CS4 Installation Problems

[Royste...@adobeforums.com]

Hey Everyone!

I am having problems when installing CS4. The problem I am having now is that there's only 3 steps, and I don't see the EULAs anywhere.

I tried to install CS4 before and I've realised that I had no space. So I kept running the installation a few times. These few days I have been having problems changing:

- Installation Location

Please help. I really need the CS4 working! Thanks in Advanced,
Roysten
-------

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Did you have it successfully installed before? Did you uninstall it completely? You may need to run the CS4 cleanup script at this point, which you should be able to find using a knowledgebase search.

Peter

[Royste...@adobeforums.com]

Oh thank you so much, Peter!

The problem I was having was that the CS4 was installed and cancelled abruptly, thus the awkward situation I was in yesterday!

Thank you again, Peter for the CS4 Clean Up script Suggestion. :D

[Jerry_R...@adobeforums.com]

I tried to install Adobe CS4 Design Premium (upgrade) to my system. It will not install because I keep getting an error message that Internet Explorer is running. However, Internet Explorer is NOT running. I called customer support, but did not get the problem fixed. I even uninstalled Microsoft Internet Explorer, but that did not fix the problem. I am about ready to send this thing back.

[try67]

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and check if there's an item named iexplore.exe in the Processes tab. If there is, close any instances of it manually. If it keeps opening up you should scan your computer for viruses and other malware. Also, you should contact Adobe Technical Support, not Customer Service.

[Jerry_R...@adobeforums.com]

Thank you try67. I did have a virus. After cleaning up my system, I was able to get rid of iexplore.exe and the install Adobe CS4.
Thanks again,
I must note here that the Adobe Technical Support could not solve the problem.

Jerry

[Paul_Sc...@adobeforums.com]

I am trying to install Creative Suite 4 Web Premium. All goes well until the "progress" bar for the first installation disk reaches mid point, and then my computer crashes (blue screen), and then reboots. My pc, an Acer Aspire 5100 notebook pc meets all the requirements for installation. I have the Vista Premium operating system installed, and have 4 gigs of ram. I am installing it on my D: drive as my C: drive doesn't have enough space. I've also tried to install just Acrobat 9 and Photoshop, but it still crashes. (Interesting coincidence: A couple weeks ago, my Snagit 9 screen capture software started crashing my pc to blue screen whenever I use it.) ANY IDEAS?

[Dov Isaacs]

Paul,

There is nothing in Adobe's Creative Suite or its installer that can cause a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Such a situation may be caused only by a non-recoverable hardware failure or a programming error either in the operating system or a low level device driver, i.e. code running in Windows' privileged mode. The fact that you were getting BSOD when running SnagIt also points to system software or hardware problems that predate your attempt to install CS4. Please get your system's hardware diagnosed, check for newer device drivers, and finally, also check for any viruses or malware that may have installed some privileged code on your system.

- Dov

[try67]

Paul, follow Dov's excellent advices, but also be aware that even if you install the CS4 applications on the D drive you still need plenty of space on your C drive for it to work efficiently. This is not related, however, to the BSOD you're getting.

[Naomi Shein]

Tried to install CS4 design standard (student licensing) to my windows XP 32 computer.
Able to install all with the exception of Indesign. Although it comes as a single DVD, I am getting the following: “Please insert adobe cs4 design standard disc 2 into drive d”.
Is anyone aware of a solution to the problem?
Thanks,
Naomi

[Rachae...@adobeforums.com]

I am having the same problem, Naomi. Can't get InDesign to install. Keeps asking to insert disk 2. My computer is an HP Vista 64-bit. Any solutions?!

Thanks
Rachael

[James_Laugh...@adobeforums.com]

I am having the same problem installing the full CS4 suite. Adobe hasn't been much help to this issue just yet! Any ideas anyone?

[Pete...@adobeforums.com]

Error: I was able to install CS4 on a Dell windows XP fully, but when I launch photoshop I receive an error 0xc0000005 . and reports that pohotoshop needs to close. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Rachae...@adobeforums.com]

Anyone having problems with CS4 Student Version Design Standard:

The product was sent out as incomplete - it is missing disc 2. Adobe is taking priority to people that have received an incomplete product and e-mails can be sent to them at:

custs...@adobe.studentlicensing.com

[Basilio...@adobeforums.com]

In my case it will just not install to the D: drive. Due to space limitations I only have 5.5GB left on my C: drive so I've been installing apps in a Program Files folder on my D: drive. Been doing this for a while, even all of my CS3 Premium paks were installed there. However, when installing CS4 Master Collection and selecting the D: drive as destination, the space available updates to reflect the space on that drive [125GB], the space needed shows some 16GB, and the warning that there is insufficient space is also displayed. That warning doesn't go away until I deselect components to get under the 5.5GB point. Then it proceeds to install, but to the C: drive! Have tried this twice, with identical results. I'm running XP Pro SP3 with 4GB RAM on a core duo quad processor.

[Norm_F...@adobeforums.com]

Installing CS4 Design Premium upgrade on Win XP SP3.

The "Checking System Profile" has been slowly progressing for about 40 minutes, so far, and has not progressed. This was after the installation caused several reboots.

Have already checked for virii and nothing found. The Setup.exe does not appear to be consuming CPU time in Task Manager. The system idle is consuming 99%. No dvdrom and hd drive lights. What gives?

Norm

[David...@adobeforums.com]

I upgraded from Photoshop CS4 to Creative Suite CS4 Web Premium this week. When I launch Photoshop now I do NOT see Photoshop CS4 "Extended", it appears to only be regular Photoshop CS4 (not with Extended Features :-(

The "About Photoshop" dialog box has NO indication it is Extended version and when I look for features particular to Extended version
(e.g., 3D and Analysis) I see NOTHING?

Any ideas?

[boblevine]

Are you sure you got Web Premium? Web Standard only has the standard
version of Photoshop.

Bob

[David...@adobeforums.com]

Yes, it's web premium.

OK, I just now stumbled on the solution...

I ran Photoshop CS4 (installed as part of Web Premium) and "Deactivated" the license for Photoshop upon which it exits out of the program. Upon running it again, well SUPRISE, there's Photoshop CS4 EXTENDED :-)

I'm in buisness :-)

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Norm,

Be sure you've got your antivirus turned off completely during the installation.

Peter

[Tommy...@adobeforums.com]

got cs4 extended installed properly and it worked great for like almost a week but i had to do a system restore to get ride of some spyware i had on my computer and i went back about 2 hours before i had cs4 on there so it unstalled and now when i got to the setup it get to 90% and will sit there for days and not budge any ideas???

[try67]

CS4 Clean Script: <http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs4clean.html>

[Joan_B...@adobeforums.com]

CS4 installing on Vista ~ keep getting message installed with errors, when I try to run the Photoshop I get a message that components are missing in the application directory, need to reinstall, have reinstalled several times with no luck, any help would be appreciated

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

First, be sure you are logged in on an administrator account and turn off User Access Control. Uninstall before you try to re-install again, and make sure you turn off anti-virus and other background programs during installation.

[A...@adobeforums.com]

Dov,

I also got a blue screen trying to upgrade to CS4 Design Premium. To test your hardware failure theory, I attempted installing it on several other machines (XP & Vista) and had the same result.

1st disc installs smoothly, but when I get to disc 2, it always crashes on InDesign. All other components have been installed and work fine.

[michaelkazlow]

Could be a bad disk.

