Help with MS reader

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

But when I called them, they denied they could do any such thing or had any information relevant to the problem. They reiterated that Reader was a free product and they would not provide any support.

You register MS Reader to your MS Passport nee Live ID. You register Digital Editions to your Adobe ID. Never the twain shall meet.

BOb

[ProfJulie]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

My copy of Reader was activated with a Microsoft Passport account, not an Adobe ID, but I did try contacting Adobe. I actually found a page on their site that said they could at least look up your Passport ID.

But when I called them, they denied they could do any such thing or had any information relevant to the problem. They reiterated that Reader was a free product and they would not provide any support.

So I guess I'm out of luck.

Are you having a problem with Microsoft Reader files or with Adobe files? I'm confused about what your specific problem is. Please provide more information and we'll try to help you out.

[alcofribas]

Originally Posted by ProfJulie

Are you having a problem with Microsoft Reader files or with Adobe files? I'm confused about what your specific problem is. Please provide more information and we'll try to help you out.

They are Adobe pdf files. You can (or at least you could, at the time that I did so) activate Adobe Reader with either an Adobe ID or a Microsoft Passport. I used a Microsoft Passport (which now seems to have been deleted for "inactivity").

I don't actually have a problem at the moment, but when I upgrade my PC, I won't be able to activate Reader again using the same Passport, so I will lose the books I bought.

[ProfJulie]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

They are Adobe pdf files. You can (or at least you could, at the time that I did so) activate Adobe Reader with either an Adobe ID or a Microsoft Passport. I used a Microsoft Passport (which now seems to have been deleted for "inactivity").

I don't actually have a problem at the moment, but when I upgrade my PC, I won't be able to activate Reader again using the same Passport, so I will lose the books I bought.

Are you able to use the Microsoft Passport with other websites? Are you able to use the login and password to login to Windows Live? If the problem is with the Passport account, then you should be able to contact Windows Live support to find out the status of the account - if it were me, I would not mention the Adobe activation issue, because that will just confuse the issue since, at this point anyway, the problem is with the Passport account which really doesn't have anything to do with Adobe.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

They are Adobe pdf files. You can (or at least you could, at the time that I did so) activate Adobe Reader with either an Adobe ID or a Microsoft Passport. I used a Microsoft Passport (which now seems to have been deleted for "inactivity").

You don't activate "Adobe Reader". And I have never used my passport account at any of the Adobe properties. I think you are mistaken.

BOb

[alcofribas]

Originally Posted by ProfJulie

Are you able to use the Microsoft Passport with other websites? Are you able to use the login and password to login to Windows Live? If the problem is with the Passport account, then you should be able to contact Windows Live support to find out the status of the account - if it were me, I would not mention the Adobe activation issue, because that will just confuse the issue since, at this point anyway, the problem is with the Passport account which really doesn't have anything to do with Adobe.

No, I can't log in to my Passport account. They say it doesn't exist.
I don't remember the last time I signed in, but since I only used it for this purpose, I really didn't have any reason to do so.

[alcofribas]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

You don't activate "Adobe Reader". And I have never used my passport account at any of the Adobe properties. I think you are mistaken.

BOb

Here, take a look at this:

http://support.adobe.com/devsup/devs...docs/53863.htm

or this:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/view...ernalId=329059

The terminology they use is that you activate the machine, but it doesn't make much difference.

(I haven't forgotten my password, btw. That page just turned up on a search.)

[ProfJulie]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

You don't activate "Adobe Reader". And I have never used my passport account at any of the Adobe properties. I think you are mistaken.

BOb

No, there's no mistake in what he is trying to do. I used my .NET passport account to activate my computers and pocket pcs through Adobe's DRM Activator page - You can use either a .NET passport account or an Adobe ID to do this - although the site seems to be down right now.

[ProfJulie]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

No, I can't log in to my Passport account. They say it doesn't exist.
I don't remember the last time I signed in, but since I only used it for this purpose, I really didn't have any reason to do so.

If you cannot log into your Passport account, then I'd suggest you contact Microsoft's Live support - I think I provided a link for this earlier in this thread. Don't even mention the Adobe issue. You need to figure out why the Passport account is not working first and that doesn't have anything to do with Adobe. The Passport account can be used with lots of different websites and you just happen to use it with Adobe's site.

Have you confirmed that you are inputting the account information correctly - the login is sensitive to upper and lower case characters. You could also try deleting all of the cookies on the computer and then see if you can access the account (deleting the cookies will make it so you'll have to log into any other web-based services again).

[alcofribas]

Originally Posted by ProfJulie

If you cannot log into your Passport account, then I'd suggest you contact Microsoft's Live support - I think I provided a link for this earlier in this thread. Don't even mention the Adobe issue. You need to figure out why the Passport account is not working first and that doesn't have anything to do with Adobe. The Passport account can be used with lots of different websites and you just happen to use it with Adobe's site.

