How to Move or Upgrade Adobe CS5 from One Computer to Another

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 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 CS5 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 CS5 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, you can retrieve it from the computer itself using a free utility like Belarc Advisor – which will recover and tell you the activation keys for all programs on your system.  And if you’ve lost or can’t find the original installation file or discs, 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.

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 5 license with you, and/or upgrade from CS2, CS3, CS4, or CS5 to CS5.5 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, which is no charge (except for 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 sign and return a Letter of Software Destruction for the programs on the old platform. 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 CS5.5), 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 if you chose to get the new product shipped to you rather than via instant download, you can simply download and run the 30-day free trial while you’re waiting for the package to arrive – and then later just convert the trial into a permanent full version with the serial key from the product box.

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 and Windows.

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/CS5 application… Just follow the crossgrade procedure described above – but choose a new and different language on the form, instead of a different platform.

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 CS5.5 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.