Mike

[Dov Isaacs]

Problem could readily be a bad physical disk which triggers an error that the Microsoft CD/DVD driver doesn't properly handle. Again, nothing that Adobe's installer could readily detect or cause. Call Adobe Customer Support and request a replacement DVD. There should be absolutely no charge for such a replacement. (If they give you hassles about this, ask for a supervisor - still have problems, contact me via e-mail off-list!)

- Dov

[Kate_...@adobeforums.com]

I am trying to install Acrobat Professional from CS4 Design Standard Suite (TLP download,not CD) and the system tells us we have to install another program as well eg Photoshop. We only want to download Acrobat on this PC as it doesn't have much memory and doesn't need any other new software, which we will be using for another employee's PC. Surely this should be OK? We bought the suite in order to divide the programs between the team.

[simonwarner]

The suite is one unit. You cannot divide it between anything or anyone.
One person, one suite. Two people, even using different components, two
suites.

Perhaps instead you should buy each person only the apps they need.

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

TLP is a volume licensing program, so it's possible Kate isn't trying to do anything that would violate the license, just equip different seats with different subsets of the suite.

This has come up before, and there is no solution that I know of short of installing Acrobat with another app, then activating, and uninstalling whatever it was you didn't need (and I'm not certain that you can even uninstall the other one and keep acrobat alive). Of the apps in Design Premium, InDesign seems to have the smallest footprint on disk, with Illustrator only slightly larger.

Peter

[mike_...@adobeforums.com]

I am also getting a BSOD when installing CS4 and it appears to me that despite your assurance that it has nothing to do with Adobe, I fully believe you better check around the internet because you got allot people out their who seem to be having the same problem.

Do we all have problems on our PCs or is it something with Adobe. No other software has ever given me this problem and it's quite annoying when you spend several hundred dollars and you can't even install the software.

[Antoni...@adobeforums.com]

get this error when installing cs4: "session has dependencies that cannot be satisfied."

my spyware and antivrus/firewall are all off.

have downloaded twice to be sure the files are not corrupted.

any ides?

[teri_...@adobeforums.com]

Several of us who upgraded to CS4 Design Premium are having file association issues. We cannot open CS4 program files from Windows Explorer because it's not recognizing the file extensions. When we go to Control Panel to change the file associations, the programs don't show up in the list. We've browsed to the CS4 folder and selected the .exe file for the programs in attempt to add them to the program list, but nothing happens.

Four out of four of us who performed the install have experienced this problem. Our help desk hasn't been able to find a solution. Has anyone else had the same experience and if so, how was it resolved? We've been upgrading these products with each new release since InDesign was called PageMaker and have never had such trouble.

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Teri,

InDesign was NEVER called Pagemaker. :) the two are lightyears apart.

But on a more pertinent note, it sounds like all four of you have an installation problem, and since it bit you all the same way, it sounds like something you all did, or failed to do, during the install procedure. Did you shut down your anti-virus software?

Peter

[mike_...@adobeforums.com]

Peter (or to anyone who can solve this)

I've removed the anti-virus, shut down the anti-virus, run it in modified mode, used the ASA assistant, disable user account control, contacted support (which they have yet to even responded to my inquiry)

From what I can deduce with my limited programming knowledge is that the Adobe installer tries to write something that interferes with the Vista SP1 program

Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected.

or Unknown hardware conflict:

The entry <C:\CONFIG.MSI\54422.RBS> in the hash map cannot be updated.

Context: Application, SystemIndex Catalog

Details:
A device attached to the system is not functioning. (0x8007001f)

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Mike,

I know practically nothing about Vista, but your error seems to point too some hardware problem. Have you tried copying the Disks to the hard drive and installing from there? DVD drives are not always the most reliable of devices, in my experience.

Peter

[mike_...@adobeforums.com]

just an FYI for anyone else struggling to install CS4 this is how I got it to install after hours and hours of trying. Perhaps this will help you out.

(a) Update all your drivers (not an endorsement: but Driver Checker worked for me)
(b) Disable your virus scan and firewalls. Reboot after disabling them.
(c) Install CS4 without all the "recommended add-on" and ancillary items. In my case it appears (and while I can't prove it) the new Adobe Media player and AIR seem to be the most troubled application(s)

Call me a spammer if you want but to say the BSOD is unrelated to Adobe Installation is just a typical denial I've seen used by too many companies nowadays.

They are absolutely related, Adobe is trying to install something (perhaps a .DLL) that Windows Vista SP1, your hardware and/or Virus scans don't like and reject it (just like your body rejects a cold or too much beer)

mike elston

[OBI...@adobeforums.com]

I have NO (!) idea what for you like to apologize to ADOBE since ADOBE is doing absolutely and marvelously horrible public relation as well as technical support !!!

We are on Apple computers latest (very expensive models) and it is ONLY ADOBE which cost problems. To install other software is a breeze compare to ADOBE installation. ADOBE installation is a nightmare !!!

Reply from ADOBE is NIL NADA NON or absolutely non expert oriented means useless !!!

We did invest in to ADOBE software a lot of $$$ over the years and so unfortunately we have to stick with them but hopefully not for long ...

[Dov Isaacs]

Sorry Mike, but you just don't know what you are talking about. There is nothing that Adobe is trying to install that Windows Vista SP1 or your hardware "doesn't like." Yes, there have been times that Virus scanners do yield "false positives" when software is installed. That is exactly why turning off on-access virus checkers is advised. But again, the facts are that (1) the actual software installation is done underneath the covers by the same Microsoft Installer used by all other Windows-compliant applications and (2) there is absolutely nothing in any of the Adobe applications, the installer scripts, and/or the software that is installed that can yield a BSOD directly. What is true is that underlying drivers and operating system code can cause a BSOD.

Numerous reports on this forum report BSODs when having troubles reading an installation DVD (i.e., "read errors" due to a marginal disk or marginal drive). Either the BSOD is being caused by the base level CD/DVD driver or more likely, by any number of additional drivers installed by various CD/DVD authoring programs that try to intercept or augment the standard CD/DVD driver. When troubleshooting some problems on my systems due to CD/DVD problems (not associated with installing or using Adobe software, but occuring when otherwise reading or writing CD/DVD content by non-Adobe installers or other software), I was amazed at how much crud is installed by these CD/DVD authoring and playback programs and the potential for conflict between these drivers, all competing to control my CD/DVD and BlueRay drives.

In any case, I will reiterate on behalf of Adobe that such BSODs are not caused by any Adobe software but rather by underlying system drivers or operating system invoked by standard Windows system software called by Adobe's installation procedures.

I don't deny that such BSOD problems are a royal pain in the butt, but there is nothing that Adobe can do about them given that the software causing them is neither distributed nor controlled by Adobe.

- Dov

[D...@adobeforums.com]

I have been trying to install the CS4 Design Premium upgrade. The first disk is fine. I put in the second disk and about 5 or so minutes into the install, I get the BSOD. This has happened 3 times in a row - exactly the same. I have gone through uninstalling what did get on and then try again. I have NEVER had the BSOD on my computer. My computer is 2 year old Dell. I am using Windows XP Service Pack 2. I have 33 GB free space on C drive and 2 GB RAM.

I have tried what someone else had suggested about copying the disks and trying to install from those. That didn't work. I also tried to separately install Illustrator (this was after I did have a partial install of what was on the first disk (DW, FW, Acrobat) The first disk was fine. When I put the in the second disk when prompted, it froze.

