Best practices for deploying Reader DC to non-internet connected PC's

[cpcent]

Hello,

Is there any best practices or things to be careful about when deploying Reader DC to non-internet connected PC's? Currently we're using Reader X, which we are patching regularly via a domain startup script. Specifically, I want do know:

1) Can Reader DC be deployed in the same way we are currently doing for Reader X (i.e. first install the base package file via msiexec.exe /i in a startup script then install the latest patch files using msiexec /p also using a startup script)

2) Does Reader DC require authentication via the internet, or can that be turned off via the Adobe Customization Wizard or Group Policy?

3) Can I turn off all cloud related features and anything else that requires an internet connection via the Adobe Customization Wizard or Group Policy?

4) Is there anything else important to know about?

Thank you.

[JeanGurgle]

Hi,

1)  Yeah but other langage than US can't be up to date because there is a bug.......

2) No require auth, you can turn of with ACW yes.

3) Yes as 2.

4) With version of october there is a bug. When you searching a word in a big PDF (most 200 pages), at a point (because why ????) you can't search anything in document and if you searching a word it doesn't be found whatever if you have it begin on your searching window. You must delete 3 adobe folder on user's profile.... Great no ? Personnaly i'm trying to test the new version to know if it correct it or not. // You have also another bug, if you desactivate cloud features you can have some crash by RdrCEF.exe (Cloud shit from adobe). You must apply another script (you can batch it and do a msi for it) to delete it....... You can migrate to Acrobat Reader 11 or Foxit Reader, but DC is not good at all

[cpcent]

So you are saying that DC is no good? I've never used it. I don't want to deploy a buggy app to my users...

We also are not using the US/English version of reader. So you are saying that only the US/English version can be updated with patches due to a bug?

[JeanGurgle]

Yep DC has many bugs. And yes i'm saying that non US can't be correctly updated by patch. You can see my thread https://forums.adobe.com/message/8405390#expires_in=86399991&token_type=bearer&access_token=eyJhbGci...

[cpcent]

It seems that core support for Reader XI will end 10/15/2017, which is kinda soon. I don't know how long Reader DC will supported, I couldn't find any information on that (probably longer than XI). I don't want to have to upgrade to XI then to a different version of Reader in a few years. But I don't want to experiment with a buggy/untested version of Reader either. I can't stick with X because it seem that support is up (I just found that out). Seems like a lose-lose-lose situation!

[EnterpriseHelp]

DC has been tested as vigorously as all previous releases over the last decades. Complaints are few, though of course there are always issue with any software. Reader is free and can always be updated at any time. Every release adds features and enhances security.

Admins should always update Reader to the latest version. Not doing so puts your organization at risk.

Related docs live here: Acrobat-Reader Enterprise Toolkit Home

hth,

Ben

[vdobhal · Accepted solution]

Following are the replies to your queries:

1) Can Reader DC be deployed in the same way we are currently doing for Reader X (i.e. first install the base package file via msiexec.exe /i in a startup script then install the latest patch files using msiexec /p also using a startup script) -   Yes, Reader DC can be deployed the same way as Reader X. There is no difference.

2) Does Reader DC require authentication via the internet, or can that be turned off via the Adobe Customization Wizard or Group Policy?  -  No, Only Acrobat DC does require it. Reader DC, however is free and does not require any authentication.

3) Can I turn off all cloud related features and anything else that requires an internet connection via the Adobe Customization Wizard or Group Policy? -  Yes, you can disable all the cloud related features through the Customization wizard or Group Policy

As Ben above mentioned, you should always keep your Reader updated to the latest version which has the latest security related fixes.

I hope I have answered all your queries and this helps. If you find any issue, please report back.

Thanks,

Vinod

[cpcent]

I was hoping that some Adobe staff would chime in. Thanks for the confirmation. I'll try testing a DC deployment in a test environment using the same general methods that I've had success with when deploying/updating Reader X. This will probably take a long while, but I will try to post my results.

[cpcent]

This is just a status update: I was successfully able to deploy Reader DC to my test environment using the same methods I used with Reader X (i.e. using a startup script deployed via group policy). I used the Acrobat Customization Wizard DC to turn off all cloud/internet related features. Some settings, such as hiding the logon screen, took some digging around and I eventually had to turn them off using registry settings. It was difficult for me to find the download location for, and discern between the Reader DC base files and patch files. (In the case of Reader X, there is a nice table that tells you what is what: Update, patch | Adobe Acrobat, Reader 10.x | Windows, Mac OS‌ ). All in all, it was not a very pleasant experience, but now that I know where the patch files are located, and my MST file has been made, it hopefully will be smooth sailing from here.

[cpcent]

This is another followup post. We carried out a test deployment and have seen no problems deploying DC using start up scripts via group policy. However, DC is indeed buggy. It freezes when you open multiple PDFs and try to switch between them using the task bar. A description of the issue can be found in the following thread:

Re: Acrobat Reader DC keeps crashing when multiple pdf files are open and I switch between them.

It seems that many other people are experiencing the same problem with DC. Because of this bug, we have no choice to abort our deployment of DC in our environment. Due to the risks and time required to test, I cannot honestly reccomend that anybody deploy DC in their corporate environment. You should use Reader XI (for which support ends October 2017) or some non-Adobe alternative.