adobe acrobat reader 10.1.2 msi deployment via gpo

[si_1976]

anybody got any tips on installing adobe acrobat reader 10.1.2 msi deployment via gpo, have downloaded extracted and used msi in the adobe customization wizard and then used its creation to deploy via a gpo but nothing happens, whereas i have done flash and shockwave with no issues. anybody got a working link to a msi i can use that works to install and remove older version, thanks for your help in advance

[tigerstar]

Have you checked your event logs, under the Application view (the source will be listed as "Application Management")? Any errors a deployed package throws up will be recorded here, so it's invaluable for troubleshooting.

 

Adobe Reader is a bit of a tricky beast, despite having proper tools and documentation. The official documentation on Adobe's site is lengthy and applies to the full Acrobat program as well as Reader, so it can be a bit confusing. Anyway, what I do is this - download the full installer and run it with the switches -nos_o"" -nos_ne (note: don't put a space between -nos_o and the path or it will fail). You'll also need to apply the supplied .msp patch file by running the command Msiexec /a acroread.msi /p .msp, or you'll only get the unmodified point release (i.e. 10.1.0 instead of 10.1.2), which will generate a bunch of folders containing all the application files. Then use the customisation wizard to generate your transform (.mst) file, and copy the folders, acroread.msi and your .mst file to your share (you don't need to copy the setup.exe, or the large .cab file because its contents have been extracted to those folders during the patch process). Then just add the .msi to a Group Policy object, remembering to tell it to use your transform file, and there you go. It should automatically uninstall any older versions of Adobe Reader, regardless of whether they were deployed via a GPO, system image or manual installation.