Using Group Policy to Deploy Adobe Acrobat 9.3.2

As I reported earlier, the patches for Adobe Acrobat 9.3.2 and Adobe Reader 9.3.2 (Note: There is no such thing as Adobe Acrobat Reader.) are now available for download. When Adobe Reader 9.3.1 came out I wrote an article GPO Deploying Adobe Reader 9.3.1 that documented the process to create an Administration Install Point that allows us to deploy the (then) latest Adobe Reader. Now that 9.3.2 has come out, I figured I’d document the same process for deploying Adobe Acrobat 9.3.2.

Preparation

The process for deploying Adobe Reader 9.3.2 and deploying Adobe Acrobat 9.3.2 is very similar, but the 9.3.1 patch was a Security patch while 9.3.2 is a quarterly update so there are subtle differences. Since 9.3.2 is a Quarterly update and 9.3.1 was a Security update, we’ll have to start from scratch and patch in this sequence (skipping security updates):

Adobe Acrobat: 9.0 -> 9.1 -> 9.1.2 -> 9.2 -> 9.3 -> 9.3.2

Adobe Reader: 9.3 -> 9.3.2

You’ll need to download all of the linked files above. Adobe Reader 9.3 is available as an .msi file and 9.3.2 is in .msp format so we can start from that .msi and patch it. With Adobe Acrobat, we’ll have to start from the 9.0 .msi file and patch it 5 times. (Come on, Adobe! Cumulative updates please!)

The Process

Copy your Acrobat 9.0 installation files to a folder where you can work with them. I’m going to make a directory at c:\acrobat90. It should look like this:

Open a command prompt and navigate to that folder. Then run the command:

msiexec.exe /a AcroPro.msi

At the Welcome screen, press the Next button so you can choose a Network location. For the location, I would recommend using a new local directory again. I’ll install mine to c:\acrobat932 and then click the Install button.

This will run through the installation process and copy the files needed to your new directory. Once the install completes, just press the ‘Finish’ button. Now, copy the .msp files for each of the Acrobat quarterly updates listed above to the directory you just created. Be sure to go into the Properties of any of the .msp files to make sure they’re ‘Unblocked’ or else this security setting will prevent the patching from working correctly. Your directory will look a bit like the following picture.

Now, we’ll need to sequentially patch our Acrobat AIP from 9.0 to 9.3.2. To do that, we’ll need to run the slip-streaming command wait for it to complete and then run the next one. Navigate to your new directory. For me that will be C:\acrobat932. Then run these commands:

msiexec /a AcroPro.msi /p AcroProStdUpd910_T1T2_incr.msp

This will run the installer again. Click Next to choose where you install the files and choose the same current location. Then let the installation complete. When it finishes, repeat this same step again for the next patches until we’re current. The commands will be:

msiexec /a AcroPro.msi /p AcrobatUpd912_all_incr.msp

msiexec /a AcroPro.msi /p AcrobatUpd920_all_incr.msp

msiexec /a AcroPro.msi /p AcrobatUpd930_all_incr.msp

msiexec /a AcroPro.msi /p AcrobatUpd932_all_incr.msp

Finally, we’ll have our up to date installer. You can delete all of the .msp files out of the directory and then copy the entire directory to the deployment share on your server. Copy over the setup.ini file from your original installation files to your deployment folder if you are going to create a transform. It’s now ready to be deployed.

Check out Page 2 for the deployment process and news about the next Adobe update.

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1. Preparing the Acrobat 9.3.2 Deployment Files
2. GPO Acrobat 9.3.2 Deployment
3. View All

Related posts:

1. Adobe Acrobat – You're exhausting; an open-letter to Adobe
2. GPO Deploying Adobe Reader 9.3.1
3. Adobe Releases 9.3 for Adobe Reader and Acrobat

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