# Don't have original serial number.....ugh!



## 180q (Dec 26, 2010)

I recently got a new laptop and I'm trying to get Lightroom installed onto it. 

I had originally bought LR2 and then upgraded to LR3 as soon as that was made available.  Well, looking back now I apparently never registered LR2.  What this means is that Adobe does not have my original serial number on file.  Please note, I do not have the original packaging and cannot attain the # myself.

So, I went and installed the trial LR3 on the new machine.  When prompted for the serial number I have entered the serial number shown on the old machine.  It then prompts me for the original # since this is an upgrade #.  Since I do not have this number, what am I to do?  Please don't tell me I will need to purchase the full version again.  Especially since all of the discounts for it have expired!

Thanks,
Chad


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 26, 2010)

Hi Chad, welcome to the forum!

Do you still have the LR2 version on your computer?  If so, go to Help > System Info and you'll find the serial in there.


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## 180q (Dec 26, 2010)

I haven't deleted anything related to LR, but I don't see an LR2.exe.  The only option I have is for the 3.3 version.  I'm assuming it's been overwritten?

-Chad


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 26, 2010)

Not necessarily.  Are you Mac or Windows?  The registration data did become a separate file at one stage, next to the preferences file.  I'll dig out the possible path if you tell me which OS.


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## 180q (Dec 26, 2010)

Hmmm....I'm on Windows.

-Chad


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 26, 2010)

And this is the computer that previously had LR2 installed, right?

Try looking in:

Windows XP—C: \ Documents and Settings \ [your username] \ Application Data \ Adobe \ Lightroom \
Windows Vista or 7—C: \ Users \ [your username] \ AppData \ Roaming \ Adobe \ Lightroom \

and see if there's a file called something like Lightroom 2 Registration.  There is on my Mac, but it might be in the registry on Windows.

Other than that, I'd try installing 2.7 and see if it finds your serial number automatically - if so, then you'd be able to find it from that help command.


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## 180q (Dec 26, 2010)

I could not find a file with that name.  Not even for LR3.  I'll download the 2.7, but I'm not feeling very optimistic here.  I can't believe I'll be forced to pay for this once again.


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## Jim Wilde (Dec 26, 2010)

The file is called "Lightroom 2.0 Registration.llreg", on Windows 7 you will find in in c:\programdata\adobe\lightroom. Not sure of the path on XP, though I suspect it will be in something like c:\documents and settings\all users\application data\adobe\lightroom.

If you locate this file, use the Notepad application to open it and you will see the serial number in there....

Alternatively, if you have not uninstalled Lightroom 2.x it should still be there (the LR 3.x install does NOT overwrite the LR 2.x installation). You should find the executable file in c:\program files\abobe\Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.x.....the executable file you should use is "lightroom.exe", not LR2.exe.


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## Victoria Bampton (Dec 26, 2010)

Did you find the folder ok?  It's a hidden folder on Windows.


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## 180q (Dec 26, 2010)

Thank you both for the replies.  I was able to install LR2.7 and use the serial number listed there.  Phew....what a relief.  Here is my next problem.  I have my catalog and entire location located on an external drive.  I've plugged the drive into the new computer and tried opening the lrcat file.  It will not do so however and is giving me this message: Lightroom cannot use the catalog name "Lightroom 3 catalog-" because it is not writable and cannot be opened.  I've restared the computer with the drive plugged in with the same result.


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## 180q (Dec 26, 2010)

I'll delete the lock file and try that.


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## 180q (Dec 26, 2010)

Deleting the lock file did not work.


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## Jim Wilde (Dec 27, 2010)

It's almost certain to be a permissions problem on the external drive (because the device was 'owned' by the userid of the old computer). Reset the permissions and you should be ok.


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## 180q (Dec 27, 2010)

Jim,

Would that still be a possibility even if I've already written/read from this new computer using that same external drive?  I used that drive to make my backups and to restore after an HDD upgrede.

Thanks,
Chad


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## 180q (Dec 27, 2010)

I'll start a new thread.


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