Planning a PC Upgrade, can I still use Lightroom 3?

My current "photo editing" PC is over 10 years old and I am thinking about building a new one. I built in when I was doing a lot more photography. The new PC will be for gaming and occasional photo editing. These days I typically only take pictures at family events. I have a Lightroom catalog with lots of pictures that I would like to use on the new PC. I still run LR 3 though as I never found the need to upgrade past that. It still processes my 30D and 1DMKII photos just fine. Digging around on the web I noticed that LR is now a subscription based software. I have no intentions of paying a monthly or yearly fee to use a piece of software a handful of times a year. So the question is, can I install my copy of LR3 on a new PC?

As long as you still have a valid license key, why not?

gjl711 wrote in post #18971200
As long as you still have a valid license key, why not?

I wasn't sure if Adobe would allow me to use the key to register the software anymore since they moved to the subscription based platform.

I would be surprised if Adobe failed to honor a perpetual license key. The only time I have heard anyone have issues is with a educational key but there was something funky like the software was sold to someone else. I can't remember all the specifics as it was quite some time ago. I believe it was a thread on POTN but it could have bee another photo forum.

The only issue I might think could exist is that LR 3 predates Windows 10 by about 6 years...a compatability issue?!

Wilt wrote in post #18971289
The only issue I might think could exist is that LR 3 predates Windows 10 by about 6 years...a compatability issue?!

Certainly a possibility as well.

It may be a hassle getting a download if you don't still have the CD. Or the last update if you do. The legacy stuff isn't as openly available as it once was. You will have to call or chat Adobe, provide a serial number to prove ownership, and go to the URL they will provide (in theory).

Thankfully I have every version of LR 1, 2, and 3 stored on my server as well as my serial number. My hoarding gene may have paid off this time.

In2Photos wrote in post #18971962
Thankfully I have every version of LR 1, 2, and 3 stored on my server as well as my serial number. My hoarding gene may have paid off this time.

I suggest you go to https://www.belarc.com​/products_belarc_advis​or and download and run the free version of Belarc Advisor. It will likely generate about 5 to 6 pages (it takes several minutes) of info about your PC including virtually every product key. You can uninstall it after its use.

It would be interesting to know what O/S you are currently running, desktop or laptop, model, etc. Often times a 10 year old machine can be upgraded to an SSD quite easily and Windows 10 installed with substantial improvement in performance.

Something to look out for is as LR3 is older and it’s probably for 32bit system. I wanted to do the same as you and found out that it didn’t work on my new PC because it was a 64bit system.

filam wrote in post #18972043
Something to look out for is as LR3 is older and it’s probably for 32bit system. I wanted to do the same as you and found out that it didn’t work on my new PC because it was a 64bit system.

Software written to run on a 32 bit OS will still run on a 64 bit OS but not the other way round.

John from PA wrote in post #18972008
I suggest you go to https://www.belarc.com​/products_belarc_advis​or and download and run the free version of Belarc Advisor. It will likely generate about 5 to 6 pages (it takes several minutes) of info about your PC including virtually every product key. You can uninstall it after its use.

It would be interesting to know what O/S you are currently running, desktop or laptop, model, etc. Often times a 10 year old machine can be upgraded to an SSD quite easily and Windows 10 installed with substantial improvement in performance.

The computer is a desktop running Windows 7 Ultimate, 64 bit that I built.

i7-920
MSI x58 Pro
6GB DDR3-1333
GTX1060 6GB
Boot drive - 128GB Samsung SSD

I never upgraded to Windows 10 as I honestly preferred 7 and didn't want to "upgrade" if I didn't have to. While 10 may offer me some some improvement on this old machine I don't think it's worth it. If I am running a game and have Chrome open I max out my RAM. CPU is maxed during gaming as well.

filam wrote in post #18972043
Something to look out for is as LR3 is older and it’s probably for 32bit system. I wanted to do the same as you and found out that it didn’t work on my new PC because it was a 64bit system.

It is currently running on a 64 bit OS so not a problem.

gjl711 wrote in post #18972087
Software written to run on a 32 bit OS will still run on a 64 bit OS but not the other way round.

It will run but you may not be about to install or re-install. I don't know about windows but with a Mac the installer is 32 bit.

digital paradise wrote in post #18972351
It will run but you may not be about to install or re-install. I don't know about windows but with a Mac the installer is 32 bit.

Windows has no such limitation. 32 bit software installs and runs just fine on 64 bit Windows. 32 bit software will still be limited to 4 GB of RAM in most cases though.

mike_d wrote in post #18972365
Windows has no such limitation. 32 bit software installs and runs just fine on 64 bit Windows. 32 bit software will still be limited to 4 GB of RAM in most cases though.

Thanks for the info.