Unable to install Acrobat Patch 9.2 on Mac

[JatinderPal_Singh]

Case ID: 181226045

Customer is unable to install the Patch 9.2 for Acrobat 9.

Following are notes from customer:

Downloaded 9.2 patch. When attempting to install, message box said original software had been altered in some way and that patch cou
ldn't be installed. I have no idea how software was altered.  Works fine right now. Would prefer not to have to reinstall.

OS is Snow Leopard
Operating System: Macintosh
Has it ever worked? If so, what's changed? (provide comments in description field): Not Applicable
Same results with different file?: Not Applicable
Same results with different computer?: No
Recent System Hardware or Software change?: Yes

[modern-i]

Understandable.... I just gave up on waiting for Adobe to step in.

Yeah, it's fiddly, but the whole thing took 30 minutes tops (once I figured out the process).

And as each patch was successfully installed, I had immediate confirmation that I was on the right track.

But to each his / her own...  I just wanted to put the word out there that getting patch 9.2 installed was doable.

Of course, shame on Adobe for making this so convoluted and for not providing a global patch that includes all Acrobat 9 incremental changes.

[modern-i]

Sadly, I have to take back my earlier report of success in installing the Acrobat 9.2 patch on my Macbook Pro, OSX 10.5.8 -- via the AppCleaner route.

Initially it appeared to have worked, but yesterday when I tried to open Acrobat, I got the following message:

Licensing for this product has stopped working. You cannot use this product at this time. You must repair the problem by uninstalling and then reinstalling this product or contacting your IT administrator or Adobe customer support.

Aaaarrrggghhh!

In short: using AppCleaner proved not to be a solution because it did not completely remove all of the relevant files. I was not prompted for a serial number when I reinstalled Acrobat, and this may have caused the licensing snafu.

To make matters worse, I'm on the road, don't have my installation CDs or a record of the serial no. with me, so Adobe tech support will not help me — despite the fact that I have been put in this position by their unbelievably shoddy update system.

I don't know what lower circle of hell this is... but the idea of going through this all over again (which I fear is what they're going to propose when I call them from home) is inconceivable. I have WORK to do and can't spend any more time on this.

Adobe, please fix this Acrobat mess!

[uzenieke]

Hi everyone,

Finally, this solution solved the problem!

I struggled with the exact same problem(same config, same version...) as you for some weeks now, Scarlet and also spend many hours to try out all possible suggestions given on different forums.

But none of them could help me further.

Thank you so much!

[dangregers]

I've unsucessfully tried all of the suggested solutions except the reinstall and incremental update (ran out of time can't risk failure at this moment.

If helps the Acrobat developers, I did use a program called "CleanMyMac" that removed the PowerPC component of the FAT universal binaries for all installed programs on my Mac Book Pro (this freed up a significant amount of disk space).

If Adobe is testing for the presence of of the PowerPC binaries on Intel machines (implicity with a CRC or check-sum spanning both versions), the test will fail. If that's the underlying problem, the CRC/check-sum might first test for filesize in order to choose between 1 of the 3 potential signatures (both, Intel, PowerPC).

Best of luck!

[Sandee Cohen]

Just to let you know, I've never used such a program.

And the patch fails for me.

[Kirsten_Reshatoff]

Hi Sandee,

Have you sent me your patch logs yet?  Without them, there's really not much else I can do to help you.

Thanks,

-Kirsten

[Sandee Cohen]

Dear Kirsten,

I sent some log files to Craig Shamp several months ago! It's really a shame that when he was fired someone didn't plan on an orderly transition to continue whatever work he was doing on this problem.

My versions of Acrobat and Distiller are NOT at the 9.0.0 level.

My version of Acrobat is at the 9.1.3 level. Which is what you would expect from someone who has been using the product since Creative Suite 4 came out.

Are you saying that the only way to go to Acrobat 9.2 is to strip my current version of Acrobat off the machine, then reinstall 9.0.0, and then incrementally upgrade to 9.2?

If that is the only solution, then I give up and I promise not to bother you or Lori or anyone else on the Acrobat team.

For years I have joked that the Acrobat team does not work for Adobe Systems. They work for Microsoft. And have no care for Macintosh users.

This situation, if true, would prove it.

Love,

Sandee Cohen

[Pat Wibbeler]

Acrobat patches will not work after the use of slimmers (or anything else that modifies the installed files).  An explanation of how our (and many other) patches work might help explain why.  In order to keep the update as small as possible, the patch does not contain the full file that is being patched.  Instead it contains information about what's different from one version of the file to the next and the patch process knows how to augment the previous file to convert it into the updated file using this difference information.  Therefore, if the file on disk is different than the file we installed in the previous update the patch will fail because it won't know how to augment a file that the user has changed.  In order to patch systems that have been "slimmed", users will need to remove the previous version of Acrobat and re-install their original, universal binary version of Acrobat.

