Use Photoshop CS2 on Win 11 machine?


If you are running some security check utilities such as Belarc Advisor,
you might get some warnings about the program's EOL but besides that, no problem.



Screenshot 2023-06-13 161754.jpg
 

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Photoshop CS2 was released back in 2005 and, as I'm sure you are aware, is no longer supported by Adobe. Best advice I can give is to try it and see if it works. My guess is that it will probably work just fine. I used CS2 back in 2005 but today I subscribe to the Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop Photography Plan which always keeps me up to date.
 

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Photoshop CS2 was released back in 2005 and, as I'm sure you are aware, is no longer supported by Adobe. Best advice I can give is to try it and see if it works. My guess is that it will probably work just fine. I used CS2 back in 2005 but today I subscribe to the Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop Photography Plan which always keeps me up to date.
yeah, my son is using an Adobe Photography creative cloud account as well. It's $10 a month for Photoshop and Light Room. He's had his account for about 3 years now.

I can already hear the boos from the "i hate software subscription" folks, but having worked for software companies in the past, i don't pirate software and i remember in years past (around CS5) that photoshop was like $700 for a license, and something like $200 to upgrade versions. If we bought that license and did 1 upgrade, we'd be in $900. 3 years of the sub and we are around $360...so 1/3 the cost and we can opt out tomorrow and not pay a penny more..... He's always on the latest version and as a 15 year (going on 16 in a month), he's been using and learning the industry standard tool for the past 3 years. i look at that as a worthwhile educational cost.
 

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    Windows 11 Pro
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    Beelink SEI8
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    Intel Core i5-8279u
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    AZW SEI
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    32GB DDR4 2666Mhz
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    Intel Iris Plus 655
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    Asus ProArt PA278QV
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    512GB NVMe
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    Mini PC used for testing Windows 11.
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    Ryzen 9 5900x
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yeah, my son is using an Adobe Photography creative cloud account as well. It's $10 a month for Photoshop and Light Room. He's had his account for about 3 years now.

I can already hear the boos from the "i hate software subscription" folks, but having worked for software companies in the past, i don't pirate software and i remember in years past (around CS5) that photoshop was like $700 for a license, and something like $200 to upgrade versions. If we bought that license and did 1 upgrade, we'd be in $900. 3 years of the sub and we are around $360...so 1/3 the cost and we can opt out tomorrow and not pay a penny more..... He's always on the latest version and as a 15 year (going on 16 in a month), he's been using and learning the industry standard tool for the past 3 years. i look at that as a worthwhile educational cost.
The word "pirate" is an attempt to make theft sound acceptable. I'm not a thief. I thoroughly enjoy my Lightroom/Photoshop subscription.
 

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    Windows 11 Pro
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    Dell XPS 16 DA16260
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    Intel Series 3 Core Ultra X9 388H
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    64GB LPDDR5x 9600 MT/s
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    Intel Arc graphics B390 Panther Lake
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    16" 3.2K Tandem OLED Infinity Edge
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    3200 x 2000 16:10 236 PPI
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    1 Terabyte M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD
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    Dell Command | Update
    Macrium Reflect X subscription
    1Password Password Manager
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
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    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft Surface Laptop 7
    CPU
    Snapdragon® X Elite (12 Core) with Hexagon NPU delivering 45 TOPS
    Memory
    32GB LPDDR5x 8448 MT/s
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Adreno GPU
    Sound Card
    Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Atmos spatial sound
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.8″ PixelSense Flow touchscreen 120 Hz 600 NIT
    Screen Resolution
    2304 × 1536 (201 PPI), 3:2 aspect ratio
    Hard Drives
    1 TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 SSD
    Case
    Black Anodized Aluminum
    Cooling
    Vapor Chamber Cooling
    Mouse
    None
    Internet Speed
    942 Mbps Netgear Mesh + 2 Satellites
    Browser
    Microsoft Edge (Chromium)
    Antivirus
    Windows Security (Defender)
    Other Info
    Microsoft 365 subscription (Office)
    Microsoft OneDrive 1TB Cloud
    Microsoft Visual Studio 2026
    Microsoft Visual Studio Code
    Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation
    Lightroom/Photoshop subscription
    1Password Password Manager
    Microsoft Sysinternals
    Amazon Kindle for PC
    Microsoft BitLocker
    Microsoft Copilot
I'm a registered user of PS CS2 . . . can I install and use it on my Win 11 Desktop?
Works perfectly.

