I had the same problem, with CS2 in Vista.

Nothing I tried made the registration pop up window go away for good.

The request to register reappeared on EVERY instance of opening ANY program that came on the CS2 full version disk.

I registered the program eight (8) times... successfully too, in that I've received eight (8) confirmation emails from mothership Adobe verifying my registration status and offering me a free gift.

That's lots of gifts. It's beginning to look like Christmas in my inbox.

The only gift I really wanted from Adobe was to be rid of the registration box. Several times I automatically hit the enter/return key while the registration window is active, (and if the registration box is visible, it is ALWAYS active, with the computer being unable to do anything else until the registration box is dealt with) and it caused my system to hang to the point where I have to CTL-ALT-DEL, only to find that the Adobe program is "Not Responding."

When I tried to close the registration box without completing it, or without choosing do not register, the system hung.

I contacted Adobe Technical Support by creating a case, which was CLOSED almost immediately, with this response:

"We believe the information we have provided will resolve your issue; therefore, we have closed your case."

So, exactly what information did Adobe Technical Support provide online?

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Which looks like:

"With regard to this issue, you will need to contact Adobe Customer Service, as this is not an issue that can be solved through the support portal. Please contact our Customer Service Department at (800)833-6687 7 days a week 6am-8pm PST."

I've called that number, during the business hours suggested, twice.

The first response?

Really loud muszac on hold, for 10 solid minutes until I turned the speaker volume down, and then for some time more until the line disconnected.

The second response?

Someone answered, asked me for all my personal information, only to tell me that the number that was given to me by online technical support was the wrong number to call.

So, with a new number, I reached another Adobe rep. Answered personal info questions again. He said that I needed technical support. What an epiphany!

So, with a transfer, I'm back on hold for a third Adobe rep. Answered the same personal questions again, all of which had nothing to do with the system, the software, or the problem, btw.

And now for the final answer?

At first, he knew... cause he had heard of the problem before, and had helped another customer with it.

But when we tried that method:

left click Start menu;
right click Adobe Photoshop;
left click Properties;
left click Advanced...
(Advanced is not a top tab, it's a button on right bottom); check box = Run as administrator;
click OK;
close Properties;
open Adobe CSx;
check box = Do Not Register;
close Adobe CSx;
reopen Adobe CSx:

It didn't work. The diabolical registration dialogue box reappeared.

Things really looked dour.

The Adobe guy put me on hold to consult the files of helping previous customers with this issue (it is not uncommon, and there really should be an FAQ that addresses this directly).

While on hold, I recalled seeing something catch my eye when I right clicked the Adobe CS icon to get to the menu that revealed the Properties. That menu is ordered as follows:

Open
Open file location
Run as administrator (with the Microsoft Security shield)

and then a bunch of other stuff, with Properties at the bottom.

Now, when I googled this problem, I learned that the reason why the registration box reappears over and over is because Vista is very careful about who or what programs or users can make changes to the Registry. A registry change needs to be made with respect to Adobe to prevent the registration dialogue box from reappearing on each opening of any of the programs in the suite.

For more info, search "UAC" "vista" "registry".

Anyway, even though running the program as administrator through the properties advanced tab didn't work, I thought I might as well try running the program again as administrator through the drop down menu with the four color Windows security shield icon. I did this while still waiting on hold for Adobe's technical representative to come back from the mythical research room (as it turned out, the information he was looking for wasn't saved).

I selected Run as Administrator directly from the drop down menu after right clicking the Adobe Photoshop icon, allowed the program to open, clicked Do Not Register, closed the program, and reopened the program.

And it worked!

For the first time ever, no registration dialog box. What a relief.

Give it a shot?

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CS2 product registration/Uninstall after upgrade