Reader Question: Installing Adobe Photoshop Lightroom on Multiple Computers
Reader and Twitter user Scott asks, “Do you know if the Lightroom license allows it to be installed on a desktop and a laptop at the same time?”
Great question. I’ve written previously about software piracy, and I really respect those who try to stay within the intended guidelines set by software companies.
The answer, luckily, is yes. You are legally allowed to install Lightroom (and Photoshop, as well) on a second personal computer in your home or a portable computer (laptop) for your exclusive use as long as you don’t run the program on both computers at the same time.
According to page 124, section 2.4 of the Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 End User License Agreement (EULA):
“Subject to the important restrictions set forth in Section 2.5, the primary user of the Computer on which the Software is installed under Section 2.1 (“Primary User”) may install a second copy of the Software for his or her exclusive use on either a portable Computer or a Computer located at his or her home, provided that the Software on the portable or home Computer is not used at the same time as the Software on the primary Computer. You may be required to contact Adobe in order to make a second copy.”
If you’re up for some real interesting reading [insert sarcasm here], you can check out the Adobe product license agreements page and print out some reference material to keep near your toilet.
For something MUCH more exciting than a long list of license agreements, why don’t you check out Scott’s website, myblueheaven.com?
Boy, that was a boring, lawyerly sounding article, eh? Do you have an exciting question that you’d like answered? Send us your question on the Contact Us page or tweet it to me @TheLightroomLab.
Filed Under: (12) FAQ
About the Author: Scott Rouse is an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE), photographer, teacher, and graphic- and web-designer in Missoula, MT. His photography focuses on wildlife and adventure sports and can be viewed at 
Hi,
I have a laptop and Installed LightRoom 3 as Administrator of the laptop and used the application from my own user id “gireesh”. It used to work.
Once the trial expired, I bought the license and used it.
Now, I am able to launch LR3 only if I log in as Administrator. If I log in as “gireesh” i am unalbe to launch the application.
Its frustrating. Can you please advise ?
Regards
Gireesh
Dear Gireesh Venkateswaran,
Have you tried un-installing and then re-installing the application while inside your user account? If this doesn’t solve the trouble I recommend contacting Adobe tech support and searching for more help on their site.
–
David Marx
Pete,
I’m no lawyer, but that’s what the EULA appears to be saying to me. That being said, I haven’t found that the software checks for multiple instances running on the same network (as programs like Microsoft Office do). I believe that if you are honestly trying to do the right thing, then you’re fine. Just leaving the program open and running at your studio while actively working on your laptop seems to follow the spirit of the agreement, IMHO.
-Scott
What is meant by “as long as you don’t run the program on both computers at the same time?”
If I had Photoshop left open on my PC tower at the studio, but turned on my laptop and started Photoshop would I be in violation of the EULA?
Pete
Thanks for the input guys. Much appreciated.
Working with multiple catalogs across PCs and Laptops – I keep my ‘master’ catalogs on my desktop drives and run ‘temporary’ catalogs on my laptop as needed.
For example, I normally create a new catalog on my laptop when traveling and import and edit there. When I get back home, I will transfer the whole laptop catalog to an external hard-drive. I will then start Lightroom on my desktop, and ‘import from catalog’.
If I want to take images from my desktop onto my laptop, I will ‘export to catalog’ and use the external hard drive to copy the new catalog to the laptop. When I import back existing images to the desktop, I preserve the original settings as a virtual copy.
This works for me but I don’t transfer large numbers of photos back and forth, normally only from the laptop to the desktop.
Marc, I use an external 1TB firewire drive to store my catalogs/photos so that I can hook it up between my desktop and laptop and have everything the same. My only issue has been syncing up plugins between the two installations (camera raw profiles, user presets in the develop module, etc.) The new Seagate drive is pretty compact (and less expensive) compared to the LaCie I was using last year (I do about a terrabyte a year), but it has had issues unmounting itself when I plug my card reader in, which of course doesn’t really work when I’m trying to import to it. Never had a problem with the LaCie drives though (I’m a Mac user).
Thanks, Stephen. Very helpful.
I manage two separate lightroom catalogs, and more would be possible. One is my main catalog on a portable drive, and one is my working catalog on my netbook. Set Lightroom to ask which catalog you want to open each time you start the program. General Preferences: default catalog: prompt when opening.
To move images from one to the other without loosing edit info, make collections of the images you want to move, then choose “export as catalog”. Close Lightroom and reopen with the target catalog. Choose “import from catalog”. Done.
You can then delete the moved images from your working catalog if you want.
Marc,
One of my Twitter followers offered up these links:
-Moving Photos between Lightroom Catalogs
-Moving Between Laptop and Desktop
Hopefully they help a bit, as well.
-Scott
re: the license question. You CAN run on Mac and PC, so long as one is a Desktop and one is a laptop.
re: catalogs on multiple devices, the easiest way is a fast external drive, preferable eSATA or FW800, just swap it over
Marc,
That’s a great question. There are a number of different ways that photographers would manage multiple catalogs.
This article, another Reader Question: Moving Images From One Computer To Another, may offer a bit of insight.
Hopefully some other readers will chime in with their experiences.
-Scott
So we can have Lightroom installed on laptop AND desktop. I am curious to know how other users manage photos and catalogs in this situation : portable hard drive, file copy, export ???
I’m not sure if they offer an “upgrade” to the Family Pack or not. I’ve never seen that upgrade listed.
Apple offers iWork and iLife in either a single-user version or the “Family Pack.” The Family Pack allows you to install the software on “up to five Mac computers in your household.”
You may have to check at the Apple Online Store.
I’m saving this year for a MacBook, so I was wondering about this. Thanks for letting me know!
I wish it was that easy with iWork. I think I have to get a second license ($20?) for it.
Hmmmm… I skimmed through the EULA again (Zzzzzz…) and didn’t see anything about that in there. If that’s what Adobe said, then I guess that’s accurate.
I’m no lawyer, but I think I’d feel safe with the program on both a desktop and a laptop (not to be used simultaneously) even if they were different platforms.
Lightroom’s serial numbers are platform-independent, whereas Photoshop’s are different for Mac and Windows versions (from what I can tell).
Interesting info, though. Thanks for sharing, Stephen.
One little caveat to this. Technically if you are running a Mac and a Windows PC you are not allowed to do this or so Adobe told me (I am in this situation). I lucked out and got another copy of LR2 from Amazon black Friday for a steal!
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