I am extremely frustrated to have purchased expensive software that will not easily install. This is taking too much time. I have had CS and CS2. The worst problem I ever had with those was having to download 270 patch for Acrobat in CS2.

I don't buy that there is something wrong with my computer. I do not have a virus. I am not sure what to do to get this installed properly. I was planning on trying to individually install each program, but that seems so time consuming and I am not convinced that it will work. Before I try that I wanted to see if someone here could give me advice.

Thank you so much for your help.
DN9

[try67]

DN9, you said:

> I have tried what someone else had suggested about copying the disks
and trying to install from those. That didn't work.

What do you mean by "that didn't work"? Were you unable to copy the files or were you able to copy them, but not install them?
If the former, then it's obviously a problem with the DVD, the DVD-player or the drivers. If the latter, please describe what exactly happened when you tried to install locally.

[D...@adobeforums.com]

I copied the disks as backup DVDs then tried to install from those backups. They did the same thing. It hangs in installation when the 2nd disk is inserted. Windows task manager advises that the installer is not responding.

[try67]

It could still be that your DVD-drive or drivers are damaged. You should copy the installation files to your local computer and then run the installation from there. If there's a problem with the DVD, the drive, or the drivers, you will probably encounter an error while copying.

[Timothy...@adobeforums.com]

Could you please explain the process of copying the DVDs to the HDD and then "installing from there..." With CS 4 Master Collection (4 DVDs, how do I distinguish each disk (when it asks me to put that disk in).

I am trying to install the software aon dozens of systems in a school and I keep getting an error (but not every time) - at the end of the installation - that it has failed to install Falsh, InDesign and Photoshop (although everything else installs fine). I am willing to except that it is a problem with the media or the DVD /CD drive but don't understand how to create a HDD install point.

Thanks,
Tim M.
Whitefish School District

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Timothy,

There are scripts for mass deployment such as you are doing from a server rather than one-by-one using the disks. I'm not certain where to send you, but the knowledge base may help. Look for silent install, for one.

Peter

[mike_...@adobeforums.com]

Dov:

I'm not going to argue with you but of all people you should realize as a scientist that by removing all the ancillary programs in my tests it lead me to my conclusion that the installer is the issue.

(a) I copied the files to my hard drive and tried installing them without the DVD driver and still got the BSOD.

(b) I put windows into modified mode with absolutely nothing except Microsoft services running, still blue screen.

(c) less than a year ago I had to reformat my hard drive because CS3 completely crashed windows and had to spend two days trying to explain to an outsourced overseas call-center that can barely speak English that I could not deactivate Adobe from this computer.

(d) I had Graphic Artists that could not install CS3 on brand new Macs last year.

I installed Adobe Premier Pro trial alone, no problems. I tried In design trial alone no problems.
I can install 3d studio Max, Microsoft Office, and any other program with no problem.

Put yourself in my shoes, what would you think

As a seasoned Marketing Manager I may not know much about programming or windows but I realize what you have here is a full-fledged customer service and public relations nightmare and perception that it is the Adobe Installer.

When Adobe Tech support tells you that it ain't their problem it doesn't help keep customers like me happy.

[Muddy...@adobeforums.com]

I agree. Why are so many people having problems with what is a very expensive piece of software?

My suspicion is that they've tried to lock down any pirating (which hasn't worked btw - it's all over the net, so all they are doing is messing up their customer's goodwill.)

I have now wasted 3 days, first trying to buy, then download and now install CS4 web premium upgrade, plus the hours I had to ask hubby to help before I pulled all my hair out. Probably 4 man days in all!)

Wake up and smell the B.S. Adobe!

Your downloader is rubbish.
Your installer is rubbish.

I can only hope that once I've got everything to work, I won't think your program is rubbish too!

[Dov Isaacs]

Mike,

I am not denying that you are experiencing a problem and that it is exceptionally frustrating and costly to you.

It is also true that for every user that has problems of the type you are encountering, there are hundreds who install the software with no problems whatsoever. That is not a value judgement about you or anyone else encountering these issues, but simply a reference point. Obviously, it is those who are encountering the problems that are writing in, not those who have no such problems.

Yes, our support and product development groups are all too aware of the issues. The major problem is that (1) Adobe is not providing any software that is capable of causing a BSOD itself - only drivers, operating system software, and hardware errors can cause a BSOD - and no Adobe software is running at such a level and (2) other than a front end that queries for initial options and displays a status screen, the actual software installation is done by Windows' own Microsoft Installer, not code written by Adobe. Thus, any hangups or BSODs are occurring in software neither provided by nor controlled by Adobe and requires investigation often on a case-by-case basis. But these are still problems that need to be resolved for the users.

No one in Adobe Technical Support should be telling you that "it ain't their problem." Get the name of whoever you speak to as well as the case number. Ask, no DEMAND to speak with a supervisor and don't accept stupid responses from unresponsive tech support agents. If you can supply the case number and/or name of the agent, we can appropriately discipline those agents who are unqualified to assist you AND get you some real assistance. Adobe Technical Support should be gathering information about your configuration and consulting with our product developers to try to correlate your problem and configuration with other data we are gathering. For example, do you have some type of RAID configuration? Some RAID controller software has been known to be out-of-spec and to either interfere with the internal licensing mechanism and/or BSOD. And there are supposedly workarounds for such issues ... if the Tech Support person asks the right questions. Given how diverse system hardware and software configurations are, there unfortunately isn't just one set of symptoms and one solution.

Again, Adobe is taking these problems seriously.

- Dov

[dan_k...@adobeforums.com]

Again, Adobe is taking these problems seriously. - Dov

I believe this is probably true .. 600 layoffs can have that effect on a company.

The truly frustrating thing here is that Adobe's tech support assumes "user error", insults our intelligence, and ultimately fails to acknowledge very specific repeatable trends that point to flaws in the installation routine. If 30 people on the forums are having the exact same symptoms, it's a trend. So put somebody on it, get a fix together, and post a service note to your support staff.

Last year, my team jumped through all the hoops trying to get CS3 installed to no avail. Only to find out the error was, as suspected, Adobe's installer. The [very simple] workaround was discovered NOT by anyone at Adobe, but by an attentive end-user poring over his installation logs. (I hope you hired that kid.)

Now .. CS4 .. and we're getting a similar, if not the same, problem. No, we're not going to reinstall our OS. No, we're not wiping the drive and "starting fresh." We're not wasting another second on this insult to our intelligence. We'll reinstall CS3, and wait until somebody finds the line of code that's causing the trouble. I wonder if Adobe will find it first this time.

Adobe's "Creative Suites" are now officially the "Microsoft Service Pack" of the creative world. Nobody in their right mind, and with any kind of deadline, should dare attempt installation until the kinks are worked out... 6 months down the road, maybe.

This is a wake-up call .. if you thought the release-day demand for CS4 was tepid, just wait until CS5. We won't be bitten a 3rd time.

[J._A...@adobeforums.com]

Hey Dov,
You are simply full of B.S. I've rarely seen such arrogance from any company employee in all my years of working in the graphics industry. Before you say anything in your own defense, lets look at the facts:

1. Adobe is the only software that causes these problems on these users' computers.

2. Everything else installs without a hitch, no matter what drivers and other softwares are already installed.

There you have it. The only conclusion is that Either Adobe has grown completely incompetent, or they've grown so arrogant that they think they can implement a ton of anti-piracy measures and require a ludicrous number of extremely inconvenient system parameters for succesful installation of their bloatware (probably a bit of both). Hey Dov, you guys are on your way out. The software that's going to sink Adobe is already in development. Here's to the downfall of yet another corporate empire, brought down from the inside by its own greed. Bon voyage, Adobe. You brought it on yourself.

