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Hello,

I downloaded the trail version of Painter 11 about 2 weeks ago. I'm really liking it and figured I'd buy it. Then my hard drive developed some issues & I ended up replacing it. Decided to upgrade to OS 10.6.3 while I was at it. Transfered all my files back via Time Machine and everything works perfectly except Painter 11. I get "Error 20 - reinstall from original source".  whenever I launch it. I uninstalled it cafefully following the uninstall instructions listed on Corel's web site (deleting all files from the trash) and then reinstalled it. I did this several times with no positive results. I even downloaded the trial software again after throwing everything away and reinstalling from that. Same result "error 20".

I did some searching around to find a solution and found that many people had similar problems, but found no solutions. Like I said I'm really thinking of buying the program, but definitely not if I can't even get my trial version to work through its test period.

Anyone have a solution to this?

Thanks,

Mark

Have a read of this thread HERE.  I'm a little afraid that you wont be able to get the trial running again anyway, even if you get rid of the Error 20 message.  Because once you uninstall it that's it, even if you didn't use up the 30 days, you wont get it to work again. Changing/Cloning drives quite often stops Painter software because of the licensing (Protexis) stuff that is used to stop it being copied illegally, goes screwy during the transfer.  Used to be 'relatively' easy to fix in version X, but it changed slightly in version 11 and that fix no longer works (I don't think - at least it didn't for me with the PC fix).

I also suggest if you do opt to buy Painter, you get the box set not the download.  As there have been previous issues regarding installation from download once the trial expires, which don't occur if you install from the disc.  Also there is a service patch that should be installed immediately after loading the program and before opening it for the first time that makes it less buggy.

Ok finally solved the problem! It took several days but the answer is buried deep and (I feel rather) obscurely on Corels own web site.

First remove painter from the hard drive by following these instructions (Answer ID 763711):

To manually remove Corel® Painter 11  from Macintosh (OS)X

• To remove Corel® Painter X, or  Corel® Painter 11 Please follow the steps listed below.
  
• 1) Open Macintosh Hard Drive | Applications | Remove Corel Painter 11 installation by placing it in the trash can
  
• 2) Open Macintosh Hard Drive | Users | User name | Library | Preferences | Remove the file named : com.corel.Painter11.plist by placing it in the trash can
• 3) Open Macintosh Hard Drive | Users | User name | Library | Application Support | Corel | Remove the folder : Painter 11 by placing it in the trash can 
• 4. Painter 11 is now Removed

Next (Answer ID 764434)

Corel® Painter™ 11 Invalid Serial # after a migration from a G5 Mac to a Snow Leopard using Time Machine

Follow the following procedure to activate your program.

1. Remove the Corel® Painter™ 11 by using Answer ID # 763711
2. Open Macintosh Hard Drive | System | Library | CoreServices | Directory Utility
3. Click the Lock icon and type in your Mac password
4. From the Edit menu, select Enable Root User
5. From the Edit menu Select Change Root Password and type in the new root password
6. Modify the permissions Open Macintosh Hard Drive | Library | Preferences
7. Preferences folder use Keyboard shortcut keys Command+I or Apple +I to "Get Info"
8. Click on the Sharing & Permissions:
9. Click on the Lock and enter your Password
10. Click on Everyone: Read &Write and make sure you have enabled the check mark beside Read & Write to give the required permissions, and then click on the gear drop down arrow and apply to the enclosed items.
11. Keep "Get Info" window open for the Preferences folder so that you can revert the permissions later.
12. Reinstall Corel® Painter™ 11
13. Launch Corel® Painter™ 11, and you’ll be able activated online successfully
14. Repeat Steps # 3, 4, and 5 to Disable Root User, as soon as possible for security reasons.

PS. Note: Please note that after follow these instructions you should disable the root user

I followed these steps and I'm back up and running.

BTW I opted to buy the software and did so by digital download. No problems once I got this issue resolved.

Glad to hear you got it all fixed.  Nothing worse than banging your head against a brick wall to find the answer.

Thanks for posting your findings.  Hopefully some other poor sod suffering from the same problem will have their day saved  by it. ;)

Thanks a lot - this instructions worked for me!

on OSX 10.6.7, after tuning my MBP with SSD and re-installation Painter11 refused to get activated! (precisely the Installation Code was missing and the input field was locked) I tried all available instructions, re-installed about a dozen times - without any change! Only this instructions – mainly activating the root user and changing the permissions on /Library/Preferences did the trick! Sadly Painter11 isn't a 64bit app 8-(

Thanks again & greetings from Kiel, Germany!

This didn't work for me on a mid 2008 iMac Lion OS.  I changed permissions on the preferences directory and the subdirectory too (Byhost) still wouldn't get rid of error 20 after the install.  Funny that my previous version Painter X still works fine under Lion, but the 11 does not.  Who hosed that one up at Corel?

Inconsistent too, in that both versions work fine on my MacBookPro (unibody) with Lion OS installed.

WARNING!

I am running OSX Lion, and after I did the procedure with the changing of permissions, ALL of my Adobe CS3 programs stopped working.

[Edit] Ok I managed to fix my CS3 problem by going here http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/error-licensing-stopped-mac-os.html and fixing the Permissions by doing Steps 3, 4, and 5 only.