Today’s Question: Adobe allows Lightroom Classic to be “active” on two machines at a time. I have three computers, but really only need Lightroom Classic active on any two at a time. Is there a way to “deactivate” Lightroom Classic on a computer and “reactivate” it on another, thereby satisfying Adobe’s limit of two computers at a time?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can sign out of your Creative Cloud account through Lightroom Classic to reduce the number of active computers at a time. The next time you launch Lightroom Classic on that computer you’ll be prompted to sign in again. Just keep in mind that when using Lightroom Classic on more than one computer it is important to make sure that you’re always using the same catalog, such as by keeping the catalog files on an external hard drive along with your photos.
More Detail: The standard license for an Adobe Creative Cloud plan limits you to having applications active on no more than two computers at a time, though you can only run the applications on one computer at a time. If you have a need to use Lightroom Classic or other Creative Cloud applications on more than two computers, you’ll need to deactivate the software on one of the computers to allow another computer to be activated.
In the case of Lightroom Classic this is handled by signing out of Creative Cloud through Lightroom Classic. To do so launch Lightroom Classic on the computer you want to deactivate and go to the menu and choose Help > Sign Out (note that the email address associated with your Creative Cloud account will be shown to the right of the menu command). Click the “Sign Out” button in the confirmation dialog, and Lightroom Classic (and other Creative Cloud applications in your plan) will be deactivated on that computer.
You can then activate Lightroom Classic (or other Creative Cloud applications) on another computer. The next time you launch Lightroom Classic on the computer where you deactivated it, you’ll be prompted to sign in to your Creative Cloud account, which in turn will activate Lightroom Classic again on that computer.
While this process obviously involves a couple extra steps to be able to activate Lightroom Classic on a third computer, it is relatively straightforward and there is no negative impact in terms of your cloud-based services. Just be sure that you are always using the correct catalog files when switching computers, such as by always opening the catalog from an external hard drive.
