The hosts file is a plain text operating system file that maps hostnames to IP addresses. It acts as a local phone book for your network. When your Mac tries to connect to a website or server, it checks the local hosts file before querying public Domain Name System (DNS) servers.

Adobe has implemented the , a background process that runs independently of the Creative Cloud apps. AGS is incredibly persistent. It can detect if the hosts file has been tampered with. If it detects that it cannot reach its servers, it may trigger a "non-genuine" pop-up or, in extreme cases, disable the software entirely. The hosts file blocks the connection, but it cannot block the logic inside the app that says, "I cannot reach the server; therefore, I should stop working."

::1 adobe.io ::1 ic.adobe.io ::1 b5kbg2ggog.adobe.io ::1 cc-api-data.adobe.io ::1 adobe-registration.adobe.io ::1 prod.adobegenuine.com ::1 3dns-2.adobe.com ::1 3dns-3.adobe.com ::1 activate.adobe.com ::1 activate.wip1.adobe.com ::1 activate.wip2.adobe.com ::1 activate.wip3.adobe.com ::1 activate.wip4.adobe.com ::1 adobe-dns.adobe.com ::1 adobe-dns-1.adobe.com ::1 adobe-dns-2.adobe.com ::1 adobe-dns-3.adobe.com ::1 adobe.activate.com ::1 adobeereg.com ::1 www.adobeereg.com ::1 wwis-dubc1-vip60.adobe.com ::1 ccmdl.adobe.com ::1 crl.verisign.net ::1 CRL.VERISIGN.NET ::1 ood.opsource.net ::1 practivate.adobe.com ::1 wip.adobe.com ::1 hl2rcv.adobe.com ::1 lmlicenses.wip4.adobe.com ::1 lm.licenses.adobe.com ::1 na1r.services.adobe.com ::1 na2m-pr.licenses.adobe.com ::1 license.adobe.com ::1 licenses.adobe.com ::1 na1.api.io.adobe.com ::1 prod.adobe.com ::1 udpprofiler.adobe.com ::1 vibeslive.adobe.com ::1 genuine.adobe.com ::1 guzg78logz.adobe.io ::1 adobelogin.adobe.com ::1 auth.services.adobe.com ::1 ims-na1.adobelogin.com

If you add these hosts file entries to block Adobe activation on Mac but still see a "Sign in required" pop-up, perform the following surgery: