# Lightroom 5.6 - how do I activate on my home computer?



## PRSS (Nov 17, 2014)

Hello everybody

I have a perpetual license for Adobe Lightroom 5.6. Now I wish to install it on my home computer. How do I activate it? Same for Photoshop Elements 12 also.

Previous versions had an "unregister" option when connected to internet and could re-register on another computer. I do not find that option in both LR 5.6 & PS Elements 12.

Please somebody help me out in this. There is something like "sign out". I do not think this signing out is unregistering. 

Thanks in advance
PRSS


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## clee01l (Nov 17, 2014)

Welcome to the forum.  If you have the standalone perpetual license.  All you need to do for either app is D/L the latest version from Adobe and install it.  When it asks for your license number, supply it and you are done.  While the license limits you to installing on two machines, there is no enforcement like there used to be for a perpetual license to PS/CS.  If your license is an upgrade license, you will also need to supply the license number for the version that qualified you for the upgrade driving.  All of you registered S/Ns can be found when you log into your Adobe Account at Adobe. 

If you have installed LR5.6 and are seeing a "SignOut Option" in the Help menu, you have likely installed the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription and should uninstall that and D/L LR5 from this link https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom


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## PRSS (Nov 18, 2014)

Thank you very much for the clarification. Let me please ask another doubt.

If I am to change my second computer which has the 2nd activation, then I have to un-register from the 2nd computer and re-register on the new computer. There is no "unregister" found now. And no, I am not on subscription to Creative Cloud. I have paid for Lightroom & for PSE 12 in full (PSE 12 cannot be subscribed under creative cloud and one can only buy a perpetual license. Even in PSE 12, this "Sign Out" is present. There is no "unregister". This is what is confusing me.

Thanks in advance
PRSS


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## PRSS (Nov 18, 2014)

Hello

Thank you for your reply. Let me ask another question please. After activating on the 2nd computer, if I had to change computer, and activate on the new computer (meaning it would be the 3rd activation) then I had used the "unregister" option with my previous PS Elements. If the same occurs for my present Lightroom & PSE, how do I "unregister" & activate on the 3rd machine. i.e. the license from the 2nd machine is de-activated. This "unregister" option is not found now. I still have that option on my older version of PS Elements (which I did not upgrade but is on some other machine - this PSE 12 was a fresh license - also Lightroom 5.x is also a fresh license - I purchased both at the same time).

Thanks in advance
PRSS


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## clee01l (Nov 18, 2014)

I don't have PSE12 so I am unable to address your question about the PSE12 and the 'SignOut' menu item. 
If you bought LR5, how did you purchase it?  And how did you get to version 5.6?  If you originally installed an earlier version of LR5 was it via a physical disk or did you download it?

Do not worry about unregistering.  For LR and PSE you are trusted to uninstall the product on your own.  Because the license only grants you the right to install it on only two machines, it does not mean that you can not install LR on three or four.   If you install on more than two machines without uninstalling it on older machine, this only means that you are technically in violation of the agreement that you made with Adobe. Adobe does not police this agreement.  You are on your honor to uninstall LR or PSE on any number of machines above 2. 

Back to LR.  On the Help submenu is where you should find the submenu item for Registration.  If instead of the word "Registration" you see "Sign In" or "Sign Out", it means that you have installed the Adobe Application Manager and it is managing your LR app.  Unless you downloaded from the link that I referenced earlier, (https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/i...shop_lightroom ) you probably have downloaded an install that is integrated with Adobe Application Manager.  The Adobe website is very confusing on this point and they do not make it easy to do anything other than purchase a subscription to creative cloud. 

Just to be clear about LR "Sign Out".  LR contains another  "Sign In"/"Sign Out" related to LR Mobile.  This is so the you can sync portions of your catalog with a LR Mobile iPad app.  You find this "Sign In"/"Sign Out" on a dropdown menu attached to the Identity Plate


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## PRSS (Nov 20, 2014)

Thank you very much Cletus. Sorry for the late reply. I purchased them online and YES, I downloaded LR5 from that same  Adobe site which you mention. Then I also downloaded the 5.6 from Adobe download web site and installed the same on top of LR5. Same is with PSE12 - downloaded from Adobe web site and installed (no upgrades).

I am at home now. Once I go to my office I shall check where I get this "Sign Out" - I am sure it is from the Help pull down menu. But let me confirm. 

Probably Adobe changed its licensing policy !! From what you say - i.e. install on more than 2 computers. I have PSE 3, PSE 8 & now this PSE 12. All were independent purchases. PSE 3 & 8 would not allow installation on a 3rd machine unless you UNREGISTER with internet connection. Probably after the launching Adobe creative cloud, they have changed licensing policy!

Sorry for the constant nagging.

Best regards
PRSS


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## PRSS (Nov 21, 2014)

Yes, it is in the Help pull down menu

Best regards
PRSS


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## JimHess43 (Nov 21, 2014)

If you have the option to sign out then you have installed the CC version. It is very easy to do that because Adobe doesn't make it so obvious to acquire the standalone version. The CC version will not accept a serial number. It is the exact same program as the standalone version, but it is licensed completely differently. There may be other methods to remedy the problem. But the simplest is to uninstall Lightroom, and then download the trial version and activate it with your serial number:
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5853


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## clee01l (Nov 21, 2014)

Jim is correct and the link that he referenced is probably better than the one that I gave earlier.   In addition to what Jim has said, you need to make sure that the Adobe CC Application Manager is completely uninstalled before installing the version from Jim's link.


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## PRSS (Nov 22, 2014)

Thank you very much for all your help. Great to be in this forum. PROBLEM SOLVED !!

Best regards
PRSS


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