Software Deployment

#1 I do not believe this is possible. I think the setup.exe is what creates the shortcuts for the CS4 suite installs.

#2 As far as I know Adobe Acrobat is the only CS4 component that Adobe releases actual MSP patches for. All other updates are provided as .exe's and cannot really be integrated into your administrative install point. I have created an admin install point for Adobe Acrobat as part of the CS suite and patched it to the latest patch. This has worked fine so that when CS is installed Acrobat is already up to date.

ORIGINAL: DrClarke

#1 - Can I manipulate folder/shortcut names? Meaning after the install, I want the | Start | Programs | Adobe CS4 folder and shortcuts to be the way I want, and not the way Adobe wants. I can do this manually after the install, but I'm not figuring out if it's possible pre-install. I was able to easily do this on stand alone Adobe Acrobat installs via their Adobe Customization Wizard 9 tool.

#2 - Is there a way to slipstream in all the security updates/patches? This one is completely stumping me. Again, it may simply not be possible for all I know. I was able to do it with just a standard Adobe Acrobat 9 install, but I'm lost on CS4 if it's even possible.

Thanks for any pointers/guidance.

I'm just finishing up a complete msi installation of the CS4 suite (without using the Adobe setup.exe).

Here's what I've done so far.

Created admin installs for each of the Adobe dependancies/applications which need to be installed in the following order. These can be patched with the latest updates from Adobe.

Adobe CS4\WinBootstrapper.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeALMAnchorService2-mul\AdobeALMAnchorService2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeSuiteSharedConfiguration-mul\AdobeSuiteSharedConfiguration-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeCMaps2-mul\AdobeCMaps2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobePDFL9-mul\AdobePDFL9-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeXMPPanelsAll\AdobeXMPPanelsAll.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeCSIAll\AdobeCSIAll.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeColorEU_ExtraSettings2-mul\AdobeColorEU_ExtraSettings2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeColorJA_ExtraSettings2-mul\AdobeColorJA_ExtraSettings2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeColorNA_Recommended2-mul\AdobeColorNA_Recommended2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeWinSoftLinguisticsPluginAll\AdobeWinSoftLinguisticsPluginAll.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeDynamicLinkSupport1All\AdobeDynamiclinkSupport1All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeAssetServices4All\AdobeAssetServices4All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeFlash10-en-ExtensionFL30\AdobeFlash10-en-ExtensionFL30.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeFlash10-STI-en\AdobeFlash10-STI-en.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeInDesign6AppFSet-Roman\AdobeInDesign6AppFSet-Roman.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeInDesign6CommonBase-mul\AdobeInDesign6CommonBase-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeAUM6.0All\AdobeAUM6.0All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeExtendScriptToolKit3.0.0All\AdobeExtendScriptToolkit3.0.0All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeExtensionManager2All\AdobeExtensionManager2All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeTypeSupport9-mul\AdobeTypeSupport9-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeCameraRaw5.0All\AdobeCameraRaw5.0All.msi
adobe cs4\payloads\adobeair1.0\setup.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeDefaultLanguage2-mul\AdobeDefaultLanguage2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeOutputModuleAll\AdobeOutputModuleAll.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeBridge3All\AdobeBridge3All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeDeviceCentral2-mul\AdobeDeviceCentral2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeFontsAll\AdobeFontsAll.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeLinguisticsAll\AdobeLinguisticsAll.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeColorCommonSetCMYK2-mul\AdobeColorCommonSetCMYK2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeColorCommonSetRGB2-mul\AdobeColorCommonSetRGB2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobePDFSettings9-mul\AdobePDFSettings9-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeDriveAll\AdobeDriveAll.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeSearchforHelp-mul\AdobeSearchforHelp-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeServiceManager-mul\AdobeServiceManager-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeConnect-mul\AdobeConnect-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\kuler2.0-mul\kuler2.0-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeColorPhotoshop2-mul\AdobeColorPhotoshop2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeVideoProfilesCS2-mul\AdobeVideoProfilesCS2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeFlashPlayer10_axDbg_mul\AdobeFlashPlayer10_axDbg_mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeFlashPlayer10_plDbg_mul\AdobeFlashPlayer10_plDbg_mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeInDesign6IconHandler-mul\AdobeInDesign6IconHandler-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobePhotoshop11-Support\AdobePhotoshop11-Support.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeSGM3-en_US\AdobeSGM3-en_US.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeSING2-mul\AdobeSING2-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\aifsdk-win\aifsdk-win.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AMECore1All\AMECore1All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeAcrobat9-fr_FR\AcroPro.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AMEImporter1All\AMEImporter1All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeDesignSuitePremium4-mul\AdobeDesignSuitePremium4-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeVersionCue4All\AdobeVersionCue4All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeDreamweaver10-mul\AdobeDreamweaver10-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeFireworks10All\AdobeFireworks10All.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeIllustrator14mul\AdobeIllustrator14mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobePhotoshop11-Core\AdobePhotoshop11-Core.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeInDesign6AppBase-mul\AdobeInDesign6AppBase-mul.msi
Adobe CS4\payloads\AdobeFlash10-mul\AdobeFlash10-mul.msi

