Short answer: No, they are not the same.

Adobe Genuine Validator is not Adobe Genuine Service (AGS). AGS is the component that triggers the Adobe Genuine Service Alert popup and is normally installed in the AdobeGCClient or AdobeGenuineClient folders, using AGSService.exe. If those folders or files are missing, then AGS is not installed, which is why the uninstall command and manual removal steps do not work.

Adobe Genuine Validator exists in a completely different folder and is part of Creative Cloud’s internal validation process. It does not generate the AGS popup and does not need to be removed, blocked, or modified to resolve this issue.

In newer late CC2025 updates and CC2026 builds, Adobe often no longer installs the classic AGS service at all. When similar alert popups still appear in these versions, firewall blocking is the correct approach. If Adobe Genuine Validator needed to be addressed, it would already be mentioned in the guide.

Since the AdobeGCClient folder and cleanup utility are missing, there is nothing else to remove on your system; a restart after applying firewall rules is usually sufficient, and even if Adobe reinstalls AGS in a future app or CC app update, it will already be blocked and should not trigger the popup again.

Also make sure the blocking is done in the firewall that is actually active on your system, as Windows Defender Firewall rules will have no effect if you are using a third-party firewall instead.

Short answer: yes, this is extreme overkill and it’s unnecessary. Roughly 99% of what you’ve done isn’t required and doesn’t meaningfully improve safety or stability.

Adobe apps are designed to function as a tightly integrated ecosystem, and that doesn’t change simply because you moved from a genuine to a non-genuine setup. When using the GenP method, the software is intended to behave the same way it would under a normal subscription, which means background processes and some network-aware components are expected.

Seeing processes like CCXProcess, AdobeIPCBroker, CEPHtmlEngine, crash handlers, TeamProjects services, and similar components is completely normal. These are not suspicious by default; they handle panels, extensions, UI rendering, shared libraries, Dynamic Link, IPC, and crash reporting. Likewise, internal or localhost connections are expected because Adobe apps rely heavily on local micro-services talking to each other. Listening ports and internal traffic do not imply outbound communication or data exfiltration.

Watchdog behaviour is also intentional. Some Adobe services are designed to restart if they’re killed, which is standard resilience behaviour in complex apps and not malware-like persistence. Log files such as ACC.log are written regardless of connectivity, and the presence of logs or failed connection attempts does not mean successful external communication is happening.

Blocking hundreds of executables at the firewall level is where things become counterproductive. Indiscriminately blocking everything can break panels, extensions, Dynamic Link, and shared services, cause random crashes or startup delays, and lead to undefined behaviour over long sessions. It adds complexity without providing meaningful additional protection and actually increases the risk of instability and hard-to-diagnose issues.

Forcing Adobe apps into a fully isolated offline environment is not how they’re designed to run. While it may appear to work in the short term, it makes the setup fragile and harder to maintain. The safest and most predictable approach is to follow what’s already documented in the GenP Guides and run the software as close to its intended operating environment as possible, rather than attempting a total lockdown.

In short, this level of blocking isn’t needed, isn’t recommended, and doesn’t really buy you anything beyond extra risk.

While the thanks are appreciated for the GenP Wiki, we didn’t create GenP here.

GenP was originally created by Uncia and has since been maintained and improved by others.

We previously maintained our own version based on it; however, it’s much easier, and better for everyone.

To have just the one main version that the community uses and is kept properly maintained.

All credit belongs to them, past, present, and future.

Without their work, we’d all be paying for it or relying on a different free alternative.

There are no issues with InDesign patched using GenP.

If there were, it would already be clearly noted on the Compatibility List or announced in the Announcements channel on GenP Stoat, as has been done in the past.

Make sure you’re using the latest version of GenP and that all required files are being patched correctly.

At this time, all supported versions of InDesign are working as expected.

You’ve basically answered your own question already.

It wouldn’t make any logical sense to remove the After Effects option entirely, since WinTrust can still be used with older versions where it remains functional.

As for warnings within GenP itself, that’s ultimately up to the GenP devs, and if they feel it’s warranted, it may be added in a future update.

