Installing ACR into CS4 on a 64bit machine

[Harriers9]

I managed to install ACR easily on my old Windows XP machine but now I have a Windows 7 64bit PC how do I go about doing it.

I have already installed CS4 and that went into the Program Files (x86) by default but I don't know where ACR went when I installed that. I just cannot find it. I tried to open a RAW file but nothing.

I looked in my XP backup and I can see a file called Camera Raw.8bi in the plugin folder so I copied that into the W7 install but still my Raw files won't open.

If I were to start over again what should I be doing?

[Forseti]

Manual 64-bit installation on Windows®:

If you are using Photoshop CS4 as a 64-bit application, you can use the Adobe Update Manager to install Camera Raw 5.7. If a manual update of the plug-in is required, please install the Camera Raw plug-in in two locations:
a. The CameraRaw.8bi found at the top level of the zip folder should be placed in the following directory:

Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS4\File Formats

b. The CameraRaw.8bi found in the folder labeled 64-bit should be placed in the following directory:

Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CS4\File Formats

The above was extracted from here http://www.adobe.com/support/downloa...jsp?ftpID=4681 which is also the download page.

[AndrewKulin]

Program Files (x86) are where 32 bit versions of software get loaded. If you installed CS4 as 64 bit it would be found in Program Files [no (x86) suffix]. Did you install it as 64-bit or 32-bit?

ACR does not install as a separate program, it is just a part of CS and LR that is there (like a plug-in) but does not have a separate application icon or anything like that.

I am sure you know this already, but you have to open RAW files either directly from Bridge or from within Photoshop, or if using something like Windows Explorer, using "Open With" to assign CS4 as the program to open these with. It sounds like from your description that you have tried all that, correct?

Can you confirm that there is no sign of Adobe Bridge anywhere on your 64 bit system? (check the start menu to see if Bridge is in the menu or in the Adobe Folder that should be somewhere in there). Try loading form Bridge - still no luck?

Is the software showing up as fully activated? (if not then activate it - this is found as a choice under the Help Pull Down Menu) And when you installed CS4, did you deactivate it on your XP machine? Adobe only allows you to install CS onto two machines and the activation/deactivation sends a message to Adobe Central Command with a unique machine ID. This also accounts for Op. System so if you change the OS on the same computer this can be viewed by Adobe as a completely different PC. So if you already had two activations (your XP PC, and say a lap-top), this Win7 version would be seen as a third and you'd be limited to a demo-mode. I know demo-mode won't let you save any changes, could it also be it does not let you run ACR? (though that would be somewhat silly limitation on a key function you'd want in a PS demo)

It may be simply easier to uninstall and re-install CS4. Just remember to deactivate the software first. When installing I suggest choosing standard install option and then watch the action unfold and make note of anything that might appear as a problem report during the process in case ACR still does not work.

One last question that I just thought of. How new is the camera you are trying to open the RAW files ? ACR for CS4 will only open up RAW files from cameras that were in existence up to the time of CS5 release. So for example a Canon 60D RAW File probably will not be open-able by CS4 ACR because it was released (I am pretty certain) after CS5 was released so will only be supported by CS5 (and later CS versions) of ACR.

[OldBoy]

You the search option in Windows, just put in the name of the file, like Camera Raw.8bi, and it will find where these files are located. Just make a note of the path to help you to place the new Camera Raw.8bi into the correct location.

[Harriers9]

Thanks Forseti. That did the trick.

Thanks to the help I received from the other two too. I did have to point the RAW file towards the CameraRaw.8bi first and make it the default.

I have a Canon 450D btw

[Forseti]

Originally Posted by Harriers9

Thanks Forseti. That did the trick.

You're welcome - glad all is working now.