serious error has occurred, please restart”
Of course the guy is totally blowing me off now, and I’m stuck. Can anyone please help me?
The catch is that he installed master suite, and I don’t want to lose those killer (and expensive) programs if i call adobe and order a copy for my mac using my original purchase of design standard. Is there ANY way i can JUST install a patch or hack for InDesign, or fix it in some way without interfering with the other programs.
Will it help to install the InDesign update?
Could this problem be related to updating to Lion 10.7.3, which just came out yesterday? (I bought it yesterday and he had already updated it so I don’t know if ID was fine before the update)
I guess what I’m saying is: can i have my cake and eat it too? (Don’t judge me, i made my $500 contribution to Adobe, so please spare me the lecture about hacked programs) I just don’t have the $1200 dollars to buy Master Suite.
PLEASE HELP THIS NEWBIE MAC USER WHO’S ONLY SPENT 1 DAY IN YOUR MAC WORLD!!!!
OR, do you think Adobe would give me a Mac version of the Cs5 i already purchased for my PC, and let me upgrade it FOR A SMALL FEE?
Hello Sonny, you can definitely upgrade your legitimate PC version of CS5 to a Mac version of CS5.5 using the crossgrade procedure that’s described in detail in the article above…
Or, alternatively you could upgrade your CS5 to a “business” license for CS5.5 that will actually run on both platforms – both Windows and Mac OS with one purchase.
A final option (which is more complicated with a separate environment and not free) would be to run the PC software on a Mac using virtualization, emulation, or multi-boot software, as noted in these previous comments.
But if you purchased a computer that you believe has a hacked version of CS5 software on it, we would strongly advise you to not use it – either the hack or the computer.
It’s very very common these days for those Adobe cracks to be backdoored, or otherwise laced with malware – and you won’t find out until it’s too late… Returning it would be the best and safest thing you can do, and this highlights once again why never to buy software from eBay and Craigslist. Good luck.
Yes, unfortunately the guy is blowing me off and won’t return my calls so I’m stuck with it.
Is there any way to check if it is backboned with malware?
Also, can u recommend a site where I can learn to create a windows 7 partition?
This is my first Mac and I want to learn these things but just don’t know of the best resources….yet
Thanks for your help.
Unfortunately Sonny, from what we’ve seen – the only way to be absolutely certain there is no malware remaining or lurking on your system after introducing unknown/untrusted hacked or cracked software to the deepest level, is to completely reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system fresh and clean…
As for the technicals on how to create and manage a disk partition for Windows on a Mac, we don’t have anything in particular to share but if you’re interested you might be able to google or bing it.
If you registered your software with Adobe, they must have an account for you. I logged in to my account at Adobe.com just now and everything I’ve ever registered with them is listed there along with the serial numbers.
Thanks, that’s a great point – we’ll add that observation into the article above.
I have CS4 running on two computers. I am purchasing a third computer and want to upgrade to CS5 on the new one. My question is, can I still run CS4 on the other two computers while the new one has the upgrade to CS5?
Aha, great question – glad you asked that…
Here are Adobe’s exact rules regarding what you can do with older versions after upgrades, on which computers.
Hi ProDesign,
My wife has a legitimate copy of CS5 loaded onto her OS X desktop and would now like to install it onto her OS X laptop. Unfortunately she can’t find the installation code and never bothered to registered with Adobe. Can she now register and request the code? Nobody else could have registered it.
Is there a specific place where OS X stores the code?
Or lastly do you know of any programs for the Mac that reveals product codes? She still has the installation disks.
Thank you in advance for any comments or suggestions.
Hi Keno, that’s an interesting idea – why don’t you try registering the software from within (use Help > Product Registration…), and then see if the product’s serial number then shows up in your online Adobe account?
Please let us know if that works for you!
Hi ProDesign and thanks for your reply! We did manage to get the activation code through a combination of using a program called “Mac Product Key Finder” and Adobe Live Chat help. The program managed to list a number of serial codes for various Adobe products installed on her computer, but when she tried to enter the listed code for CS5 the installation said that it was an invalid code.