[Bruce_...@adobeforums.com]

This is to say thank you to David Artz. I had purchased from Adobe the CS3 Design Standard 3.3 on early October. It was close enough to the release of CS4 that they sent me a copy of CS4 Design Standard once it was released. Then I decided I needed Design Premium and ordered the upgrade. Installing seemed to go fine, but Photoshop stayed Standard and would not be Extended. I spent a day on the phone to customer support being transferred between at least 6 people, all with non-American accents, 2 of whom seemed to have a hearing problem and I had to speak very loudly into the phone, and finally ended up with a Photoshop tech named Mike who did sound American. He advised running the CS4Clean and the Windows install Clean Up. I did both and I uninstalled and reinstalled several times. Finally while waiting for the last reinstall I started reading through the forums (should have started there!) and came across David's post from November regarding deactivating Photoshop and then upon relaunch Photoshop was "Extended". It worked like a charm. I wish the techs knew to suggest this. Thank you David.

[Dave_...@adobeforums.com]

First let me state very clearly that I understand how complex this simple issue could be.

I have no practical fix, but wanted to weigh in.

There is a pattern here and it's corporate wide.
It's even worked it's way to sales.
I've decided to not purchase CS4 yet.

Here's my long winded explanation why:

I don't post to forums. I am a diagnostic technician and I work around these issues because for me it's easier than attempting to deal with the poor support that is provided.
When I visit these forums to get a feel for the softwares current stability, usability and reliability, I usually find myself shaking my head and agreeing with the confident, knowledgeable helpers who insist the complainant needs to 'try harder' or 'look somewhere else'.

I have several Adobe products including CS3 suites and I have experienced incomplete installs. Having spent many years beta testing, I resolve myself to a "complete" ground up rebuild and orderly install. Not a roll back, not a ghost - Brand New Build!

Last one was 3.5 man days per machine x 2.
That's over $7,000 of down time!

The install problem exists!

It may not be a flaw in the installer code.
It could be, it's impossible for the specific stated symptom(s) [BSOD for one] to be directly caused by the installer, but it is clear to anyone with an open mind, who truly wants to resolve the problem, that the software installation process is contributing to the issue, just as AV can contribute to the problem.

Having been on both sides of this fence, I know that taking ownership can be costly but so too can the stonewall.

I reported a bug in Encore CS3. Maybe I'm the only one who authors the way I do, but my way is better for the viewer and it is within spec as well as being a feature of the product, (that fails) in CS3 and works fine in 2.0.

I can even open the faulty CS3 project in 2.0 and have it create the disk correctly. Weeks of Adobe tech support being unable to reproduce the problem, with very specific instructions, a simple job and a copy of my job, caused me to involve another tech support department who work with Adobe but had nothing to do with this problem, although Adobe Tech support did suggest it might be their problem.

Less than 3 minutes talking to that support person and they reproduced the problem. 30 minutes later they called back and confirmed it exists on all the tested Adobe systems, whether their component is part of the install or not. They indicated they would discuss it with Adobe. Sometime later I got an update from Adobe. They had managed to reproduce the problem. Nothing else. No follow up, no fix, no Thank you.

Yesterday I was going to order a CS4 Master upgrade from my very supportive and helpful retailer. They weren't able to determine exactly which of the many new sku's to order for my upgrade.

I called Adobe to get the part number.
Apparently it's a secret.
They can sell me the upgrade, but the part number or sku number are "confidential information" and they can't give that to me.

I Asked politely to speak with a supervisor or be directed to someone who can help me to buy the product, based on the assumption the person I was speaking to who did not speak clear English and didn't appear to understand my question wasn't going to be able to help me.

REFUSED! Final answer: confidential! Now is there anything else we can help you with today?
As if they have actually helped me!

Yes, I am North American and speak English so all communication was very difficult to say the least. That's one of the reasons I have a retailer. If I have to draw a picture, we can and communication can be made to work to our mutual benefit.

It's possible I was mistaken and the person on the other end understood everything I said even though I couldn't understand them, but the basics of communication require two way understanding and when one side breaks, regardless of who is at fault, the communication fails, so an incorrect perception on my part may have lead to a request to escalate, which may have offended an intelligent person and caused that person to respond as many of us would if an implication questioned our ability. Poorly and emotionally.

I understand the changes in economy. I understand, probably better than many at Adobe, the huge problem that is associated with the massive bundle the suites are. So many new complications, so little revenue compared to stand alones, so many new customers.

More customers and more complexity without the proportionate increase in revenue is a major hurdle to overcome and it appears it wasn't properly planned for.

Customers: understand please, this software is not expensive, it's dirt cheap (to buy) now in Suite form. If it's costing you too much because of the new complexity, buy the stand alones, save your own bottom line and get on with business. Don't stress yourself out over an extra 30 billable hours. The stress will cost you a lot more.

Adobe: I assume Customer and Market pressure brought you to the decision to make the Suites. I like the concept and hope it will work better for us all one day soon, but the operative word is soon. Please, listen to your users and understand for every one (1) customer that tells you their problems, there are 30 more who have the same problem but won't take the time from their busy days to tell you about it. They work around it and allow you to keep making the same mistakes until such time as your product is of no use or interest, then they move on.
Since you have bought all the favorite products available, the comfort you feel right now, because we have little or no other choices is false.
Please remove the blinders and the attitude and become the Adobe we all want. Try to imagine, all these people happy to give you their money! The best customers are the knowledgeable, experienced, possibly educated and sometimes demanding ones, but only when your product, procedures and customer relations meet their demands.
In case you haven't noticed, we are into the "tough times" cycle again. This is where long term heroes are made or born.
Will you be there?

I like Adobe products and with all the problems, they are usable and I can make money with them. There's room for improvement, but they are adequate.

Improve customer relations and service and you will be handed the instructions to improve the products and your engineering costs will be reduced. Let's win together.

Merry Christmas everyone!

[Greg_...@adobeforums.com]

I can't wait until someone comes up with an alternative to Adobe products. I have tried everything to install CS4 Web Standard onto my machine and still no luck! I've tried it on several of our production machines and still no joy. I have followed every solution on the user forum, which is far more informative than the Adobe supprt, which is a very sad state of affairs.
Adobe CS4 is the only product that will not install on our machines, and from what I've read on forums, we are not an exception. We had huge problems installing CS3 onto our Windows XP machines and in the end had to install onto new installs of XP, if we installed any other program prior to CS3 it would fail!!!!!!
Adobe have obviously become too big for their boots and I hope that either they get their act together, or a competitor comes along and blows them out of the water.
I am totally disgusted!

[Ferma...@adobeforums.com]

am also unable to install on vista ultimate. I have updated my windows but still the CS4 setup says please update your windows and you must have service pack 1.

don't know what to do?

