dispo.se
This is not my blogAdobe Creative Suite 2 and Windows 7 (64bit)
Ever since the Windows 7 RC came out I’ve been testing it at work, and to my great surprise most of the software I run on a daily basis just works. Netbeans, Tortoise, WAMP, they all work as expected. I had not, however, even dared to try Adobe Creative Suite 2 as I’ve heard people complaining about lousy compatibility even under Vista. It all changed today!
I’ve spent the last month with Photoshop/Illustrator only available on my tiny Macbook Air, and I grew tired of it eventually. Since I felt really lucky today I decided to go be an idiot and try to get CS2 up and running in Windows 7 
During the setup my first problem occured – invalid path name. I’m running Windows 7 64bit and it automatically puts 32bit applications in the Programfiles (x86) folder. The CS2 setup wasn’t too happy about it so I changed it to the regular path, C:\Programfiles. CS2 installed as expected – awesome I thought!
I expected Photoshop to keep nagging me about registration over and over again until I ran it as administrator, similar to the problem under Vista. But nay, Photoshop gave me a short error about “user name, organization, or serial number is missing or invalid” meaning it had to terminate without me painting a single pixel. After some research I found that this was a problem that would occur under 64bit versions of Windows XP as well – and the solution for Windows XP 64bit users worked for me!
According to Adobe, you have to get your Creative Suite installation into that x86 directory, and here’s how to do it:
Uninstall Creative Suite completely, when installing again use C:\Progra~2\Adobe as your installation path instead of the one suggested. If your “Next” button is disabled after pasting it, try clicking “Browse” then “Cancel” and it should be reenabled.
I’d also like to point out that I ran my setup as Administrator (browsed to the DVD drive then right clicked setup.exe and chose (“Run as Administrator”) the second time just to be sure.
It worked out quite well actually, hooray!
June 7th, 2009 at 02:48:45
Are you having difficulty with the blend function in Illustrator CS2. I am using Windows 7RC(32bit). I tried a blend spine between two objects that worked fine in WinXP. It now shows interleaved gradients of color and black horizontal lines. Same computer, same software and same graphics setups…different OS. I am running CS2 in WinXPSP3 compatability mode with themes turned off. Do you see this same problem?
June 19th, 2009 at 03:50:28
hey wanted to say thanks for the info, it helped me save the day for a art gallary in Wichita K.S. when there system went down and I gave them my space pc (with windows 7) installed. you rock!!!!!
June 19th, 2009 at 09:06:02
Always a pleasure helping out!
June 19th, 2009 at 09:24:18
Sorry for the late reply!
I only use Photoshop on a daily basis – but I do touch Illustrator occasionally.
Tried to blend two objects now and it seems I get the same result as you do, I’m afraid.
Launching Illustrator CS2 causes W7 to change the color scheme to Basic (from Aero).
This is probably due to Illustrator being quite old in CS2, and the Basic scheme is most likely
applied because of compatibility reasons.
I’ll be sure to post an update if I come across a solution that allows Illustrator CS2 to be run
in full hardware mode / glitch free.
June 22nd, 2009 at 06:48:39
First, thank you so much for this install guide, it saved me a ton!
I was curious how or if you handled the Adobe PDF Printer install on your Win 7 64 Bit?
It throws an error when I attempt to install it. From what I’ve read, it is an inherent problem on any 64 bit OS. Microsoft created a hotfix for it with Vista 64 Bit but I can’t use that update because the downloader says it doesn’t apply to my OS.
An additional issue is Internet Explorer 8 on this OS doesn’t like to open PDF documents in the browser. You have to download it then open it using Acrobat.
June 26th, 2009 at 18:55:32
@janpjens does this mean the color scheme is changed system wide, or just for the CS2 apps? I’m considering upgrading from XP on my production machine at work. Please advise.
August 5th, 2009 at 18:29:10
Your install instructions worked…. Thank You for providing such a valuable set of information.
Now I can enjoy CS2 on windows 7…. It worked just as you said…
THANK YOU!!!!
August 27th, 2009 at 10:40:34
Thanks a lot, had the same problem and your hint helped me to solve it.
September 6th, 2009 at 01:38:18
It pretty much means the color scheme is changed system wide for the time the app is running. I believe upgrading to XP on a production machine should be safe, but be careful if you don’t have anything newer than Illustrator CS2 to rely on
October 30th, 2009 at 16:33:14
I could not get CS 2 to install on Vista 64bit or Windows 7 64bit. I finally tried installing the individual software one at a time into the above mentioned directory and it worked!
