CS 5.5 and Acrobat

Report · May 23, 2011

I have Acrobat X as a part of CS Design Premium 5.5, and I'd like to use the Customization Wizard to control the options. Since 5.5 now includes Acrobat as part of the installer, I can't control the options, only whether it's installed or not. Running the Customization Wizard on the extracted Acrobat (acropro.msi) does not allow me to use the CS 5.5 serial number. I'm stuck now with a choice of rolling out a full install of Acrobat (which I don't want), or no Acrobat at all. They seemed to have left out the needs of the enterprise in the latest release, or there's some update to the Application Manager forthcoming to address this issue. Any guidance you may have would be appreciated. Have you deployed CS 5.5 with custom Acrobat settings?

Thanks in advance,

-Danny

Report · May 23, 2011

AAMEE doesn't support Acrobat. You can (and must) deploy Acrobat separately. Customize it with the Wizard and deploy via your favorite method as descibed in the Acrobat Admin Guide. I don't have the answer to the license question at the moment.

http://blogs.adobe.com/oobe/2011/01/aamee-and-the-suites.html

Ben

Report · May 23, 2011

Ben,

Thanks for responding. I've seen your replies in other threads and your link that "AAMEE doesn't support Acrobat", and I'm not suggesting that it does. What I'm requesting is information from Adobe or others on something that IS supported. The previous workflow of using AAMEE for the Suite and the CW for Acrobat does NOT work with 5.5. With 5.0 Adobe provided a separate serial number for Acrobat 9. That serial number is now supposed to be the Suite serial number in 5.5, but the CW won't take it. It gives an "Invalid serial number."

For reference, this poster is having the same issue.

Report · May 23, 2011

UPDATE...

AAMEE 2.0 does now support Acrobat X as noted here. I had assumed I was using 2.0, but it somehow didn't install properly the first time. I hadn't noticed that the version info in the bottom left of AAMEE hadn't updated. Acrobat X Pro now shows in the list of applications.

Once you've created the deployment, you can edit the AcroPro.msi using the ACWX. On page 38 of the newer Enterprise Deployment Guide, it says to use this command line in Windows:

msiexec.exe /i AcroPro.msi INSTALLDIR="[INSTALLDIR]\Acrobat 10.0" EULA_ACCEPT=YES REGISTRATION_SUPPRESS=YES SUITEMODE=1 TRANSFORMS=[YourModifications].mst INSTALLLEVEL=101 AS_DISABLE_LEGACY_COLOR=1 IGNOREAAM=1 /qn

However, be aware of the following:

The deployment guide says EULA_ACCEPT=NO which I changed to EULA_ACCEPT=YES. This prevents the EULA prompt.
Don't provide a Serial Number in the Wizard. Doing so will cause the Acrobat installation to fail.
Not all settings seem to apply. I tried starting with the en_US.mst, but that didn't help either. Here's what I found:
- I removed a lot of the PDFMaker plugins, but they were installed anyway. 😞
- Icon changes (removed some, moved some) did work.

Hope that helps,

-Danny

Report · May 23, 2011

Hey Danny,

My bad and thanks for your diligence. Hopefully the link I sent provided some needed clues. I think Adobe needs a knowledgebase article on the relationship between AAMEE and Acrobat across versions.

Ben

Report · May 23, 2011

....I removed a lot of the PDFMaker plugins, but they were installed anyway. 😞

This could be because you have set INSTALLLEVEL=101, which means a Full install with all the features.

Report · May 24, 2011

Vinod,

Thanks for the tip. I left off the INSTALLLEVEL=101 and it used the mst settings properly. Awesome!

Thanks again,

-Danny

Report · May 31, 2011

hi,

i have got some new liciences for design standard 5.5 and need help.

i want to roll out the software though Microsoft System Center Essential 2010.

I have used AAMEE to create the package for Photoshop/Indesign/Ilustrator and it creates the exception folder for Acrobat Pro.

the problem is that i have to create 2 packages in System Center Essentials - one for the photoshop etc and one for Acrobat.

The next problem is that you cannot tell System Center Essentials in which order to install the software.

it is my understanding that you have to install Acrobat Pro before the other software for the liciencing to work.

I have to say this is crazy.

Why does the Design Standard serial not work in Acrobat Pro through the Adobe Customisation Wizard if you get Acrobat Pro as part of the Design Standard Suite.

Otherwise you should give me a serial for Acrobat Pro that will work so i can roll out the software properly.

thanks

jack

Report · May 31, 2011

Hi Jack,

If you read the thread above you'll see you should not use a serial for Acrobat deployments included with the Suite. Refer to the deployment guide linked to above. Once you've followed the instructions, if you have other issues with SCE, repost here.

thanks,

Ben

Report · May 31, 2011

Ben,

thanks for your reply.

my issue is that you seem to have to install Acrobat before the Photoshop/InDesign/Illustrator bundle.

if this is the case there is no way to prioritise packages in SCE.

thanks

jack

Report · Jun 24, 2011

I don't understand why the Acrobat customization wizard can be so easy and intuitive, but AAMEE is do difficult. All I really want to do is create an installer that holds the serial number and suppresses the EULA, etc. I still want a double-click installer to run from a network share, but AAMEE doesn't seem to provide that. Or am I missing something?