[Anne...@adobeforums.com]

Unfortunately I can add on to the installation issue with my sad story.
I bought CS4 brand new at the beginning of December and could not install it without error until today. I made several attempts, all on XP prof. machines with at least 2 GB RAM, more than 50 GB free hard disk space and SP3. I did run the installation process all together at least 20 times or so and it always ended up in errors. Adobe support suggests insufficient user rights but I always installed as administrator. I also created new users with administrator rights. Nothing helped. I tried the installation process at least 3 times on 3 different complete new installed pcs with nothing on it than the operating system and SP3 - ended like before: in errors.
And the error messages are also very poor, e.g. "Error 2 - contact Adobe support". When you contact Adobe support it takes at least a day to get an answer - during weekends even longer. OK, but I own these - very expensive - DVDs for more than a month now and still have no working product. Not to mention the hours and hours I spent to get the installation to work.
I guess like me everyone will think at first there might be something wrong with his machine or that perhaps another software interfers. But after all these attempts on different machines with from the scratch new installed XP OS I am absolutely sure that it is the poorest installation routine I ever saw in my life. I am very frustrated now and thinking of returning this buggy product.

[try67]

Anne, in your story you don't mention if you ever tested the actual discs from which you are installing. It sounds possible that they might be corrupted (which is quite common, sadly). To check this you should try to copy the entire contents of all of them to your local computer. If that doesn't work, there's either a problem with the discs, your optical drive, or the drive's installation.

[Dave_M...@adobeforums.com]

Having no luck installing CS4 Design Standard. Just got it today and have been monkeying around since 8am. It's now midnight... :( I've tried all the suggestions I've seen here, turned off just about everything in MSCONFIG that I could, tried a couple more suggestions I found in the KB, and downloaded and ran the installer cleanup... but nothing works... we get to about 90% of an install and it hangs. Whats worse and I haven't seen anyone mention this, is that when i try to UNINSTALL CS4 the uninstaller does hangs too! The installer cleanup doesn't find any "sessions" that need to be cleaned, and the log file generated gives me an error code of 2136 but the description is vague at best...

[ 2136] Mon Jan 05 23:19:53 2009 ERROR
Log of: object
isRunning {string}: 0
percentComplete {string}: 100
message {object}: [object Object]
Log of: object
code {string}: 0
args {object}: [object Object]

[ 2136] Mon Jan 05 23:27:04 2009 INFO

I downloaded and ran the adobe installed AdobeSupportAdvisor which wasn't anymore helpful since it couldn't figure out what this error means either.

Anyone from Adobe able to give any insight here?

[Anne...@adobeforums.com]

try67
No, I don´t think the DVDs are corrupted, the installation process itself runs without suspicious errors or messages in that way. And I also have experienced different errors at the end. One type of error I even have eliminated by checking through the forums and FAQs. It was related to an old MSXML which I have updated and now there are "only" error messages left about language files that could not be copied.
And I am not running Vista but plain "old" XP Professional on my own PC with all rights I can have and with the latest SP.

[Slavomi...@adobeforums.com]

The solution is very simple:
Step1: go to the directory C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers and find the file (WinZip) "Adobe..log.gz
Unzip and read it (very large - 3000 lines) and find all words "error".
Almost at the end of this log you will probably find that the Installer cannot find the directory SharedDocuments.
Step2: Create subdirectory "Shared Documents" (with the space!!!) within directory Public. With permissions for Administrator.
Step3: reinstall.

I have tested this procedure under Vista Home Premium and works perfectly.
Nothing is necessary under Vista Ultimate. This OS redirects the Installer requirement to another subdirectory, which exists within the OS.

[Darrell Catmull]

Found errors but nothing to do with "Shared Documents" just references to the installers folder and this subfolder "faf656ef605427ee2f42989c3ad31b8."

File: error.html, Directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers\faf656ef605427ee2f42989c3ad31b8\resources\common\error\,
Size: 5441 [ 2860] Tue Jan 06 06:29:08 2009 INFO

Can I delete this folder and reinstall?

[Anne...@adobeforums.com]

Slavomir, if you adressed my posting - that seems not to be the fault (this time). There are no error messages in conjunction with SharedDocuments. But I could imagine your suggestion would be very helpful for others.
I have found errors like this ones:

5000 Copying file "Z:\Adobe CS4\extensions\AdobeFlash10-de_DELanguagePack\Assets\_2497_2a30ae97d4f71680c4f7a5b82230bcfc" to "C:\Programme\Gemeinsame Dateien\Adobe\Help\de_DE\Flash\10.0_Welcome\images\w.gif"
5000 Copied
[ 980] Thu Jan 01 23:45:41 2009 INFO
Calling ARKCAPSWritePayloadDataCommand.
[ 980] Thu Jan 01 23:45:41 2009 DEBUG
Committing prior actions...
[ 980] Thu Jan 01 23:45:41 2009 ERROR
5001 Error committing command ARKCAPSWritePayloadDataCommand
[ 980] Thu Jan 01 23:45:41 2009 DEBUG

Would you suggest then to create the complete directory, that is seen there, too?

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Ann,

What language are you trying to install? Those errors look like a German localization.

[Anne...@adobeforums.com]

Peter,
that愀 right. It愀 in german.
Should hopefully be no problem - OS is in German an the CS4 package, too.

[Darrell Catmull]

Tried renaming the folder "faf656ef605427ee2f42989c3ad31b8" and reinstalling. The installation created a new folder but still hung at around 90%. Solutions in this forum working for others, is not for me. Lame software release!

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Anne,

Good. Just trying to eliminate one possible problem.

Darrell, and anyone else having an issue with hanging,

Have you tried copying the DVDs to the desktop or other hard drive location? My first attempt at installing CS3 a couple of years ago hung that way and it turned out to be the DVD drive (which was brand new). It was failing to read a single file, but the installer never threw an error. I discovered the problem while trying to copy the disk to my hard drive for a "desktop install" and Windows threw up the "unable to copy" error.

I put my old drive back in the system and the installation went smoothly. It seems that DVD drives (and perhaps the disks, too) can be very finicky about alignment, and what works in one drive may not work in another.

Peter

[Dave_M...@adobeforums.com]

Yes.. copied dvd to the hard drive, tried createing a new user on vista, tried unregistering msiexec.com... on and on... here it's day 5 and still can't get past 90%

[Cemal...@adobeforums.com]

There is a happy ending to my misery, but shame on you Adobe support personnel and principal scientist for suggesting totally inaccurate procedures for the solution. My common sense prevailed and did not listen to the "oh, so certain of himself" support person that I had to UNINSTALL EVERYTHING ON MY COMPUTER MADE BY ADOBE. You are full of it! And you know what. I was not about to uninstall my complete CS3 and cripple my ability to work.

I have tried several times to install CS4, computer rebooting at some point on all of them. I called for tech support, language problems aside, the procedure was like Chinese torture. First person asked for my full ID, address, phone, serial number, etc. Then decided that I needed to talk to tech support. No kidding! Then I spoke to the second person who asked me the same questions for the same information. Patiently I repeated them. Then she repeated my problem back to me, thank you. Then told me that she would connect me to the tech support person! I could speak to a royalty sooner than this, come ON. In any case, the tech support person told me that this was a DVD reader problem and that I should copy the CS4 directory from DVd1 and 2 on my desktop and run the installation from there, and if I had any problems I should call back. He was half right, maybe even less. But where he was wrong, it was crucial. I patiently copied those directories, as you are probably guessing correctly by now, I had to rename one so that I could drag the second one to the desktop.

Uninstalling all CS4, I restarted to install it again... Crash bang! Gone. The persistent person that I am, after the computer restarted I uninstalled all CS4 again and made one more attempt. This time the installation did not even start. It came back with a pleasant message that "The installation for the following products failed" and listed all the components of Design Premium.

