Creating an Adobe Reader Update/Install Package for 11.0.02 with Transformation

I keep an up to date administrative install point that is deployed using patch manager. If you put an uninstall rule for msi code {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-AB0000000001} in package boot, any existing versions of Reader 11 will be uninstalled and the up to date package will be installed with your customizations. This allows you to have one package for new installs and updates from any previous version while retaining your customizations.

Have you tried using the setup bootstrapper included with the extracted files? When you extract the compressed exe you should get a group of files including the installation MSI and CAB, setup.exe, setup.ini and abcopy.ini. The setup.ini should already specify the patches that were included, but you can add more as they are released. Add a CmdLine parameter to specify your transform file, like the example below:

[Startup]
RequireMSI=3.0

[Product]
msi=AdbeRdr11000_en_US.msi
CmdLine=TRANSFORMS="AdbeRdr.mst"
PATCH=AdbeRdrUpd11001.msp;AdbeRdrSecUpd11002.msp

[MSI Updater]
Path=http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/8.x/8.0/misc/WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe

Then build your update package as an .exe package using setup.exe and include all the other files as additional content. More detailed instructions are available on Adobe's website at Bootstrapper Deployment Enterprise Administration Guide

You may also find Adobe's technical resources useful: Technical resources for IT | Adobe Acrobat XI

Hi,

first day after my vacation... And swearing again

[Product]
msi=AcroRead.msi
CmdLine=/qn /norestart TRANSFORMS="AcroRead.mst"
PATCH=AdbeRdrUpd11001.msp;AdbeRdrSecUpd11002.msp

Using the above written modified setup.ini, everything works fine if there is no previous version installed.

If I've got the v10.0.0 already installed it get's updated to the correct version but without usage of the MST. Therefor auto-update still enabled, EULA shown and so on...

I assume that AcroRead.mst is the correct name of your transform and that the transform has been included in the package, is that correct? If you added any new files since originally publishing the package, did you delete and republish the package?

Have you tried running the setup.exe bootstrapper manually to confirm that the transform is applied in that instance?

Can you describe the package you are using to deploy this update (i.e. the files you have included and the settings used)? It would also be helpful if you could export the xml from the packageboot helper and attach it as a file to this thread

One more thing: Please include the full contents of your setup.ini file

Everything yes. My observations mentioned in the previous post were made by doing manual tests.

You made several references earlier to an administrative install point. I want to be clear that my instructions do not apply to an admin install. Please try the following steps:

1. Run the command
   AdbeRdr11002_en_US.exe -sfx_o"C:\Reader" -sfx_ne
2. This will extract 7 files into C:\Reader\
3. Add your AcroRead.mst transform to C:\Reader\
4. Edit the setup.ini file. Under the [Product] section, add the following line (and nothing else)
   CmdLine=TRANSFORMS="AcroRead.mst"
5. Run setup.exe with no switches
6. If this works, you can now add the following parameter to [Startup] for a silent install
   CmdLine=/sAll /rs

(Edit: Corrected the parameters to perform a minimal and silent install)

By the way, you can get a basic progress bar for your test run by putting the following parameter under [Startup]. This might help ensure that the installer isn't prompting for any missing information.

CmdLine=/sPB /rs

Hello Andrew,

my obervation of 2013-04-08 refer to the extract only part (step 2 in my first message). The administration install (step 3) has now been abandoned as this way nothing can be achived if already an older version is installed.

To make sure that my install did not get corrupted I followed your 6 steps on a clean environment. Same result by using this package:

• No existing v11: everythins works, v11.0.2 with transformation applied, therefor no EULA ...
• v11.0.0 already installed: updated to v11.0.2 without transformation applied

Here my full setup.ini from the last (fresh) test:

[Startup]
RequireMSI=3.0
CmdLine=/sPB /rs

[Product]
msi=AcroRead.msi
PATCH=AdbeRdrUpd11001.msp;AdbeRdrSecUpd11002.msp
CmdLine=TRANSFORMS="AcroRead.mst"

[MSI Updater]
Path=http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/8.x/8.0/misc/WindowsInstaller-KB893803-v2-x86.exe

I'm also having a hard time getting this to work. I have clients on 10.0.4 and I'd like to get that uninstalled and 11.0.02 installed. So far, I've been unable to get 10.0.4 uninstalled so on test machines I'm ending up with both versions installed at the same time. I followed the instructions over here: . I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'd like to get it right. I think the only option, short of a solution here, is to find a way to uninstall 10.0.4 separately. I found a reference on the Adobe community site: Adobe Community: Adobe Reader Customization uninstall previous versions that is still unanswered which makes me wonder if there isn't something broken with the transform.

I've now successfully deployed my installer, at least to a test machine. It turns out that there's a bug in the customization wizard which requires you to wait until just before you save the msi to check the "remove all previous versions of reader" box. I also had a separate, but related at least in my case, issue with the adobeARMservice, that I've found a way to deal with now.