This is a copy of my post to an Adobe forum, with a couple of additions (in italics). In the next post, you will see a more to the point explanation of my problem and how I ended up resolving them.
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 with what. I was not about to uninstall my complete CS3 and cripple my ability to work.
I tried several times to install CS4, my 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, my problem, 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 Adobe. The actual support person asked me the same questions again, all the way down to the ZIP code of my address.
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 DVD 1 and 2 to 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 much less. But where he was wrong, it was crucial and extremely frustrating. I patiently copied those directories (more than one hour), as you are probably guessing correctly by now, I had to rename one so that I could drag the second one to the desktop, Adobe CS4-1 and Adobe CS4.
Uninstalling all CS4, I restarted to install it again… Crash bang! Gone, computer rebooted. 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. The recommended method was to uninstall everything Adobe and then run Adobe clean script which would remove all traces of Adobe products from the registry.
Well, was he ever wrong. Way wrong. Not that I did not need to uninstall everything Adobe, there was a cleaning script only for CS4.
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 hardware device failures! Yeah. 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 was running a Windows XP Pro system and the directory security was not drum tight, and I had administrator privileges anyway. Except, those directories that were controlled by the MS IIS. I knew that the installer was probably 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? Could there be a relationship to the IIS?
I went ahead and uninstalled MS SQL and the IIS (for ColdFusion). I followed the instructions on how to run the Adobe cleaner script for CS4 and did that. It did not report any CS4 entries in the dialogs. Then I ran the MS Install Cleaner and removed every line that had CS4 in it (there were probably 5-6 entries that the Adobe script did not show). I also terminated all the unnecessary applications, utilities, system tray crud and disabled the antivirus for a good measure (although the principle scientist said it should not matter). 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 and as their names 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 (and I am really restraining myself here). I tried copying one folder into the first, 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 from my desktop 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. But the miracle was happening on my computer, the chosen one!
Now, Adobe people please read this carefully. All the events I describe here are true (case ID can be provided upon request to Adobe), 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 some of these problems could be cleansing for the soul.
I will post a less verbose version of my process on my blog 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. Your bread and butter.
Related posts:
feel for you man! i will meet the same tragic as you soon!
i still remember how hard to get cs2 and cs3 up and run. soon i will have to install the cs4 in office.
from what i google and read, i have never seen a single good comment in any blog!
pray for me that i will have some luck and it wont be much hurt dealing with adobe’s installer!!!
damn I had this same problem today…crazy!!!!! and i live in providence too (noticed your a PC teacher)
check me out vincenttobiaz.com
I hope both of you have successfully installed your software. It should be much less painful.
I found out it was something to do with some registry entries I needed to delete. Installing Visual Studio 2008 caused my problem.
Hilarious….I could not stop laughing as you described the last 3 days of working life to a T. I am still at a loss. I have installed, uninstalled, deactivated, clean script cs3, cs4. The only thing I haven’t done is make love to it. Any suggestions besides the latter. I just want to load my freaking premier pro !!!
The Adobe CS4 will not install!
Too many hours and days of attempts are being wasted.
The PC system has been built for DV and HD Post Production for my commercial studio operations.
I have two identical CS4 Premium Production bundles which will not finish installing the disc 1.
The PC is an operational professional system:
Multiple drives
Raid storage + more storage
Core 2 Quad processor
HD monitor
WIN XP operating system
2 Gig DDR3 memory
Intallation experience and desription:
CS4 Disc 1 indicates “Checking system profile”.
This remains on the screen day and night.
The green installation guage stops at about 85%.
Then nothing happens.
When rebooting and reviewing programs installed Adobe CS4 is listed as installed.
It will not be remooved.
Adobe support says ” no it will not uninstall until the installation is complete plus the original disc is in the tray.
I have tryed three different DVD burners to put the install disc in and they
all respond the same.
Stuck…
John Knapp
California, USA
We have found a resolve!
Your idea of simply copying first the contents of disc 1 to the root directory of the system drive C;
then renaming only the first CS4 folder by adding a -1 to make the name different than the same named folder that will be copied from the second disc.
After the above copy disc two contents and do not change any folder name in any way.
Then what worked was to start the installation which openned a zip file and wrote a separate installation folder.
I ran the install only from the PC root directory and it worked…to a point!
After getting the “Thank you” message a the end of the first two discs install I rebooted and started the installation all over again but directly from the install discs.
Do not forget to select the programs you want installed.
Presto! Success!
Whatever files have been missing were found on the system drive now and the disc installation becomes workable.
Disc 1.
Disc 2.
Disc 3.
Disc 4…Congratulations!
Attention Adobe: Please resolve this issue, of course.
Thank you.
I am very glad to hear that. I have been in class and did not get a chance to reply earlier. Very pleased to have had a small part in your resolution.