If someone doesn’t want that option, there’s nothing stopping them from simply masking it out themselves, and if it becomes enough of an issue, we can look at including that step directly in the guides as well, likely by providing a modified version with the option already removed so users don’t have to do it themselves.

That said, this introduces another issue, where people then question why there are multiple versions or why their GenP doesn’t have that option available. No matter what approach is taken, some users will always question it and not read fully.

As for warnings more generally, there are already multiple notices in the GenP Wiki that clearly explain the situation and that users should see if they’re actually referring to the guides.

Regardless of what’s written or how clearly it’s explained, people will still ask about it anyway, even if it was only discussed recently or was the last thing posted right before their own new post. Unfortunately, that’s just how it goes.

It’s also worth remembering that a significant number of users obtain GenP from third-party sources that simply rehost it for traffic due to its popularity, without providing proper guidance or support.

As a result, many people end up using it without fully understanding what they’re doing and only come here to ask questions once something breaks or their setup is already misconfigured.

This is exactly why the GenP Wiki exists and why it’s recommended to read it before posting.

At the very least, use the search in GenP Lemmy or Stoat, as this topic has already been discussed.

The UPX error code: 2 is fully explained in the GenP Setup, Troubleshooting, and Best Practices Guide, which you can access via the pinned link near the top of the posts.

To clarify: this is not actually an error. It simply means that the file is not UPX-packed, so there is nothing to unpack.

You can continue with the patching process as normal. Just make sure that RuntimeInstaller.dll, the file that normally requires unpacking, is properly patched.

Since UPX is returning error code 2, that file is already unpacked and therefore patchable.

In short, no action is required on your part for this message, provided that the file is patched properly.

If you’re unsure about any other steps, the GenP Wiki covers this and many other common questions in detail and is well worth a read.

There are no issues with the Photoshop CC2025 major release itself.

The problem is specifically with the Photoshop CC2026 major release from ≥v27.2, which are not currently being patched correctly.

This issue has been known since the beginning of December and has already been documented. It is clearly stated on the Compatibility List and has also been posted in the Announcements channel on GenP Stoat.

For this reason, updating to the latest Photoshop version was, and still is, not recommended.

If you scroll through recent posts, you’ll see this has already been discussed. It’s always a good idea to check the Compatibility List and Announcements before updating, as issues like this are often already covered there.

Because the latest release is not patched properly, Photoshop crashes shortly after launch. To resolve this, you will need to roll back to Photoshop v27.1 and then repatch it.

Alternatively, you can use the temporary Photoshop v27.2 file in the Announcements channel on GenP Stoat.

This is already covered in the GenP Guides in two places: once in the main GenP Guide steps themselves, and again in the Troubleshoot Section.

If you had referred to those, you would have found two links that direct you to Adobe’s own page explaining how to roll back to, and install, previous versions of apps here.

Additionally, this topic has been addressed in the Announcements channel in GenP Stoat. As noted there, you also have the alternative option of replacing Photoshop with a pre-release GenP test version instead of rolling back to the previous release. This is also mentioned on the Compatibility List.

This is not a GenP-related issue. The answer can easily be found simply by referring to Adobe’s own support pages for Harmonize.

Harmonize is an AI-powered feature in Photoshop and relies on Adobe’s generative AI systems. As such, it requires generative credits to function, meaning it will not work if AI features are disabled or unavailable on an account.

Just a quick note as well, in case it isn’t widely known: Harmonize has always consumed generative credits.

When it was first introduced, it used 1 standard generative credit per generation. Now that Harmonize is in general release, Adobe clearly states in their documentation that it is classed as a standard feature and consumes 5 generative credits per generation. This is explicitly noted on Adobe’s support page here.

It’s worth noting that Adobe’s own documentation is inconsistent, as their marketing page still states that Harmonize uses 1 standard generative credit per generation. However, the Photoshop Help documentation and in-app behaviour show that Harmonize consumes 5 credits, which should be treated as the authoritative figure.

Because non-genuine methods result in accounts being classified under Free Membership usage, users only receive a limited number of generative credits per month. If people experiment with the feature, those credits can be used up very quickly in a single session.