As suggested by the previous king, oh I mean the support person, I called the support number once more. I gave the case number and the guy at the other end told me that this is a known issue and I should uninstall all Adobe products and call back the next day. I told him that this did not sound reasonable as it would cripple my ability to do work, he insisted that it was the only way to install CS4.

Well, was he ever wrong.

I started thinking and reading the forum threads and other places where this issue was being discussed. This may surprise the principle scientist, there are hundreds of thousands of hits when I searched for "CS4 install problems". This should be great news for computer repair people as they all must have device failures! One thing that kept grabbing my attention, the install process was not able to write to some directories and that could be the reason for the failure. I am running a Windows XP Pro system and the directory security is not drum tight. Except, those directories that are controlled by the MS IIS. I knew that the installer was not accessing those directories, but that gave me one glimmer of hope. Another thing I noticed was the complaint by the installer that Internet Explorer was running. In my case it complained that Firefox was running. SO WHAT, what is it to you?

I went ahead and uninstalled MS SQL DB and the IIS. Then I got the MS Install Cleaner and removed every line that had CS4 in it. I also terminated all the unnecessary applications, utilities, system tray crud and disabled the antivirus for a good measure. Then, I started the install from the desktop as instructed. Since the previous crashes happened at or near Adobe Media Player, I disabled that and started the process. It kept going, and going, and going... I jotted down the applications it installed as they appeared. This was exciting, it went further, and further, AND finished the first DVD (directory that is from my desktop.) Then it asked me to insert the second DVD into C:\ huh! I thought for sure if I clicked OK, it would ask me to point to where it was. Nooooo. It insisted that I put the second DVD into C:\.

I was royally ticked off (polite substitute here) at the first guy who actually told me that I would point to the directory where the second DVD directory was. YOU WERE WRONG, man, wrong. I tried copying one folder into the next, that did not work because of some directory collision. I tried switching their names, no way. I was panicking that I would fail after having come this far. In a flash of inspiration, I moved the second CS4 directory to the C:\ and clicked on OK.

LO AND BEHOLD! The impossible happened. There was no other way of installing CS4 other than uninstalling everything Adobe.

Now, Adobe people please read this carefully. All the events I describe here are true, they took over a three day period, on the same machine. If it had, as the principle scientist suggested, any hardware or driver problems should my install have succeeded? My scientific thinking tells me: NO.

So, please review all your stone walls, retrain your personnel, work better at making your software to be a good citizen of the computing world, and for goodness sake, stop being on the defensive ALL THE TIME. Accepting some responsibility for all these problems could be cleansing for the soul.

I will post a less verbose version of my process on my blow tomorrow if you care to read it. <http://www.keptlight.com/blog/>

Note: Adobe, I like your products, use them, teach them, recommend them. But you need to come off the pedestal and meet with mere mortals, us.

[Chris_...@adobeforums.com]

I am a long time user of CS3. I own 3 Windows Licenses and 2 Mac Licenses. I ordered the Upgrade to CS4 (5 copies) from my reseller and I received an email with an Adobe Licensing web site URL and a single password. No disks. I am confused. Did I get the right stuff?

[Billy...@adobeforums.com]

I have been trying to install Web Premium CS4 on my Windows Vista SP1 Home Premium setup and keep getting the same error message("setup error") almost immediately after clicking the install button. Any ideas what might be causing the error message?

[boblevine]

Doesn't sound that way. That's for volume purchases not single user
upgrades.

Bob

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

Billy,

Was there any more to the error message? Without more detail it would be taking a shot in the dark to try to guess what the problem is.

Peter

[John_G...@adobeforums.com]

I continue to get "Error Code 1603" messages when trying to install CS4 Design Standard in Vista. (The installation fails every time.) I have already gone through the following steps:
1) scanned hard drive for viruses, errors
2) cleaned up Vista temp files
3) uninstalled through Windows, ran Adobe Clean Up Script
4) ran msconfig to reduce startup services
5) ran CS4 install from desktop (instead of from DVD)
6) disabled UAC
7) disabled anti-virus, firewall during install
8) Ran Adobe Support Advisor (no solutions found)

Have I missed anything? I've tried installing this about 5-6 times now and nothing works. I'd greatly appreciate any and all help. Thank you!

[Darrell Catmull]

SUCCESS!

I called support, they were no help, their solution was install it on another computer, I hung up with out saying goodbye.

This has been a blessing in disquise as I ended up buying pay version of Iobits Advanced System Care. After ulizing many of the tools in ASC my computer is noticably faster. Didn't solve the install problem though.

Turns out Cemal Ekin's rant had the solution for me.

Went ahead and uninstalled MS SQL and the IIS (for ColdFusion). Then I

got the MS Install Cleaner and removed every line that had CS4 in it.

1. Run MSCONFIG and set selective startup with no startup checked, and only
Microsoft and Flexnet licensing service enabled; Don't restart.

2. Uninstall everything SQL

3. Use MS Installer cleanup utility* to clean the registry. I had to run
regedit and do a search for "CS4" as I found several items the utility didn't
clean.

4. Restart in selective mode now

Try installing, it worked flawlessly, no errors and I'm pleased with CS4 speed.

Ciao
Darrell Catmull

* <http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/290301>

[Hulya_...@adobeforums.com]

Is there anyone getting windows error :1620 when installing CS4 Creative Suite Design Premium? I'm just about to getting crazy since yesterday. I can't install specially 4 programs : Photoshop, Flash, InDesign and Illustrator which I mostly need.

I use .iso files in order to install package as my dvd drive is broken. Do you think this point causes the error? Please help me!

[Randy_M...@adobeforums.com]

Version: CS4 Master Suite
OS: Windows XP SP2

I, too, kept getting the BSOD during installation of the second disc. I copied all the discs to a desktop folder per one of the posted solutions, and that got me past the second disc. But the first time I ran the installation that way, it hung up on installing the disc 3 files. After that, the installation routine just reported an error, and suggested that I use the Adobe Support Advisor, which I did, and which ended up reporting that I it could find no problem.

After some Web searching, I unchecked the "Enable write combining" option in Display Properties. After that, I could make it through the entire installation successfully. It may have been coincidence, but it's something to try if you're getting the BSOD during installation.

To get to this item, right-click on the desktop, click on Properties on the menu, click on the Settings tab, click the Advanced button, click on the Troubleshoot tab, and you'll find the item near the bottom. On my system, it was checked on, and I had installation success after I checked it off. You'll have to reboot afterwards in order for the change to take effect.

[Darrell Catmull]

I believe a search and manual deletion of all Creative Suite references in the registry of products you are not using, or are replacing, will provide you with favorable results.

You should consider temporarily uninstalling any SQL databases too. Those two things worked for me.

Ciao
Darrell Catmull
<http://www.utahhousevalues.com>

[Cemal...@adobeforums.com]

I wonder if Adobe Installer sets up a MiniSQL DB to facilitate copy protection and module integration. If it does, could that clash with MS-SQL and/or IIS? I believe Adobe uses Bonjour, and possibly a proxy service. There is also the FNPLicensingService.exe withouth which Adobe products do not run.

I wish Adobe, or someone who knows the innards of the OS could say something about this problem.

[col...@adobeforums.com]

Every time I start to install adobe masterpack cs4 , while it is installing My computer will blue screen every time I try it . Please Help!

