Adobe CS4 Issue

[DMcCoy]

I suggest that all schools DO NOT buy adobe CS4 until the following HUGE issue is resolved (if it ever is).

 

When running Photoshop CS4 with the new accelerated features a GPUinitcrashed file is created and deleted for each and every one to track application crashing.

 

This file resides in ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CS4 Settings/

 

If your home folder is redirected then you will cripple your file server (16% util from a single photoshop user).

 

If you try to redirect the Adobe Photoshop CS4 Settings with a mcx or manual symlink redirection then Photoshop will ignore the folder and start writing it's preferences to ~/Library/Preferences/ instead.

 

This may also apply to anyone using %appdata% redirection on windows but I do not at the moment and haven't checked.

 

In addition Acrobat Pro 9 is still broken for appdata redirection and will not work without admin password on mac for every single run. In fact it asks for the password and then crashes if you supply it.

 

Adobe are being VERY unhelpful. First I need platinum support as it's networking related, and then I'm told that they don't support a networked folder - all this when I CAN'T redirect it locally. If I had paid for platinum support (after the £5500 site license) then I certainly would be even more upset (if that's possible)

[AngryTechnician]

Latest word I've had is that the Acrobat 9 AppData redirection bug will definitely be fixed in the next patch. Adobe Support have no idea when that will be, however. That was a big shock to hear, let me tell you.

 

Frankly I think Adobe's software testing managers need sacking. I used to work as a software tester for a very large and well-known IT company; in my professional opinion, the AppData redirection bug is something that should never even have got past unit testing, let alone slip into the released product.

[dgsmith]

That is a big blow.. we have just received Design Premium CS4 on friday! Can this "feature" be disabled? We are struggling creating a package for it (RM CC4), however, would it even be worthwhile manually installing (I dread to go there), or will that make little or no difference??

[Antp]

Wow, im serously impressed your school even has Adobe cs4 so quick.

we have adobe 8 and photoshop elements. even though we are an artsmark old and a maths and computing college. d:

[dgsmith]

It was shipped to us as soon as it was released through an arrangement of upgrading from CS3.

 

It's been anticipated for quite some time now, so deciding what to do in the meantime will be hard..

[DMcCoy]

That is a big blow.. we have just received Design Premium CS4 on friday! Can this "feature" be disabled? We are struggling creating a package for it (RM CC4), however, would it even be worthwhile manually installing (I dread to go there), or will that make little or no difference??

 

Yes, it can be disabled with a special plugin, which is what I've had to do for now. Support say the file is used for unsupported cards. All my imacs have supported cards though!

[dgsmith]

Any info on this plugin? If it means we can run it in our suites then i'm willing to pursue it. When you say card, are you in reference to the gfx?

 

We're using WinXP machines.. is this an issue regardless of using mac/windows?

[DMcCoy]

Any info on this plugin? If it means we can run it in our suites then i'm willing to pursue it. When you say card, are you in reference to the gfx?

 

We're using WinXP machines.. is this an issue regardless of using mac/windows?

 

I've not tried the windows machines as they are using mandatory/roaming profiles without appdata redirection. If the detection isn't broken on windows and you aren't redirecting the appdata folder it will be fine. I've had no issues on it from the windows side so far.

 

Oh, *do* read the enterprise deployment guide before you deploy/image it. That way you get to turn off automatic updates and registration.

 

I found out about that after imaging 300 machines. It was fun getting loads of registration mails though when I left the file in the profile.

 

 

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/openoptions/pdfs/manualenterprisedeployment_cs4_help.pdf

 

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4056

 

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4051

Edited November 10, 2008 by DMcCoy

[dgsmith]

I can't really understand how that adobe deployment works. Obviously you can't add that override file onto the payload folder because the installation files are on a dvd disk.

 

I have tried copying the disk contents to the local disk and adding the override file into the payload folder, but then when running setup from there, it wont recognise the serial number, so i'm a bit stumped as to how that it meant to be done??

[DMcCoy]

I can't really understand how that adobe deployment works. Obviously you can't add that override file onto the payload folder because the installation files are on a dvd disk.

 

I have tried copying the disk contents to the local disk and adding the override file into the payload folder, but then when running setup from there, it wont recognise the serial number, so i'm a bit stumped as to how that it meant to be done??

 

Ah, this took me a few hours. You must run it from a mapped drive, NOT unc. The only change is telling you the serial is invalid, everything else works.

[dgsmith]

Sorry lost you a bit there. I'm running the installer from the CD drive which of course is mapped via My Computer (so D:\ rather than \\machine\d$\).

 

My assumption with the serial was that it needed to be run from disk to pick it up, so although I copied the entire contents to a local folder (C:\temp), it still wouldn't pick it up as being "valid" (red X rather than the tick). I'm sure it's something very easy (they always tend to be), but at the moment I can't quite comprehend how it's done! Can the serial be auto entered in this file to be picked up during the installer, and more's the question - I am right to copy the dvd disk contents to the hard disk?

[DMcCoy]

You need to copy the first disk then bits from the second. Then you run the setup with a special switch which creates the xml file - this is the bit that includes the serial, you can't use a switch or anything to put it in afaik.

[somabc]

I Adobe!

[dgsmith]

I Adobe!

 

Yes.. I quite feel the same myself now. I hate to have hijacked your thread DMcCoy

 

Got it packed up in the end with the necessary adjustments in place (copied to server then shared folder and mapped on a clean machine). Have distributed out to 2 stations, and it loads up fine on admin users, but gives am "AMT Subsystem Failure" error on staff and students - have tried Adobe solutions on licencing with no luck. I think it must be permissions to local disk, but finding that is like a needle in a haystack!

 

Why can't this just work like everything else :x