Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
My MBP went tango uniform and is off to Apple for service. In the mean time, I'm using my wife's MBP by booting it off my hard drive in an external enclosure. Aperture requested an activation key upon startup, and I dutifully typed in my key labeled "APERTURE 3 TRIAL UPGRADE ACTIV KEY-INT" (Part Number: D4857Z/A), which Aperture refused to accept. Any suggestions on using Aperture in the mean time?
MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.4/2.2 GHz), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
That's not the ativation key. What it is asking for is the serial number you got from Apple when you purchased Aperture.
That's not the ativation key. What it is asking for is the serial number you got from Apple when you purchased Aperture.
Thanks for the clarification. I've typed in everything that I have from my Aperture v1.5 paper receipt to today. No luck. I've contacted Apple's pro application serial number recovery service.
So far no response from pro application support. I sent in another support requrest via the web interface.
As much as I'm dreading the thought, it's likely time to start migrating away from this buggy piece of abandonware, or at least hedging my bets by running something else in parallel.
How did you originally purchase Aperture? The string you said you typed in in your first post show Aperture 3 Trial, did you download the trial version and then purchase an activation key? If so the activation key would have been set you you by email. Perhaps that email is still around somewhere?
There is an 800 number listed on the web page. Perhaps a call would get better response.
good luck
regards
I originally purchased v1.5 back in the day and tried everything from that paperwork. I then searched my email archives for everything related to Aperture. Still no luck. I'll try the 800 number tomorrow, but I think that the universe is telling me to move on…
I did use the Aperture 3 trial for a while and paid for the upgrade. I recall Apple botching the initial release of Aperture 3 where activation didn't work for several days. There was also something about the trial version not reading the existing Aperture library, so I had to export everything and then re-import it into the trial. What a mess that was.
Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately without the serial number only Apple can help.
good luck
reagrds
I traded emails with a support tech at Apple yesterday, and he verified that I was typing in a valid serial number and pointed me toward the possibile remidies in TS2005. I tried them when I got home, and they unfortunately didn't work. Looks like I'll need to get a new serial number from Apple on Monday. At that point I'll have been locked out of my Aperture library for a week. Not to mention that it wasn't until I called the Apple store six days after dropping off my laptop that anyone bothered to look at it.
Everything's back up and running, but I'm honestly puzzled at why activation worked today but not last week, as I was cutting and pasting serial numbers from emails each time and rebooted several times.
Invalid activation key problem
