Download Adobe Creative Suite 2 including Adobe Photoshop for free!
Adobe's Creative Suite is a collection of tools that are also available as individual products. The first two versions of the Creative Suite included Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Bridge and Version Cue. There was also a premium edition which included Acrobat Professional, Dreamweaver and Go Live.
The latest version of Creative Suite is version 6 which includes the latest versions of Adobe programs and is available in five different versions. Why I'm telling you this? Because Adobe Creative Suite 2 is now available as a free download on the Adobe website.
Just head over to the official download page to download the three disc version of the suite for Windows or Mac from Adobe. You get on top of that a pdf document with installation instructions and the extras disc as well.
Please note that you need to log in with your Adobe account or register an account for free on the site before you can download the discs to your system. The serial number is listed on the same page, so make sure it remains open during installation for easy copying and pasting of the serial number.
To install the suite on a Windows PC run the first disc - they are provided as executable files - after you have downloaded all three of them to the PC. The installer will do some unpacking before you are walked through the installation. The full installation requires 2.62 Gigabyte of space. The installer would not let me install the suite in the Program Files (x86) directory, maybe because of the brackets in the folder name or the space. I selected c:\adobe\ instead and was able to continue with the installation.
You can install the entire suite, consisting of Adobe Illustrator CS2, Adobe InDesign CS2, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Adobe ImageReady CS2 and Adobe Version Cue CS2, or select individual components that you want to install.
Installation takes some time and you are asked to register afterwards. You can select that you do not want to register so that you do not have to fill out the form.
You can then start the programs from the start menu.
It is not clear if this is a time-limited offer or if Creative Suite 2 will be permanently available as a download on the Adobe website. I'd suggest you head over there right now if you are interested in the Suite or one of the programs to download and install it right away to avoid Adobe pulling the download again.
It is interesting to note that you find other Adobe products here as well for download. You can for instance download individual programs of the suite and other Adobe programs individually from the page:
- Acrobat Pro 8.0
- Audition 3.0
- GoLive CS2
- Illustrator CS2
- InCopy CS2
- InDesign CS2
- Photoshop CS2
- Photoshop Elements 4.0/5.0
- Adobe Premier Pro 2.0
The programs have all been released years ago and updates are available for all of them. That does not necessarily make them bad or inferior in any way. Sometimes, you may benefit from the age as you do not need such a high performance machine to run them on your system. Oh, and feel free to spread the word. (via)
Update: It seems that the page has been pulled by Adobe. It is not clear if that is just a temporary issue because of the traffic the page certainly received after news broke, or if it has been deliberately pulled by the company because it was an error in first place to put it up.
Update 2: The download links have also been posted on the Adobe website. If you get an error currently try again at a later time.
Update 3: While the page is not working right now, direct downloads are. You find them listed on Slickdeals so go there to download the programs. Serials also posted on the site.
Update 4: According to Softpedia, it was a glitch which has now been resolved.
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Looks like download portal site majorgeeks.com is listing the Adobe CS2 as freeware
http://majorgeeks.com/Adobe_Photoshop_CS2_Free_d8081.html
I installed CS2 Photoshop and Elements then set my computer calendar back prior to 11/2011 and used a manual update and got an update…I think the update provides some stability for Windows 7/Vista…but I’m not 100% sure…anyway an update is available and there were no issues after that
I read one of you guys said about not requiring to activate online. But after i install Acrobat 8 Pro, it still asked about it. anyway, still happy about free programs!
However, I am wondering if these Adobe allow us to use in the company?
For those of you that use Secunia’s PSI and really like that warm, fuzzy feeling when it tells you your System Score is 100%, downloading and installing these outdated Adobe programs will change all that :)
I’m sure it can be exempted from the scan, but something to be noted IMO.
Using Secret Agent Mole’s tip (roughly) now have installed the rest of CS2 except for Extras and VCS. The Contents of Extras are available and I have moved them to the C:\Adobe folder.
None of the newly installed Adobe Programs appear under Control Panel Set your default programs but some have been associated with extensions under Associate… but other extensions say adobe this or that but say “Unknown Application”. Adobe SVG viewer is listed under control panel “Programs and features” but not there is no link to start it and I can’t find the program.
What do GoLive and InCopy do and are they worth installing?
Has anyone installed Premiere Pro on Windows 7 without problems?
No sorry, have not installed that one.
