At Biscardi Creative we’ve completely switched over to the Creative Cloud for our primary workstations and we absolutely LOVE IT. The other day we ran into an unexpected “gotcha” when we fired up our Dell PC Workstation which is still running CS6 on a Perpetual License.
We don’t use the PC full time at the moment so I’ve not upgraded that to the Cloud just yet. This day we simply needed to encode a WMV file and we know the Dell is the easiest place to create this. So we fired up Adobe Media Encoder and go the message, “We’re sorry, your Creative Cloud Subscription has expired………” Since that system is still running off the Perpetual License and has never had the Cloud installed we were perplexed.
Checking around some forums it seemed most people pointed the finger at the Adobe Application Manager so we downgraded that but still no dice.
Complete uninstall / reinstall of Creative Suite 6 and no dice.
Then it finally dawned on me that the Adobe ID licensed to CS6 on the Dell was the exact same Adobe ID used for our Creative Cloud subscriptions. Another complete uninstall / re-install of CS6 but this time creating an entirely new Adobe ID just for the Dell computer. Bingo!
So the moral of the story is, if you plan to keep your CS6 Perpetual License running alongside your Creative Cloud subscription, you may want to create separate Adobe IDs for each so there’s no chance of the Adobe licensing system locking you out of your Creative Suite.
My boss wants to give me one of the old CS6 licenses to use that we no longer need to use at work. (running CC). What would be the best way to go about deactivating, locating that CS6 license number (amongst multiple licenses) and using it for myself? Once I get the associated serial, could I register it on my home computer using my own adobe login? What do you suggest as the best approach? Thanks
I don’t believe you’ll be able register an old CS6 license. Adobe is not activating any personal licenses any longer to my knowledge. You’ll need an Adobe Creative Cloud license. If you already have Adobe Creative Cloud, you can simply download CS6 from the Creative Cloud app and install.
Thanks for the quick response!
So are you saying what you mentioned doing in this article is no longer possible then? In theory, I would think that if I had to deactivate a license I already own so that I could reactivate on a new computer, I should be able to and entitled to. I feel like its more or less the same thing, especially if my boss let me use his adobe login.
Not trying to challenge you, just want to clarify 🙂
And do you think even if I were to buy a new, unopened CS6 (as I don’t have a CC subscription) I wouldn’t be able to register it?
Sorry just trying to pick your brain! I appreciate it!
This article is two years old. Adobe stopped all Perpetual Licenses since this article was written. The only way to legally install and use CS6 on your personal system is to get a Creative Cloud subscription.
You can’t buy an unopened copy of CS6 and if someone says they have one, it’s a pirated copy. You will not be able to register any “new” or “old” copy of CS6 with Adobe to my knowledge. If you want further clarification, reach out to Adobe Customer Service. They should be able to answer any further questions.