Software Deployment

Hi Jon

I used the Adobe Customization Wizard myself for the first time today, so I'm probably not yet a very advanced user.

However, some of your options aren't necessary to be set. Like the serial number. You don't really have a serial number for Adobe Reader, do you? [8D]
And that's why it's greyed out (it says so in the bottom of the window).
User Name and Organization are not mandatory properties in Windows Installer. If not set, it simply takes the default values (found in the registry). I guess, this should be fine?!

The option to remove an Acrobat version. Does it make sense during the installation of a newer Reader version? I don't think that people are happy if you remove Acrobat 7 and just installing Reader 8! Ok, but I agree that you should be able to remove older Reader versions. In my case it did this by default (but leaving the entry in the Add/Remove Programs dialog, that's not nice).
And the last one is probably a problem, that the downloaded version is not a multilanguage version. That's why it can't let the user choose the appropriate language.

In general you need to know that the Adobe Customization Wizard is meant to work with Reader, Acrobat and Acrobat Elements (from mid-year 2007). That's why you find some options that aren't appropriate with the program you're creating the transform at the moment and therefore are greyed out.

Is this of any help?

Cheers
Roland

Hi Roland,
I agree about the serial number not being an issue with Reader (I guess if I pointed ACW to an AcroPro.msi, I would probably get that option). My big complaint is not having the option to uninstall either of the old programs (Reader or Professional). My organization might very well be forced to go to Reader 8, and all previous version (both Pro and Reader) would have to be removed. I can probably write a script to do this, but if it is already available in the package, why not use it? As far as language goes, it is not that big of a deal as we only have a handfull of those types of installs to support. I might try downloading a foreign language version, and see if the option becomes available.

All-in-all, I am pretty satisfied with the ACW except for the non-availability of the uninstall options.

Sincerely,
Jon

You could include the msiexec /x {GUID} commands for the packages that should be uninstalled during installation of Adobe Reader 8 on the 'programs to execute' page.

In addition you can deploy any settings that are not available in the tool by putting the appropriate registry key in the reg keys tab.

I really think that Adobe is on the right way with this tool!

Cheers

Do you happen to know if there is a published doculent that lists the GUIDs for all of the Adobe Acrobat products?

TIA,
Jon

I have no clue if a document like this exists...
Are you aware of all the versions that are installed in your production environment?
Then check the Property table for the ProductCode in those msi's...

I was also missing those options.. I wanted to replace the previous version of reader.

However:

[&:]It Does[&:] even though the check box is not there!

I have tested again and again to find:

When 7.08 Reader (most likely true with anything down to v6) is already installed, installing v8 after running the tuner removed 7.08 and installed 8 in it's place. 7.08 was gone from the add/remove programs list.

7.08 Standard (most likely true with Pro as well) was untouched if already installed... this only occurred with the reader (so far). Installing v8 resulted in v8 Reader and 7.08 Standard on the machine.

Found this in Adobe KB, http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/330817.html

Command line examples: Remove Acrobat 7.0 silently.

A silent removal runs without any dialog boxes to show the user that the removal is running. Acrobat Professional, Standard and Reader all use the same command line and the same installer file for silent updates:


msiexec /x { [ProductCode] } /qn


[ProductCode] is the product code of the specific application. Use the following product codes for English language products:

-- For Acrobat Professional 7.0 retail edition: {AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000002}

-- For Acrobat Professional 7.0 volume license edition: {AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-100000000002}

-- For Acrobat Standard 7.0 retail: {AC76BA86-1033-0000-BA7E-000000000002}

-- For Acrobat Standard 7.0 volume license edition: {AC76BA86-1033-0000-BA7E-100000000002}

-- For Acrobat 3D retail: {AC76BA86-1033-F400-7760--000003D0002}

-- For Acrobat 3D volume license edition: {AC76BA86-1033-F400-7760-1000003D0002}

-- For Reader 7.0: {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A70000000000}

-- For Reader 7.0.5: {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A70500000002}

-- For Acrobat 7.0.1 and Reader 7.0.1 Update: {AC76BA86-0000-7EC8-7489-000000000702}

-- For Acrobat 7.0.2 and Reader 7.0.2 Update: {AC76BA86-0000-7EC8-7489-000000000703}

-- For Acrobat 7.0.3 and Reader 7.0.3 Update: {AC76BA86-0000-7EC8-7489-000000000704}

-- For Acrobat 7.0.5 and Reader 7.0.5 Update: Use the product ID for 7.0 listed above

-- For Adobe Acrobat 7.0.7 and Reader 7.0.7 update: {AC76BA86-1033-F400-7760-100000000002}

-- For Adobe Acrobat 7.0.8 and Reader 7.0.8 update: {AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-100000000002}


Important: You must include the braces in the command line. An MSI package can be substituted for the Product Code.