[simonwarner]

I advise starting a new thread and including some details. Even a lot if
you can. OS and hardware for example. Space on hard disk, ram, processor
etc. At what point it blue screens.

Having said that, a blue screen death usually indicates and underlying
problem not associated with the software you are installing.

[Cemal...@adobeforums.com]

BSOD indeed may be caused by an underlying problem. However, for a computer that has been functioning without any problems until Adobe installer is run, and that the computer fails the same way after repeated attempts, attributing this to an underlying problem is not very reasonable. My system that crashed and rebooted every time I attempted to install CS4 had been running flawlessly for quite some time. And it continues to do so after I resolved my Adobe installer problems my way, as I documented on my Web site and on this forum. Adobe installer pulls the trigger of a gun, possibly even loads it, then Adobe blames the bullet for killing the victim.

I am sure this problem will be fixed, but until then the various forums all over the Internet, including the Adobe support will be inundated with this sort of posts.

[Mr...@adobeforums.com]

Okay, so I've got an issue that I'm not sure can be fixed, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

I purchased the CS4 30 day trial, and installed it on my external hard drive. Unfortunately, my hard drive has gone batty, and no computers will read it anymore.

So my goal was to reinstall the software onto my computer's hard drive instead, since it obviously wasn't going to run off of my external drive any longer.

The problem is that when I try to install it, the setup basically says that there's been a critical error, and to check the install log for solutions. So I did... and I downloaded the Adobe Support Advisor to help, but it found no solutions.

I have tried uninstalling the previous install, but that doesn't work obviously, and I've tried manually deleting files... which also doesn't work.

Is it possible to completely erase the previous download so that I can reinstall this on my computer, without going so far as formatting my hard-drive?

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

<http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs4clean.html>

[DD...@adobeforums.com]

I registered just so as I can post this message. I stumbled upon this site as I was getting BSOD while installing CS4 Photoshop and I now have a solution (at least for my laptop running Vista Home Premium SP1) !!!

ADOBE MEDIA PLAYER IS THE CULPRIT - NOTHING ELSE !!!! (read on)

At first I started the install in morning and went away from laptop, only to find the logon screen 15 minutes later. I was confused and left for work. In evening I tried again (after un-installing all my partially installed CS4 components) and while the installation was going on I was doing some other work, I suddenly got the BSOD and computer re-booted. So I was not sure what caused BSOD but knew that something was wrong here. Checked up Web, came to this site and knew that it was Adobe installation playing dirty trick

I proceeded as follows - uninstalled CS4 PS(partially installed before BSOD), uninstalled total CS3 too (As I was not too keen on two apps). I used Your Uninstaller for this work so registry cleaning happened. I started installing CS4 PS again (Typical install) and this time I kept my eyes glued to the screen. Boom - the BSOD came again but this time I knew that it came as soon as ADOBE MEDIA PLAYER installation has begun. Rest was easy - uninstall CS4 again - reinstall in Custom mode - UNSELECT ADOBE MEDIA PLAYER - and everything went well. So no need to switch off AV (I have McAfee 2009 fully updated), no need to turn off UAC, no nothing....just DON'T INSTALL ADOBE MEDIA PLAYER.

So there you have it Adobe Geniuses. Go figure !!

I live in Bangalore India (guess might as well rub it in :-))

[Southwes...@adobeforums.com]

Start your task manager and look under processes, if you see anything there for internet explorer or iexplore or anything like that, end the process and it should work fine :)

[Mark_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks to Cemal's post I've determined an approach that has allowed me to finally complete my installation of Adobe Web Premium CS4, having started it well over 6 weeks ago.

But first, I shall join the above disgruntled folks by voicing my extreme frustration with this installation process. I've owned every version of Illustrator since it first appeared as "Illustrator 88" and have been a user of Photoshop since it first appeared under that name having formerly been a bit of 35mm scan software called "Barney Scan." I've owned Macs and PCs and am old enough to have carnal knowledge of setting jumper pins on ISA boards in x486 PCs running Windows 3.1. This being said, I have never run into installation problems as severe as when I attempted to upgrade my Macromedia Studio 8 and Photoshop/Illustrator CS2 to the Web Premium CS4 on an XP Pro/SP3 Core2Duo PC.

The first issue concerned the DVDs which arrived scratched. With some cajoling, Adobe did send replacements. So far, ok.

I next attempted to install CS4, and as many people above have noted - it would get to approx. 90% on the first DVD and then freeze. I tried all posted options (uninstall and reinstall, uninstall and use of Adobe provided install clean-up script then reinstall) until I broke down to call Adobe support.

I took a deep breath and let the support folks cover all the ground I'd already covered. No help. I wrote down my case number and shook my head as I heard their only advice, "You'll have to uninstall ALL ADOBE APPLICATIONS - and the Macromedia Ones Too."

I tried one last round of uninstall, reinstall, Adobe install script, reboot, cursing and prayer. No option but to start uninstalling everything, disabling my production machine, and even uninstalling Adobe software (Captivate) that was not part of the CS4 installation.

Today I finally found the 3 hours to sit down and try the installation again, having removed all Adobe products from the machine.

The installation failed again, albeit differently.

I searched again on "Adobe CS4 Installation Problems" and found MANY new posts on the web since I started this process over a month ago. At least now I was not alone with these issues.

It was Cemal's posts above (and his very helpful blog posting on the subject) that provided me with one last option: Copy everything from the DVD to the hard drive and try installing it from there.

I do have SQL server installed on this machine (I do web development as well, so running SQL is not unusual, Adobe) - but thought I would try the HD install before further gutting my PC apps.

I created two folders on an auxilliary drive (my "M:\" drive) and copied the contents of the fist two DVDs into them. This took quite a while, but since there were no copy errors, I eliminated that as an issue.

I started the installation, which does run much quicker from the HD. When the installer asked for the 2nd DVD, I was puzzled as to why it couldn't find it having named the folders exactly what the DVD label was for each original disc. Then it occured to me that the installation was looking for information here:

M:\

not here:

M:\Adobe CS4 Web Premium Disc 2\

So, I moved the contents of the "disc 2" folder into the root of "M:\" and Zoom! Off went the installer with the rest of the process!

This installation still generated errors, and Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash failed to install.

I simply rebooted and started the process over again. I made sure that all the apps were checked for inclusion in the installation process and started the installation.

This time, since all the content for disc 2 was already in the root of the drive, it never asked for the rest of the information.

This is handy to know, although if we ever get to a 3-disc installation I'm not sure how that will work.

So, another thing for anyone stuck with a failing installation to try.

I now have functioning versions of Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash and everything else EXCEPT for Adobe Soundbooth which continues to fail the installation each time.

Hope this helps.

[jnor...@adobeforums.com]

I think I read most of the posts here and my problem was a bit different so I'll record it here in case someone else has the same issue. I installed CS4 Production Premium Suite on Vista Home Premium, 64 bit.

First, I ran into the problem reported elsewhere where the Autorun script is incorrect on disks 2-4. I turned off autoplay for programs and games, uninstalled CS4 with Revo, and tried again, manually starting disk 1. At the end of disk 2 it threw a "Thank you" dialog as if it had finished, but of course none of the main apps had installed since they are on disks 3 and 4. I uninstalled again with Revo, unplugged from the network, turned off Mcafee, and performed a custom install, omitting Adobe media player as suggested elsewhere in this thread. This time the install went smoothly all the way through. I DO have SQL server, LightRoom2 and Photoshop CS2 installed on my pc, and didn't touch any of those. Knock on wood, all seems ok at the moment.

