"Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem." — Gabe Newell
Back in December 2012, Adobe made a surprising move by shutting down the activation servers for its Creative Suite 2 (CS2) products. Many users, including a younger version of myself, jumped at the opportunity to explore Photoshop without the usual barriers. This was my first dive into Photoshop, and I quickly realized just how much more powerful it was compared to alternatives like Paint.NET and GIMP. Over the years, I transitioned to CS6 and CS7, even as Adobe introduced the Creative Cloud Suite. Nowadays, accessing Adobe products has become even simpler.
Adobe's Creative Cloud apps are available for direct download from their official servers, making it incredibly easy to access the full versions of their software. The tool we're using to bypass the subscription requirement is called GenP.
First, download the Creative Cloud app directly from Adobe. You'll need to register for an Adobe account—it's best to use a throwaway email for this step. Once you're logged in, be sure to uncheck the "Adobe Genuine Service" option during installation. This prevents Adobe from verifying the authenticity of your software.
Before proceeding, adjust a few settings to keep things running smoothly:
Menu > File > Preferences and disable the following: Once that's done, fully exit Creative Cloud by clicking Menu > File > Exit Creative Cloud.
Next, download GenP from the GitHub repo linked above. Temporarily disable your antivirus software, as it may interfere with the patching process. GenP involves two patching steps. The first step is to patch Creative Cloud itself.
With Creative Cloud patched, you can now open it again and install any Adobe program you want. Once the installations are complete, use GenP to search for and select your installation directories. Click "Patch," and you're done!