Thanks a lot! If I can find a document for version 6 as well, I will post it.

Jon

In case anyone else is interested, I have come up with more GUIDS and uninstall strings:

ADOBE ACROBAT READER 3.0 C:\WINDOWS\uninst.exe -fC:\Acrobat3\Reader\DeIsL1.isu
ADOBE ACROBAT READER 3.01 C:\WINDOWS\uninst.exe -fC:\Acrobat3\Reader\DeIsL1.isu
ADOBE ACROBAT 4.0 C:\WINDOWS\ISUNINST.EXE -f"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\NT\Uninst.isu" -c"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\NT\Uninst.dll"
ADOBE ACROBAT 5.0 C:\WINDOWS\ISUNINST.EXE -f"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.isu" -c"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.dll"
ADOBE ACROBAT 5.0 [5.1] C:\WINDOWS\ISUNINST.EXE -f"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.isu" -c"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.dll"
ADOBE ACROBAT 6.0 PROFESSIONAL [006.000.000] MsiExec.exe /I{AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000001}
ADOBE ACROBAT 6.0 STANDARD - ENGLISH, FRANçAIS, DEUTSCH [006.000.000] MsiExec.exe /I{AC76BA86-1033-F400-BA7E-000000000001}
ADOBE ACROBAT 6.0.1 PROFESSIONAL [006.000.001] MsiExec.exe /I{11B569C2-4BF6-4ED0-9D17-A4273943CB24}AC76BA86-1033-0000-7760-000000000001}
ADOBE ACROBAT 6.0.1 STANDARD [006.000.001] MsiExec.exe /I{AC76BA86-1033-0000-BA7E-000000000001}
ADOBE ACROBAT - READER 6.0.2 UPDATE MsiExec.exe /I{11B569C2-4BF6-4ED0-9D17-A4273943CB24}AC76BA86-0000-0000-0000-6028747ADE01}
ADOBE ACROBAT AND READER 6.0.3 UPDATE MsiExec.exe /I{11B569C2-4BF6-4ED0-9D17-A4273943CB24}AC76BA86-0000-7EC8-7489-000000000603}
ADOBE ACROBAT AND READER 6.0.4 UPDATE MsiExec.exe /I{11B569C2-4BF6-4ED0-9D17-A4273943CB24}AC76BA86-0000-7EC8-7489-000000000604}
ADOBE ACROBAT AND READER 6.0.5 UPDATE MsiExec.exe /I{11B569C2-4BF6-4ED0-9D17-A4273943CB24}AC76BA86-0000-7EC8-7489-000000000605}
ADOBE READER FOR POCKET PC 2.0 C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\8\Intel 32\IDriver.exe /M{291A772C-FFB9-4681-B720-AB2A0A620896}
ADOBE ACROBAT ELEMENTS 6.0 [006.000.000] MsiExec.exe /I{E5E6E687-1033-BA7E-6000-000000000001}
ADOBE ATMOSPHERE PLAYER FOR ACROBAT AND ADOBE READER C:\WINDOWS\atmoUn.exe
ADOBE DOWNLOAD MANAGER 2.0 C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\ESD\uninst.exe

ORIGINAL: rpfenninger

You could include the msiexec /x {GUID} commands for the packages that should be uninstalled during installation of Adobe Reader 8 on the 'programs to execute' page.

In addition you can deploy any settings that are not available in the tool by putting the appropriate registry key in the reg keys tab.

I really think that Adobe is on the right way with this tool!

Cheers




I'm having trouble figuring out how to exactly enter these strings on the "add application' page. I see an application path field, command line field, and wait. What goes where? I can't seem to get it entered correctly. We are having problems with previous versions not uninstalling when they should so I wanted to put the uninstall strings in manually... Wondering though if this should happen before the version 8 install and not at the same time...

I need to add the below strings...

-Adobe Acrobat 5.0-
C:\WINNT\ISUNINST.EXE -f"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.isu" -c"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\NT\Uninst.dll"

-Adobe Acrobat 6.0-
MsiExec.exe /I{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-000000000001}

-Adobe Acrobat 7.0.8-
MsiExec.exe /I{AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A70000000000}

I read that the options for uninstalling previous versions are only available if you are installing the full version of Adobe Acrobat. I tried editing an MSI for the full version, and voila, the options were not grayed out.

Thanks for the info! I still think it was an odd decission not to include the uninstall options with the reader msi's...

Jon

can someone tell me what changes i need to make to the .msi file to unblock the removal options please? Its the first time ive needed to modify one. ive got as far as finding the file i just dont know what to do with it. thanks in advance.