For each of the msi's you'll need to add the following 2 properties.
ADOBE_SETUP=1
UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE=1

For the Adobe Acrobat install you'll need to add the following property. ISX_SERIALNUMBER=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx (you'll be able to obtain this property from within the Acrobat log file if you enable Windows Installer Logging on the full vendors setup.exe install)

Depending on the language that you're installing as you'll need to install the relevant language files for each of the main applications. These language files figured out from the following files (these are for en_US). I bundled each of these up into their own msi's and added them onto the end of the list above.

Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobeDreamweaver10en_USLanguagePack\Instructions.js
Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobeFireworks10en_USLanguagePack\Instructions.js
Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobeFlash10-en_USLanguagePack\Instructions.js
Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobeIllustrator14en_USLanguagePack\Instructions.js
Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobeInDesign6AppLang-en_US\Instructions.js
Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobeInDesign6CommonLang-en_US\Instructions.js
Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobePhotoshop11-en_US\Instructions.js
Adobe CS4\extensions\DeviceCentral2LP-en_US\Instructions.js

Once you've done this, you'll need to capture the license information for the suite and individual applications. I added the following files into a msi which contain all the information that you need. Perform a full install of the suite from the vendors Setup.exe and then obtain these files.

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Media Encoder CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\AMT\amt_assets\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Bridge CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat.com\META-INF\AIR\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Device Central CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe Media Player\META-INF\AIR\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Version Cue CS4\Server\bin\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe PCD\pcd.db
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Fireworks CS4\Configuration\Win\Shared\AdobeAIR\templates\application.xml
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Adobe\FLEXnet\adobe_00080000_tsf.data
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Bridge CS4 Extensions\Adobe Output Module\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\backup\caps.db
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Utilities\ExtendScript Toolkit CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Fireworks CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Extension Manager CS4\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\SING\Mark II\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\caps\caps.db
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 9.0\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\XMP\Custom File Info Panels\2.0\AMT\application.xml
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Adobe PCD\cache\cache.db
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CS4\Support Files\Contents\Windows\AMT\application.xml

You'll be able to customize any individual application settings by applying a transform the the msi in question. (e.g. Changing the shortcut location for Adobe Dreamweaver)

(thanks to WayneB for the post he made for the Adobe CS3 suite back in 2007 as it is a large contributing factor for the above work)

Sorry to dig up an old post, but can you explain how you packaged the language files?

Within the media for CS4 there are several folders from where the language files are installed from. There are MSI's in these folders but there are 0kb in size (I've no idea why Adobe put them in, but that's Adobe for you!).

During the CS4 installation the language files are installed from the 'Instructions.js' files.

If you open the Instructions.js file in a text editor you'll see several lines that look like this


InstallFile(ExpandPath("[ARK_ASSETS]\\Assets\\_7_23da5ea3869debfb4aedd62c39bdf703"), ExpandPath("[INSTALLDIR]\\Adobe Dreamweaver CS4\\en_GB\\Configuration\\Styles\\" + "asp.net_button.css"), true, false);


Quite simply, look at the end of the line that states [INSTALLDIR]\\Adobe Dreamweaver CS4\\en_GB\\Configuration\\Styles\\" + "asp.net_button.css"

This is telling you that this particular language file is installed to "[INSTALLDIR]\Adobe Dreamweaver CS4\en_GB\Configuration\Styles\asp.net_button.css".

