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K1000 Adobe Reader XI Deployment and Customization

Installation with a Managed Install 

 

To distribute Adobe  Reader 11 with the Dell KACE K1000 Appliance follow the steps below. 

Download the Adobe Reader 11 installation package.

 - ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/11.x/11.0.00/en_US/AdbeRdr11000_en_US.msi 

Locate the software record for Adobe Reader XI in Inventory > Software

 -If one does not already exist we can create one. Before we can set up the Managed Installation, we must first have a listing for the program in Software Inventory. I recommend manually installing the program on a test box that has the KACE agent installed, and then forcing a check in. That’s the easiest way to create the item. 

Upload the Adobe Reader 11 MSI package under the associated files section of the software record. 

*Note: The MSI can be downloaded here- ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/11.x/11.0.00/en_US/ 

Go to Distribution > Managed Installations and choose Add New Item from the Choose Action drop down menu. 

Choose Adobe Reader 11 from the software drop down menu. 

In the command section you can configure the install in two ways. 

You can leave "Use Default" checked and enter "/i /qn" in the field. 

Or you can choose "Configure Manually" and enter "msiexec.exe /I adberdr11000_en_US.msi /qn" in the field 

Configure your machine selection and managed action as needed. 

Save it and you are done.  The installation will deploy based on your choices above.

 

Customization of Adobe Reader XI

 

The installation of Adobe Reader can be customized with different command line switches as well.  You will need the EXE installer for these, which is also available from the FTP link above. 

/sAll Silent Mode for product

/sPB Silent Mode with Progress Bar for product

/rs Reboot Suppress

/rps Reboot Prompt Suppress

/ini "PATH" Alternative initialization file

/sl "LANG_ID" Set Language; LANG_ID - Code in decimal digits

/l Enable Error Logging.  Log file Bootstrap.log will be generated in temp directory

/msi[Command line] Parameters for MSIEXEC

 

Example Command Line (incorrect) AdobeReaderInstallFile.exe /sAll /rs /l /msi "/qb-! /norestart ALLUSERS=1 EULA_ACCEPT=YES SUPPRESS_APP_LAUNCH=YES"

 

This command line has parameters for both silent install (/sAll) as well as progress bar mode (/qb) which is useless. Also /rs and /norestart work the same way suppressing the reboot.

SUPPRESS_APP_LAUNCH=YES can also be removed as the checkbox for suppressing the application launch after install has been removed from the installer.

Moreover the quotes are not being recognized by the MSI Installer causing it to launch help window pop up. 

The command that can be used for silent install and suppressing EULA is:

AdobeReaderInstallFile.exe /sAll /msi /norestart ALLUSERS=1 EULA_ACCEPT=YES


Comments

  • Great write-up, WhitzEnd! Not trying to hijack your blog, but another option is to create an administrative install and then use the Adobe Customization Wizard XI to create a transform file. From there, you just zip everything and specify "setup.exe" in the MI. I take this approach and it allows for significantly more customization and granularity in the settings Adobe Reader uses - like, for example, being able to proactively disable (via registry keys) the "messages" components that were introduced with Adobe Reader X that can cause the associated process to frequently hang (these registry keys can be included via the Customization Wizard).

    One thing to be aware of with Reader is the update paths - certain updates only work with certain full installer versions. This may have been remediated with XI, but just in case here's the same idea for X:

    http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/update-patch-acrobat-reader-10.html

    Also, here's the steps I use, in case anyone wants/needs more customization in the install:

    0. Download from Adobe distro and if EXE use 7Zip to extract and get MSI

    Latest full version here:
    ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/11.x/11.0.00/en_US/

    1. Copy the MSI (or source files if extracted) to C:\Adobe\Source

    2. Create an admin image from C:\Adobe\Source (using the extracted filename here):

    msiexe /a C:\Adobe\Source\AcroRead.msi

    3. "Install" the admin image to C:\Adobe\Admin_Image

    4. Download all updates (MSP files) and save in C:\Adobe\Update.

    Latest update here:
    ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/11.x/11.0.01/misc/

    5. Apply any updates to the admin image just created in C:\Adobe\Admin_Image - if multiple, there run this against each, adjusting the update filename accordingly:

    msiexec /a C:\Adobe\Admin_Image\AcroRead.msi /p C:\Adobe\Update\AdbeRdrUpd11001.msp

    6. Once the administrative image has been updated, move the files back into the C:\Adobe\Source directory and select yes to overwrite any files. This will ensure that all the files needed are for the package are present.

    7. Download the Adobe Customization Wizard X and install.

    Download here:
    http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=5515

    8. Use the Adobe Customization Wizard X to open the AcroRead.msi in the C:\Adobe\Source directory, specify customizations and save.

    9. Zip contents of C:\Adobe\Source directory and deploy via MI - just specify "setup.exe" (no quotes) for the Installation Command - Configure Manually field, as this will automatically reference the MST for all options.

    Hope that helps!

    John - jverbosk 11 years ago
    • Awesome info. Thanks. - WhitzEnd 11 years ago
    • I need help with setting up an unattended install of adobe XI with update turned off. If you can show screen shots or explain it a little bit more clearly I would appreciate it. New to Distribution. - Kdebiasse 11 years ago
    • I did a lot of search to find a good step by step procedure, THANKS! - sducommun 11 years ago
    • I am stuck on update 11003 (1+2 worked and second2 worked), it gives me an error: “The upgrade patch cannot be installed by the Windows Installer service because the program to be upgraded may be missing, or the upgrade path may update a different version of the program. Verify that the program to be upgraded exists on your computer and that you have the correct upgrade patch.” - JPF_ 8 years ago
      • JPF_,

        Typically when I've seen this error, it's related to registry entries that need cleaned up. I've done it by hand in the past, but the cleanup tool should also take care of it, Might check out this thread to see if it's any help:
        https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1051084

        John - jverbosk 8 years ago
  • Kdebiasse,

    Do you need clarification on a certain step? More than happy to help, but frankly don't have time these days to completely document every step with screenshots as you're asking.

    John - jverbosk 11 years ago
  • Do you have any steps to apply patches for Adobe Reader 11.0.5 - mbeddy 11 years ago
    • Patches for reader, if they are MSI files, would be deployed in the same manner. (if using Managed Installs) Alternatively you can use the K1000 patch module to set up a patching schedule for adobe - WhitzEnd 11 years ago
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