We understand that some of the users on this forum are seeing errors other than those caused by running slimming tools and are still investigating those.  However, it appears that a number of users are having issues because they've modified the binaries on their own.

[T_Clayton]

Yes.  I summarized that above.  Unfortunately, I am one of the users that has not modified the binaries and I still can not update.  I asked above and through PM for the list of all files installed by Acrobat so that I can clean them up manually.  Your uninstaller also doesn't work.  So, if you at Adobe can provide the list of files, I will clean them up and try installing from scratch.

Of course the real solution to fix the problem is to provide a full cumulative installer for 9.2 instead of yet another incremental installer that forces us to have to go through 6 installs to try and get the app back to the 9.2 level once uninstalled...

Todd

[Sandee Cohen]

Dear Pawibbel,

I do hereby swear, on my mother's grave, that I have NEVER, EVER, EVER!!! used any type of modification file on any of my Adobe software, most especially Acrobat.

It has been my experience, since Acrobat first came out, that the installation of Acrobat is similar to stacking playing cards into a pyramid structure.

The entire application is so tenuously installed that if just one teeny, tiny element is modified in any way, the entire relationship of Acrobat and Distiller comes tumbling down.

This is especially true when updating the system software for the computer.

I have not even installed any sort of plug-in, not even the most-popular EnFocus Pitstop, as I did not wish to upset the fragile nature of the Acrobat instllation.

And the only "slimmers" that I am familiar with are the imitation food products sold in the UK and Australia. But I gave up those long ago as I am too old to take on a serious slimming (diet) program.

Perhaps Adobe should just create an Acrobat 9.2 installer that contains the whole Acrobat program. The type of thing that would be sold on a DVD.

Then, those of us who have had problems could take the four or five hours that would be needed to download this large installer. (Or we could send Adobe $4.95 for shipping to have the DVD sent to us.) Then, we could easily strip off the original Acrobat program (with an uninstaller provided on the DVD) and then install the 9.2 version. And use our serial numbers as proof of ownership.

Of course one thing that I find amazing is that with the exception of Craig and Kirsten asking for log files, no one from Adobe has contacted us to beta test the 9.2 installers or even give complete system info. (If you want to contact me, just ask Lonn Lorenz or anyone on the InDesign team how to get in touch.)

It just doesn't feel like this is a high priority. Could it be that the team is so busy working on the next version of the product that they have forgotten about those of us who are still using version 9???

The Acrobat team does not have a good record when it comes to parity between Windows and Macintosh users. It would be disastrous if they felt that the only way to clear up this problem would be to recommend that we upGRADE to version 10.

Love,

Sandee Cohen

[Pat Wibbeler]

Sandee,

I do understand that some users (including) you are have not used app slimmers and are still having issues.  We're analyzing the logs people on this forum have posted, trying to understand the errors.  We still have never reproduced this inside of Adobe (nor to any of the many customers in our beta or pre-release programs), so we believe it maybe something specific to some users's configurations.  Thank you to those who've sent log files to Kirsten and Craig during this investigation.

Pat

[William_E_Beard]

How about this one: two identically configured Macs; PPC, 10.4.11;

1.8mhz; 2gb RAM. One has CS4 installed; the other has CS3. The CS3

Mac has had Acrobat 9 installed as a stand-alone app. The CS3 stand-

alone updated without a problem; the CS4 suite Mac will not update.

(Both were at 9.1.3).

Bill Beard

Prepress Department

Keiger Printing Company

3735 Kimwell Drive

Winston-Salem, NC 27103

336.760.0099

336.760.5880 - Fax

www.keiger.com

webeard@keiger.com

[dangregers]

I finally bit the bullet and reinstalled. The unistaller for Acrobat Pro didn't work, so I reinstalled over the top of all CS4 applications. Afterwards, I successfully installed the updates and patches.

Good luck to everyone on this issue.

[Joel Blum]

I am unsure why everyone (other than the Adobe people who should be working on a resolution) is spending so much time on this.  Is there something critical and essential about this patch that requires us to use 9.2 or perish?  I tried to upgrade; it failed twice; I came here for advice and saw that the problem was indeed not of my own making or under my control; I uploaded the requested logs and info to Craig, on the chance I might aid in finding the solution; and beyond that I am not planning to waste any more of my time.  I expect that this will be resolved by Adobe and a 9.2.1 Acrobat patch will be sent out that works on our previous versions that didn't accept this patch.  What am I missing here?

