Support Knowledgebase
Error on Mac OS: "...user name, organization, or serial number is missing or invalid..." when you start Adobe Creative Suite 2 applications
Issue
When you start any of the applications installed with Adobe Creative Suite 2.0, they return the error message, "Personalize your software: Your [Adobe application] user name, organization, or serial number is missing or invalid. The application cannot continue and must now exit."
Solutions
Do one or more of the following solutions:
Solution 1: Remove trial versions of any Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 applications, or InCopy CS2.
If you previously had trial versions of any Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 or InCopy CS2 installed, delete the trial and retail program folders for the software, and then reinstall the retail software.
Solution 2: Run the installer, select the product to install, enter the user information, and then close the installer.
1. Run the Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 Installer from the CD, choose the Custom Install option, and select an available application to install. Applications already installed are dimmed. Proceed through the installation screens.
Note: If no application is available to install because the entire Adobe Creative Suite is already installed, then proceed to Solution 3.
2. Enter your User Name, Organization, and Serial Number when you are asked to Personalize Your Software, and click Next.
3. When the installation begins, go to the Installer menu, choose Quit Installer, and close the installer window.
4. Restart the application (for example, InDesign CS2).
Solution 3: Remove and reinstall Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 or InCopy CS2.
1. Insert the Adobe Creative Suite installation disc 1 and double-click the How to Uninstall.pdf for instructions for removing Adobe Creative Suite.
2. Remove Adobe Creative Suite.
3. Reinstall Adobe Creative Suite.
Note: For instructions for removing Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 manual, see document 331301 , "Manually remove Adobe Creative Suite (2.0 on Mac OS)."
Solution 4: Do not start multiple Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 applications immediately one after the other.
When you start more than one Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 application, allow each application to finish loading before you start the next application. Similarly, if you have an Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 application set to start automatically on startup, allow that application to load completely before you manually start another Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 application.
Solution 5: Repair disk permissions by running Disk Utility, create and log into a new user account with Administrator access privileges, and then reinstall Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 or InCopy CS2.
Occasionally, your disk permissions or a user account can become corrupted. Run Disk Utility to repair permissions, and then remove Adobe Creative Suite by following the instructions in the How to Uninstall.pdf on the Installation disc 1. Create a new account, log into the new account, and then reinstall Adobe Creative Suite.
To repair your permissions using the Disk Utility:
1. Choose Go > Applications, open the Utilities folder, and then double-click Disk Utility.
2. Select the First Aid tab.
3. Select the volume on which you want to install Adobe Creative Suite, and then click Repair Disk Permissions.
Note: If Disk Utility returns a "No valid packages" error message, this means that the BaseSystem.pkg file is not in /Library/Receipts. For more information about the "No valid packages" error message, see Apple technical article 25704: "Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4: Disk Utility shows a 'No Valid Packages' alert." on the Apple website at: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25704 .
To create a new account with Administrator access privileges:
To create a new user account in Mac OS X v10.3.x:
1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. Click Accounts.
3. Click the plus sign toward the bottom of the window on the left.
4. Type a user name and a password that you'll remember, such as test .
5. Click the Security tab, and then select Allow User To Administer This Computer. This makes the test user an Administrator.
6. Close the Accounts window.
7. Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.
8. When the login screen displays, choose the test user.
To create a new user account in Mac OS X v10.2.8:
1. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
2. From the View menu, choose Users, and then click New User.
3. Type the user name (for example, test ).
4. Click the Password tab, and then enter a password that you'll remember, such as test .
5. Select Allow User To Administer This Computer. This makes the test user an Administrator.
6. Click OK and close the Accounts window.
7. Choose Log Out from the Apple menu.
8. When the login screen displays, choose the test user.
To log in as a user with Administrator access privileges:
1. From the Apple menu, choose Log Out.
2. Click Log Out when the system returns the message "Are you sure you want to quit all applications and log out now?"
3. When the login screen appears, select a user with Administrator access privileges, type the appropriate password, and then press Return.
Solution 6: Start the Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 applications from the application icon, and re-create the alias if necessary.
If your alias is damaged, then it can cause various errors to occur when you start an Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 application.
1. Double-click the Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 application file, for example InDesign CS2, in the Applications/Adobe InDesign CS2 folder.
2. If the Adobe Creative Suite application opens, drag all of your Adobe Creative Suite 2 application aliases into the Trash, and empty the Trash.
Important: Make sure you drag only aliases into the Trash. You do not create an alias when you drag your application icon onto the Desktop. If you dragged your application icon onto the Desktop, then drag it back into the Adobe [Application] CS2 folder before you delete your aliases. If you delete the application icon instead of, or in addition to, your application aliases, then you will need to reinstall the application.
3. Select the CS2 application file, for example, InDesign CS2, and choose File > Make Alias.
4. Drag the alias to the Desktop.
5. Start InDesign.
6. If InDesign opens, and you'd like the alias to be in the Dock, drag it to the Dock. Start InDesign to test the alias.
Note: If you drag the alias to the Dock from the Adobe InDesign CS2 folder, after you delete a damaged alias from the Dock, then the new alias might not replace the old alias correctly. Drag the alias to the Desktop and then to the Dock to correctly remove the old alias data from the Dock.
Solution 7: Determine if any of your Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 installation CDs are damaged or corrupted.
To check your CDs for damage or media errors, copy the contents of the CDs to another drive:
1. Create an empty folder on the destination drive.
2. Insert the CD to be checked for damage.
3. Select the CD icon and drag it onto the empty folder. The CD contents are copied into a folder with the same name as the CD.
4. Note any errors that occur while the system copies files from the CD to the destination drive.
Note: In rare cases, disc errors indicate a defective CD. If you are unable to copy the CD contents to the desktop, please contact Adobe Technical Support.
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