Software Deployment

If this is similar to Photoshop CS 3 you can suppress the registration by modifying the deployment xml file.

Look for a file called cache.db. If I remember correctly it's in Program files\Common Files\Adobe and then another folder I think.
Anyway, that information gets written to that file.

Add it to your mst. Btw, this info is for version 3.0.

Gizsha

ORIGINAL: gizsha
Look for a file called cache.db. If I remember correctly it's in Program files\Common Files\Adobe and then another folder I think.I
Anyway, that information gets written to that file.

Add it to your mst. Btw, this info is for version 3.0. I don't think that would work. IIRC, you're right that the registration nonsense gets written to that file but I *believe* that file records such data for ALL the CS3 apps so, if you have more than one, overwriting it with this one would screw your already-installed CS3 app(s).

ORIGINAL: VBScab

I don't think that would work. IIRC, you're right that the registration nonsense gets written to that file but I *believe* that file records such data for ALL the CS3 apps so, if you have more than one, overwriting it with this one would screw your already-installed CS3 app(s).



Yes, that's correct. I should've mentioned that this only works when Captivate is the only installed CS3 app. I ran into this problem when Captivate and Framemaker were put on one machine. Colleague had done Captivate and a few months later I did Framemaker. Anyway, talked and emailed back and forth with Adobe to get the property for the Serial Number for Captivate, to eliminate having to use this cache.db file, but they weren't able to give it to me. "There wasn't a property for that", they said. Can't look up the email thread, changed jobs in the mean time.

I solved the problem by adding the information of both apps in one cache.db file.
The other thing that Captivate and Framemaker would 'break' when together was the disabling of Automatic Updates and manual Updates (which was a requirement to be disabled) but that's a different topic.

Gizsha

I was able to suppress the registration and updates by deleting adobe_registration.dll and adobeUpdater.dll in ProgramFiles\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 3. Only issue I have is the Help->Registration option is not grayed out. User cannot go to registration, and registration window does not pop-up, it is just not disabled. Does anyone know how to fix this?

Does anyone know how to fix this?Get a job as a developer at Adobe and alter the code. Seriously! They're too stupid to realise that their products are used in environments where sys admins don't want apps wandering off and updating themselves and certainly don't want their users able to do that for themselves.

Looks like their developers either don't know how to fix it or, they just don't want us to know how to fix it. my call to them got transferred to several people, and at the end they said that it is something that they don't support and to try to find the answer in a forum!

Hello,
I have tried to use the KB 325175 and applied the same command line used in Captivate 3 to the new Captivate 4:

setup.exe /s /v"/qn SERIALNUMBER=\"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\" ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress"

However, I got full user interface and it stopped on the screen asking me for the serial number. Is there a way to install Adobe Captivate 4 silently without any user interaction and what are the new command line switches?
Thank you so much,
Peter

This is the exact command I used but it is for Adobe Captivate 3. It is working fine.
<setup.exe path>\setup.exe /s /v"/qn /L*v MSIInstallLog.txt COMPANYNAME=\"Adobe Systems\" SERIALNUMBER=\"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx\" INSTALLDIR=\"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 3\""

AmaWanniarachchi,
I have tried your command line and I got the same result, as with my initial command line:
The setup.exe for Captivate 4 does not understand the silent switches and thinks it has to install in full GUI mode. It says: "Begin Adobe Setup UI mode: Full GUI" and then stops on the serial number screen.

Has anybody tried and succeeded in silently installing Adobe Captivate 4?

Thanks!

I'm not sure this will work or not as I don't have Captivate 4. but you can try creating a response file (setup.iss) by doing an install and recording the responses in .iss type file.
in the command line type the following to create the response file.
<path to setup.exe> /r
and it will run the install, and you can enter each option EULA, Serial number etc, if it prompts you to enter.
The response file will be created in c:\windows folder and it will be named setup.iss. (This works for some Adobe products, but didn't work for Robohelp 7 I had the issue with, so I'm not sure about Captivate, but you can give it a try)
Once the setup.iss is created, then you can use the /f1 argument to enter the response file name in your silent install.
/f1 : Specify alternative response file name (InstallScript and InstallScript MSI projects only)
Using the /f1 argument allows you to specify where the response file is (or where it should be created) and what its name is, as in Setup.exe /s /f1"C:\Temp\Setup.iss". The /f1 switch is available both when creating a response file (with the /r option) and when using a response file (with the /s option).
Hope this helps!

Adobe Captivate 4 uses a different installer technology than Captivate 3 and hence the way silent installation is done has changed.
The knowledge base article # 405451 provides full details:
http://www.adobe.com/go/kb405451
Also, this is a very good white paper:
http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions/pdfs/manualenterprisedeployment_cs4_help.pdf

There are a few steps required before running the silent installation:
1. Run setup.exe --record=1

This will run the setup without installing the software and it will record the serial number and the rest of the settings chosen, plus, it will create "Adobe Captivate 4.install.xml" and "Adobe Captivate 4.remove.xml" files in the "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers" folder. Copy the above two newly created files in the same folder where the setup.exe is and rename them to install.xml and remove.xml respectively.

2. Create a file named "application.xml.override" in the "\payloads\AdobeCaptivate4en_US" folder. Paste the following contents in this file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Configuration>
<Payload>
<Data key="Registration">Suppress</Data>
<Data key="EULA">Suppress</Data>
<Data key="Updates">Suppress</Data>
</Payload>
</Configuration>

This will suppress the EULA, registration and updates.

