Activation Errors w/ Volume License Adobe 8.0 Standard

Adobe Volume License media is different from retail media in that it does not contain Activation so this problem should not be occuring if you're using volume license media. However, there was a problem with builds of the CS3 volume license download media in that it prompted for activation. Are any of these desktops using CS3? If so, you can download a corrected version of the media. For more information visit the following technical note:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402428&sliceId=2

Hello. Thanks for the response. I have been told by various people at Adobe Support that Volume licenses either do or do not require activation. I've yet to be given a definitive answer. Either way, we have a volume license, for certain, and were sent the software via CD after purchasing 75 licenses through CDW. I have not had to activate Adobe Acrobat Standard after any of the installations. However we still randomly receive errors about the product not being activated. This sometimes has occurred 2-3 months after install w/ frequent daily use, then suddenly, an activation error. When I go to Help>Activate from the file menu both Activate and Deactivate are greyed out. The resolution at times is a reboot and others a repair or reinstall.
I have been in contact with support on numerous occasions, with them fully aware that I have a volume license, and they have attempted to troubleshoot the FlexNet Licensing Service, which I am told controls Activation. Is it possible that I have the wrong software version and tech support are totally clueless? Is there anything in the contents of the CD that would tell me if I have a copy that is for use w/ a Volume License? I appreciate any guidance you can provide. Thanks again

This sounds more like Adobe License Manager that has been incorporated in Acrobat 8 for volume license customers. It's designed to help system administrators track and manage their licenses. This was disabled in Acrobat 8 last year due to various workflow issues. Perhaps you still have the old media that has ALM activated? The CD part number for the ALM-disabled version of Acrobat 8 Standard is 90081247. For more information on ALM check out the following URL:
http://www.adobe.com/elicensing/licensemanagement/alm/

Thanks again for the reply. I was wondering if you could clear up something for me. On the issue of ALM, my understanding is that ALM is supposed to be disabled for Volume Licenses, but would the folder structure still be installed? I have C:\Program Files\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\ALM_Config_Files on my hard drive w/ a couple of .xml files in the folder. I have been told by Adobe's Licensing Dept. that I was sent the wrong media. I was then told by somebody in Tech Support that I had the correct media. Is there an easy and definitive way to tell. I checked out the link that you posted that has an ALM Disabled Part Number list but it only has the most up-to-date software. From what I've read, any Volume license release after Apr 2007 should have been ALM disabled, so therefore I would have to assume there is more than one part number for ALM Disabled software. Thanks

Do you know what your part number is for your media?

Yes. It's 90081908

Well, that's not the version listed on the referenced table. Can you access the Licensing Website to download the ESD to see if this clears up the problem?

Also, I think one of the updates may have set the FlexNet Licensing service to Manual. Try changing it back to Auto and start it.

I've tried all types of things with the FlexNet Licensing Service including setting it to Automatic and disabling it to see if I could recreate the Activation error. I've also deleted the Macrovision folder where the licensing files reside. Once Acrobat is launched, the FlexNet Service resets itself to Manual and the Macrovision folder is recreated. I'm not familiar with what ESD is but I do have a login for the Adobe Licensing webpage. If you could point me in the right direction, I'll download it and see if it resolves the issue. On a side note I have another CD being shipped from Adobe. It should be here the middle of next week. Once I have it I'm going to install it on a test PC and check which services, folders, etc it adds to the PC for comparison. Thank you for your efforts

Good, I'm glad you ordered another CD to test. ESD is Electronic Software Download available from the Licensing Site. You can check on the site to see if you have access to the software via ESD.

We do not have access to download the software from the webpage. Initially that was what was purchased and the media was being sent as well. Somehow the order was not placed correctly by CDW and all we purchased was the actual CD. To make a long story short, we ended up waiting a week plus after purchasing just to get the media. I will wait for the media to arrive and then post back here with the outcome. Thanks once again

Hello again. I received the new media from Adobe and it is exactly the same, 90081908. Apparently they believe that I do have the right media. Not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

If you're using Windows XP try the following:

1. Backup the following file, C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FLEXnet\adobe_00080000_tsf.data.
2. Delete the file from the location above, but not the back up.
3. Reboot the cpu
4. Launch Acrobat and see if it requires you to activate again.
5. If it does, activate Acrobat again. If not, repeat the steps but uninstall and reinstall Acrobat after step #3.

Other possible issues include:
MS LiveOne Care can cause conflicts with Activation, along with other firewall software. Be sure to allow FNPLicensingService.exe access to the internet/network on your machine.

Hello. I started this thread close to a year and a half ago and still haven't found a resolution. The problem actually seems to be getting worse. Rebooting the computer and or repairing Adobe used to generally fix the issue, now at times completely removing and reinstalling the product doesn't. This issue is beyond frustrating. Does anybody have an actual solution?
Thanks

I started having this problem a late last year. I've downloaded and run almupd.exe and even uninstalled, reinstalled and went tough all the online updayes and still lose the ability to print to PDF anythime after a couple hours after rebooting. anything new?

I have been dealing with Adobe crashing/locking up recently. After several uninstall/reinstalls, replacing files, etc only to have the issue reocurr, I stumbled across the Acrobat Assistant running in the background, Acrotray.exe. I killed the process in Task Manager and Adobe worked perfectly. A couple of days later I had a user get the activation error when attempting to print to PDF from Word, killed the Adobe Assistant process and was able print to PDF without issue. So give that a try, it has worked for me in every case thus far. To make it so the process doesn't restart on reboot you can either remove it from the Run line in the registry or Startup in Msconfig. Updating Adobe apparently re adds the registry entry so the problem may come back if adobe is updated.