I was able to successfully create a Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Group Policy that would be able to distribute the Adobe Reader Application using the Adobe Customization Wizard XI. I tried to use the same procedure from the Adobe Acrobat Standard 11 download from the adobe licensing site and was unable to get the Group Policy to work. The error message that I am getting is...
The install of application Adobe Acrobat XI Standard 11.0 from policy Deploy Adobe Acrobat 11 failed. The error was : %%1603
This is the procedure that I created for deployment of Adobe Acrobat XI using Group Policy.
How to create a group policy deployment of Adobe Acrobat XI
Overview:
This procedure covers the steps needed to create a group policy that will deploy the Adobe Acrobat installation.
Requirements
• Windows 2008 Group Policy
• Adobe Acrobat Customization Wizard
o ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/11.x/11.0.00/misc/CustWiz11000_en_US.exe
• Adobe Acrobat XI (Version 11)
o download from adobe account
Procedure:
1. Download the Adobe Acrobat XI package.
2. Extract the contents of the Adobe Acrobat XI package.
a. Type msiexec.exe /a AcroStan.msi
b. Click Next
c. Put in the Network Location Share where everyone can extract the installation.
d. Click Install
e. The package will then extract to the network location as indicated above.
f. Click Finish, once the installation has completed.
g. Open the Adobe Customization XI Wizard, and customize the package by selecting the AcroStan.msi file.
h. Customize the AcroStan.MSI installation file
i. Default viewer of PDF files: Make Acrobat the Default PDF Viewer
ii. Remove previous versions of Acrobat
iii. Run Installation: Silently
iv. If reboot is required at the end of installation: Suppress reboot
i. Shortcuts: Remove the desktop Shortcut
j. Online and Adobe Services: Disable Product Improvement Program: checked.
k. Generate Transform File
i. Click Transform > Generate Transform File
ii. Create an Setup.Ini file in the folder of the Distribution Package.
iii. Name the Transform File something useful like “CompanyConfigs”.
3. Create a Group Policy to deploy the software package. It is usually best to have a group policy for each software installation package.
a. Update the Domain Default Policy with Always install with elevated privileges. This will allow all software deployment packages to install.
i. Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Installer > Always install with elevated privileges : Enabled.
b. Create a Group Policy to enable Windows 7 Verbose Mode
i. Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > System > Verbose vs normal status messages : Enabled.
c. Create a Group Policy for the Software Installation
i. Computer Configuration > Policies > Software Settings
ii. Right click and select New > Package
iii. Click the AcroRead.msi
iv. Click Advanced
v. Click the Modifications Tab and click Add
vi. Optional: Click the Uninstall this application when it falls out of the scope of management.
Note: This setting can be used to uninstall the application if the group policy ever changes in that the application should be removed.
vii. The package is now created …
4. Test the Client in a Virtual Machine
a. Go to a windows client and run “gpupdate /force”.
b. The system will then respond that it needs to restart the computer.
c. Type Yes, and allow the computer to reboot.
d. If Group Policy is not setup to allow for verbose messages in Windows 7 then the user will just see “Please wait…”, if verbose message is enabled the user will see “Installing Adobe Acrobat…”.
Can someone please tell me what I am missing to get the group policy deployed? It has the same permissions as the Adobe Reader folder and I have done everything exactly the same, except that Adobe Standard has the license number, and owner information included in the Transform file (.mst).
Thank you.