I have installed and got it running, after a few problems, follow this procedure for Windows 7!
1. Right-click each file (.exe file)
2. Select Properties then go to the Compatibility tab.
3. Put a check on the “Run this program in compatibility mode for†then select the previous OS which do you think it worked. For your case select Windows XP with Service Pack 3
4. Then under Privilege Level, place a check on “Run this program as administratorâ€
5. Click Apply then OK.
ignore disk 1 (we will come back to this)
Click disk 2 – but change the Save Files in folder destination to
C:\Creative Suite CS2\Adobe Creative Suite 2.0\
be default it goes to the wrong folder of C:\Creative Suite\Adobe Creative Suite 2.0\ – This later brings up an error of insert disk 2.
If it says Unable to create the specified output folder! – just click OK
Click Next
———————
Click Disk 3 – making sure the address is C:\Creative Suite CS2
Click Next
————–
Install the Extra Files if you want to
————–
Now Click Disk 1 – Destionation folder – C:\Creative Suite CS2
Ignore Quicktime 6 message
Accept Agreement
Enter Serial – 1130-1414-7569-4457-6613-5551
Now you need to change the location as C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe is not valid
change it to C:\Progra~2\Adobe
If the next button stays greyed out, click back then go forward with the next button. All should now be good
Install the entire suite or just the components you require.
Select Do not Register on drop down on the registration page
Your advice worked perfectly–thanks to you, and folks like you, that take the time to help others. Much appreciated!
I got the serial number not valid message a cople times then realized I was trying to use the Mac serial in my PC.
Download went well – unable to complete installation – serial number NOT valid!
That was for CS2, have yet to try Elements.
Me too. My old Photoshop 5.0 – remarkable as it still is, running “in compatibility mode for Windows 98” – has copyright dates 1989-1998!
I’m not sure why they’re doing it, but I’m glad they are. Saw a mention about it on Twitter last night and downloaded Photoshop. I’ve been using Photoshop 6 for about 10 years, so it’s VERY nice to have the upgrade to CS2.
@rick: Paint,net? Are you kidding? I’m a big GPL fan but Photoshop, even CS2, is far beyond what any free image editing software I’ve ever found can do (and GIMP hasn’t seen significant development in years, so it’s falling further behind with every release). 16 bit/channel support and adjustment layers are the biggest example for me. That’s why pros are willing to pay so much for it.
Home users who just want to crop and resize may not need the advanced features but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there or that serious photographers won’t benefit from them.
The official Adobe site is UP. Glitch or no, it looks official now. Go Download!
I doubt it was a glitch. I downloaded the update to Photoshop cs2 a week ago, and was surprised that there was no authentication required, even during the install. The current situation may have been the same back then, or maybe they expanded it to all of CS2 since then, I don’t know. But they were plain that with CS2’s EOL they were taking CS2 off the auto-update cycle and you were on your own with it.
Does anyone have recommendations as to which programs are still good to use and which ones should be passed over?
Also, I saw there was a quick hack for some of the Adobe downloads where if you need Windows 7 compatibility to reset your computer time/date prior to Nov. 2011 and try a manual update. There are a number of hacks for compatibility issues in the slickdeals thread.
If it was a glitch then what a very big mistake by Adobe.. Or probably someone is responsible for attacking and taking down Adobe Activation Server..hhhmmm…
The download page isn’t even requiring a sign in account anymore, so I am assuming Adobe is pretty much letting anyone download that wants it now. I started the thread on slickdeals and it’s turned into one of the biggest I’ve ever posted. For a truly free, EOL software to make front page is pretty rare (200k views and 600+ posts in 24 hours is pretty active, even for SD).
@Richard – The audio software isn’t bad (oh yeah they bought coolaudio if I remember the name); Captivate and a few others weren’t that bad (oh … they bought those from Macrovision).
PS (this version for certain) is not even close to current software offerings including the free paint.net
Acrobat – well even the current version isn’t a match for other freeware and paid offerings.
Video – has been and still is horrible.
Well some may think this whoops by Adobe is significant – not really :)
Haven’t used any Adobe products personally, but I had a client that did extensive video editing. They used Adobe Premiere 1.5 which is seriously ancient unreliable crap. 2.0 isn’t much better (in fact, if I remember correctly from browsing Adobe forums researching problems with their software it was widely recognized as worse than 1.5.) This software is old, obsolete and while undoubtedly useful for most non-professional purposes I wouldn’t expect too much from it.