This has also already been discussed on GenP Stoat and can be found easily by doing a simple search there for Harmonize.

This is not an incompatible file or a broken download. What you’re seeing is a common Windows file-association issue.

In the current source download, some files are provided as .nfo (plain text). Outside of Windows, .nfo files are typically just text files containing information about the download. On some Windows systems, however, .nfo files are associated with System Information instead of Notepad, which can make the extracted folder appear incorrect.

This does not affect GenP itself.

The issue and its resolution are already covered under GenP Distribution Formats Explained and the Troubleshoot Section.

Opening the file in Notepad or correcting the file association resolves the issue. Refer to the sections mentioned above, or follow the steps already outlined in the earlier replies here.

If you had looked through previous posts on this forum, you would have seen that this topic has already been discussed multiple times, for example here, here, and here. It has also been discussed numerous times on GenP Stoat, simply search for false positive or VirusTotal there.

Regarding your concern, everything you need to know is already explained in detail in the GenP Wiki, the GenP Guides, and the GenP Setup, Troubleshooting, and Best Practices documentation. Refer to those resources.

GenP itself is safe to use. Antivirus software detects it because of its function and behaviour. Tools like GenP have traditionally been classified as hacktools or patchers, as they modify the behaviour of existing software. Microsoft’s malware database itself describes patcher-type hacktools as tools used to modify software so it can run without a valid license or genuine product key here. In earlier years, scanners (including services like VirusTotal) typically labelled such tools accordingly.

Today, many antivirus engines rely heavily on heuristic and AI/ML-based analysis, which focuses on behaviour rather than intent. Because GenP alters program files and execution flow, these systems often flag it under a wide range of generic detection names, including trojan-style classifications. In this context, trojan is used as a behavioural category rather than a literal description. These detections are false positives caused by behavioural similarities, not evidence of malicious code.

As a result, there are many different detection names, and maintaining a list of them would be pointless. Anyone familiar with tools such as keygens, patchers, or similar utilities will know that false positives are extremely common.

Although you downloaded the precompiled binary version, the source code is also publicly available. You are free to review it yourself or even compile GenP manually if you wish to verify its behaviour.

If you follow the instructions, temporarily disabling your antivirus, extracting GenP, adding it to exclusions or whitelists, and then re-enabling your antivirus, you will be fine.

If you are still concerned, switching to Monkrus method will not change anything. Monkrus releases are simply prepatched using GenP, meaning the same internal method is used. Likewise, third-party Adobe repacks are just leeched and repackaged versions of Monkrus releases, and some third-party sites have a history of including malicious, unwanted, or potentially harmful modifications.

Regardless of which non-genuine method you choose, it will ultimately be GenP-based at its core.

If this still makes you uncomfortable, the safest option is to stick with Adobe’s official subscription, it’s totally up to you which route you take.

Refer back to the Troubleshoot Section and read it carefully, especially the sample images provided.

This includes understanding the differences between the Adobe Genuine Service popup (AGS-related) and the common Unlicensed popup (non-AGS-related).

You are currently following the steps for the (AGS-related) Adobe Genuine Service popup, as outlined in the Troubleshoot Section.

This AGS-related popup will clearly display Adobe Genuine Service Alert at the top.

If the popup you are seeing has this text, then following the AGS-related steps, such as Remove AGS or using the three fallback methods, will resolve the issue.

However, based on the image you provided, your popup does not display Adobe Genuine Service Alert, and the log you returned shows that the necessary files or folders are missing.

Therefore, this is not the AGS-related popup and you are mistakenly mixing up the popups.

You are encountering a non-AGS-related popup, yet you’re using the AGS-related removal method.

To resolve your issue, follow the correct removal steps for the common Unlicensed popup, which is non-AGS-related.

For Photoshop, you can run WinTrust, or if you prefer not to use WinTrust, use alternative methods such as:

GenP+Good (instead of WinTrust), modified hosts with additional domain found, temporary workaround method, or firewall rules as a last resort.

By following the steps for the proper popup shown to you, your issue would be resolved.

This is not a GenP-related issue, and this community is not an extension of Adobe Support.