The next step was to talk to an Adobe representative via live chat. When she first contacted Adobe, she was told that it wasn’t possible to retrieve the code if she didn’t register the suite with Adobe. However, armed with the serial number she got from the MPKF they graciously supplied her with a new code that worked!
This time she promptly wrote the code down and stored it in two safe places.
Now back to your original question: I still don’t know if she registered the suite with Adobe. If she goes to Help > Product Registration, will she be prompted to create an Adobe account? Unless one was created during this transaction, I don’t think she has one.
Hey, good news – glad to hear it! That information will surely help a future reader, so thank you for circling back here to share.
Yes, when you register with Adobe it asks for an Adobe ID login… However, you can easily create one for yourself to make an account there. It’s free, and then some key things related to your software will be maintained there.
Here are some of the benefits of having an Adobe account, as well as some of the bonuses you get for registering.
Hullo!
As you suggested to Stephanie on Dec. 4th 2011, how might one create a backup disc of the installation files? I travel a lot, and I’m looking to burn this to my flash drive so I can access it on the road if/when required.
Many thanks.
Sure Megan. How you make a backup copy of your Adobe software depends on whether you got it via disc or download… If on disc, just copy all of the files and directories on it to your flash drive, exactly as they are.
If you received your product via a download, then copy the 1 or 2 files that you downloaded to the flash drive, before installing. The .EXE file (on Windows) or .DMG file (on Mac) is the one you will run to install the product.
If you no longer have access to those original installation files, you can download them again as trial versions, and then use your valid purchased serial number to permanently activate your software.
Hello. I have Adobe Master Suite CS5 on my laptop which run Windows 7. I want to install it onto my flash drive, how do I go about doing that? I need to restore my laptop.
Greetings James, if you check the official CS5 System Requirements you’ll see that it’s not possible to move or install any of the Creative Suite products onto a thumb drive, USB memory key, jump drive, or other removable flash-based storage device.
Hi. I purchased adobe creative suite student version about 2 years ago. I had this license for two computers and my last laptop has major problems so i purchased a new one. The old laptop has a problem so does not connect to the internet. Do i need the internet to somehow deinstall the software so i can reinstall it onto my new laptop or can all this be done without the internet? The license for my second computer is on my desktop which i used during university so no longer use it so i need to somehow transfer the old license from my old laptop which does not connect to the internet but still works.
Welcome Usman, thanks for your question. In order for any Adobe software to deactivate itself, it needs to connect to the Internet… So if one of your installed computers can no longer do that, then you will be unable to deactivate it yourself.
However, all is not lost… What you need to in that case is follow the recommendation here and that should help. Good luck!
I have a question, can I reinstall my Adobe CS6 software on the same computer (with same hardware) without deactivating it in the first place? My computer never goes out to the Internet and I often reinstall my OS after 90 to 180 days.
Hi Daniel, great to see you again and thanks for your question. It could work to uninstall and reinstall on the same exact computer without doing a deactivation, but just to be certain and safe you might want to take the extra step to choose “Suspend Activation” on your Adobe software (as mentioned above) before you wipe the system…
Of course, if you don’t go out to the Internet for that, then it wouldn’t work – but completing that action may be better than the reactivation of the software failing on you unexpectedly down the road.
Worst case, if it doesn’t work then you’d have to contact Adobe Customer Service to ask them to reset the activation records they have for your serial number in their database.
Hi, I have an old mac I wanted to deauthorize and uninstall adobe on, but I’ve already been using adobe on my new mac with the same ID etc. Since all support on adobe suggests you ‘deauthorize adobe on your old computer BEFORE authorizing it on your new computer’ can I safely unauthorize adobe on my old mac without too many problems in still using it on my newer mac?
Thanks
Yes Jessica, you should have no problem with that at all – because you’re actually allowed to have your Adobe software authorized on up to two computers anyway, so long as they’re not being used at the same time.
So deauthorizing the product on your older machine should not impact the continued use on your new computer.
Hope that answers it for you, if not then feel free to post back!