Unable to install ColdFusion 2025 on my Windows 10 PC

[jpullam]

I have followed the instructions and downloaded the CF2025 package. I unzipped it and put it in an accessible folder on my desktop. Each time that I double click on cfinstall.bat, I get the following 2 messages in the install log:

2025-10-08 14:43:05 INFO - Welcome to the ColdFusion Setup Wizard

2025-10-08 14:43:05 ERROR - Administrator access is required to continue. Exiting...

I have a valid Local Account with Administrator privileges. I am the only user of this machine so I have never set up any other accounts. I have read elsewhere that it isn't required to use a Microsoft Account.

I had no issue installing previous versions of CF but for some reason I can't install this one.

Any ideas?

[AbhishekJha]

@jpullam, can you try right-clicking and running as Administrator and check the results?

The older installs, were they zip or GUI?

Thank You,

Abhishek

[jpullam]

OK, I tried that. It looked like it would start and it gave me the usual message about allowing the program to make changes. I said yes. But then it disappeared as if I hadn't done anything and there was nothing new in the install log. I took a look at the running tasks and there was no evidence that I had ever done anything. I tried that a second time with the same results.

In the past I think that the CF installs were all from zip files. I don't believe that I have used this new procedure previously.

[Charlie Arehart]

J, I was writing my reply below while you were writing yours. First, see what I offered.

Second, if you decide to try to proceed with the zip install, open the command prompt as admin, rather than running the bat as admin.

When you run a bat form windows explorer/file explorer, that opens a window that then closes immediately when finished. You're needing to see what it was likely failing on.

One more reason to go with the full installer. 

[Charlie Arehart]

To add to what Abhishek has said, the error ("Administrator access is required to contain") suggests the need to "run as admin". I get it that you're in the admin group: sadly that's not enough. Using "run as admin" tells windows to ELEVATE your permissions to perform a given operation with that authority. (To be clear, this is true of any process that requires elevated privileges.)

Looking at this another way, many fall into the trap of seeing that Adobe offers a zip installer and presume "that's what I should use". Or certainly its size makes it tempting. 

But the zip install (new since cf2021) is indeed quite a different experience than the full/gui installer (which we've always had and still do). Each has its pros and cons. Those familiar with the traditional cf installer would do well to stick with that, if solely for the sake of not having to learn new steps/nuances.

The zip install is best suited to automated/scripted installs (though even the full installer offers a silent install feature, suited to automation).

So consider switching to the full installer as another option. Both are offered if you fill out the form when clicking the trial link at the Adobe CF product page, easily accessed via http://coldfusion.com.

(When you run that exe, then installer software Adobe uses is configured to ask if you want to run as admin. That can't be done the same way with the cfinstall.bat file.)

Hope that helps. 

[jpullam]

I'm just a developer and I'm trying to install the developer edition so I can test that my code continues to work on the new release. I don't recall being asked which version of install I wanted to do when I ran the download. I simply accepted the download and followed the instructions they provided. In the past (from CF7 onwards) I've followed their instructions and don't think I had a problem. It's hard for me to accept that I'm the only guy who has bumped into this problem.

Now that I have downloaded this version, is there any way I can use it?  This is just for one install on one desktop.   You suggest that using run as administrator won't work on a bat file. So how should it be done? If the other version is the better answer, am I going to have a problem when I try to sign up for the "free trial" again?

[Charlie Arehart]

Lots of questions. I hope to give you satisfactory answers.

1) First, I'd said that if you want to use the zip approach, you'd want to open THE COMMAND PROMPT as admin, then see what error you might have had. 

Or I proposed you could use the full installer instead, simply because that may be more familiar to you. 

2) Second, it would be no problem to "get the trial again". That form doesn't care how often you use it. 

3) As for the instructions you refer to, do you mean something your folks use, or the cf docs? If the latter, note that there is both a page on installing the new zip install and another on installing the traditional full/gui way. Maybe you got taken to the zip page and presumed that was the only option. I've complained to them about that before. 

4) As for downloading,. I'll note for you and others seeing this that there are two broad options. One is new since cf2021, in that you can go to the cf "downloads" page, which offers many things including the zip install--but sadly NOT the full installer.

Instead, for that it points you to the trial page (like I'd explained above, where for years people would go to the cf product page, and choose the trial button), where you are offered the form to fill out. We can lament they make us jump through such a process to the full installer, but it is what it is.

Once you fill out that form, the last option is to pick the file to download (OS and type), and it's only since cf2021 that it offers there ALSO the zip option in addition to the full/gui installer download. 

5) And to clarify, as you may know there's no separate developer installer; instead, one of the first questions of the installer or that cfinstall script asks whether you want to a) implement a license, b) run the 30 day trial, or c) run the fee developer edition.

6) Hope you get going. There's indeed a good deal consider, when "all you want to do is freakin' install cf". Besides these two options there's that silent install option I mentioned. You can even avoid installing entirely using the available docker images or the AWS or Azure AMIs. Finally one can instead consider Commandbox from Ortus.

FWIW, I discuss all these options in a presentation on the many ways to run cf, and I have another on some common challenges and choices in installing cf, navailable at carehart.org/presentations.

Hope you have quick success with whichever you choose. 

[BKBK]

@jpullam , as you just wish to install the ColdFusion 2025 Trial version on Windows, here is a simple suggestion:

1.  Go to the ColdFusion 2025 Trial download page. 
2.  Fill the form. In the last select-box, choose to download the version for "Windows - GUI | English".
    
3.  When the download is complete, double-click on the file - and you're on your way! 

[jpullam]

Thanks to Charlie and to BKBK. I had not realized that the last drop down choice had led me to the wrong version. I have previously only used the single installer version for my system. It seems odd to me that the version I should have used was called GUI while the one I shouldn't choose was called ZIP. I was looking for the zip file that I could exceute and the name ZIP seemed to be the obvious choice. It would be better (for me) if the drop down defaulted to the GUI, or that the names be more descriptive.

[Charlie Arehart]

Glad things are more clear now. Indeed, that's why I explained things as I did, with my lament about the potential confusion folks can experience. You can help others by raising a bug report expressing your reasonable confusion.

I suggest this despite my having said I've raised the concerns to them previously. I just can't recall if I filed such a formal bug report or feature request for what we're discussing (which you can do at the same place).

Granted, it's debatable which of those two this concern would be considered, and that's perhaps why I've raised it instead directly to certain people on the cf team. Still, hearing it from a customer (pointing to this thread for more detail) may be more valuable. 

If you do it (and I really hope you will), please share the tracker ticket here so we and others can add votes/comments and be kept informed of Adobe's response. This is how things get incrementally better. As the saying goes, its better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. 

[jpullam]

I posted the "bug" as CF-4228139

[Charlie Arehart]

Ok, but wow. Couldn't you have worded the title accurately? You WERE able to install it. The issue to be requested was instead better clarification on that download drop down.

I know, it sounds like I'm complaining about you "doing what I suggested". And you have already spent "several hours" on this, so you're perhaps frustrated and "done with it" (you've not been alone in spending time on this). By making an inaccurate bug report, that will likely prove to waste time for others. I'm just trying to help get this solved, most effectively. We'll see how it goes. 

[jpullam]

If I could edit the title I would. I thought that was a good title (obviously) because that was the problem that the dropdown caused for me. Hopefully the folks who process these things will read the report and handle it intelligently. 

[Charlie Arehart]

We can certainly hope so. And you'll see I've added a couple more points of clarification there (for them and for you).

As always, just trying to help.