Installing Adobe CC products : a mess that has to be fixed

[Samoreen]

Hi,

We now have new major versions for Lightroom, Photoshop and Bridge and the number of failed updates reported here and there stays at the same level. Always these failed downloads, these error codes, these failed updates, these endless uninstall / re-install useless loops, these support pages giving advice that never help, these obsolete links leading to error 404 pages, these applications starting only in administrator mode,...

Of course, this is our mistake : our configuration is probably not as they want it to be. But what should it be ? What are the actual requirements to obtain successful installs ? When an installation failure occurs, do you get a a clear message indicating what is the failure condition ? Of course, no. When you look at the log files, are these errors more clearly explained ? Never. Have you ever received clear explanations about a particular error code ? What means error 146, 125 ? Nobody seems to know. Just, "Please uninstall everything from Adobe, run the cleanup tool, etc. and re-install". Guess what ? Same errors still there. But you have lost hours.

What on earth are they doing to my system when installing their applications ? We are not installing an OS, just some executable binaries and some services. That's something most software editors and developers know how to manage.

I never had so many problems with any other software vendor (and obviously many of us are in the same situation).

It's now time to re-design the whole crap and to switch to an installation / update model that is more reliable and more simple. It's also time to handle errors in a more user-friendly way. An error message must give accurate information about the failure. It's just a matter of using the right coding technique. Ever heard of structured exception handling ?

If you agree with this, please add your vote. This mess must stop.

[kglad]

hi,

uninstall everything cc including preferences, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-remove-app.html

then uninstall the cc desktop app, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-creative-cloud-desktop-app.html

clean your computer of cc files per http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

restart your computer (don't skip this)

reinstall the cc desktop app, https://creative.adobe.com/products/creative-cloud.

if you're unable to install the cc desktop app at this stage, use an administrator account (solution 3 here, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-missing-damaged.html)

use the desktop app to install your cc programs/trials using the default settings.

[Samoreen]

kglad,

I guess you're not a robot ? Maybe, because you didn't read my post. You can't imagine how often so many users have done this, to no avail. Moreover, how can Adobe justify that errors caused by a failing installation software always have to be fixed by spending hours uninstalling everything, cleanup everything, re-installing everything, setting up again each app, restoring Preferences, etc. Why should we do that to most of the time not fix problems that are not ours ?

The answer that I want to read is "Agreed, we have a problem with our installation system and we will work on this annoying issue plaguing our users since years.". That's what I want to read.

[kglad]

Agreed, we have a problem with our installation system and we will work on this annoying issue plaguing our users since years.

[Samoreen]

OK. I have posted the same text to the feedback forum where things might get more serious :

Installing Adobe CC products : a mess that has to be fixed | Photoshop Family Customer Community

[Jeff A Wright]

Thanks for the feedback Samoreen!  I would recommend bookmarking Creative Cloud download and install errors which discusses how to locate and interpret the installation log files for most recent CC releases. 

We do focus on only preparing documentation for errors which individuals and organizations are likely to encounter.  The entire table of errors is of little use to most individuals and may not even be understandable to most average Users.

For older Creative Cloud and Creative Suite installations please bookmark Troubleshoot Adobe Creative Cloud install issues with log files which discusses the log files, and errors, produced by those older software titles.

If you are encountering a particular error, that you are unable to locate details, on then please update this discussion Samoreen.

[Samoreen]

Jeff,

Thanks for the links. However, the main problem is to determine why these errors occur. I don't want to spend time reading log files. I want the problems to be fixed.

[Jeff A Wright · Accepted solution]

Yes I fully understand Samoreen.  We actually went pretty far down the process of documenting most of the possible errors in Troubleshoot install issues with log files in Adobe Creative Suite (CS6, CS5.5, CS5), PS Elements, a... .  The experience though was very difficult to use so we reduced the number of errors that were published.

If you ever encounter any installation errors you are welcome to post to the Creative Cloud Download & Install forum at Creative Cloud Download & Install​.  I would also recommend bookmarking Release notes for the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop app Samoreen. It discusses all of the enhancements and improvements that have been implemented to the Adobe Creative Cloud desktop application.