Has Adobe stopped activating/deactivating PSE7?

Question

I have been using PSE7 on Windows 7 for years and never had a problem. Recently, I installed a new Windows 7 system drive and attempted to install my trusty PSE7. Prior to installing the new system drive, I ensured that all my software with activations were deactivated, but there was no option under the PSE7 Help menu for deactivation. (Ironically, there is a deactivation on a non-activated install but it is obviously grayed out and it wasn't in my original, activated PSE7 help menu.)
PSE7 installed correctly to my new Windows 7 (same Windows version and install disk I was using with PSE7 previously), but when I got to the activation screen, it just showed a red "X". After logging into Adobe and confirming my activation code, I contacted Adobe Support and was told that PSE7 was never tested on Windows 7 so they couldn't give any support, and that they could not even look up my activations in their computer to see if they were still 'active'. They did tell me that PSE7 was suppose to be automatically deactivated when it was uninstalled.
So, I did the following:
Restored a backup copy of my old Windows 7 and perfectly working PSE7 system (I'd already re-purposed the old drive)
Uninstalled PSE7 (as I remembered, there is no "Deactivate" in my working PSE7)
Re-installed Windows 7, updated it and installed PSE7, but PSE7 still wouldn't accept the activation
Re-formatted and re-installed Windows 7 but did not run Windows update in case it was a recent update the broke activation
Installed PSE7 but failed to get past the activation screen again
As I installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 and attempted PSE7 activation before I ran Windows update, the conditions were nearly identical to my original Windows 7 system when I successfully installed PSE7 all those years ago. If it installed and accepted activation in my original system but not in my last test, it leads me to think that Adobe is no longer releasing the activations for PSE7.
Anyone have any idea if Adobe is still releasing the activations or activating new installs for software they don't support anymore? I'm only assuming they don't support any PSE7, not just on the unsupported Windows 7, as they can't look up my activations for it. Seems strange that their support staff would not have access a older product's activations for troubleshooting, provided that they still have a server managing those activations?
Thanks

Answer 1

Ah ha, there is life on my thread. Maybe I should have ignored posting etiquette and bumped the thread a few times to get it back on the main page before throwing in the towel. Thanks, Michel.
MichelBParis wrote:
As another user like you, I have still old versions of Elements installed on my computer together with PSE13. I have version 6 active. Versions 4,5 and 10 I can reinstall if needed to help solve other users problems.The registration/activation of PSE versions has changed and I can find the registration keys and downloads for the versions 10 and newer. For my PSE6 and older versions, all I need is the original CD and original key. Those keys are linked specifically to the original CD. There is no activation servers for those.
Too bad, you have almost every version except 7. I purchased a download version and confirmed the S/N on my purchased software page, so I assume it is correct. Unfortunately, each and every time I get to the the activation screen, on multiple PSE installs and Windows 7 installs in various states of update, it spits out the dreaded red "X".
... pause for thought...
However, your comment about the original CD got me thinking, so just in case my originally downloaded install file was corrupted, I re-downloaded a copy of PSE7 from my account on Adobe, and it was a completely different installer! Gone was the S/N input page with a bunch of boxes to input the numbers in groups of 4 and there was simply a single input box that you can cut-and-paste the whole S/N into (you don't know how many times I retyped my S/N, 4 digits at a time, to make sure I didn't make a typo).
Even better than the S/N new input box is that it accepted my S/N without a hiccup! No red "X", or anything. PSE7 is installed and life is good again! Yay!
I kept my old install of PSE7 updated, but I never thought of the possibility of an updated installer. Possibly Adobe has changed how it expects the S/N to be transmitted, thus creating a different installer than my original one. Below the S/N input boxes on the old but not the new installer, there was a trial option that I also tried and failed to activate after install, but most software that have both options generally accept both options. Too bad the Adobe tech didn't know there were different versions of the installer, but not being supported any more, I guess I was lucky he tried.