Hi, I looking for abour problems whith cs4 adobe. I bought the product, and first I install in my desktop office, secondly I was install in my Home desktop and that havent memory. But I wait install for after unistall.
And I try instal in my lap top to work in my house. But it dont install. I was contacted with adobe Brazil, but I cant answer. I wrote to adobe, but I cant anwer. I do no what i do, because I am a lot jobs to finish and I can drive to my office for problems health and I need to resolve this problem. I pay for cs4 and I have not adobe support.
I am SO happy to have found this thread! I have the EXACT same problem as the original post! I am NOT alone! hehehe
All my freelance work uses my Adobe products, so when the Adobe tech guy told me to remove it all so that CS4 would install, I told him I was worried. He said it’s the only way. Fortunately I had created a restore point, because after 2 days of calls and CS4 STILL not installing, he said sorry, it was bad software.
I sent the software to a cousin and asked her to try installing it. She had NO problem.
So she is sending the discs back to me this week. I’m not as smart as the original poster here, so I’m not sure I follow everything I need to do to install my CS4. Can someone give it to me simply?
I am using Windows Vista Home Premium (Service Pack 1) on my Sony Vaio.
THANKS FOR ANY RESPONSE!
@wwwboy, I am sorry that you had to endure such difficulties, I sympathize with you. There are thousands of people having similar problems and Adobe chooses to ignore them. Shame!
I have another post that is more direct to the point, you may want to take a look at that.
http://tinyurl.com/yal4gm6
Also, read what other commenters said and how they solved the issues. My solution was focused on MS IIS and its removal and it worked for me and at least for one more person. You need to make sure that Windows Vista is not part of your problem as I am still in Windows XP. Are you running Vista 64-bit OS? Could that have an impact? Clearly, the problem squarely belongs to Adobe and they vehemently deny it. What I don’t understand is: WHY?
Good luck to you.
This is a long post to read when you are frustrated and want this damn thing to install. How about just a quick list on how to get this doing and what you did. Thanks.
Frank, there is a link in the comment directly above yours. That is to the post that explains what I did step by step. Yes, this is a long post and done in frustration to warn others not to listen blindly to Adobe support’s absurd recommendations. Please read the other one by clicking on the link in the above response I gave to an earlier commenter.
Am having the same problem with my CS4 install, it installs to about 80% and it asks to insert the cd 2 , my problem, is I can’t eject the disk, it is stuck in there, I reboot and the disk comes out, i’ve used cs4 clean script, after uninstalling everything adobe, try a different cd to see if it ejects, no problem, I try reinstalling CS4 , same problem, 80% install and asks for 2nd CD. Why, bad CD ??? Any help please before I throw the CS4 out the window, . Been at it for 3 days………
Luc, you may try a “switcharoo” strategy as I did with the DVDs. Although it is written in a different and related post, here is the part that may help:
1. Copy the Adobe CS4 folder from the second DVD in its entirety to C:\
2. Rename it something like disc2, so that it does not conflict with the next step
3. Copy the Adobe CS4 folder from the first DVD to C:\ and leave the original folder name. Both DVDs have the same folder name, that’s why we are jumping through hoops
4. Now, start the installation from the folder you created in step 3, which is the contents of the first DVD
5. When (and if) the install goes through the first DVD and asks for the second one, open Window explorer, rename the folder from step 3 to disc1 and rename disc2 Adobe CS4 (the switcharoo)
6. You should be able to continue with the installation now, the installer will find the folder of the second DVD
Hope this helps
Will try this in the morning……. thankx, and i will post my result. I followed Bruce’s recommendations, didn”t work…..
Hi Cemal. i’m a little confused, I’m following your instruction, ( the switharoo !!! ) just want to make sure I understand the steps before I try it…… after copying both CD and renaming it, I start the install from the C; drive , and when or if complete disk 1 , I open window explorer , and here is my question, why do i rename it again……. the disk 1 would already be installed, and disk 2 is already named disk 2 from the first copying in drive C:. I need to understand it before i try anything. Luc
There is one step you are not following as I wrote. When you copy the first DVD folder Adobe CS4 to C:\ DO NOT rename that one. Only when you copy the folder with the same name from the second DVD, DO RENAME that to anything you like, so that you can copy the folder from the first DVD. In other words, copy the second DVD folder first, rename it; copy the second DVD folder, do not rename it.
The need for renaming comes from the fact that:
1. Both DVDs have the installation files in a folder called Adobe CS4
2. Adobe does not allow you to point to a folder where the second part of the install is
When it starts the install from the Adobe CS4 folder from the first DVD everything will go fine. When it looks for the second DVD on the same drive, C:\, it is still looking for a folder called Adobe CS4. That’s why you need to leave the first DVD folder named Adobe CS4, and rename the second DVD folder disc2 at the beginning so that the installation can continue. It expects to find the install folder from the second DVD in a folder named Adobe CS4. Did I explain it clearly this time?
yes you did, thank you, will attempt it , I will let you know the result…….