Report · Jun 27, 2011

no you are not missing anything. the whole thing is a pain.

AAMEE does work.. but not for Acrobat. it creates export packages for Photoshop / Illustrator / InDesign etc that you can install.

if you have one of the create suites with Acrobat included makes sure you install Acrobat before you install the Photoshop etc packages or Acroabt won't be correctly licienced.

whoever came up with this instillation plan has obviously never rolled out software before!

Report · Aug 09, 2011

If anyone is still monitoring this thread, I'm wondering if you've run into AAMEE 2.0 appearing to include Acrobat X Pro in the installer window (I see the icon and checkbox and it is selected), but after the package MSI is run, there's no Acrobat. What's not fully clear to me from reading this thread is whether the suite serial number I have should *never* be entered through AAMEE if we plan to deploy Acrobat, or only if we plan to do further customizations to Acrobat after it's been built in the AAMEE MSI?

Report · Aug 09, 2011

AAMEE doesn't support Acrobat. You can (and must) deploy Acrobat separately. Customize it with the Wizard and deploy via your favorite method as described in the Acrobat Admin Guide. You should not use a serial for Acrobat deployments included with the Suite. So . . . :

Deploy the suite via AAMEE with the suite’s serial number.
Deploy Acrobat separately.

Read this blog and get the installation documentation: http://blogs.adobe.com/oobe/2011/01/aamee-and-the-suites.html

Ben

Report · Aug 09, 2011

Ben, I am thoroughly confused then. The link you sent says that AAMEE 1.2 won't support Acrobat installation, but this link (http://blogs.adobe.com/oobe/2011/05/aamee-2-0-and-ausst-2-0-live.html) says that AAMEE 2.0 will support it in CS5.5...? The odd thing is that Acrobat is a selectable item in the list of applications when putting together my package in AAMEE 2.0 and I have selected it...but it never installs.

Am I missing something bigger?

Report · Aug 09, 2011

Hi again,

First, the original implementation wasn't that graceful which I wish wasn't so. Also, the CS team handles the installation workflow and the documentation for it. I looked at the doc, but not seeing a change history there makes it difficult for me to tell what's new (if anything).

Take a look at http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/creativesuite/pdfs/AdobeApplicationManagerEnterpriseEditionDeploymentGuide.pdf.Complete instructions for Acrobat are supposed to reside there.

In the meantime, I'll try to get you a better answer.

Ben

Report · Aug 09, 2011

Hey Ben ~ it took me a few tries to figure out the weblink you sent, but I finally got it open and found the Acrobat section which does detail the steps. Thank you! We'll see if it's within my skill level (and access level to the network) to implement. I'm headed in the right direction.

Report · Aug 10, 2011

hi,

i had to install Acrobat first after using hte customisation wizard and then install the other adobe products using AAMEE what contained the serial.

when done in this order, the AAMEE activated Arobat in terms of it no longer asked for a serial.

i think this is a shocking way to go about things.

so amateur

jack

Report · Aug 10, 2011

Jack, is this the workflow you followed, then?

Create AAMEE package (PSD, INDD, AI, PDF) and resulting MSI, but do not actually install/execute it.
Use Adobe Customization Wizard X to make changes to Acrobat MSI in exceptions folder. (Did you enter a serial number anywhere here?)
Install/Execute Acrobat MSI.
Install/Execute AAMEE MSI with the rest of the suite. (Did you enter a serial number anywhere here?)

Report · Aug 10, 2011

steps are fund just dont put a serial in Adobe Acrobat Customisation Wizard.

Adobe Acrobat gets activated by the msi created by AAMEE

the person that decided that this is sensible has obviously never rolled out software

you have to create 2 packages that have to be installed in a particular order

good luck!

Report · Aug 10, 2011

As far as I can tell, one of the problems is that folks are not using the documentation on this subject. It is correct and up to date.

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/devnet/creativesuite/pdfs/AdobeApplicationManagerEnterpriseEditionDeploymentGuide.pdf

If you find a problem in the documentation or find it too difficult to find, please post here.

Ben

Report · Aug 10, 2011

Note that the links I post get garbled on posting. . . remove the spaces.

Ben

Report · Aug 10, 2011

Thanks, guys. I'm making my way through it now...created package #1 from AAMEE, am altering the Acrobat MSI from that in ACWX, then I'll run a test deployment! I appreciate all the docs & links.

Report · Aug 17, 2011

If you guys are still monitoring this...I successfully created the CS5.5 MSI and subsequent Acrobat X Exception MSI, altered the Acrobat one then deployed it, and finally deployed/serialized CS5.5 along with Acrobat. All of the applications are there; the only problem is that Acrobat retained none of the customizations I made from the customization wizard. Any ideas why?

Report · Mar 05, 2020

Hi

I'm having similar issues , please could you supply me with an updated link so i could fix the issue.