For more specific help with this issue, post on the Photoshop Subreddit or search the Adobe Community.

The original problem was simply that Photoshop’s scratch disk was full. The correct solution is to free up disk space or change the scratch disk location to a drive with sufficient available space.

Deleting temporary files without understanding what they do can easily break app features or background services. This is most likely what happened here and explains why Photoshop opens but can no longer save files.

Your scratch disk being full is a common Photoshop issue, and Adobe has its own documentation on it. You can find their guidance on the Photoshop support pages or in the Adobe Community, where this problem has been discussed many times.

Regarding uninstalling: a clean uninstall and reinstall of both the CC app and Photoshop would normally resolve any issues caused by missing or corrupted app files.

However, uninstalling Adobe apps requires the CC app to be installed and signed in, as that is how Adobe manages its software.

Using Adobe apps with GenP generally mirrors the behaviour of a standard Creative Cloud installation, meaning the CC app is still installed and expected to function normally.

As a result, login-related errors and cloud document warnings are not unusual if Creative Cloud is misconfigured or damaged.

It’s always best to double-check what files or settings you are changing rather than blindly following generic search results, especially with software like Adobe apps.

Again, this is not a GenP-related issue, and aside from repairing the Creative Cloud app and reinstalling Photoshop, the worst-case scenario would be a full uninstall and reinstall as outlined in Guide #4 (Full Clean).

This issue has been known since the beginning of December.

It is clearly stated on the Compatibility List, which should be checked before updating.

The same information has also been posted in the Announcements channel on GenP Stoat.

The latest Photoshop release is not currently being patched correctly, which is why it crashes immediately on launch after patching.

Because of this, updating was, and still is, not recommended.

At this point, you will need to roll back to the supported version of Photoshop and then repatch it.

This is not a GenP-related issue, Adobe’s own support pages, such as the one here, explains exactly how to change the install location already.

To move an installed app from C: to another drive, you change the location in CC app prefs and then reinstall the app so that it installs in the new location instead. After you’ve changed it, any future apps you install will also go to that new location.

If you were using Monkrus instead, you would uninstall it from C: and reinstall it, changing the location during the setup to the new location instead.

As for reset, using GenP with CC app: Changing the install location and reinstalling Photoshop does technically reset the installation because the app is uninstalled and then reinstalled. However, your personal settings are usually kept unless you choose to remove them.

Using Monkrus standalone installer: This also involves a reinstall, but whether your settings are kept or reset depends entirely on how that installer behaves during the process. It may offer an option to keep user data, or it may remove everything automatically, there’s no consistent behaviour.

There are no issues with InDesign (latest or earlier versions) when patched with the latest GenP.

If any problems existed, they would be documented in the Compatibility List and mentioned in the Announcements channel on GenP Stoat.

For reference, InDesign v21.0.2 works perfectly when patched with GenP v3.7.1, and there are no issues related to it closing immediately upon opening.

It’s worth noting that I have been updating my own InDesign up to v21.0.2, repatching with GenP v3.7.1, all without any issues.

If this were a common problem caused by GenP, others would be reporting similar crashes, which they are not.

Therefore, the crash after patching may be due to specific system or environment factors rather than the patch itself.

InDesign crashing immediately on launch is usually caused by corrupted background Adobe processes, blocked components, or damaged preference files.

It can also happen if antivirus software is scanning or blocking InDesign during startup.

The process still in use issue can often be resolved by fully closing all Adobe processes in Task Manager and then restarting.

Resetting InDesign preferences, clearing its cache folders, and ensuring CC services are running properly can also fix sudden-close issues.

If the problem persists, performing a clean reinstall is recommended, as leftover or inconsistent files can trigger launch failures.

This is already addressed in the Compatibility List and has also been discussed in the GenP Stoat channels. Beta versions are not officially supported beyond simply being installable.

If you encounter problems with the latest Beta release, make sure that both the CC app and the individual Beta apps are correctly installed, updated and patched.

If the problem persists, your options are to roll back to an earlier Beta release or use the stable General Release instead.

Additionally, as noted in the Compatibility List, Beta versions are experimental builds designed for testing and feedback.

