Deploying Adobe PCD Folder

Sounds like you are on a good path.
Just make a package/dmg of the PCD and set the priority higher than everything else.

Nick Caro Senior Desktop Support Administrator

Replying from my other address to avoid that huge signature.

I'm new to Composer and of course this needs to be deployed ASAP. Any quick direction on making the dmg without snapshotting?

Thanks for your help.

Tom

Sent from my iPad

drag the folder into composer.

*please make note that my phone number has changed*
eric winkelhake
mundocom technology
222 merchandise mart plaza 21st fl
312 222 8895

Wow, I really need more coffee today.....

Thank you.

Sent from my iPad

Look at your Casper documentation for reference.
Basically, just drag the folder in to the Composer window the way you would drag music in to itunes to make a playlist.

Nick Caro Senior Desktop Support Administrator

Got everything deploying as I planned but even using a brand new PCD folder that I created today with clean installs CS3 licensing still breaks. Are there any other files that I am missing to make CS3 happy again?

Sent from my iPad

I can't remember if it goes back to CS3, but I know for CS4 you have to grab these three folders:

/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PCD
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/backup
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/caps

If any of those aren't from your master license machine, it will throw a fit. So make sure you take'm all from the cs3/cs4/cs5 box you have :)

ben janowski
Senior Macintosh Support Technician
Kohl's Mac Support Team
262.703.1396 | benjamin.janowski at kohls.com

I would not snapshot CS4 and CS5 installs, quite frankly. The built-in methods (for CS4, maybe CS3, can't remember) and the AAMEE install methodology for CS5 both work fine, and you do not have to worry about the licensing files that way.

I especially wouldn't snapshot CS5 - very difficult to make it work correctly. The licensing in CS3 and CS4 is very, very fragile...

well, I really don't mean to contradict, but I have to admit I've had just the opposite experience.

We ARE snapshotting CS5. We've deployed it to about 35 production machines (and about 10 testing) this way and soon to be many more I hope :)

Our particular challenges we complicated, which is why we had to go this way. For us, CS5 involved a.) removing a cs3 that was deployed with something other than the casper suite b.) installing on top of CS4 and keeping it functional c.) installing/updating font, data asset management and InDesign plugins so that they'd be available with CS5 c.) removing acrobat 9 and installing acrobat 10 d.) all this had to be able to happen while the user was on the machine, potentially workings.

the AAMEE tool is a great leap for Adobe - and if you can use it, and it works, thats super. By it's nature, we couldn't use it for some reasons - and due to others, i couldn't get it to work period (shakes fist angrily at Acrobat 9, who complicated things).

This is our third 'snapshot' type deployment for the Creative Suites (allbeit the first two were with another software deployment tool). Personally, I'm a fan of it. But having said all of that, I hope to move towards removing CS5 an using an AAMEE install for CS6, if it makes sense for our environment when the time comes... we shall see!

ben janowski
Senior Macintosh Support Technician
Kohl's Mac Support Team
262.703.1396 | benjamin.janowski at kohls.com

Interestingly enough CS4 is working perfectly with only the Adobe PCD
folder.

I will definitely try copying those others to the target machine and test
CS3. Thanks for the help.

-----------------------------------------
Some days you're the bug,
Some days you're the windshield.

Added the folders but CS3 is still broken. Have I mentioned how much I hate Adobe right now?

Sent from my iPad

CS3 consumed probably weeks of my life getting it to work, Acrobat and Reader probably the worst parts.

Things with CS4 improved a little. CS5 has been leaps and bounds.

There are usually little to no issues with deploying CS5 on fresh systems of course. Pushing it out on systems that had something Adobe before…hit and miss. Weird errors with Flash, etc…

I'll chime in on what we do here for CS5…we use the Adobe tools to PKG up what we need using AAMEE. Dropping the updaters directly into the JSS, and the same for thing Acrobat X with the provisioning tool. There are still things I have to package for Acrobat X, but not anything like it use to be.

Did you read that, Jody? Adobe's getting better…just speed along the migration to everything 64-bit, lower the price, and understand your licensing models for virtualization are non-existent and need to change. =)

Craig E