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I once installed Adobe CS 5 as a Trial but now I pre-ordered the new suite. I've deleted the Adobe CS 5 suite, and installed the new suite. But whenever I try to open photoshop for example, the Software Setup pops up and tells me my trial of CS 5 has expired and I need to enter a serial.
I don't know if it will accept my CS 6 serial, but I first want to get rid of all (!) the CS 5 files.

I've tried the Adobe CS Cleaner tool, deleting the .cache and .pcd file in /Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PCD, but it's still asking for a serial... So I'm guessing there are still some files somewhere.

So, how do I delete ALL files of Adobe CS 5, so I can start over with a fresh copy of CS 6?

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What version of Photoshop is opening, 5 or 6? If it's CS5 you may want to empty the trash. Did you have to enter your serial while installing CS6? – boretom Apr 30 '12 at 13:28
5 is opening and I didn't had to enter a serial for CS6 since it's a trial... – Michiel Apr 30 '12 at 13:33

2 Answers

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I'd start with the actual uninstaller rather than the cleaner.

Adobe does do deep integration, and I've been known to just walk away from machines with too much adobe on them. If you feel the uninstaller isn't getting things clean enough, you can take it a step further as follows:

  • Perform a clean install of the OS
  • use Migration Assistant to bring in the user account rather than setting up a new user on the "clean" Mac
  • download the uninstaller onto the new admin account

At that point, you can run the uninstaller to clean out any ~/Library plugins that might be installed. It's overkill, but sometimes a clean start is better than trying to let uninstallers find every copy of files that have been zipped, moved, linked, etc...

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Aren't those uninstallers for Adobe software (Flash, Air, CS...) always installed during the original installation? – gentmatt Apr 30 '12 at 14:29
They are - however, I like to always go get the latest uninstaller. I'm notorious for not updating the software and on occasion the uninstaller you have can be out of date or incomplete (or have a bug). In this case, another uninstaller / cleaner has been run, so who knows what is left. The uninstaller should be a unified item - cleaned at the end, but grabbing one removes all doubt whether you have a working tool to clean things up. – bmike♦ Apr 30 '12 at 14:34
If I do a clean install and bring my user account back with the Migration Assistant, won't the Adobe files be copied as well when restoring? – Michiel Apr 30 '12 at 14:44
Just user library caches and plug ins. These are fairly easy to see, harmless without the new software installed, and the new software will likely overwrite or ignore these files. – bmike♦ Apr 30 '12 at 15:24
So, I just move migrate the entire user? Don't really know what you mean. – Michiel Apr 30 '12 at 15:50
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To completely uninstall Adobe Apps you need to run the uninstaller in Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers.

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