[Hank_61]

Joel, you are totally right! I would prefer being up-to-date with Acrobat, but if it takes hours - no, thanks.

Maybe we have to switch to Windows for a painless Acrobat version and update procedure? This whole scenario is both a tragedy and ridiculous.

[T_Clayton]

Folks,

The reality is that software has bugs and sometimes it's hard to diagnose what the problems are when an issue creeps in to the mix.  I deal with situations like this quite often.  Personally, the real issues here are:

1. Seeming total lack of transition of this issue from Craig to others when he was let go.  There was a lot of research already done and many of us (me included) provided a significant number of logs and files to troubleshoot the situation.  Craig has suggested looking on his old laptop but that recommendation seems to have been totally ignored.

2. Lack of any acknowledgement that the core issue is that we are forced into a mode of incremental updates instead of a full installer for what I presume is a major update since it has the version number 9.2 instead of 9.1.4.  A full installer would not suffer from having to check which files to update and could just lay down a completely updated copy of the application.

3. Completely ignoring questions on which files are installed by Acrobat so that they can be uninstalled to test the "fix" of completely reinstalling the application. The uninstaller also does not function.  I am willing to try reinstalling, but I don't want to do it multiple times.  So, I want to make sure the existing version is completely removed.

Todd

[monstrodude]

Very accurate and on the money!

[Sandee Cohen]

Dear Joel,

I wouldn't give a flying fig about updating to 9.2 except for the security buylleting, (October 13, 2009):

The opening of this bulletin states:

Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Reader 9.1.3 and Acrobat 9.1.3, Adobe Reader 8.1.6 and Acrobat 8.1.6 for Windows, Macintosh and UNIX, and Adobe Reader 7.1.3 and Acrobat 7.1.3 for Windows and Macintosh. These vulnerabilities could cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. This update represents the second quarterly security update for Adobe Reader and Acrobat. (http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb09-15.html)

The word "Critical" seems to indicate that it is very important that users update their version of Acrobat immediately!

I also don't care, but every week or so the Adobe updater software runs and insists on trying to update Acrobat for me.

This is not fun, and embarrassing when it happens in the middle of a seminar of 150+ people. They want to know why I haven't updated the software.

Love

Sandee Cohen

[Joel Blum]

I agree that the bulletin indicates that the upgrade would be a good idea, and I fully expect Adobe to issue a solution as it is their duty and their responsibility. I am just unwilling to spend the inordinate amount of time that seems to be necessary to resolve this on my own. (And as a Mac user, I guess the threat of attackers taking over my system doesn't seem a terribly likely scenario.)  In the meantime, I'd suggest turning off the "Check for Updates" option in Acrobat preferences prior to stepping up to any podium.  😉

[monstrodude]

Nothing critical except the app is unsafe and has a critical security

deficiency...that would be great if there's a 9.2.1 fix..unfortunately,

using Adobe's ingenious update protocol you'll probably have to install

9.2.01, then 9.2.02, then 9.03 etc..it will then fail on 9.2.09

[Sandee Cohen]

I am repeating my suggestion to Adobe that I made in an earlier posting. But since it was buried in a longer post, I think it desrves its own entry.

In order to help those who are unable to upgrade from 9.1 to 9.2, I suggest that Adobe create an Acrobat 9.2 installer.

This DVD would then be sent, for a nominal shipping charge of $4.00, to anyone who requests it.

The user would then use the "Uninstall Acrobat" script on the disk, and then reinstall Acrobat using the 9.2 installer. There would be no need to update through 9.0 to 9.1 to 9.2.

I am almost positive that such an installer exists as this is how Adobe employees customarily get the latest versions of the product.

[T_Clayton]

I have also made this suggestion several times above.  It seems that no one really wants to consider this, though...

Todd

[monstrodude]

Hi Sandee:

Your suggestion is much too logical and customer friendly.  Adobe is dead set on making their customers beta test their flawed software until everyone is blue in the face.  Great try though!

[T_Clayton]

Is this thread dead? Any updates from Adobe or comments on the suggestions for a full install or the exact uninstall steps for Acrobat?

Todd

[hawz]

Hi Todd

If you PM me your email address, I'll send you a copy of the uninstall log Acrobat Uninstaller script creates, which lists the files it looks for and removes, and will see if we can quickly publish this in the knowledge base.

As for a full 9.2 installer, I'd agree that this would make things easier in these circumstances, but such an installer simply does not exist for the full Acrobat product.

Thanks

Henk