Hi Cemal …….. I have come up with a new problem….. here it is, I did exactly as instructed, everything copied fine to the C: drive, installed the first disc, ( with original name lolll ) ., when asked for 2nd DVD , I renamed disc 2 to Adobe CS4 like you mentioned, here is the problem, when I renamed the first disc to disc 2 , and pressed enter, it said I needed permission……….. I went to the properties of that folder, and found the security folder and changed a few clicks here and there to lead permission to my user authentication ,,,,,, nothing , any more info, would be appreciated…….. why can’t it read it from my DVD rom ???? Luc.
Luc, you will rename the second DVD folder, did it rename correctly. You have to type it exactly the same way as it appears on the DVD. Also, what you name the first folder to is immaterial, rename it, say “done” if you like. That name is no longer relevant.
Your last question is the most relevant, why can it not read from the DVD drive? Adobe will quickly reach the conclusion that your DVD drive is malfunctioning, or there is a hardware failure. That’s what they did with me “your DVD drive is not reading it correctly, copy them to your C drive”. That’s when I faced the copy and rename situation. I happen to have a premium brand DVD, it is good for everything but to read Adobe DVDs. Therefore, they conclude, my DVD player is bad. Total nonsense. To my knowledge they stick to their story to this day, even after countless visitors come to my small, and minor site every day for this problem. A search on Google with this problem will give you thousands of links, why?
I am sorry that I cannot be of more help than my experience affords me. You may try naming the copied folders disk1 and disk2, then changing the name after the first one is done. This is crazy!
Take care, patience…
Thanx again, will try disc 1 and disc 2 lolll, who knows, as far as needing permission to change folder name , lolll I am the administrator …. Adobe CS4 is very frustrating. will be glad once installed, will never reinstall again…….
Hi , Cemal, me again, I never got passed the first DVD, after renaming the 2nd folder, to Adobe CS4, what do I do to insert it to C: \ , do I drag it or highlight it, ???? the installer is waiting for the folder ….
You do not insert anything into C, in fact that would be impossible. That’s where the folder name change comes into the picture. Just open Windows explorer, find the first folder from which you are installing, rename it to “done” then find the second folder and rename it to what the first folder was.
Ok, will try again, lolll, eventually will get it to install…… i don’t have a choice, can’t return it now….. sure hope Adobe reads all these post and learn……. , will let you know my result tomorow
Hi Cemal , good news…… i finally installed CS4 Web Design and running…. thanks to adobe tech support , they guided me to the complete install by phone for over 1 hour, as for the steps, it was almost like you have described in your post, , 1: create folder on desktop, name it Adobe CS4 2 : copy entire CD 1 in that folder … next copy CD 2 into the same folder you created , files will be overwritten over CD1 click yes to each one , 3: lastly copy CD 3 which is CONTENT in the same folder , when done copying , it will check all the files copied and voila, there was no need to name each cd differently . then you go and click your setup .exe to install . Once I opened any program in CS4 it did an automatic update for my newly installed software. That technical support in India , I had my doubts after reading some post…….. well he was my hero lollll Ciao Lucio Here is the number for technical support 1 800 642- 3623 in case of unforseen problem . thanks….
Luc, I am very happy to hear the happy ending of your story. You got lucky, very lucky with the support person. This is excellent piece of information that will augment what I wrote here and others added. Thank you for sharing it.
Your very welcome , I am enjoying my CS4 , and hope the best to ALL who bought that software and have it up and running. Will keep dropping by to your blog……..
Luc
Checking System Profile…
MAC/Windows User: Right click on Setup >Show Package Contents >Contents >MacOS >click Setup file….Enjoy!!!!
I am having major problems too with installing CS4 onto my Mac (have just installed Windows 7 using Bootcamp). Just installed Norton 360 and MS Expression Web 2.
When it comes to installing Adobe CS4, it goes through the verifying system stuff ok, but then after this part (right before installing files), an error message comes up saying “Install cannot complete until Internet Explorer has been closed. Quit Internet Explorer to proceed.”
I DON’T HAVE IE RUNNING OR OPEN IN BACKGROUND!!!!! Like what is going on… any one help please????
The only thing I will suggest is to make sure that Microsoft Internet Services (IIS) is not loaded and running. You being in a Mac environment may also add more variables. Removing the IIS installation in my case fixed the problem at that time. Unfortunately Adobe support will not be of much help, or at least they were not to me then. You are encountering this problem (I am speculating here) because the installation wants to add Flash plugin to IE. Try not installing Flash component and see if that helps. I feel for you. Good luck