Adobe CC failing to install on its own...

[mconners]

Hello Everyone,

I have been beating my head against a wall over an Adobe installation. We have a package created with Adobe's creative cloud packager. The package is uploaded to Casper Admin, it is zipped up and ready to go. We deploy this package to an initially brand new setup Mac by caching all application installers and then running a second policy that installs all cached packages. This process works flawlessly every time!

When we attempt to install the Adobe CC 2017 package by itself, the same package, it fails to install. This is installing on TOP of the previous install. We are finding some Macs with parts of the CC 2017 missing. Some apps are there, some are not. So, we were attempting to re-install. This didn't work.

So, we attempted to run all of this locally to determine where our process was breaking down.

We ran the Adobe Uninstaller and it removed everything from the previous installer, from what I can tell. We re-ran the CC 2017 installer and it failed again! What the heck is happening?

In many cases the re-install did work, but in some cases it isn't working. How do I go about even troubleshooting this situation? Is there a tried a true way here? I know, knee slapper as this is Adobe, I get it. Nothing is consistent with them.

I am looking for suggestions that might lead me down a different path.

Thank you!

[millersc]

We're using caching also since we saw failures when trying to install Master Collection directly from the DP's. I have not had an issue with 2017 in this manor. Is this only 2017 or was 2015 installed prior? What kind of DP are you using?

[mconners]

Hello @millersc this is only for CC 2017. We are trying to load CC 2018 as well, which IS working. Somehow though, we have discovered parts of CC 2017 missing after CC 2018 was installed. 2017 was installed during the summer and we now have faculty and students needing both versions installed. Looking at the local errors I was getting, I think it the problem lies in Adobe Acrobat being updated when CC 2018 is installed. When we try to run the installer locally, we do get an error saying an newer version of Acrobat is installed and then the installer fails. This is even after Acrobat was removed completely from the HDD.

I am looking into creating a new CCP package that doesn't have Acrobat as part of it. This Adobe stuff is so annoying. I spend most of my time tweaking what can be installed or removed when it comes to Adobe. Thanks for the feedback.

[millersc]

Yeah, we have not gone to 2018 or thought about it. Just keeping 2017 updated with RUM is a PITA. We like to keep to only one version installed. When we moved to 2017, we nuked the labs for "cleanliness" since Adobe's uninstaller isn't perfect.

I would agree with you, it sounds like Acrobat is causing your problem. It's one of those applications that likes to be the ruler of the HDD. I've even see errors with the Reader DC with 2017 installed Acrobat. Good luck!

[erowan]

If I understand right, you're installing a CC2018-only package on top of an existing CC2017 install? Have you tried uninstalling CC2017 and then installing a CC2018/CC2017 combo package? I include Acrobat DC in my packages, but I've had few problems ever since I switched to uninstalling all previous installations, even for incremental updates.

[mconners]

Thank you @erowan I never considered doing BOTH at the same time, which makes sense.

Let me ask, @erowan what are you using or doing to uninstalling all previous installations? Do you have a script you could share? As I understand it, the Adobe tools for doing so aren't very reliable and I have been trying to come up with a way to remove everything it installs.

[Look]

Unless something has changed Adode installers are notoriously bad for failing if anything is still installed on the machine and even removing the apps is not sufficient you need to download and run the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner as well to remove the various service and shared support files as well.

[erowan]

@mconnors When I use CCP to build an install package, it creates both an Installer.pkg and an Uninstaller.pkg. When I deploy a new installer, I restart the systems, run the old Uninstaller.pkg from the previous installation plus a brief clean-up script, then restart the systems again to kickstart the new Installer.pkg. Initially, I do this on one system so I can note what needs to go in the clean-up script, usually just a few lines to remove some leftover folders due to third-party plug-ins.

I'm guessing the Uninstaller.pkg only uninstalls what I built the Installer.pkg to install. In your case here, I'd use CCP to build an "uninstall package" which uninstalls everything possible. That creates a folder with an AdobeCCUninstaller executable which could be kicked off with a script.