Deploying Adobe Reader Updates in Enterprise Environments.
Anyone who works with software deployments will know where I’m coming from on this. Adobe Reader has to be the single most time consuming piece of software when it comes to software packaging and distribution. With such a large user base and ever increasing targeted threats, it’s no wonder we find ourselves with critical updates to deploy. Often more than one a month.
The trouble with Adobe Reader updates is that they aren’t particularly easy to distribute. Sure, you can download the MSI installer from Adobe’s website and use the Adobe Customisation Wizard to create a neat little MST file to transform the install with all your company’s standard settings, but have you ever tried installing the new MSI over a previous version? Not so easy now huh.
For some unknown reason, Adobe engineer their Reader installations in such a way that simply deploying the new MSI isn’t enough. For instance, you can’t simply push out Adobe Reader 9.3.3 and hope that it updates all the previous 9.3.2 installations. You first have to uninstall all previous versions.
Adobe updates usually come in the form of MSP files. These files are designed to patch your existing installation points. It’s important to note that this is only the case for quarterly updates. Security updates cannot be used to patch your administrative installation point.
For this example, I’m going to patch my Adobe Reader 9.3.0 administrative installation point with the MSP for 9.3.3.
Oh but wait, another fly in the ointment. You can’t patch a 9.0 administrative point with 9.3.3 directly. You must follow this order of patching:
9.3.0 > 9.3.2 > 9.3.3
Start by downloading all of your files. You’ll need:
- Your 9.3.0 administrative point
- AdbeRdrUpd932_all_incr.msp
- AdbeRdrUpd933_all_incr.msp
Slipstreaming Updates into the Administrative Installation Point.
Fire up a command line window, and run the following. This command will integrate your MSP with your installation point.
msiexec.exe /a "path to acroread.msi in admin point" /p "path to AdbeRdrUpd932_all_incr.msp" /qb
You’ll notice the installer wizard configuring your computer. Note that this is actually configuring your installation point, not your computer.
Repeat the above with the AdbeRdrUpd933_all_incr.msp file. You will now have an installation point with Adobe Reader 9.3.3 ready to roll.
Deploying the Updated Version.
If like me you have Microsoft System Center Configuration 2007 at your disposal, you can make use of my batch file script that I have created to remove all previous versions of Adobe Reader prior to installing the new 9.3.3 version. Simply set the script to run before the installation for Adobe Reader 9.3.3 and you should find the install takes place with no errors.
For the script to work fully, you’ll need to add the MSIZap executable into the same folder as the script. This can be downloaded for free as part of the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility (found here…). You only need msizap.exe for the script to work, forget about the other files. MsiZap is a very useful tool. Check out the command line syntax I use and experiment to your hearts content.
If you only have Group Policy at your disposal, I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to modify the script to call the install after the uninstalls have taken place. Hope this helps!
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 6
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A00000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 7
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A70900000002} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.0
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A80000000002} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81000000002} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1.4
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81300000003} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.0
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A90000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.1
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.2
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A92000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** MSI Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.3
msiexec.exe /x {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A93000000001} REBOOT=Supress /qn
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 6
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A00000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 7
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A70900000002}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.0
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A80000000002}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81000000002}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 8.1.4
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A81300000003}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.0
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A90000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.1
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A91000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.2
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A92000000001}
REM *** Zap Uninstall Adobe Reader 9.3
"%~dp0msizap.exe" TW! {AC76BA86-7AD7-1033-7B44-A93000000001}
Tags: adobe, ConfigMgr, deployment, grouppolicy, microsoft, sccm, scripting, software Posted in ConfigMgr, Deployment, Scripting, Software8 responses » | June 30th, 2010 by Tom |
Steve says:
Nice little guide which clears up the confusion I had of updating Adobe 9.3 to 9.3.3
With regards to to removing all previous versions of Adobe Reader prior to installing the new 9.3.3 version using your script. Rather than using another script which you call before the install can this also be done by using the Adobe Customization Wizard 9? When you create your .mst file using the wizard there is an option to Remove previous verions of Reader.
e.g.
1) Create your Adobe Reader package using Adobe Customization Wizard 9 – Set it to remove previous Adobe versions
2) Slipstreaming Updates into the acroread.msi file
3) Create package within SCCM and push out to users
King regards
Tom says:
Great point Steve. I have to admit, my customisation file has been reused from the original 9.0 installation, so I’ll have to revisit it to ensure I had that option checked!
Tom says:
I’ve been looking into the possibility of checking the checkbox named “Remove previous version of Reader” within the Adobe Customization Wizard 9, but it seems to be greyed out. Hopefully I will have an update soon.
Tom says:
Afraid this option looks like it is known to be an issue and a non-supported feature. Steve, have you ever had any luck with this?
dec1slh says:
Why is the msizap part necessary
Tom says:
The msizap part is not really a necessity, I just like to ensure the old versions are fully removed from both the registry and the file system. Most of the time, this isn’t actually doing anything because the msiexec command should have removed everything first.
Robert says:
you say that it is necessary to remove all old versions of adobe reader to install the latest version, so, to install 9.3.3 you need to uninstall 9.3.0.
but you do not remove any version 9.x in your script – why?
i am facing this very situation: deployment of 9.3.3 is ok on all computers regarding sccm, but when 9.3.0 is already installed, it is not updated to 9.3.3.
Tom says:
Hi Rob, the script does contain syntax to remove 9.x. In my environment, the script successfully removed 9.3.0 and the installation of 9.3.3 worked as expected. It might be worth running the script on a machine with 9.3.0 just to verify it works for you.