Deploying Acrobat X updates?

[Guest]

We originally deployed Acrobat Pro 10.0.3. We created an AIP using 10.0 and the 10.0.3 MSP file. Now that 10.1 is out, we would like to update our machines. I was reading the enterprise guide and from my initial understanding, it seems we need to deploy Acrobat to every user--we can't just push out an update. Is this correct? Is there no way to simply push out the MSP file to have the machines update to the latest version? Thanks!

[EnterpriseHelp]

Hi jprateragg,

I'm a tad unsure about the nature of your question as you say "we need to deploy Acrobat to every user--we can't just push out an update" when you've already deployed Acrobat.

If I can guess what your asking, then I'd say you have to run the MSI installer. There is no MSP as this is a large dot release. I would, however, like to add that MSI updates are  planned to be far and few between. Adobe knows MSP updates are preferred in enterprise settings.

hth

Ben

[Guest]

We have already deployed Acrobat 10.0.3. We would like to update everyone to 10.1. I downloaded the MSP file from the update downloads site. I'm assuming in order to update workstations to 10.1, I would have to deply:

msiexec.exe /i "[UNC PATH]\AcroPro.msi" PATCH="[UNCPATH]\AcrobatUpd1010_en_US.msp" TRANSFORMS="AcroPro.mst"

Correct?

[EnterpriseHelp]

Howdy,

Ok: Acrobat updates are MSPs (the MSI note above was for Reader). Do you want to use an AIP for this deployment?

Ben

[Guest]

I would like to just push out a 100MB update file instead of redeploying the entire application (if that's possible). I've already patched my 10.0.3 AIP to 10.1.

[EnterpriseHelp]

Well I do know you don't have to redeploy the entire app. I'll get some example cmd lines, but it might not be until tomorrow.

Ben

[Guest]

I'm not in a huge rush and I appreciate the help. Thank you!

[SubratoNamata]

If you have deployed using AIP then you must apply the successive patches using AIP only. In that case, the entire AIP for the new version needs to be created and pushed. Had it been SCCM, only the .msp needed to be pushed. Change your deployment mechanism to SCCM instead of GPO.

[brape33]

You can just run "msiexec /p filename /norestart /qn" to update your clients, but you need to create a new AIP for new installations with the 10.0 msi. Then Patch the AIP with the 10.1 msp.

[xxpluckyxx]

To apply the patch to all computers using your single original GPO and AIP, you are correct in that the AIP needs to be updated and the entire application redeployed.  This is the method given by Adobe (and possibly the only available method).

With Adobe X, the only way to update the AIP is apparently to keep an original AIP of the base 10.0 and update that with the latest .msp.  You cannot apply an .msp to an already patched AIP anymore (which seems quite silly to me).

[SubratoNamata]

Yes, you have got it right. That was the earlier behavior with 8 and 9. But with 10.0 one needs to have only one patch (i.e. being a cumulative patch) to reach to the latest update. The only thing one need to keep is the original 10.0 AIP installations.

[rdw556]

I've tried to patch my 10.1.0 installations which I used SCCM to deploy after I created the 10.1.0 Admin share distribution point.

I believe the uninstall GUIDS are the same for both 10.1.0 and 10.1.1 and therefore when I run the command msiexec /p AcrobatUpd1011.msp /qn it doesn't work.  I get this in the log file:  "The upgrade cannot be installed by the windows installer service because the program to be upgraded may be missing, or the upgrade may update a different version of the program.  Verify that the program to be upgraded exists on your computer and that you have the correct upgrade."

So,  I've also created a new Admin share of 10.0.0 and patched it sucessfully to 10.1.1.  Then I've tried to install that to the 10.1.0 installed computer with no success.  BTW, I am using a transform which is supposed to uninstall all previous versions of Acrobat Reader and Professional.   I don't have an error log in front of me but the error is basically the same thing.  The installer thinks the program is already installed. 

Any assistance?  If I need to take this to a new topic let me know and I can do so.  I thought it was extremely similar to the OP's issue.

Thanks.

[brape33]

Hi rdw,

as xxpluckyxx said before, you can only update a plain 10.0 AIP with the latest patch. Clients which were installed from the AIP can only be patched from this AIP again. Now this is silly, funny move Adobe.

For this behavior i kicked all AIPs. I'm just installing the basic MSI files now slipstreamed by the latest patch for new installations. This way you can directly patch your clients with the msp files later on.

[rdw556]

Brape33, thanks.

Yes I understand that you cannot do multiple patches to the 10.0 AIP.   Therefore I patched it to 10.1.1 sucessfully.  But, I cannot redeploy that entire 1.2 gig package to a machine with 10.1.0.   I think the reason is because they both have the same GUID's if you check the uninstall guid in regedit.

I've also tried to patch the 10.1.0 clients with the update msp with no luck.  Both using SCCM and manually.

As of right now my only recourse is to completely uninstall from 600+ clients and reinstall but that is almost impossible as I can only uninstall when users are logged out and that is rare.    Not to mention the next update I might have the same issue all over. 

Wish I did as you did.  Apply the 10.0 msi and slipstream during installation. 

If all updates are like this I'm going to seriously look at replacing Adobe products with something else. 

