Dreamweaver Serial Number Entry Fails - even trial version, serial screen freezes

Question

Well, I have Vista Home Premium, and a new hard drive. I
previously had Dreamweaver CS3 installed, but then had to get a new
hard drive. So, I downloaded the trial off the website, and the
install runs fine. I sold my old copy of Dreamweaver, thinking I
didn't need it. Now, I realize I do need it after all, so I will be
buying a new license.
However, when I first load Dreamweaver, and it asks for the
license or to try the trial, I click try the trial, and "next".
Well, it just freezes on me, and I have to either end the process,
or just let it sit there doing nothing. The installation worked
fine - but it just won't load. I ever tried using a friends serial
key (ONLY to see if I could get past the initial screen), but it
froze, too. I'm glad I haven't bought a serial yet - waste of money
if this won't work.
On the other hard drive, everything worked just fine, and I
deactivated and ran the CS3 installer cleanup. The ONLY change from
then until now is getting a new SATA hard drive, and changing from
IDE mode to SATA on the bios.
I have done three or four reformats, and have tried the
following:
Plain install, with everything in normal state
Reformat, install after installing drivers, some software
Reformat, install with NO drives, except for ethernet
Reformat, install with all drivers, UAC in Vista left ON
I'm out of ideas. I'm tried of reinstalling Vista, although
it does install fast.
Here's what happens:
Copy installer from flash drive to hard drive
Run installer, which extracts itself
Run real installer, installs fine
Reboot (in some cases, didn't)
Open Dreamweaver
Select free-trial (or, in one case, tried friend's product
key)
Click next
Screen freezes
Then, I have tried: ending all Adobe processes (bonjour,
Dreamweaver, licensor, etc), reboot, and try again. Same result
Just reboot, try again - same result
Turn off all firewalls, security devices, etc BEFORE
installing for the first time. Same result.
Uninstalled, ran CS3 cleaner utility, installed again. Same
result.
Again, the ONLY changes are:
Different hard drive (250GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA, instead of
160GB Western Digital Caviar IDE).
So - did the installer off the website change? Does it not
work now? Does it get stuck on the registration page?
I have tried Flash and Photoshop, too. Both have the same
result. What could be conflicting with the licesning service to
make it freeze like that? Can I manually tell it to go to a trial
mode, or manually enter in a license key in some file?
I'm leery of trying a P2P version, which would be an earlier
version of CS3, because I'm not sure what baggage would come with
it, nor do I want to end up in court for trying to get Adobe's
product to work.
Thanks for any help!

Answer 1

Hi barbarawhiting,
Welcome to Adobe forums.
If Jon's solution does not work, close and reopen the application. You are prompted to enter your serial number.
Thanks,
Preran