Adobe CC 2018 installation failing on New 5K 27 inch iMac with SSD

[Lhsachs]

We are having an issue installing Adobe Photoshop and other adobe packages on a new 5K 27” iMac that came with 10.13.1 build 17848

The specs of the Mac:
Retina 5K, 27-inch 2017
3.4 GHz Intel Core i5
16 GB RAM
Radeon Pro 570 4 GB
500 GB SSD, Format APFS

The installs fail when either pushed via JAMF Pro or when copying the installers directly to the system and running manually.

Any Hints on why we are seeing the issue on this system, when we can install on a Four Thunderbolt 13” MacBook Pro running 10.13?

Thanks.

[obi-k]

I had a similar issue with CC 2015. It ended up being a network issue -- not a package thing. The package would install on some Macs, and not others.

I double-checked the network settings, particularly the DNS settings for our ORG. Once that was okay, I assume the license activation (or something) could communicate to Adobe and all installed okay.

[obi-k]

Oh, open Console app., go to /var/log then look at the install.log. Maybe that can give you a clue.

[RobertHammen]

Adobe stuff logs in /Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers - you wouldn't expect Adobe to use standard OS log locations, would you?

Also, Adobe's "installer" packages aren't true Apple installer packages, they have compressed files and symbolic links in them. These files are mangled when copied to an SMB share, which is why Casper Admin will zip them when copying them to a share. Don't let these packages transition to a non-Mac filesystem, they will likely be corrupted. Compress them, or put them on a DMG for transport.

And, look in the logs above. Not sure if you chose the options in CCP to ignore conflicting processes, if you didn't, and had Safari open, the installer will fail...

Lot of CCP tips/info from Patrick Fergus at Foigus

[blackholemac]

On the Windows 10 side of the house, we verified that some Adobe payloads built by the packager were not compatible with the latest build and were causing install failures...specifically the Gaming SDK and the betas...try a smaller package after running the Cleaner tool and see if you have better luck.

Agreed that Adobes installer isn’t a great experience

[Lhsachs · Accepted solution]

As I stated initially, the installers worked on all systems I've thrown them at except this brand new 27" 5K iMac. Reviewing the logs from Adobe - I saw:
11/17/17 14:12:05:554 | [ERROR] | | ACC | LBS | WorkflowManager | | | 18907 | Drive is Case sensitive. Cannot Install.
Solution - Reformat the drive as straight APFS. Reinstall OS, and enroll - and all worked fine.
- Not sure why/how the drive was set as Case sensitive.

[donmontalvo]

@Lhsachs wrote:

Not sure why/how the drive was set as Case sensitive.

The bigger question is why Adobe is still hacking their installers, and so far behind on Apple best practices.