Several years ago, before I started working here, my predecessor purchased a Volume License (VLK) version of Adobe Acrobat 7 Pro. It served us well up until a few months ago when the user who works with it found out she needed a feature only present in version 9 Pro. I dutifully ordered the upgrade, and installed it with little trouble. Normally I don’t upgrade products – I’ll do a clean install instead, but I was in a rush at the time.
Fast-forward to the present. I had to do an OS reinstall on the users computer, and instead of installing Acrobat 7 first and then upgrading, I opted to do it my way and directly install version 9. The install went smoothly, and on first launch it asked for first my version 9 product key, then my version 7 key after determining it was an upgrade SKU.
Here’s where the problem occurred. After entering the Acrobat 7 key and selecting the correct SKU from the list, the installer spat out a message saying that the product key was invalid, or I had selected the wrong SKU. After double-checking both and finding they were indeed correct, I turned to Google. For once, Google couldn’t help me, so went to the last resort: calling Adobe support.
Surprisingly, after quickly jumping through their IVR menu, I was immediately put through to an agent. After describing the problem, and providing my contact information, he had me read off both product keys. I waited on hold for a few minutes, and then was told the problem.
During a normal upgrade, the installer simply checks for the presence of an old version of the product. If it’s there, you’re good to go. However, when you do a clean install and then enter an upgrade product key, the process changes. Now not only does it check to make sure that you have a valid product key for a valid SKU, it also checks to see that each product channel matches (read: if you had a VLK channel product, you must upgrade using another VLK product).
My problem was that while my original product key was from the VLK channel, my new upgrade was a Retail channel key. As such, it wasn’t being accepted as a valid upgrade path.
Fortunately, I was informed, there is a workaround for this. After launching Acrobat 9, it prompts you for the version 9 product key. After you enter that, you’re presented with a screen asking for the product key of your older version. At this point, we deviate from the normal path.
On that screen, hold CTRL and SHIFT, then double-click the window. A new window will appear, and you’ll be provided with a Challenge Code. After providing that to the agent on the line, and waiting on hold for a few minutes, he read back a Response Code which allowed me to bypass the product key check altogether.
So while I was able to get everything working, I really have to wonder, why include a channel check? If the normal upgrade process works, and if you can call in to support to get around it, why put it in at all? For me, it means that ever time I want to re-install Acrobat I’ll have to call in for support.
It really doesn’t make any sense to me. But then again, it’s pretty par for the course for Adobe….