[ResLi]

Hi ntw556

We have exactly the same problem. We deployed 10.1.0 with SCCM mandatory to more than 2000 clients. And as I knew from 9.x updates, we only had to close open IE, Acrobat, Reader and all PDF's and made sure, that they couldn't be opened again during the installation. By this way we were sure, that the users will not loose data and that the installation will be successfully. Result from SCCM: most installations failed because the users had open office-applications.

With 10.1.1 we have to uninstall all older versions of Acrobat and then to install 10.1.1 from a new patched (from 10.0) AIP. In addition we must ensure that the users don't loose data by closing the related applications. Therefore the users must close before and during the installation by a loop-messagebox all open office-applications (including Outlook, IE, ...), Acrobat, Reader, PDF's. Otherwise 10.1.1 will not be installed and the loop goes on. Uninstall and install takes about 20 minutes and during this time, the users suffer a business interruption of 20 minutes and more...

I really don't know what Adobe has considered about this point (important MS-updates are installed during shutdown and don't interfere with other processes...)!

[brape33]

Well rdw, i know exactly how you feel right now . I was facing the same problems last friday when i tried to patch my clients thru SCCM first, then my AIPs. My luck was that i had only like 100 test installations of pro and enterprise then. The upgrade of the remaining 1000+ installations will start this week.

So i created 2 new task sequences (pro&enterprise) which will check the client for any installation with a version number != 10.1.1 , If the condition is met the installation will be removed. Thereafter the new plain 10.0.0 msi will be applied slipstreamed with the 10.1.1 msp. Then i advertised them to 2 collections with the version 10 test clients. Tomorrow all version 9 installations will follow up, The task sequence has the advantage that you can run wmi queries against the win32:process class for running processes. This way you can skip the whole instllation if any blocking process is running on the machine. Just put a custom schedule on the advertisement to rerun hourly or daily until all conditions are met.

The option to run only when the user is logged out is pretty useless in SCCM because it also hits when you have a screen saver policy applied to your machines. Unfortunately im not allowed to use maintanace windows for our clients. This would things make much easier.

And yes, all updates will be like this for version 10 from what i was reading all over the net. That's the reason for me to say goodbye to AIPs. There is no benefit in it anymore, just a lot of unnessecary work since you get like 7 updates every year.

Anyways, i wish good luck with your updates. Patching adobe products is one of the most ungrateful jobs .

[rdw556]

Brape,

I just started looking at doing the slipstream from the original 10.0.0 msi package where you edit setup.ini and after you are done you run the setup.exe.   Any way to modify the setup.ini with the updates and run the program from the .msi AND still use a transform?

I'm googling right now to see if its possible.

Or is there a command to run the original msi from 10.0.0 and patch at the same time?   I'm still learning so I don't know if you run 10.0 and ALL of the Quarterly updates one after the other or if you can run 10.0 and just the last Quarterly update.

[EnterpriseHelp]

10.x installers are cumulative. After installing the base release, just install the last quarterly and last update. In this case 10.0 > 10.1 > 10.1.1.

Have you looked at the admin guide at http://www.adobe.com/go/acrobatitinfo?

Ben

[rdw556]

Yes, reading through it now.

I see that you can add TRANSFORMS= inside of the setup.ini so it appears I have it all working now in a test area. 

Installs 10 with the 3 patches Tier 1, 1010 and 1011 with the proper settings I setup in the customization wizard.  Now to see if this will uninstall the 10.1 installations SCCM pushed down. I have customizied it to uninstall previous adobe reader and pro versions so we'll see.

Thanks for the assistance everyone.

[EnterpriseHelp]

Hi rdw566,

I was incorrect in the last posting. 10.1.1 is a quarterly, so it's cumulative to 10.0.

• Acrobat quarterlies are cumulative to the base install.
• Reader quarterlies are cumulative to the last MSI (in this case 10.1).

hth

Ben

[EnterpriseHelp]

brape33,

I don't think there's no reason to uninstall anything. Why are you doing that?

Ben

[brape33]

Hi Ben,

because i had deployed several version 10 installations based on AIPs (10.1.0). But since you can't apply updates directly to any client based on an AIP installation, nor apply an update to an already patched AIP anymore, i descided to step away from the AIP method, which is pretty useless now with the patch design of version 10.

[EnterpriseHelp]

Interesting: I haven't thought about the implications of switching from an AIP to a non-AIP workflow. I'll look into it.

I hope you find the 10.x installers much improved over 9.x. Few updates and less work.

Ben

[brape33]

Hi Ben,

if the policy of cumulative updates for quarterly patches will not be chanched in the furure, the overall work to maintain the installations will be reduced compared to version 9 (crossing fingers). One thing i have noticed is that you can apply the patches to clients regardless of open applications, at least for the reader, including the program itself. I have not tested it for Standard and Pro right now. This is a major improvement.

[brape33]

Hi Ben,

i don't want to smartass on you, but 10.1.1 is the latest quarterly patch and will apply directly to 10.0. So 10.0.0 -> 10.1.1 is good enough for fresh installations.

@rdw This will not uninstall your previous 10 deployments, because the installer will only remove older versions down to version 6, but not version 10 installations. I am using a little vbscript to uninstall the unwanted 10.1 installations. It's a  package in our SCCM environment being called with the GUID as argument (cscript uninstall.vbs GUID).