Adobe may change or break functionality at any time, sometimes even through silent or forced updates, which makes Beta software inherently unstable.

Because of this, GenP does not provide support for Beta apps, and any issues arising from Beta builds fall outside their scope.

If you choose to work with Beta versions, please be aware that you do so at your own discretion.

Should a genuine compatibility issue ever arise, it would only be addressed in a future general release, never through a standalone fix developed specifically for a Beta build.

First of all, you don’t use GenP to download anything from Adobe. Adobe apps are downloaded directly from Adobe’s servers, and GenP is only a patcher that modifies your installed files to bypass subscription requirements.

All of your issues are already covered in the GenP Guides and Troubleshoot Section. You should refer to those instructions and follow the recommended steps.

If the CC app is installed and patched correctly as per the GenP Guide, then you only need to patch or repatch individual apps as needed. You can remove the search for the CC app itself in GenP options once it’s properly patched and working, this is explained in the guide.

Once the CC app is patched and shows Install instead of Free Trial or Buy, you’re free to install new apps or update existing ones. After installing or updating, simply use GenP to patch or repatch the individual apps, making sure to unpack (where required) before patching.

When the CC app is patched and functioning correctly, it behaves as if you have a genuine subscription. You can have the CC app open or closed during individual app installs/updates, or patching/repatching with GenP without issues.

Be aware that if the CC app, or any of the individual apps aren’t properly patched, or if you haven’t followed the guide steps, you may encounter issues like apps closing unexpectedly.

Apart from improper patching with GenP, issues such as Premiere Pro closing shortly after opening can result from a variety of system-related problems.

These may include version incompatibilities between Adobe apps, a corrupted or incomplete installation, damaged preferences or cache files, conflicting or outdated GPU drivers, insufficient system resources (such as RAM or disk space), missing or outdated Visual C++ runtimes and other essential system libraries, conflicts with third-party plugins or extensions, incompatible operating system updates, or restrictions imposed by antivirus or firewall software.

In some cases, corrupted media cache or project files can also prevent the app from launching properly.

Note that we do not provide support or troubleshooting for Adobe system issues; our guidance is focused solely on the GenP patching process. For detailed instructions or help with app- or system-related problems, post on the app’s own Subreddit or search the Adobe Community for similar discussions.

For all GenP-related issues, you can refer to the GenP Wiki. If all steps are followed correctly, your apps should run smoothly. Persistent problems are likely caused by system or installation issues beyond our scope.

Monkrus is simply prepatched with GenP files. If you encounter a non-AGS-related popup and have blocked the app in your firewall, then you shouldn’t experience any issues with popups appearing.

If the popup still appears, you may not have blocked the app correctly in your firewall, or you might have only blocked the shortcut instead of the actual app.

Regarding switching between GenP and Monkrus, this process is well documented in the GenP Wiki and its relevant guide sections. Although Monkrus is prepatched with GenP files, it operates differently because it doesn’t require the CC app.

Therefore, if you want to switch from Monkrus to GenP or vice versa, you should follow Guide #4: Full Clean. This involves removing all Adobe apps using your current method, then doing a full and clean install of Adobe through the alternative method.

Never mix and match GenP and Monkrus; always perform a full clean before switching to ensure proper functionality and avoid conflicts.

Uninstalling Adobe apps does not delete your Premiere Pro projects, After Effects compositions, Photoshop files, preferences, templates, LUTs, or any other content you created or saved separately. Those files stay exactly where they are.

However, you won’t be able to open or edit them until the relevant Adobe app is installed again. Once the program is reinstalled, your project files should open normally, as long as you’re installing a compatible version of the software.

If the new installation is a different major version, the project may need to be upgraded, but the app will prompt you before making any changes.

Safely backing up your project files mainly comes down to keeping copies of your project folders, media, and any custom assets in a separate location, such as an external drive or cloud storage.

Presets, plugins, and custom settings can usually be preserved by manually copying their folders before uninstalling anything, since many of them sit in your user-profile directories rather than the application folder itself.

Version compatibility issues can be avoided by reinstalling the same major version you were using before, or by keeping a backup of the original project file in case the newer version needs to convert it.