TCS2 Distiller license problem

Fri Dec 18 14:02:59 PST 2009

Hi Linda, since I know your TCS2 machine is not a production machine, I
suggest the following:

All scary experiences aside, the following have worked for me (without fail)
for all Adobe software including TCS2. With the exception of Tammy (who did
try these options unsuccessfully after other advice and utilities from Adobe
tech support) these steps have also worked for *every* client I've passed
them to as well.

These suggestions came to me via Google searches and were initially penned
to address some older version of CS installation issues.

Option 1:

Uninstall TCS2 and any current or older apps included in the Tech Comm Suite
via Control Panel or Installer DVD
Use the Windows Installer Utility to remove any remaining visible thru that
utility

Restart your system and reinstall from your installer DVD (The trial DVD
should suffice)

Option 2:
Use Windows to revert to a Restore Point prior to your installation of the
Adobe software mentioned above, and install from there.

***Nuclear Blast Method***
Use the initial Restore Point, or the Disk Image that likely came with your
computer to start anew.  & 

-Matt

Matt Sullivan
GRAFIX Training

matt at grafixtraining.com
www.grafixtraining.com
office 714 960-6840
cell & txt 714 585-2335
sms message
skype: mattrsullivan
twitter: mattrsullivan

linkedin

facebook

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Linda G.
Gallagher
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 1:10 PM
To: 'Spectrum Writing'; 'Chris Despopoulos'; 'Art Campbell'
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: TCS2 Distiller license problem

So is anybody at Adobe working on this problem and going to help us solve
it???

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool FM user and want to use TCS 2, including RH and
Acrobat, but I can't. What am I supposed to do???? 

Is anyone listening out there???? We users can't solve the problem, so it
seems that Adobe has to. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Linda G. Gallagher
TechCom Plus, LLC
lindag at techcomplus dot com
www.techcomplus.com
303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144
User guides, online help, FrameMaker and WebWorks ePublisher templates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RMIMA Membership Manager
www.RMIMA.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: Spectrum Writing [mailto:info at spectrumwritingllc.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 10:53 AM
To: 'Linda G. Gallagher'; 'Chris Despopoulos'; 'Art Campbell'
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: TCS2 Distiller license problem

I can tell all of you from personal, painful and recent experience, DO NOT
attempt to uninstall and reinstall TCS2. That approach is useless as a
screen door on a submarine and will leave you with a system so corrupted
that NOTHING will get you back to anything useful other than a wipe clean
and reformat of your hard drive (and for all of you offlist naysayers, you
will find plenty of topics on the Adobe forum about this, including some
from some very experienced FM users such as Sean B.).

Also, DO NOT, under any circumstances, run the licensing script again and
use the "0" option. It screws with an Adobe-specific .dll that if hosed,
will leave you unable to run even your own desktop. (check now and
right-click on your desktop and if you get an error message, let me know and
I will point you in the right direction for fixing this.)

I do have a script that Mahesh provided to me for cleaning up FM and RH
licensing issues and if someone is script savvy, I can provide it to you and
see if it can be tweaked for Acrobat. Also, I have other instructions from
Mahesh that I am providing below that might help some of you as well:

This problem could occur if there was a prerelease software (beta) installed
on the machine and then if full version is installed, serial number
corruption can cause licensing issues. In your case, I would suggest that
you please change your system date (back date) to a date when the software
was working fine.

Thanks and regards
Mahesh

Finally, if you want to contact me directly offlist (even via phone) and ask
questions and see if I can walk you through what eventually worked for me, I
would be happy to. I, too, lost tangible items throughout this issue (as in
numerous billing hours that I cannot recoup) and intangible items (as in my
sanity and possibly even some street cred. with clients as I had convinced
one that it was FM and not Word for their solution!) trying to to get this
issue resolved.

TVB

Tammy Van Boening
Owner/Principal
Spectrum Writing, LLC
www.spectrumwritingllc.com
info at spectrumwritingllc.com

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Linda G.
Gallagher
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 10:21 AM
To: 'Chris Despopoulos'; 'Art Campbell'
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: TCS2 Distiller license problem

I've had similar experience. I did try just entering the serial number that
worked just fine for all other components of TCS2, but it comes up as a not
valid number. I've double, triple, and quadruple checked the all-numeric
number and it's right. I copied and pasted it in, I entered it manually,
still shows as not valid.

