How to Deploy Adobe Patches to all workstations?

1. Download the latest Adobe Reader (9.1.0 - http://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/otherversions/)

2. Download the latest patch (9.1.2 - http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4486)

I'm more UNIX orientated than Microsoft so don't know if WSUS 3.0 will handle non-MS products, but if not then the following is a quick walkthrough of the method that I use to save me walking around 100 PCs.

When I need to update Adobe Reader I use Microsoft's free psexec.exe utility ( http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897553.aspx) to remotely install the Reader package and updates. The process I use is not elegant, but goes something like this:

The Adobe reader install is an executable that contains a Microsoft installation package (AcroRead_910.msi & Data1.cab). To get hold of these I run the .exe file which unpacks the files that we want into c:\program files\adobe\setup files\. These files are removed when the .exe exits so you will need to copy them out before you close the final dialogue box during a local installation. I then place these two files along with the patch file (currently AdbeRdrUpd912_all_incr.msp) in a share on my software repository server (we'll call that 192.168.10.1 for this exercise).

You need to have administrator privileges on the target PC for the next steps. If you want you may check what version of Adobe Reader is installed on the target PC before you proceed. I use Microsoft's filever.exe utility for this ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913111). For a PC named Target-PC I would use the following commands:

• filever "\\Target-PC\c$\progra~1\adobe\reader 9.0\reader\acrord32.dll"

Which returns: --a-- W32i   DLL ENU      9.1.0.163 shp 20,403,568 02-27-2009 acrord32.dll

If the target PC did need to have version 9.1.0 installed then I would run the following command to remotely install the package.

• psexec \\Target-PC  -u My-Domain\My-Username -p "My Password" msiexec /i \\192.168.10.1\software\AcroRead_910.msi /qn

If all went well (and you can see a list of msiexec status codes here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/229683) then I next apply the patch. This is an .msp file and uses different syntax:

• psexec \\Target-PC  -u My-Domain\My-Username -p "My Password" msiexec /update \\192.168.10.1\software\AdbeRdrUpd912_all_incr.msp /qn

Please refer to the following posts which address the issue you inquire:

 

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/454016
http://forums.adobe.com/thread/454071

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Another Solution

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1. Download the 9.1 installer.  Note that if you get one without _Std in the name from here, it will not include Adobe.com or Air components. 
2. Run the installer with the command-line switches -nos_o"./InstallFiles" -nos_ne.  This will copy the .msi and other files to a subdirectory named InstallFiles. 
3. Apply the .msp patch to the installer with the command msiexec /a <path to .msi file> /p <path to .msp file> 
4. If desired, create a transform (.mst file) with the Adobe Customization Wizard.  This lets you auto-accept the EULA, turn off updates, etc. 
5. Copy the contents of the InstallFiles directory to a network share which is accessible from all of the target computers. 
6. Create a package under the group policy node Computer Configuration\Software Settings\Software installation to deploy the .msi file.  If you created an .mst file, choose the Advanced install type and specify its location on the Modifications tab. 

If you already deployed 9.1 through Group Policy, apply the patch to the existing install point with the command from step 3, then right-click the package within the GPO, go to All Tasks, and select Redeploy application.  This will push the updated version to all affected machines.

 

Adobe has a whitepaper on deploying Acrobat using group policy & AD at   http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/gpo_ad_9.pdf .