3. Run
setup.exe --mode=silent --deploymentFile=install.xml

This will run the installation of Adobe Captivate 4 silently.

Thanks to Ashish Garg from Adobe!
Best regards,
Peter Makaveev

did this work? This was in the Manual Deployment guide of Adobe, but Captivate was not listed as a product affected.

Yes, this worked.

Did you post this as a 'Note' in the 'Packaging KB' yet?

I posted it as a "Command line" in the "Packaging KB" under "Captivate 4.x" pending approval.

I am running in to an issue with Captivate 3 registration and updates after installing Adobe RoboHelp 7 in the same machine. Here is how it happens.
I remove adobe_registration.dll and AdobeUpdater.dll from Captivate 3 and it disable the registration and updates. (options are not grayed out, but does not work)
In order to disable updates in RoboHelp 7 I had to delete adobeUpdater.exe and adobeUpdaterInstallMgr.exe in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater5\ folder. If I have only RoboHelp 7, then this works also.
But, when I install RoboHelp 7 in a machine that has Captivate 3, then when I launch Captivate 3, it automatically copies the AdobeUpdater.exe and AdobeUpdaterInstallMgr.exe (it is running the MSI and copying it over) in to the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Updater5\ directory and then the Help -> Updates option gets enabled in Captivate 3 as well as RoboHelp 7. I tried to manually remove them before opening, but everytime it gets copied. Anyone has any suggestions to fix this issue? - thanks a lot!

It sounds like you have deleted the files from the machine, rather than preventing the installation of the components containing them. Captivate is then repairing the missing files which is expected behaviour without that prevention.

what I am simply trying to do is to disable the adobe updater options and registration options in any tool. Is there any other way to do this? I tried calling adobe, but they say that they cannot help with this and try to post the question in a forum. I found these two answers in 2 seperate forums and they seem to work fine if I have one or the other, but not both of them at the same time. Any help regarding this is greatly appreciated. I have several other Adobe tools I'm working with and we have quite a lot of people that we need to get the upgrade to. With CS4 and CS3, adobe supports removing the registration and updates, but not anything before that. (RoboHelp 7 and Captivate 3 are not CS3 compatible)

Is there any other way to do this? Other than what? You didn't answer my question.

Let me assume that you are actually deleting the files, probably via a Custom Action. In a word, don't. Instead, set an impossible-to-meet condition on the component containing those files. That will prevent their installation and therefore they will never get repaired 9which is what I suspect is happening when the user starts the app.

other than deleting files... Yes, I am deleting them. I renamed too earlier but that doesn't make any difference either.

So, how do you do this impossible to meet condition? I really don't get it. Also, what we really need is not to stop the updates completely, (we want to test and push the updates to the user when necessary) we don't want them to click an option and update on their own.
thanks!

So, how do you do this impossible to meet condition? I really don't get it. Clearly.

- Open the MSDN page
- Search for 'windows installer' and 'component'
Digest what a component is in Windows Installer terms
- Search for 'component' and 'condition'
Digest how you can use conditions to optionally install components. This also applies to features and to the execution of Custom Actions.
- Find the component which contains the file you want to 'disable'
- Set an impossible-to-meet condition on your first file. I normally use '0=1' as it's hard for me to imagine a more impossible condition [awaits argument from mathematicians with too much time on their hands...]
- Repeat for the second file.

If the files are not in separate components, you need to create those components and remove the files from their current component(s).

Alternatively, you could have your network chaps disable access to the update page via your proxy server.

Thanks for the information! I will try it and let you know how it works. You are a great resource!!

I want to let you know that this worked. What I did was added that 'imposible to meet condition' in AdobeUpdater.exe (which is shared between both Captivate 3 and RoboHelp 7) When I tried to update other registration files or updater files (all of them were dlls) it did not like that and said the image was wrong.
Anyway, I still needed to (and was able to) remove the adobe_registration.dll and adobeUpdater.dll from Captivate 3 (in order disable the Help -> Registration and Help -> Update options). Renaming these cause issues when you uninstall, and the uninstall doesn't completely remove the folders containing these files.
I tested this by installing both Captivate and Robohelp in different machines and it worked. Thanks so much for your help! [:D]

The deployment was pretty easy to set up thanks to the documentation supplied.

HOWEVER.. deploying it is another matter. I'm using SMS, and using a SYSTEM account to execute the install action. Because the installation makes various TCP calls back to the mothership, they're interpreted as anonymous calls an the user is prompted with Proxy Authentication login boxes. mild pain in the arse if I'm honest but I have a couple of options...

- use the SMS software installation account (not sure if its set up - never had to use it before)
- Disable the update calls. I might try that VBScab trick of the component conditionalization. have to figure out which MST is being applied though in the payload folder. I think one of the XML files will give that game away.
- Get Mr. Security to allow anonymous TCP requests to adobe.com

Have a look at the Acrobat Reader 'Package KB'. IIRC, there's detail in there about disabling the call-back to adobe.com and it's likely a similar configuration would apply to Captivate.

thanks for the tip scab.

I've trawled through however and found nothing.

I've used ProcMon on it a bit & netstat -ano and it seems it could be because of our Symantec Firewall clients (ccproxy.exe) for Laptops. No reported issues with desktop deployments so far.