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stjunkie
New Participant
September 22, 2012
Answered

Completely uninstall Adobe Application Manager

  • September 22, 2012
  • 14 replies
  • 915465 views

I mistakenly installed Adobe Application Manager last night because I thought it was needed to make it easier to update my existing Adobe Reader v10 and my other Adobe products (AIR, Flash, Photoshop Elements, and Premier Elements). How stupid of me to not do my research FIRST!!! Now I can not get rid of the damned thing. It will not show up in the Windows Programs and Features program listing in the Control Panel so I can remove it that way and the instructions to completely remove AAM that are given on the web site simply do not work as I have NONE of the applications listed in AAM that purportedly will remove AAM if they are uninstalled.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Ken G. Rice

    I had the same experience. After my previous post I clicked one of the "install" links for a product that was already installed and that I use regularly, just to see what came up. Same as you, it initiated a horribly long download which I eventually cacelled.


    First let me say that my earlier instructions for removing AAM were only partially correct. Those instructions remove just the Creative Cloud part of AAM and should really only be used if you are having trouble running AAM with your Creative Cloud subscription.

    If you are using most Adobe products then AAM is installed and is required for the product to run correctly. AAM is used for Creative Cloud, and is also used for perpetual licensing (when you enter a serial number). AAM also handles updating your installed products.

    So yes AAM is installed with Photoshop Elements and PremierePro Elements.

    For customers who try a mix of perpetual license (for example using a serial number with the Master Collection or just Photoshop) and then try a Creative Cloud trial or paid subscription you might see AAM telling you that a product is not installed when it is. This is a known issue.

    So please do not try and remove AAM from your system if you are using Adobe products. You may cause the perpetual licensing or subscription to stop working, and you will not recieve updates.

    14 replies

    Show previous replies
    Supertoby
    Supertoby
    New Participant
    November 12, 2014

    I need help.  My device license was working fine for some time.  All of the sudden , it went back to trial mode.  Can anyone help me fix this?  any suggestions?

      F
      funmi_Bash01
      New Participant
      August 29, 2013

      I have avery strong suspicion that this AAM is a kind of Computer Virus .... Maybe a RootKit Malware masquerading as a 'useful' tool ....

      A
      abedefghijklm
      New Participant
      September 25, 2012

      I thought this was one of those annoying update notifications for Flash Player, and now I have this big ugly red icon on my desktop that does nothing. 

      So the question remains... How do I iuninstall Adobe Application Manager from my computer?

      Ken G. Rice
      Community Manager
      Ken G. RiceCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      September 25, 2012

      @abedefghijklm - You can delete the Adobe Application Manager shortcut from your Desktop. The Adobe Application Manager is required if you are using Adobe products. If you uninstall all Adobe products then the Adobe Application Manager will be uninstalled.

      A
      abedefghijklm
      New Participant
      September 25, 2012

      It was not "required" before 22 September 2012.

      I am uninstalling Adobe programs one at a time to see if it goes away.

      So far, Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 failed to uninstall with error message 1316 because it could not find C:\Windows\Installer\Adobe Photshop Elements 10.msi

      Adobe Premier Elements 10 uninstalled properly.

      Adobe Reader (10.1.4) uninstalled properly.

      Adobe AIR uninstalled properly.

      Adobe Shockwave Player uninstalled properly.

      Adobe Flash Player would not uninstall since I had Internet Explorer open.

      Adobe Acrobat X Pro (10.1.4) would not uninstall unitl I shutdown Microsoft Outlook.  Uninstalled properly.

      Adobe Application Manager still sitting there next to the Adobe Photoshop Elements icon that still won't  uninstall.

      I will post this, then close Internet Explorer to allow uninstalling Adobe Flash Player.

      Later----

      Okay Adobe Flash Player uninstalled properly.

      I still cannot uninstall Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and "I guess" that is keeping Adobe Application Manager (AAM).

      So my question remains... How do I completely uninstall Adobe Application Manager?

      (Window 7 Ultimate (64-bit), 8GB, 750GB hard drive)

      W
      Wet_Look
      Participating Frequently
      September 22, 2012

      I also was tricked into thinking that Adobe Application Manager would update the Adobe programs I have installed on my machine (Adobe Acrobat X Standard & Adobe Photoshop Elements 10).

      I think this was a sneaky and underhanded way to get us to download this crap. I also do not want this Adobe Application Manager crap on my machine.

      How can we remove/uninstall (Complete Uninstall) the Adobe Application Manager and remove any keys in our registry that were installed with this program?

        V
        Adobe Employee
        Vikas Talwar
        Adobe Employee
        September 22, 2012

        Adobe application manager  is core application for all Adobe Creative Suite Products and is required for download, deployment, provisioning and updater functionality. Removing Adobe Application Manager from your machine may result in incorrect functioning of your product like Photoshop elements and Premier Elements in your case.  So my recommendation would be not to remove Adobe Application Manager from your machine.   

          M
          Mike_tn
          Participating Frequently
          September 27, 2012

          Adobe Application Manager IS just a Marketing tool. When you open the newest version you are offered buttons to install every single Adobe product. I reverted to a previous system image to get rid of the new offending version of Application Manager. I'm not so happy about your products as I was. Everyone can be replaced, myself or Adobe software. Rest assured, no software-computer company gets on my nervers worse than Apple. Even so, I paid your market asking price for your product and adverts are not part of the paid deal. Cable TV has that problem, you pay them and they slap you with Ads. I do not have a television or Cable. And I use ad blocking software on Firefox. Adverts seriously get under my skin.

          UPDATE

          I discovered how to disable the update feature within the Adobe Application Manager so you never have to look at it. Since after disabling, you won't get notices, just check manually at www.adobe.com/downloads/updates for your few updates you might get, you might only get one good one after a new release anyway. There is an Adobe help page link at the bottom of this post telling you how to disable the thing. Basically it says the following for a system wide disable;

          make a text file titled:

          AdobeUpdaterAdminPrefs.dat

          with these contents between the astrisks:

          ***

          <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

              <Preferences>

              <Suppressed>1</Suppressed>

              </Preferences>

          ***

          And put it here

          Mac OS<Startup Disk>/Library/Application Support/Adobe/AAMUpdaterInventory/1.0/AdobeUpdaterAdminPrefs.dat
          Windows XP and HigherC:\Program files\common files\adobe\AAMUpdaterInventory\1.0\AdobeUpdaterAdminPrefs.dat
          Windows XP and higher (64-bit)C:\Program files(x86)\common files\adobe\AAMUpdaterInventory\1.0\AdobeUpdaterAdminPrefs.dat

          from this page

          http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/disable-auto-updates-application-manager.html

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