So, I downloaded and ran the licensing tool twice. First just "regular,"
then using the zero option, rebooting in between. Now, FM, RH, and PS open
fine (didn't try CP), but both Distiller and Acrobat Pro 9 Extended ask for
the serial number and won't accept the valid number that I have.

I'm stuck, too. Even if I manage to uninstall everything, is there any
reason to believe it's going to recognize my totally valid and correct
serial number? I'm not so sure.

RJ, Mahesh, someone, what's the solution to these problems? This makes TCS 2
unusable, as I always have to generate PDFs. Please help us all with this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Linda G. Gallagher
TechCom Plus, LLC
lindag at techcomplus dot com
www.techcomplus.com
303-450-9076 or 800-500-3144
User guides, online help, FrameMaker and WebWorks ePublisher templates
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RMIMA Membership Manager
www.RMIMA.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Chris Despopoulos
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 7:54 AM
To: Art Campbell
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: TCS2 Distiller license problem

Just a report of the situation...  The script didn't work.  Acrobat still
expects a serial number, and won't accept my TCS serial number.  One more
hour down the drain.

I rebooted three times to try all the suggested fixes in the script.  The
third run (using the 0 option) is supposed to remove the license file -- I
would have expected to need to enter my serial number again for running any
TCS products, but that didn't happen -- Maker runs the same as usual, and
Acrobat still wants a number.  I have no idea what the script did -- for all
I know it installed something I don't want, or modified my registry in some
way I don't want.  But I trusted it anyway -- to no avail.  Adobe, please
take note...  Explaining what the script does would comfort your customers.

I suspect the licensing doesn't think my Acrobat installation is part of my
TCS installation.  I will try removing all of TCS, then re-installing and
setting the serial number yet again.  My fear is that *nothig* will work
after I do that.  Yes, tech support is free for licensing issues.  Well, not
free if you consider the time spent.  What does it mean when the cost to
install the product is as great as the cost to purchase it?

Sigh...  I have to start actually gaining a living with my time now...

cud

________________________________
From: Art Campbell <art.campbell at gmail.com>
To: Chris Despopoulos <despopoulos_chriss at yahoo.com>
Cc: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Sent: Thu, December 17, 2009 8:12:59 AM
Subject: Re: TCS2 Distiller license problem

First, the license utility to which I posted the URL is supposed to work as
a kind of swiss army knife for licensing -- it's supposed to check all
parameters, not just the temp license. So I'd go ahead and run it to see if
it fixes the problem. If it doesn't work, at least you tried the public fix.

Also, Adobe provides free tech support for all installation issues, and this
is certainly an installation issue. Yes, you have to go through phone hell
to get support, but they usually keep working on an issue until it's
resolved.

And for Chris's problem, Adobe also says very plainly that you can't have
ANY previous distiller versions on a system with any version of Acrobat. So
if you still have Maker or other components on your system, as you imply,
you may have diagnosed the problem yourself...

Art

Art Campbell
art.campbell at gmail.com
 "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a
redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson
                                                     No disclaimers apply.
                                                              DoD 358

On Thu, Dec 17, 2009 at 7:40 AM, Chris Despopoulos
<despopoulos_chriss at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>I have the same problem, only with Acrobat.  So far I've just been 
>using
everything but Acrobat, and not generating PDFs.  Thank goodness for Reader
and older versions of Maker.  I haven't had the courage to try un-installing
all the products and installing again.  Somehow I doubt I'll ever have a
fully capable TS2 on my system.  I certainly don't want to throw away many
hours of time wrestling with this problem, considering it's like throwing
money away...  I'm sure I've spent 10 hours already, which is approaching
the cost of the product!
>
>>Any help or advice around this issue would be greatly appreciated!
>
>>cud
>
>>****************************
>
>I have a fully licensed version of TCS2 on my laptop. I first installed 
>it
>>as the trial version, then entered my serial number when I got it.
>
>>I've not had any issues with testing out RH and FM, but I notice now 
>>when
I
>>open Distiller, I'm being asked for a serial number. I'm able to open 
>>all other parts of TCS 2, including RH, FM, Acrobat (not Distiller),
PhotoShop,
>>and Captivate. These all recognize that I've already entered a serial 
>>number. Only Distiller does not.
>
>>I understand that the problems I've heard about started with licensing 
>>issues with Acrobat. I've also heard that some of the solutions to 
>>this problem cause more problems.
>
>>Does anyone know of a script that will fix this licensing issue with 
>>Distiller and not hose up my TCS 2 installation and my laptop?
>****************************
>
>
>
>
>>_______________________________________________
>
>
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