Jerry

[Ryan_D...@adobeforums.com]

I was having the blue screen (Kernel_Stack..) error while installing the Design Premium suite. I couldn't even get half way through disc 1. I've tried all the suggestions mentioned for the past few days and no results. This morning after once again going removing everything that was able to be installed I decided to start over choosing the option of installing it as a Trial this time around. It worked flawlessly. It went through both discs with no problems at all. If nothing else works for you then I suggest giving the Trial install a try and just activating everything after that.

[Gigi_L...@adobeforums.com]

Gigi Lusuardi - Italy
I have uninstalled Photoshop CS4. Now with a subsequent installation, leaving a popup error attributable to "setup.exe". What should I do?
S.O. Windows XP with service pack 2.
Thanks

[J_...@adobeforums.com]

I am trying to install CS4 Master and when I get ready to install it says insufficient space needed for install which is 8.6GB for the full Collection I believe. On my main hard drive all I have is 1.5 GB left but on my other 2 hard drives I have 80+ GB worth of space on both. I change the location but it still says there is not enough space. Please help! What do I need to do?

[boblevine]

One post is enough.

Bob

[Peter...@adobeforums.com]

You need to free space on the C:\ drive. All of the common components wind up there, no matter what location you tell the installer for the applications.

[J_...@adobeforums.com]

Thanks, sorry Bob didn't mean to post twice.

[Ronald_...@adobeforums.com]

I just installed Photoshop CS4. The installation went without a hitch, but when I go to use Photoshop, I get the message: "Adobe Photoshop CS4 encountered a problem and needs to close" etc. I reinstalled it, but the same thing happened.

Error Signature is AppName: Photoshop.exe AppVer 11.0.0.0 ModName Photoshop.exe
ModVer 11.0.0.0 Offset: 00060039

I don't know if that info will help. Can anyone out there help me?

Thanks.

Ron

[urig_...@adobeforums.com]

I'm trying to install trial version of Adobe flash CS4 that I downloaded from Adobe's site.
After 90% loading setup window display for less than a second and after the installation process is stuck.
I tried everything mention above with no luck.
I have 2G RAM, 4 CPU, Nvidia8600, 100G free HD.

What is wrong??????????????????????

[urig_...@adobeforums.com]

I'm trying to install trial version of Adobe flash CS4 that I downloaded from Adobe's site.

After finishing 90% of checking profile, a loading setup window is displayed for less than a second and after the installation process is stuck.

I tried everything mention above with no luck.

I have winXP SP3, 2G RAM, 4 CPU, Nvidia8600, 100G free HD.

Any idea?

[ronald...@adobeforums.com]

Just received a new Dell Studio XPS 435T system. Has the i7 computer core, 12G memory, ATI 4870 video card, and Vista 64 Home Premium. Bought this machine because I thought my CS4 Production Premium apps would achieve optimal performance. (Previously, my CS4 apps were installed under 32bit XP Pro.) To my dismay, I couldn't get past the dreaded "Setup Error" message. Read most of the internet posting regarding CS4 installation problems with Vista 64. Cemal had the most logical solution to the problem and I tried to follow his procedure, but it just didn't seem to work in my case. I thought I would convey my experiences on getting CS4 to install. (BTW, I downloaded my copy of CS4 through the Adobe store.)

I was in the "Computer Management" - "Services and Applications" looking for Flexnet and MS licensing service. Already removed MS-SQL though control panel. When doing those things didn't work, I said what the heck, I'll open "Event Viewer"-"Application" logs. the logs gave the following:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Information log:

Windows Installer installed the product. Product Name: Adobe Setup. Product Version: 2.0. Product Language: 0. Installation success or error status: 1603.

Error log:

Product: Adobe Setup -- Error 1334. The file '_1_42924ff8bf17e177e9b56e18b7ada12e' cannot be installed because the file cannot be found in cabinet file 'WinBootstrapper1.cab'. This could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM, or a problem with this package.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From the Information log, the dreaded 1603 error.

From the error log, _1_42924ff8bf17e177e9b56e18b7ada12e file in WinBootstrapper1.cab could not be found. I opened the cab file in the Adobe CS4 subdirectory to see if the missing file was actually missing. Yep, it wasn't there. Installing under XP didn't have this problem. Again, what the heck. I remembered that the Adobe Encore CS4 installation directory had a WinBootstrapper1.cab file. I opened that up. Lo and behold - the missing file was the first file listed in the Adobe Encore CS4 cab file. So, Setup.exe in the Adobe CS4 subdirectory was looking for the file that was actually in the Encore CS4 subdirectory. Too many possibilities to figure what was really happening. So, I deleted the subdirectories "Adobe Encore CS4" and "Adobe CS4". I then reconstructed "Adobe CS4" subdirectory from the "ADBEPPROCS4_Cont_LS7.7z" and "ADBEPPROCS4_Cont_LS7.7z.exe" files I downloaded from the Adobe Store. (So, if Adobe tech support tells you to copy your files from the DVD to the harddrive - just don't copy the Adobe Encore CS4 subdirectory. Since I don't have a DVD copy, I don't know where the Adobe Encore CS4 subdirectory is located.)

I re-ran the setup program. (No selective startup, no registry cleaning, etc.) To my delight, it installed without a hitch. Started Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro; they all seem to work as expected.

Hope this helps other people to get their Adobe Production Premium product installed. (If you're just installing one product or other product suite, look in the error logs to see what is happening. It may just tell you enough information to get things working - unlike the Adobe Support Advisor. One thought would be is that if you have other Adobe products installed, the setup app might open the first winbootstrapper cab file that it finds and give an installation error if it isn't the correct one. - Maybe the reason why Adobe wants you to uninstall all other Adobe products. Just a thought.)

[alexd...@adobeforums.com]

What a HORRIBLY WRITTEN INSTALLER. The fact that you cannot change the install target folder is a complete joke, adobes installer team should be fired for releasing such a piece of cr@p. I have spent 3 hours trying to help a friend troubleshoot his installation, which is only failing because his c: does not have enough space (1 gig should be PLENTY to copy archive files and extract them to the target drive), and only because Adobe programmers do not know what the hell they are doing. It looks like millions of other people are having the same problems and worse. I've been reading messages of people (granted they are not IT Technicians but you shouldnt have to be) taking them a month or more to get this POS installed. Seeing how badly written this installer is, and considering Gimp will do everything I need now and its FREE, I will never buy an adobe product ever again, and I've been using Photoshop since 3.05. And as a technician I will advise all of my clients as well as co-workers to stay away from CS4, and all other adobe bloatware. DON'T RELEASE A PRODUCT THIS BAD IF YOU WANT TO KEEP CUSTOMERS.

[boblevine]

If your friend only has one gig of free space and you think that's
enough for ANYTHING you're sadly mistaken.

Bob

[vat...@adobeforums.com]

did you ever get help with this problem? I'm going through the exact same thing right now and would appreciate any input. Thank you

[Ronald_...@adobeforums.com]

I discovered that my drawing tablet was clashing with Photoshop CS4, and it would not open until I updated my drawing tablet driver. Even then, Photoshop will only open when the drawing tablet is turned off. Once Photoshop opens I can then turn on the tablet, and both work fine. So, I'm satisfied with that solution, and won't fool around with it any more. I hope that might help someone else with a similar problem.