November 2nd, 2009 at 23:45:20
Hello,
Thanks for your information on how getting CS2 installed on a Win7 system
However, I have a problem installing it…
I have an upgrade from CS1 to CS2. Means that I have to insert my CS1 dvd at the beginning of the installation so it can actually run… The problem is that my DVD is not recognized…
Have you, guys, had the problem ?
Many thanks if anyone can answer
November 5th, 2009 at 09:41:37
Windows 7 Professional (64 bit) …
Ever since the indows 7 RC came out I’ve been testing it at work, and to my great surprise m [...]…
November 5th, 2009 at 14:12:24
brilliant, thanks!
November 17th, 2009 at 04:31:47
This also worked for my original CS1.1.1 purchased. Thanks for posting.
November 17th, 2009 at 04:32:50
November 19th, 2009 at 06:19:36
Thank you! You were much more helpful than Adobe. I had the exact same problem and your advice worked perfectly. Now I can proceed to enjoy Windows 7….
November 20th, 2009 at 01:17:35
Thanks for that awesome bit of info. Was worried that I’d have to move with the times and get CS4. Cheers.
November 25th, 2009 at 10:12:05
budy thank u so much, i just bought this new machine qith windows 7 and i had the same error.. i wanted to suicide my self.. but u save my day.. wherever u are!!! thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
December 1st, 2009 at 03:02:49
I am a student, about 99.9% of my work revolves around Adobe programs. You have saved my LIFE. I wish you could give hugs over the internet… thanks so much!
ps,
maybe im an idiot but i tried to copy and paste the path… it didnt work. If it isnt working make sure you enter the path manually.
December 1st, 2009 at 04:55:58
You are a genius!
December 1st, 2009 at 18:20:39
Thank you for guide on how to install CS2 in Windows 7. I was having problem installing CS2 so i took a short cut to see if your method work and i know have a few problems. I just installed photoshop and NOT the other suite of applications and now i can’t install the rest of the suite. (by the way photoshop worked just fine) i keep getting this message “Missing or invalid personalization information. Missing resources library.” I get this message when i try to uninstall and/or continue the installation process. My plan is to uninstall photoshop and start over again and do everything at once but windows 7 will not let me uninstall photoshop. How do i manually remove photoshop from my computer? i tried deleting the program and restarting but i still keep getting the same messages.
Any help will be much appreciated
December 1st, 2009 at 21:51:09
i got! i had to start up in safe mode and then i was able to uninstall photoshop!
Thanks so again!
December 5th, 2009 at 10:00:05
oh thank you so mutch,
i had the same problem and yor hint was helpful…. thank´s again…
December 7th, 2009 at 20:57:35
It Worked!! But I haven’t figured out how to get the adobe PDF option in the print menu yet. Any answers?
December 8th, 2009 at 06:04:06
I’m also using CS2 with win7 x64 and installed it using your method.
However, it didn’t seem to install the adobe printer, so I can’t print to PDF (it’s not in the printer list). Did you have the same problem? If so, how did you fix it (if you fixed it)? Does anybody know?
December 9th, 2009 at 06:33:39
Thank you.
This article was sent to me by a friend and coincidentally the very next email was from Adobe technical support with another solution to the problem.
Their solution was to buy Creative Suite 4 because CS2 would not work with Windows7.
December 10th, 2009 at 00:17:59
Thanks so much, you really saved the day!
December 14th, 2009 at 04:44:04
Thank you very much for this fix!! Just got my new HP with Windows 7 and could not open photoshop till I found your fix. Thanks for posting!
December 17th, 2009 at 05:49:23
Ditto! I was pulling my hair out trying to get it to install. Thanks for saving what was left of it.
December 17th, 2009 at 12:19:54
Totally amazing – thought I had £1000 worth of useless software – Adobe were utterly useless when I phoned them several times – they even re-serialised my software to try to get it to work, but with no success. Just using your new path worked perfectly. Greatly appreciated!
Andy
December 17th, 2009 at 23:30:29
You’re a Lifesaver! Thanks a million!
December 22nd, 2009 at 02:19:59
Thank you very much. I’ve been trying to figure this one out for a couple weeks now. Now I have Photoshop working, but still need a way to fix Adobe 7 (as a printer). If I find the answer, I’ll come back to post it.
Thanks again.
Oz
December 24th, 2009 at 14:20:09
Thank you . . . this solution works . . .
December 28th, 2009 at 20:58:41
Thank you-it is finally working!!