Adobe software in general is crap: bloated, locked down license-wise (change your system hardware or just reinstall an image of your system and you have to re-activate it), prone to crash in mysterious ways requiring re-installation, and generally…well…crap. They’re the Microsoft of graphics software… :-)
Still, free is free! :-)
Finally got it right, downloading.
They should just suck it up and formally release it. It would be a good gesture on their part, and would make the most of their situation. Besides that, anybody who uses CS2 will WANT the newer versions. Folks who use the old one don’t use the new one because it is expensive and they aren’t used to it. But once you get used to it, you don’t mind as much PAYING for a better thing. I hope they don’t miss their chance.
Too late for Adobe …. the new EOL downloads have a fixed serial and the code to the activation servers has been removed.
The only thing they can do now is to change the direct links and hammer sites that make the fixed serials available. Good Luck on that when they can’t control the warez availability of the current versions.
InDesign Secrets report that you need to have purchased a license already:
http://indesignsecrets.com/adobe-is-not-giving-away-cs2.php
http://forums.adobe.com/message/4974662
Softpedia says this was opened to public IN ERROR. I guess someone’s head is going to roll for this.
@Martin – Thanks, I hadn’t seen them!
CS2 is not the only EOL product available: The full (I think I got them all) list includes:
Creative Suite 2
Acrobat 3D 1.0 for Windows
Acrobat Standard 7.0
Acrobat Pro 8.0
Audition 3.0
GoLive CS2
Illustrator CS2
InCopy CS2
InDesign CS2
Photoshop CS2
Photoshop Elements 4.0/5.0
Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0
Obviously some of these are included in CS2 – however, each one is available as an independent installer as well.
Is there a mirror site to download CS2? I’ve been trying for a couple of hours with no success.
nice they’re giving away freebies, and CS2 image bit depth should be good enough quality for most needs, though if you are working on high end quality graphic output, it may limit you some.
I noticed on their site they are now pushing their cloud software services …. the future perhaps?….
Still not getting to first base with the download page.
Have you tried the direct links?
I managed to find the direct download links. Not sure if you want them Martin?
Managed to install acrobat pro 8 as well but it couldn’t find the i386 version of AdobePDF.dlll but it continued the install and i wonder if it will continue to work — it started up all right.
This has got to be a oops lost my prototype phone type of situations…
Even Forbes is talking about it…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2013/01/07/download-adobe-cs2-applications-for-free/
I’ve gotten onto the Adobe page in question – took a while – am downloading Photoshop CS2 standalone right now. Also will go for Acrobat Standard. Absolutely great. Never thought I’d see this happen. Thanks, Martin.
The Adobe download page seems to be back up. :)
How come there is no press note from adobe? If they are doing this to get back some share of the market or whatever it would be a no brainer that they would make some kind of public statement. Furthermore the activation page metions december 13th as the date where no activation was required but the news broke out today at Gizmondo.
Very odd.
Excellent. I hope the link comes back up, or someone mirrors it. I could really use something like this.
@Martin
Should this of been a error on adobe’s part from one of the site programmers… I can tell ya that there would be one heck of a Photoshoped Watcom design from his/her boss bashing their head on the tablet xD
Gangdam Style nothing compared to sites like yours to share the news… =)
USELESS LINK ……………………………..
Can these be used for multiple machines on one account? Or is it a one-machine proposition?
Since it is the same serial number it is almost safe that you can install it on as many machines as you like, at least from a technical point of view.
I did as you said but when It came to insert CD2 it refused to recognize the already extracted files, but it had already installed Photoshop which was the main aim.
I only ran the first disc and everything installed just fine. Never touched discs two or three.
Not anymore!!!!
Not a mistake. Here is a link to the original Adobe explanation:
http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/creative-suite-2-activation-end-life.html
Great find, so they are effectively free and the page is just crashing under the load.
Same error
It was down, but then it was back online and I managed to download everything and now it’s down again. Looks like a traffic issue.
This link is working:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?loc=en&e=cs2_downloads
It’s not possible anymore :(
It’s showing the following message:-
“We’re sorry, the site area you’ve requested is unavailable. Please try again later.”
It seems that the provided link does not work anymore.
We’re sorry, the site area you’ve requested is unavailable. Please try again later.
Mistake by Adobe?