So install the full suite using the Adobe installer, read the lines of the Instructions.js files and copy these files to a location where you can add them into an MSI.

Although there are hundreds of lines for individual files, most of them are going to the same directories which can quite easily be copied.

It really doesn't take very long.

ORIGINAL: DrClarke
#1 - Can I manipulate folder/shortcut names? Meaning after the install, I want the | Start | Programs | Adobe CS4 folder and shortcuts to be the way I want, and not the way Adobe wants. I can do this manually after the install, but I'm not figuring out if it's possible pre-install. I was able to easily do this on stand alone Adobe Acrobat installs via their Adobe Customization Wizard 9 tool.


I have the same issue. My customer has rules about placement of shortcuts and I have to move them.

The Adobe CS4 Deployment Toolkit has no options for the shortcuts.

I have also tried the options with <setup.exe> --record=1 as described here http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions/pdfs/manualenterprisedeployment_cs4_help.pdf but again, no options for shortcuts.

I have not tried michaelnowell approach yet, got a headache just looking at it. ;) I'm hoping someone has some new input since this was discussed last, if not i guess I just have to take a pill for the ache and "go to work". :)

I'm trying to contact Adobe about this to.

I'm trying to contact Adobe about this to. - Find wall
- Engage forehead
- Relax
- Engage forehead
- Relax
- Repeat ad infinitum

You'll find the above exercise of more value than trying to get anything out of Adobe, other than standard scripted responses.

As Michael states, transforms can be applied to the relevant MSIs. So, find the MSI which contains the shortcuts whose location you want to change, change the location in a transform and apply the transform at install-time.

ORIGINAL: VBScab

I'm trying to contact Adobe about this to. - Find wall
- Engage forehead
- Relax
- Engage forehead
- Relax
- Repeat ad infinitum

You'll find the above exercise of more value than trying to get anything out of Adobe, other than standard scripted responses.

As Michael states, transforms can be applied to the relevant MSIs. So, find the MSI which contains the shortcuts whose location you want to change, change the location in a transform and apply the transform at install-time.



[:D]


Well, thats what I thought (finding the correct MSI-files and go from there). I will do that while trying to figure out an easier way, but of course nothing is easy with adobe. ;)

PolkaGris,

Lots of applications that i distribute via gpo takes a lot of time to search through on how to disable the creation of shortcuts.
I have given up and install PowerFuse of ressoftware http://www.ressoftware.com on the clients networks. They even have a free version if you stay under 100 users concurrent. The software itself is also based on .msi so you can also install that via gpo. With this software you can administer who gets icon's on their desktop or not.
It can replace the default explorer of Windows with the Powerfuse one. All icons then dissapear and you can administer who gets what. Also print and drive mappings are done via the same console. 2008 has a lot of these features build in via group policy's, but powerfuse is way quicker and you have great logging features per user...

Regards,

Edwin

I hope u must have got install.xml file in ur source folder. you can easily set all the required properties through that xml file.
shortcut locations can be modified using StartMenuSubFolder property.

try it out as it worked for me. however we are giving silent call to ur setup.

Lots of applications that i distribute via gpo takes a lot of time to search through on how to disable the creation of shortcuts. Forgive me but that merely points up the fact that you're doing the job wrong! GPO = MSIs. MSIs = Shortcut table or, at worst, a Custom Action. So, disabling a shortcut is as simple as removing it from teh Shortcuts table or commenting-out the CA. Takes forever...

In order to change shortcut location for all of Adobe CS3 & CS4 apps use the following in you xml file.

<Property name="StartMenuSubFolder">C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Adobe\Illustrator CS4</Property>

I have tested this on the following Adobe Products
Main Suite CS4, Photoshop CS3 & Illustrator CS4