Note also for CS2 there's some free keys around --issued by adobe way back when CS2 was re-classified as abandonware.

I still have photoshop CS7 running on Windows 11 -- although I now use the modern version plus adobe lightroom.

I keep CS7 as it's reasonably OK and I can run it on a whole slew of VM's -- the current versions though - you have to "unlicense it" on 1 pc to move it to another one -- which is a real pain. I'm not in favour of subscription software generally -- but that's another whole can of worms.

With some of these old programs you might not be able to get the latest processing for handling the relevent newer cameras RAW images is you like shooting RAW - but you can always use the camera's own software to do the initial processing and then import into PS for further processing.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,11 Linux Fedora Rawhide pre-release 45
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
    Screen Resolution
    4KUHD X 2
If you are running some security check utilities such as Belarc Advisor,
you might get some warnings about the program's EOL but besides that, no problem.



View attachment 62248
Jeez the chance of one person in a thread wanting to install cs2 and finding another one who actually has it installed already for some reason! xD
 

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    11
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Jeez the chance of one person in a thread wanting to install cs2 and finding another one who actually has it installed already for some reason! xD
Not sure what the beef or problem is here -- surely the whole point is to attempt to address the question asked by the OP -- there's loads of software that undergo endless updates and for around 75% of their users there really isn't a lot of point. I like new stuff and I'm a real power user for example of EXCEL - but I'd suspect (and at least in my experience and have done quite a few large international projects) -- most users would not use any of the new features in EXCEL from beyond Office 2010. In fact the Free gnumeric spreadsheet on a Linux VM / host (you don't need the whole bloated libre office) works probably just OK for typical "Non Power users". Also Thunderbird is a decent free email client that works perfectly also on Windows.

I like Ms Office but there's no reason to use it if your requirements don't need it -- same with photoshop and a load of other software.


Gnumeric free spreadsheet -- you don't need to install the whole Gnome GUI package on a Linux VM or host -- just install the spreadshe. I've got this on a very efficient minimal resource Linux GUI (LXDE) . It has limitations such as not being able to do data inquiries or update from web data or connect to MySQL type datatbases - but most "typical users" don't need that capability anyway,

Screenshot_20230614_165704.png


Abiword is also a good stand alone word processor too . No need to install "Whole Office suites". Just select the best components.

Screenshot_20230614_171306.png

I'm 100% with new development but for many there's no reason a lot of times to "Upgrade" just for the sake of it -- and often too many upgrades just keep adding "features" and bloat and often ruin very successful mean and lean and great apps.

Cheers
jimbo
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,11 Linux Fedora Rawhide pre-release 45
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
    Screen Resolution
    4KUHD X 2
Not sure what the beef or problem is here --
The way i read the response was that it was just funny. Somebody looking to install and ancient version and somebody else who has the ancient version installed. I could be wrong, but i think it was just in jest.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Beelink SEI8
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8279u
    Motherboard
    AZW SEI
    Memory
    32GB DDR4 2666Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Plus 655
    Sound Card
    Intel SST
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus ProArt PA278QV
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
    PSU
    NA
    Case
    NA
    Cooling
    NA
    Keyboard
    NA
    Mouse
    NA
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Mini PC used for testing Windows 11.
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5900x
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix X570-E Gaming
    Memory
    64GB DDR4-3600
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA GeForce 3080 FT3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ. ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27” WQHD
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    2TB WD SN850 PCI-E Gen 4 NVMe
    2TB Sandisk Ultra 2.5" SATA SSD
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus 850
    Case
    Fractal Meshify S2 in White
    Cooling
    Dark Rock Pro CPU cooler, 3 x 140mm case fans
    Keyboard
    Corsiar K65 RGB Lux
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender.
The way i read the response was that it was just funny. Somebody looking to install and ancient version and somebody else who has the ancient version installed. I could be wrong, but i think it was just in jest.
I'm still running some XP VM's -- I do some Vinyl (bespoke) record cutting for people and the old software runs perfectly on the VM - it won't work on even Windows 7.-

