Keep Creative Cloud Desktop app up to date

[MATT0D4C]

Hi, I've toyed with several different test computers and I can't come up with an automated procedure to keep Adobe Creative Cloud up to date. My end-users are not local administrators and I do not want them installing any unauthorized applications, addins/plugins, etc. on their computers. I created a managed package to push out Adobe Acrobat DC Pro. I included the RUM so I can push out an update command every day to make sure Acrobat installations are at the latest version. This works well. The problem with this is the Creative Cloud Desktop application does not get included with the RUM update.

Since Creative Cloud is not included in the RUM, I have 2 additional problems.

Problem 1: my users used to get a UAC prompt whenever they would first log in if there was an update was available, but now it just sits in the Windows 10 Notifications waiting for them to click into it. In both cases the application is not updated. I want to push out the update (or send it an update command) to keep them up to date. 

Problem 2: my users are often signed out of Creative Cloud and their preferences are greyed-out. Within that is a toggle to 'always keep Creative Cloud up to date'. Is there a way to enforce that is toggled on and functional even if they are not logged into the Creative Cloud app?

My temporary workaround is to create an additional package that is just Creative Cloud Desktop (which you can't de-select within the package generation utility). I automate the Creative Cloud update using the package in a PDQ Deploy script. This allows me to push out the latest version to only the outdated computers and it is up to date whether or not the user is signed in. The problem is I have to do this every time there is a new version out (which I dont' know how to get notified when there is one). I don't want to have this manual process to keep an application that no one uses up to date. Are there any ways to automate the update process for Creative Cloud or exclude Creative Cloud in the first place?

Thank you,

Matt

[SuJoshi]

Hello,

Unfortunately, RUM does not allow updating the creative cloud desktop app. By default, "always keep Creative Cloud up to date" is toggled ON however if the users do not have permission to install or update apps then a UAC box will come up. In this scenario, either you could disable UAC on the user's machine or create a managed package from the admin console and allow the following two options: Enable self-service install and Allow non-admin to update and install apps

If you are using only Acrobat on your devices then you can remove the creative cloud desktop app from the machine as well. The users can directly sign in to Acrobat to access it. 

> Creative cloud uninstaller: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-creative-cloud-desktop-app.html#uninstall_w...

> Acrobat standalone installer: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-downloads.html

I hope, this will resolve your issue.

[MATT0D4C]

Hi, since I've never seen this as an option within the Admin Console, I wasn't aware that we could push it out without Creative Cloud or that Creative Cloud could be uninstalled without affecting Acrobat or Acrobat's updates via RUM. I have 2 followup questions.

I found the installer for the RUM within the Packages>Tools list. If uninstalling Creative Cloud will uninstall the existing RUM tool, I'll test it to make sure the "--silent" parameter work for this install and I'll push this out with Acrobat (which I'll also test the silent parameter). As long as I can push out Acrobat and the RUM silently, then I have a winner for 90% of Adobe our users. 

Thank you,

Matt

[MATT0D4C]

As I edited that last reply, I realized I no longer had 2 questions by the time I was done editing it (as long as I can install silently). I do have 1 though: Is there a way to be notified when a new version of Creative Cloud is available?

Thank you,

Matt

[MATT0D4C]

I found the answer to the notification question: Under Packages>Preferences is the "Notify me by email when Creative Cloud application updates are available". I hope that is not for all applications, and only the Creative Cloud Desktop application.

--------------------------------

I successfully uninstalled Creative Cloud silently. After a reboot however, I now get a MS Visual c++ Runtime error (CCX-Process vulcanadapter.cc with expression: vulcan_). I created a cleanup script for the CCX Process and using the cleanup tool (found here: https://helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-for-enterprise-users.html). That did not fix my issue with the runtime error when I log in. I coudn't figure out a way to uninstall the CCXProcess.exe, so I added a couple more steps to remove it so it will no longer generate the error to annoy my end users and generate helpdesk calls. I push the uninstaller with the uninstall and silent parameters and then stop and delete the CCX folder so startup doesn't try to run it:

Creative Cloud Uninstaller.exe -u --silent

taskkill /IM "CCXProcess.exe" /F
rmdir "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud Experience" /s /q

Now when I reboot, I don't get any errors. The startup item still exists and is enabled, but unfortunately the registry key is different for all installations, so I'm not sure how to remove that. At this point that is a cleanup item because it doesn't run anything or generate visible errors.

-------------------------------

I also realized that the RUM was not an installed component, and one that I push to the client machine as I run it. Since I uninstalled the Creative Cloud package application and I intend to use the Acrobat only installer, it won't download with that (since it was an option in the package). I downloaded it separately and will manage the RUM separately.

This was way more complex than it needed to be to remove Creative Cloud. I wish I had known about the Acrboat only option from the get-go. Thanks for your initial response and allowing my to talk/troubleshoot my way through this.