Nelson's Weblog: tech / photo / photoshop-cs2-on-vista

Installing Photoshop CS2 on Vista

Photoshop CS2 is the most expensive piece of software I own. I wanted to migrate my license to Vista and it wasn't as simple as I'd like. The main challenge is CS2 is an old version and Adobe claims it does not work on Vista. Here's how to make it work anyway. I'm assuming you have a legal copy: do not steal software.

Get install media. If you have CDs you're in business. Otherwise write to Adobe support and tell them you need to download a CS2 installer. Do not mention Vista; they'll tell you that you have to spend $200 on an upgrade to CS3. They sent me an FTP link with a password for Photoshop_CS2_9.0_WIN_ACT.zip.
Unzip the install media. Don't just double click the installer and run from the virtual folder; the Adobe installer will break with the meaningless errors .\AutoPlay\main.ini MAIN_FILE_VERSION PRODUCT_REGISTRY_PARENT PRODUCT_REGISTRY_KEY. Extract files and run from the new folder.
Run the installer. Grant it permissions via the usual Vista UAC popup.
Run Photoshop. Activate it.
Allow Photoshop to update itself. Grant the Updater permissions via UAC.
Reboot. (Screw you, Adobe).
On reboot, you'll get an error that Vista blocked programs at startup because they asked for permissions. Run the Vista tool recommended in the error box and disable all of Adobe's startup tasks (gamma control, updater). The error will go away and your computer will boot faster, too.
Enjoy Photoshop!

I'm sure there's some lurking Photoshop / Vista compatibility problems. But I was able to edit a raw photo from my camera, that's all I really care about. I didn't test color management and printing, I could see potential problems there.

tech • photo
2008-06-21 15:06 Z


Mastodon @nelson@tech.lgbt Linkblog Sun 2024-11-17 City99 console font Sat 2024-11-16 Lorraine Gervais Sill Justin's Linklog Thune 2004 blog campaign Fri 2024-11-15 Open source garage door Thu 2024-11-14 NZ parliament protest Wed 2024-11-13 bzfs BenQ Programming Monitor Tue 2024-11-12 California slow vote counting Sand pile visualization Miniflux The Animal in Decorative Art Mon 2024-11-11 MyNoise Criterion Collection Supercut Sun 2024-11-10 ActivityBot Chair causes display failure Neft Daşları Fri 2024-11-08 Self-hosted Bluesky Red crab migration Search Archives 2023 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2022 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2021 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2020 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2019 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2018 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2017 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2016 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2015 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2014 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2013 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2012 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2011 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2010 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2009 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2008 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2007 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2006 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2005 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2004 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2003 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2002 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 2001 12 11 10 09 08 07 One good site MDN Nelson Minar nelson@monkey.org Blog licensed under a Creative Commons License		Installing Photoshop CS2 on Vista Photoshop CS2 is the most expensive piece of software I own. I wanted to migrate my license to Vista and it wasn't as simple as I'd like. The main challenge is CS2 is an old version and Adobe claims it does not work on Vista. Here's how to make it work anyway. I'm assuming you have a legal copy: do not steal software. Get install media. If you have CDs you're in business. Otherwise write to Adobe support and tell them you need to download a CS2 installer. Do not mention Vista; they'll tell you that you have to spend $200 on an upgrade to CS3. They sent me an FTP link with a password for `Photoshop_CS2_9.0_WIN_ACT.zip`. Unzip the install media. Don't just double click the installer and run from the virtual folder; the Adobe installer will break with the meaningless errors `.\AutoPlay\main.ini` `MAIN_FILE_VERSION` `PRODUCT_REGISTRY_PARENT` `PRODUCT_REGISTRY_KEY`. Extract files and run from the new folder. Run the installer. Grant it permissions via the usual Vista UAC popup. Run Photoshop. Activate it. Allow Photoshop to update itself. Grant the Updater permissions via UAC. Reboot. (Screw you, Adobe). On reboot, you'll get an error that Vista blocked programs at startup because they asked for permissions. Run the Vista tool recommended in the error box and disable all of Adobe's startup tasks (gamma control, updater). The error will go away and your computer will boot faster, too. Enjoy Photoshop! I'm sure there's some lurking Photoshop / Vista compatibility problems. But I was able to edit a raw photo from my camera, that's all I really care about. I didn't test color management and printing, I could see potential problems there. tech • photo 2008-06-21 15:06 Z Nelson's Weblog • tech • photo