Screenshot_20230614_173851.png

The new hardware would cost me around 25,000 USD to upgrade - and with the volume of business I do isn't worth it - especially with perfectly functioning quality built pro studio standard hardware - even if it's old it's just not worth it.

The XP VM also handles professional (broadcasting quality) MD decks --(Mini Disc) where there's no DRM restriction unlike the consumer models.. As I'm now "Semi retired" this business of supplying bespoke vinyls, CD's and minidiscs is reasonably lucrative especially now sourcing blank vinyls is OK now -- plenty availble cheaply from S.Korea now.

Cheers
jimnbo
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,11 Linux Fedora Rawhide pre-release 45
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
    Screen Resolution
    4KUHD X 2
Not sure what the beef or problem is here -- surely the whole point is to attempt to address the question asked by the OP -- there's loads of software that undergo endless updates and for around 75% of their users there really isn't a lot of point. I like new stuff and I'm a real power user for example of EXCEL - but I'd suspect (and at least in my experience and have done quite a few large international projects) -- most users would not use any of the new features in EXCEL from beyond Office 2010. In fact the Free gnumeric spreadsheet on a Linux VM / host (you don't need the whole bloated libre office) works probably just OK for typical "Non Power users". Also Thunderbird is a decent free email client that works perfectly also on Windows.

I like Ms Office but there's no reason to use it if your requirements don't need it -- same with photoshop and a load of other software.


Gnumeric free spreadsheet -- you don't need to install the whole Gnome GUI package on a Linux VM or host -- just install the spreadshe. I've got this on a very efficient minimal resource Linux GUI (LXDE) . It has limitations such as not being able to do data inquiries or update from web data or connect to MySQL type datatbases - but most "typical users" don't need that capability anyway,

View attachment 62379


Abiword is also a good stand alone word processor too . No need to install "Whole Office suites". Just select the best components.

View attachment 62381

I'm 100% with new development but for many there's no reason a lot of times to "Upgrade" just for the sake of it -- and often too many upgrades just keep adding "features" and bloat and often ruin very successful mean and lean and great apps.

Cheers
jimbo
Maybe you tell me? You seem to know more about the beef and problem more than i do lol. what beef? I said what are the chances of one person asking about cs2 and another here happens to have cs2 installed, Dont know what about that insinuates beef of any form, which there wasn't?
Internet's a weird place man
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    [email protected]
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte Gaming X Z490
    Memory
    Viper Steelseries 32gb@ 3600mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Gigabyte 2070 Super 8GB, +200 core + 600 memory
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 4k HDR, Two 1080p Benq and Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    3840x2160/2560x1440/1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Adata XPG SX8200 PRO 1tb
    Samsung EVO 870 500GB
    PSU
    Corsair RX 650
    Case
    NZXT h510
    Cooling
    CM HYPER 212 RGB
    Keyboard
    Razer Ornata Chroma
    Mouse
    Steelseries Rival 710
Maybe you tell me? You seem to know more about the beef and problem more than i do lol. what beef? I said what are the chances of one person asking about cs2 and another here happens to have cs2 installed, Dont know what about that insinuates beef of any form, which there wasn't?
Internet's a weird place man
Always the problem when you have people from all over the world on the Internet. Sometimes the most innocent of remarks can be mis-interpreted - especially with a language like English which has so many variations and idioms. Anyway I get your point. No disrespect was intended.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,11 Linux Fedora Rawhide pre-release 45
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
    Screen Resolution
    4KUHD X 2
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