Software Deployment

I had the same issue with 7 when I deployed reader. Some users had Pro installed and when I pushed the reader it set it as the default pdf program. Somtimes a repair on the pro worked. Somtimes re-associating the file worked....I know you can change a setting in the install (transform) but I did not find this out until after the fact. I will see If I can locate the setting.

I also had the same problem with smoe upgrades to Reader 7 - exact same symptoms as now.

None of these users have any version of Acrobat installed though, but they have Reader v5 installed (remove using a command line on the v8 package).

Did you use Adobe Customization Wizard 8 (http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=3564) it has options in it to set the file assocations and if pro is installed it will give you the option to have reader or pro as the default

sorry guys, you are both barking up the wrong tree - this is nothing to do with Adobe Acrobat Pro. NONE of the PCs have Acrobat installed.

I have checked Adobe Customization Wizard 8 (because that is what i used to create the package that is being deployed). The only settings refering to setting what program opens PDF files is File Attachments page (where you cannot change the options for PDF file types), the other is on the Installation Options where you can set which program is used if both acrobat and reader are installed - which is irrelevant (see 1st para).

Note that after the installation is completed successfully, when these users click on a PDF file they receive the standard Windows Explorer message when opening an unknown file format.

Getting an increasing number of users with this problem!!

I'm got this problem as well, your not alone. If I find a solution I will post a reply.

I finally understand the issue you are having because I am having it also. After you install Reader 8 on a machine w/o acrobat. You open a PDF in Explorer and get a general error "There is a problem wtih adobe acrobat/reader. Pease exit and try again" You select OKAY and it works, but you get this every time. It does not do this when opening local PDF's

I don't know if this will help you but here goes.

I initialy selected "Make Acrobat the default viewer if both Acrobat and Reader are installed".

Changed it to the default "Installer will decide..." and,

Now I'm able to open PDFs in a browser.

I am with adricapp. I did the same thinking that I needed that setting so Acrobat will be the default. Not the case. I wish that would have happened with 7.8 when I deplyed it. Reader took the setting aver from acrobat. At least it works now.

i disagree actually. The PCs that i mentioned before that have Adobe 8 installed but that it is not correctly associated with PDF files - normally i would uninstall adobe 8 and then reinstall it whcih fixed the problem. After setting the package to decide itself what program to use to open PDF files, even if i unistalled the program and reinstalled it again the user could still not open PDF files. I needed to set the package to force Adobe Reader as default program for PDF files in order for the file associate to be corrected.

*BUMP*

having exact the same problem over here.. machines equipped with reader 7, some with adobe acrobat pro 7, a lot of machines having the same issue.. Opening PDF's doesn't work as it should.. Windows asking for the location of ACRORD32.exe when opening PDF's.. [&:]

Anyone figured out a solution yet?

i haven't managed to find a solution for this, we have had to manually install about 300-400 PCs because of this problem, seriously disappointed with Adobe and their 'support'.

In the end I created a batch file that removed the old versions and installed the new version again - great for our Laptop users who have admin rights and can do this themselves, but no good for the desktop users that required techies remoting in to run the batch file themselves.

Hope this helps


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
@Echo off

cls
Echo.
Echo Uninstalling Adobe Reader 5 if it is installed...
Echo.
ISUNINST.EXE -y -a -f"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.isu"

cls
Echo Uninstalling Adobe Reader 8 if it is installed...
Echo.
msiexec /uninstall "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Setup Files\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A80000000002}\AcroRead.msi" transforms="C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Setup Files\{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A80000000002}\AcroRead.mst" /passive /norestart

cls
Echo.
Echo Old versions of Adobe Reader have been removed, installing Adobe Reader 8.
Echo This may take a few minutes, please be patient...
Echo.
Echo Please do not cancel the installation once it has started as this will cause
Echo problems opening PDF files.
Echo.
\\ssfs002\groupdata$\_ACSIT\Adobe_Reader_8\Setup.exe

cls
Echo Installation process has complete, you should now be able to view PDF files.
Echo.
Echo If you are still unable to do this, please contact the IT Customer Services Desk on xxxxx xxxxx
Echo.
Pause
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I had the same problem and I imported this registry key


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf]
"PrevApp"="AcroExch.Document"
@="AcroExch.Document"
"Content Type"="application/pdf"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\OpenWithList]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\OpenWithList\AcroRd32.exe]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\PersistentHandler]
@="{F6594A6D-D57F-4EFD-B2C3-DCD9779E382E}"

and it worked.

Good Luck

I'm using Adobe's Customization Wizard also (setting "let the installer decide" seems to do the trick). Except in my case, I still had a few laptops that had Adobe Acrobat 5 installed afterwards. I'm sure uninstalling Acrobat 5 after Adobe Reader 8 was installed caused the disassociation. For the record, I do run a vbscript to uninstall older Adobe Reader installs before installing Adobe Reader 8, but it seems it could use some improvement.

Anyways, I had better luck with the following, but it may have the annoying side effect of undoing/resetting the state of your license acceptance. Don't ask me how or why. All I know is that the problem didn't seem to surface until after I imported the key.


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf]
@="AcroExch.Document"
"Content Type"="application/pdf"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\OpenWithList]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\OpenWithList\AcroRd32.exe]
@=""

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\PersistentHandler]
@="{F6594A6D-D57F-4EFD-B2C3-DCD9779E382E}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\ShellEx]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\ShellEx\{8895b1c6-b41f-4c1c-a562-0d564250836f}]
@="{49400A7C-81A8-4F52-8CCE-D54739EE87EC}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document]
"BrowseInPlace"="1"
"EditFlags"=hex:00,00,01,00
@="Adobe Acrobat Document"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document\CLSID]
@="{B801CA65-A1FC-11D0-85AD-444553540000}"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document\CurVer]
@="AcroExch.Document.7"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document\Shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document\Shell\Open]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document\Shell\Open\Command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Reader 8.0\\Reader\\AcroRd32.exe\" \"%1\""




Could I try making a suggestion.

Copy the files locally first and then run setup, dont run it across the network.

May help as I recall I did this with no problems.

Paul

ORIGINAL: Inabus

Could I try making a suggestion.

Copy the files locally first and then run setup, dont run it across the network.

May help as I recall I did this with no problems.

Paul


Thanks Paul, but i deployed my package with LANDesk which copies all setup files locally before running them

Ah ok, that potential fix is out the window then!

I would look at if the verb and mime tables are correctly populated as I suspect somethnig dodgy is going on there. Have you checked out google / adobe forums, for potential fixes.

To be honest if your getting succesfull installations on some machine it points to something specific on the machines with problem but what that problem is I wouldnt know.

You could try the following maybe?
Install Adobe on machine A with full logging (Non working machine)
Install Adobe on machine B with full logging (Working machine)

Then compare the 2 log files in an attempt to find the action or registry entry that the installer cant update.