AIP creation fails with 11.0.0.18 patch

[KCSTEELE]

Hello.

We routinely update Acrobat with the latest patch using the same methodology every time. Since 11.0.0.14 or 11.0.0.15, this has always worked fine (Windows7 x64):

msiexec /p <patchname>.msp /a <location of AIP created from the original installation media DVD)>\acropro.msi

With the patch for 11.0.0.18, this process completed successfully. However there is a problem. In the newly created AIP, "acropro.msi" is not there.

I have tried numerous methods including using a completely different workstation with brand new files copied directly from the original installation media. Our methodology has not changed.

Have they changed the location of acropro.msi in the resulting AIP, or is this patch messed up?

Please help.

[Tariq Ahmad Dar]

Hi kcsteele ,

Looking at this user's issue description it seems he has no problem creating the package: Reader 11.0.18 (slipstreamed) not uninstalling older versions  but having a different issue now.

Would you try again

Regards,

Tariq Dar.

[Rave]

Hi k Steele,

It seems you are not following the steps correctly to create the AIP.

Please make sure you are copying the AcroPro.msi file from the base location to the new folder and then patch it with the latest version.

You might want to follow the steps as mentioned in the video: Creating an AIP for Acrobat XI - YouTube

and refer the doc: Administrative Installation Points — Enterprise Administration Guide

Regards,
Rave

[KCSTEELE]

Thanks Tariq and Rave,

I went over the link Rave posted to Administrative Installation Points — Enterprise Administration Guide and it seems I have done all the steps. Could you please be more precise about :

"Please make sure you are copying the AcroPro.msi file from the base location to the new folder and then patch it with the latest version."

1. The instructions you provided at the link above do not mention anything about copying AcroPro.msi

2. What exactly are you referring to when you refer to "the new folder"? The initial AIP created from the base installer files? (This would be step #7 in the link above:

7. At a command prompt, run:

msiexec /a <AIP distribution point dir path>\<ProductName>.msi TARGETDIR="<AIP distribution point dir path>"

When I perform the above, the initial AIP gets created, and the AcroPro.msi is ALREADY in this folder.

My problem is:

After applying the PATCH to the initial AIP (which already has AcroPro.msi) using the following command :

msiexec /a <AIP_dir\AcroPro.msi> /p <Path to Acrobat 11.x.x patch>

I am then prompted for the location of the NEW, PATCHED AIP. I enter in the folder for the NEW AIP. The GUI then indicates the progress, and gives a message that it completed successfully.

Then, when I go to look in the new AIP that is patched to 11.0.0.18, AcroPro.msi does NOT exist in this new AIP. So my question for you is this:

Are you saying I should copy the AcroPro.msi from the ORIGINAL installation media, or the ORIGINAL AIP, when you refer to the "base location"?

Why do we have to do this all of a sudden? All the times in the past, the AIP creation with the patch already had AcroPro.msi in the folder, and we did not have to post this question.

[Rave]

Hi k Steeele,

No there's no need to copy the AcroPro.msi file. I suggested since you said that there was no file in the folder.

When you create the AIP the AcroPro.msi is also created in the folder.

AIP creation is a two-step process :

1.       msiexec /a <Path to AcroPro.msi> TARGETDIR="AIP_dir"
2.       msiexec /a <AIP_dir\AcroPro.msi> /p <Path to patch>

What new users usually do is that they only execute (2) with AcroPro.msi from original media. Using (2) also pollutes the original MSI. For example:

1.       I copy A11 installer along with patch into a folder named “c:\InstallerDir”.
2.       I execute the command line “msiexec /p c:\InstallerDir\AcrobatUpd11018.msp /a c:\InstallerDir\AcroPro.msi”
3.       I save this AIP in “C:\AIP_DIR”

Result: No AcroPro.msi present in “C:\AIP_DIR” and AcroPro.msi present in c:\InstallerDir is now corrupted (you can check the size before and after executing the command line to validate this).

Regards,

Rave

[KCSTEELE]

Hi Rave,

Thanks for your reply and help. Yesterday, I suspected that I may have attempted to slipstream into the original install media and not a base AIP created from the install media, so I did the following:

1. copied back the original installation media folder and created a brand new AIP from the install media at c:\base_AIP\

          - the acropro.msi in this fresh AIP from the install media details:

                    - content created 9/23/2012 4:44PM

                    - size: 10.1 MB (10,626,048 bytes)

                    - size on disk: 10.1 MB (10,629,120 bytes)

2. ran the patch against the base AIP

3. saw that the new AIP for 11.0.18 still did not have acropro.msi

Since you re-iterated that people commonly make the mistake of attempting to slipstream a patch into the original install media, and not an AIP created from the install media, I figured I would go through this process again, just to be sure. So here are the exact details of what I did, just now:

1. copied the install media files to c:\adobeTemp\Acrobat XI Full

          - the acropro.msi in the install media details:

               - content created 9/23/2012 4:44 PM

               - size: 10.1 MB (10,626,048 bytes)

               - size on disk: 10.1 MB (10,629,120 bytes)

2. issued msiexec /a "c:\adobeTemp\Acrobat XI Full\acropro.msi", was prompted for the AIP location

3. entered c:\adobeTemp\base_AIP for the AIP location, allowed process to complete

4. copied AcrobatUpd11018.msp to c:\adobeTemp

5. issued msiexec /a "c:\adobeTemp\Acrobat XI Full\acropro.msi" /p c:\adobeTemp\AcrobatUpd11018.msp, was prompted for 11.0.18 AIP location

6. entered c:\adobeTemp\AIP_11018 for the patched AIP location, allowed process to complete

7. looked in c:\adobeTemp\AIP_11018, and acropro.msi is still not there

Can you reproduce this behavior on your end?

Thanks again.

[Rave]

Hi k steele,

I was not able to reproduce the issue at my end yesterday.

Let me retry the workflow and I will update shortly.

Regards,
Rave

[KCSTEELE]

Thanks Rave,

I made a slight mistake with my step #5 above and tried to slipstream into the original install media (sorry I have been juggling multiple things today). Thinking this must certainly have been it, I issued the same msiexec statement but against the base_AIP folder. However, still no acropro.msi

I will be back in the office tomorrow

Thanks for your help.

[KCSTEELE]

Hello again,

Not sure who marked my previous post as the answer but it was not, that test still resulted in no acropro.msi.

Just now, I took the original media DVD and created a base AIP from that:

1. msiexec /a D:\Adobe Acrobat XI\AcroPro.msi

     - when prompted for the administrative install point location, gave c:\temp\baseAIP

     - the AIP was created succesfully

2. msiexec /a c:\temp\baseAIP\AcroPro.msi /p c:\temp\AcrobatUpd11018.msp

     - when prompted for the administrative install point location, gave c:\temp\AIP-11018

     - the AIP was created successfully

3. when going into c:\temp\AIP-11018, AcroPro.msi is NOT THERE!

Please help

[Mohd Amish · Accepted solution]

In my opinion, after step 1, make a copy of the base AIP for future use eg. c:\temp\baseAIP-copy

In step2, when prompted for AIP location, give the path as same as baseAIP - c:\temp\baseAIP

Now, install Acrobat with commandline: msiexec /i c:\temp\baseAIP\AcroPro.msi

For more information please refer to: Administrative Installation Points — Enterprise Administration Guide

[KCSTEELE]

Mohd,

That worked, when slipstreaming the patch into the AIP, when the installer prompted for the target location I had to use the same AIP location (not create a new one - this had always worked in the past however).

Thanks for your help.

KCSteele