Serious problem with Adobe!

I had over 200 books on my old computer (Windows 8) in an e-book reader called "Adobe Digital Editions". Now that I got a new computer (Windows 11), I installed the same reader and when I try to open any book it says:

"This computer is not authorized to open (book title) because this item is authorized to a Vendor ID. To authorize your computer to open this item, enter your login ID and password associated with this item and click on the Authorize button."

But I didn't need any ID or password to read the books on the old computer, so what "ID and password" are they asking for? Of course I tried my Adobe ID and password, but it just says "The vendor account you entered is not associated with the item you are trying to open." I don't even know what they mean by "vendor account".

I called Adobe on the phone, and the representative said I have to get that information from whoever I bought the books from. I've had most of these books for years, and now I haven't the slightest idea where I bought each one. When I told that to the representative, she said "It's not OUR problem!"

Have you tried just authorising this computer? You could also go back to the Windows 8 machine and see if 'Authorization Information...' tells you what you need to set on this new PC, such as which Vendor(s) you had authorized on the old PC.

Yes, I authorized this computer, and I had no problem reading a new book that I just bought on this computer. But I can't open all the books that were copied over from the old computer. They're in the library on the new computer, but when I click them I get the same dialog box that you showed here in your post just now. I don't know what I'm supposed to type in the "Adobe ID" and "Password" boxes. And the "Authorization Information" link on the old computer is grayed out and does nothing.

Dragon Drop said:

I had no problem reading a new book that I just bought on this computer. But I can't open all the books that were copied over from the old computer

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Well, I'm sorry but I won't be able to help much further. The few eBooks I use mine for are not DRM protected. Other may be able to help though, let's hope so.

As a work around try using the reader in Calibre. Just drag a book into Calibre when you want to read it and remove it when you get through.
It doesn't delete the file from its original location.
I have over 800 books, most in .mobi format, but Calibre reader works with a lot of different formats.

Calibre can do so much more than work as a reader. It can convert files to and from in almost any format.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried installing Calibre and it can't read my books. They are "acsm" files and I suppose they're in a format that can only be read by Adobe Digital Editions. The message I got says that the files are protected by "Digital Rights Management."

ACSM files are Adobe DRM-protected files, not DRM author protected files. Chances are that you're not logged in to Adobe Digital Editions under the same ID that purchased the book.

ACSM files are not eBook files but are nothing more than information that communicates with Adobe's servers to authorize that the book has been legally purchased. There isn't an eBook "locked inside" the ACSM file nor is there a way to extract the book from the ACSM file.

In other words, once your device is properly set up, you can open an ACSM file to register the book to the ID you've configured Adobe Digital Editions with, and then read the book on any device that's running ADE with the same user ID, without having to repurchase it.

Dragon Drop said:

Thanks for the suggestion, but I tried installing Calibre and it can't read my books. They are "acsm" files and I suppose they're in a format that can only be read by Adobe Digital Editions. The message I got says that the files are protected by "Digital Rights Management."

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I hate to say it but this is probably the correct behaviour. DRM normally only allows you to licence the installation to a particular user or a particular machine, and is for copyright protection.

You need to go back to original 8.1 pc and check the terms and conditions, particularly transfer rights.

Thanks, Glasskuter, for the explanation. I had mistakenly assumed that the ACSM file was the book itself.

But what is "the ID that I've configured Adobe Digital Editions with"? Is it the same ID and password that I use to log into the Adobe website? I tried that one, and it doesn't work. Is there any way that I can go back to my old computer and find out what that ID was?

Dragon Drop said:

Thanks, Glasskuter, for the explanation. I had mistakenly assumed that the ACSM file was the book itself.

But what is "the ID that I've configured Adobe Digital Editions with"? Is it the same ID and password that I use to log into the Adobe website? I tried that one, and it doesn't work. Is there any way that I can go back to my old computer and find out what that ID was

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Hi
might help you
Dave

No use. I have an Adobe ID now, and it works OK. Creating another new one wouldn't help. What they want is the ID that I had when I originally downloaded those books. But I don't think my Adobe ID has ever changed, anyway.

The problem apparently is that these books were authorized under a "vendor ID" and I'm not the vendor! Presumably, by "vendor" they mean all the various online stores that I originally bought the books from, and now I don't know who they were. But anyway, those parties didn't tell me their ID's and passwords -- why would they? So Adobe is expecting me to know other people's passwords, which is ridiculous!

It could just be ntfs permissions check who owns them and takeownership its worth a try as they will be owned y the old account

Samuria said:

It could just be ntfs permissions check who owns them and takeownership its worth a try as they will be owned y the old account

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I'm not familiar with "NTFS permissions". How do I "check who owns them and take ownership"? If that works, I'll be grateful to you!