December 29th, 2009 at 06:52:18
Wow. Thats an incredible help. And so simple! Other forums are giving so many other options, some even saying that CS2 is incompatible with Win7, but something so simple can make the world of difference!
December 29th, 2009 at 19:08:49
Thank you! It took me 2 days to finally find your post and get it to work.
December 30th, 2009 at 05:29:59
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! After unsuccessfully trying to install on my new laptop running Win 7, I called Adobe customer service and was told that my software was out of date, was no longer serviced, and would not run on Windows 7. Period. I was then told to purchase an upgrade for $800. I was devastated and crying. Sick to my stomach. Then I found your article. Thank you for saving me!
December 30th, 2009 at 16:03:02
Thanks a lot!
For all of you folks who need to uninstall Photoshop manually (I had the same problem…) here is the link. There are links to other Adobe programs there as well:
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/331/331405.html
January 1st, 2010 at 17:11:05
I can’t see my illustrator CS2 thumbnails in Windows 7. Tried the Aiicon.dll and psicon.dll files like before in Windows XP but still no thumbnail view. What went wrong?
January 2nd, 2010 at 01:28:50
in regards to the pdf print function, you can try to install a third party pdf printer. I tried bullzip which is free and compatible with win 7 64 bit. I haven’t had time to give a real test run but it was able to print a webpage. will update later on.
yo thanks for the installation fix for cs2!!!!!!!!!
January 2nd, 2010 at 22:19:26
use a thrid party pdf printer, there are loads of free ones available. i duno how good they are compared to the adobe on tho. thanks for the windows 7 fix!
January 6th, 2010 at 01:59:53
Thank you so much for this post. It worked perfectly!
January 8th, 2010 at 15:14:24
Thanks so much! Life saver!
I have a bit of an issue with the registration that repetitively comes up every time I open CS2. To clarify I registered the software and previously on Xp it gave me no problems but now this registration request is beginning to grow old on me. I was wondering if there isn’t anything I can do to sort out this bug.
Thanks
January 13th, 2010 at 20:06:41
You are a godsend! I spent the entire day on the phone yesterday with Adobe Support because I kept getting an “invalid serial number” message and therefore couldn’t launch the software. I spoke with 7 different techs, each of whom offered little help. The last one finally told me that CS2 wouldn’t work in Windows 7. I stewed about it over night, then went on the net this morning to find a fix. Yours worked perfectly! Thank you so much.
January 15th, 2010 at 21:31:42
Cool! Thanks for the fix.
January 18th, 2010 at 11:54:08
Yep, worked like a charm. Thanks so much for the info. Giddyup, my 64bit! Yeeeeah! My CS2 rides again!
January 19th, 2010 at 03:58:09
Awesome. I’m really glad this worked, ty.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:26:55
Rob:
I’d try to run the application nagging you (be it Photoshop, Illustrator or something else) about registration as administrator.
If that doesn’t work you could go into the registry and grant your user full access to the registry path where CS2 registration info is stored.
That should do the trick, not certain though since I haven’t encountered this problem myself.
Let me know if you want me to post the registry path – and if the administrator solution works
January 23rd, 2010 at 00:06:02
Hi I just wanted to say thanks so much for your help on installing PS2 it was such an easy solution. I called Adobe and they informed me that my software may not work with windows 7 and told me that my only options were to go online and find a solution myself or upgrade so needless to say I was really ticked with them when I found out how simple the solution was. Thanks again.
January 25th, 2010 at 03:49:49
Thank you so much!!!! I bought a new computer when my HP crashed and I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get Adobe C2S back on my computer. It kept giving me an error message about having a missing or invaild serial #. I followed what you said and it worked!!! Thanks so much. I was going to call Tech support in the morning. I am glad I found this posting!
January 29th, 2010 at 20:37:40
Thanks for the install path!!!!
January 31st, 2010 at 17:04:36
you helped me out. I ran into the error message exactly like you did and started an innstallation-supprot-chat with the adode help-desk. The guy asked for a brief description of my problem. Also he wanted my serial-number and mail-adress. Then – after 3 Minutes of nothing – he wrote: “True, this is a valid CS2-serial. You will have to upgrade to CS4. No other solution here. Hope this helps.”
You for sure can imagine the mood he kicked me into. I was so upset. IF he really had been working on my issue – my error-description alone would have been enough for a “Win7 ans CS2? No solution, that´s impossible”.
ALL he did – I bet – was a decent check of my serial. That´s all.
So I googled and found this post. Awesome. I went through the installation without any problem whatsoever.