Have you confirmed that you are inputting the account information correctly - the login is sensitive to upper and lower case characters. You could also try deleting all of the cookies on the computer and then see if you can access the account (deleting the cookies will make it so you'll have to log into any other web-based services again).

Well, as certain as I can be, I suppose. I wrote the username and password in a text file. I did contact Microsoft Live, and as I said, they referred me to my e-mail provider Verizon, which of course makes zero sense.

I found this page:

https://accountservices.passport.net...nt.srf?lc=1033

which says:

"Inactivation and Deletion of Account

Microsoft will delete your account on the Passport Network if it remains inactive for an extended period of time. Inactivity is defined as a failure to sign in to any site or service on the Passport Network using your credentials.


If your credentials on the Passport Network are associated with a free MSN or Hotmail e-mail inbox, your account will be made inaccessible if it remains inactive for 120 days, and any account information you have provided will be deleted. If you have credentials on the Passport Network that are not associated with a free MSN or Hotmail e-mail inbox, your account will be made inaccessible if it remains inactive for 365 days, and any information you have provided will be deleted. Accounts associated with paid subscriptions for MSN or Hotmail are not made inaccessible due to inactivity."


So at this point, I assume my account is probably gone.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

The terminology they use is that you activate the machine, but it doesn't make much difference.

Ah... but I think (pretty sure) that was the old scheme when a book was tied to your PC and not to your ID. When you install Digital Editions it will find all of your secure PDFs and if they are activated on your current PC it will switch the activation to your Adobe ID.

Look how old those pages are. One is from Jan 07 and one from March 07. The move to activation changes the book from being activated on/tied to a pc to "named" activation. Meaning it will be activated to your Adobe ID.

Have you installed Digital Editions, created an Adobe ID and let it crawl and convert all your current PDF files?

BOb

[ProfJulie]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

Well, as certain as I can be, I suppose. I wrote the username and password in a text file. I did contact Microsoft Live, and as I said, they referred me to my e-mail provider Verizon, which of course makes zero sense.

I found this page:

https://accountservices.passport.net...nt.srf?lc=1033

which says:

"Inactivation and Deletion of Account

Microsoft will delete your account on the Passport Network if it remains inactive for an extended period of time. Inactivity is defined as a failure to sign in to any site or service on the Passport Network using your credentials.


If your credentials on the Passport Network are associated with a free MSN or Hotmail e-mail inbox, your account will be made inaccessible if it remains inactive for 120 days, and any account information you have provided will be deleted. If you have credentials on the Passport Network that are not associated with a free MSN or Hotmail e-mail inbox, your account will be made inaccessible if it remains inactive for 365 days, and any information you have provided will be deleted. Accounts associated with paid subscriptions for MSN or Hotmail are not made inaccessible due to inactivity."


So at this point, I assume my account is probably gone.

I agree, it doesn't make sense that your email provider would have anything to do with your Passport account, unless you used the email account from your email provider when you set up your Passport account - then there might be a slight, and only a slight connection because your Passport account would still be good even after an email account might be terminated.

If Microsoft deleted the account for inactivity, I wonder if you can just use the same login to create a new passport account.

[alcofribas]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Ah... but I think (pretty sure) that was the old scheme when a book was tied to your PC and not to your ID. When you install Digital Editions it will find all of your secure PDFs and if they are activated on your current PC it will switch the activation to your Adobe ID.

Look how old those pages are. One is from Jan 07 and one from March 07. The move to activation changes the book from being activated on/tied to a pc to "named" activation. Meaning it will be activated to your Adobe ID.

Have you installed Digital Editions, created an Adobe ID and let it crawl and convert all your current PDF files?

BOb

No, but I'll give it a try later. However I suspect that only works for items purchased using "Easy Activation" as described here:

http://blogs.adobe.com/digitaleditio...ng_in_dig.html

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by alcofribas

No, but I'll give it a try later. However I suspect that only works for items purchased using "Easy Activation" as described here:

Ah you may be right.

That said, I am also surprised that your passport is gone. Originally HotMail emails were also passports. If you didn't use your hotmail account it would be deactivated. But, the username and passport still existed.

BOb

[alcofribas]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Ah you may be right.

That said, I am also surprised that your passport is gone. Originally HotMail emails were also passports. If you didn't use your hotmail account it would be deactivated. But, the username and passport still existed.

BOb

It worked! I installed Digital Editions and created an Adobe ID. It found the most recently downloaded books and said it was converting them. The original files did not seem to be altered, but fresh (slightly larger) copies appeared in the "My Digital Editions" folder. I tested things out by installing and activating Digital Editions on a notebook which had never been activated with the Microsoft Passport id, and the new files opened fine.

I converted the rest of my books by using "Add Item to Library" from within Digital Editions.

So I guess as long as the machine is still activated for the old DRM, Digital Editions is happy to convert your files to the new DRM. Nice job by Adobe, and I am glad to be rid of Microsoft Passport.

Thank you very much for the suggestion (and also ProfJulie for her help). I might have never tried this otherwise.