"component install failed" when trying to reinstall Adobe CS3

Report · Jan 19, 2016

I have the Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium. This all began when I tried to open a CS3 product, like Photoshop, it was throwing an error telling me I had to uninstall and reinstall CS3 to repair the issue. I tried, first, just reinstalling - which gave "component install failed" for everything but Acrobat 8 Pro. I then tried uninstalling CS3 completely, then reinstalling; but I am still getting "component install failed" for each product within CS3 with the exception again of Acrobat. No support over the phone and no chat options are available because I'm a dinosaur apparently. Any help would be much appreciated so I can get this thing working again.

Report · Jan 22, 2016

Nic01101011 if your current installation is damaged then please remove and reinstall Creative Suite 3. Once you have run the applicable uninstallers you will want to then run the CC Cleaner Tool available at Use the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems to help complete the removal process.

Once the uninstall and removal are complete you can download a fresh copy of the retail installation files at Download Adobe Creative Suite 3 products.

Report · Jan 23, 2016

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for responding. I ran the cleaner, restarted and tried with my install dvd. Then I ran the cleaner again (as a precaution), restarted and installed with the download link you gave above. Both are giving me a "component failed".

Report · Jan 25, 2016

Thank you for the update Nic01101011. I would recommend reviewing the installation logs to determine the exact cause of the component failing to install. You can find details on how to locate and interpret the installation log files at Troubleshoot installation with install logs | CS3, CS4. You are welcome to post any specific errors you discover to this discussion.

Report · Jan 28, 2016

ok, so I've gone through the huge log file and for Return Value 3, this is mainly what is coming up:

Writing system registry valuesCopying new filesUninstallColorProfilesRollback.E35C3ECB_5FDA_49E1_AB1F_D472B7CB9017(Adobe) ------------- BEGIN - Adobe_UninstallColorProfiles ------------- (Adobe) UninstallColorProfiles - MSIRUNMODE_ROLLBACK (Adobe) Requesting property: CustomActionData (Adobe) Property cannot be retrieved (Adobe) No Color Profiles to manipulate (Adobe) ------------- END - Adobe_UninstallColorProfiles ------------- Removing ODBC componentsUpdating component registrationMessage type: 2, Argument: 1[ 1268] Fri Jan 22 20:29:37 2016 INFOMessage type: 2, Argument: 1Action ended 20:29:37: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.Action ended 20:29:37: INSTALL. Return value 3.

I noticed two errors. The first one (1303, not near a return value 3) was related to insufficient privileges, so I tried installing running as admin. Same results - failed to install components and the only thing that ever installs or reinstalls is Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Another was error 1603. I looked it up and it was related to not being able to overwrite color profiles.

The log analyzer link in the troubleshooting link you gave is broken. It is apparently discontinued. I'm afraid I may be reading the log incorrectly.

Report · Jan 28, 2016

Nic01101011 from the error it appears there are damaged color profiles on your computer. If you look a bit earlier in the log file it should indicate the exact directory that is trying to be replaced.

If you have no custom ICC profiles prepared I would recommend deleting the directory containing the color profiles. The required profiles will be reinstalled when you install Adobe Acrobat Professional.

Report · Feb 02, 2016

Hi Jeff,

Sorry for the delayed response. I located and removed the color profile "Adobe.icc", ran the cleaner tool, restarted and tried again - Component install failed for each one except Acrobat 8. No more Return Value 3's in the log, but a ton of error error 1603's. I've attached a truncated log of just the most recent install.

Searching the log, showed a bunch of the following:

Action ended 21:02:04: ISSetupFilesCleanup. Return value 1.Action 21:02:04: RefreshShellicons. Action start 21:02:04: RefreshShellicons.CustomAction RefreshShellicons returned actual error code 1603 but will be translated to success due to continue markingAction ended 21:02:04: RefreshShellicons. Return value 1.Action 21:02:04: DoSubLaunches. Action start 21:02:04: DoSubLaunches.CustomAction DoSubLaunches returned actual error code 1603 but will be translated to success due to continue markingAction ended 21:02:04: DoSubLaunches. Return value 1.Action ended 21:02:04: INSTALL. Return value 1.

Report · Feb 03, 2016

Nic01101011 did you remove the directory which currently contain your color profiles? Usually in these circumstances there are multiple profiles which are causing this error. Alternately the permissions on the directory itself can cause the failure.

Report · Feb 03, 2016

Moving this discussion to the Installing, Updating, & Subscribing to Acrobat forum.

Nic01101011 what version of Windows are you trying to install Acrobat 8 on? Any reason which you are now reinstalling Acrobat 8 and Creative Suite 3?

Report · Feb 03, 2016

Hey Jeff,

I'm running Windows 7 64-bit. This all started because I tried to open a CS3 application and it told me I needed to uninstall and reinstall CS3 to get it to work again.

I removed the Adobe.icc color profile from C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color\ . There are other profiles in this folder, but they are related to other programs.

I just realized there was a color folder at C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Adobe, so I removed the entire color folder from those locations, ran the cleaner again, restarted and attempted a reinstall. Still getting component failed.

Report · Feb 04, 2016

Nic01101011 I would recommend reviewing the log files again. The most recent installation attempt will be documented at the end of the file. By searching for the word ERROR you should be able locate the particular path or file which is currently causing the error. I would recommend removing the entire directory which contains the file.

We did make improvements to our logs in the later versions of Creative Suite and Creative Cloud. Unfortunately Creative Suite 3 was when we first introduced error logging so the logs maybe a bit difficult to interpret.

Report · Feb 07, 2016

Alright. I've read through the most recent portion of the log from the most recent install (attached below), but it is still error 1603 and return value 3 has returned. Both seem to point to color profiles if I'm reading it correctly. I couldn't find the folder it was referring to before or after the error. The only folder I saw was in system32/spool/drivers/color, but it only stated there was an absence of a color profile.

I have Adobe CS2 running without issue currently, but CS3 will not install. What am I missing here?

Report · Feb 08, 2016

The installed profiles from CS2 may be conflicting. What if you temporarily remove the contents of the system32/spool/drivers/color folder?