BUT: What about the adobe-problem-solution you mentioned and linked to? Adobve HAD the solution already. Rediculous! I´ll never ever will waste my time to talk to the Adobe personel. Hey, it had been an “installation-help-chat”! This guy has nothing else to do than servicing installation problems. And he never heard about that issue? Never read Adobe´s bulletins? Wow.
Thanks again!
January 31st, 2010 at 23:48:53
Thank you very much for your help. I was tearing my hair out and was ready to send my new PC with windows 7 back as I thought it would not run my CS2.
February 9th, 2010 at 23:51:19
It worked! I have been going crazy trying to figure this out. Thank you so much! You have saved the day!
February 12th, 2010 at 14:02:45
Sweet, It worked!!!!
I had the same bullshit with the support as Tom had.. What a bullocks support…
February 12th, 2010 at 15:20:40
Very helpful information. Anyone get the pdf printer to install with Acrobat?
February 15th, 2010 at 21:50:45
Okay, I got my CS2 installed on my hp Pavilion tx1000. I did a complete re-format and install of Windows 7 on my HD. Nothing but problems trying to install CS2 until your suggestions. BUT it won’t update! I keep getting the following error message – “No connection. Please check your internet settings and/or firewall. Waiting for connection.” Any ideas?
February 20th, 2010 at 23:25:26
Genius!
I’m glad I didn’t try to call Adobe first. From the sound of things they just want you to spend more money with them. Personally, I think I will wait for cs5 before upgrading now.
February 21st, 2010 at 20:23:45
amazing. my only question is how did you convince adobe to give you this info… 3 different employees gave me the run-around and tried to convince me to upgrade rather than giving this very simple explanation.
thanks!
February 21st, 2010 at 23:16:59
Thank you SOOOO much! This worked like a charm.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:59:00
Thank you!!! Holy Smokes am I glad I found this site!! I have uninstalled and reinstalled CS2 about 5 times trying to get it to work. Finally found your advice, and it worked. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! Good thing you’re not in the room or I’d give you a big bear hug. I’ve never been so frustrated with Adobe.
Your Answer = Utilize software that was already purchased
Adobe Answer = BUY our new software for just $799 (that’s the discounted price :O)
I’m not too thrilled with Adobe on this. I even talked to a supervisor– he suggested I buy new. Adobe is VERY unethical on this one. You know they have the solution, but instead, are more concerned about hard selling.
Total time spent installing CS2 on Windows 7– about 6 hours, no joke. Your solution took no more than 12 minutes, and worked.
Thanks! ( B e a r H u g ) to you… and a little birdie to Adobe,
March 1st, 2010 at 15:06:28
Hei good idears here.
But i dont understand this path
C:\Progra~2\Adobe as your installation path
I have 2 possibilitis
C: \Programmer\Adobe\ -here I also have Lightroom
C: \Programmer (x86)\Adobe\ -here I have Elements -Reader- Acrobar
I have danish Windows7 64 bit, and danish suite2, or maybee that is the problem. Just hope somebody could help, getting crazy….
March 3rd, 2010 at 15:33:55
Hm, no, it works here.
Just ran it as I had a clean install
Could it be that your firewall is blocking it?
March 3rd, 2010 at 15:35:40
Never spoke with anyone at Adobe, luckily. Guess I would’ve given up myself then.
March 3rd, 2010 at 15:45:16
Fear not!
You have to type in the path yourself – copy it off the blogpost and paste in right into the textbox where the path goes.
I’ve experienced that the installation does not allow me to go further (it leaves the next button disabled).
This is fixed by clicking on the browse button, then pushing cancel (or “Annuller” as I imagine it would be with danish locale).
So, in short: Type in the path manually / paste it in there, press Browse (“Gennemse” or “Søg” in danish?) then “Annuller”).
Let me know if it works!
March 4th, 2010 at 14:27:16
Thank you so much. I was stunned when Adobe just blew me off. “Sorry we only support cs3 and cs4.” I appreciate you providing this fix!
March 12th, 2010 at 02:13:15
I’m glad I’ll be able to run my CS2 on the new computer I’m getting but I am curious to know if any of you are also running Macromedia Studio 8 as well… I am running it currently with my CS2 and am curious if the shortcut you gave here will work for it as well.
thanks
March 12th, 2010 at 05:16:34
You. Are. A. Life. Saver.
I know this was posted a long time ago, but I just now bumped into this issue and your solution worked beautifully (after many personal failed attempts). CS2 won’t be on this machine for long, but until CS4 comes in, I have to use it on the new machine. Thanks again!