Updated Information on Installing Adobe CS3

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Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

Updated Information on Installing Adobe CS3

If you are having problems installing Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3), you may want to check out the links below for additional information. This information came directly from Barry Hills (Sr. Director, Engineering and Program Mgmt, Creative Suites) via another thread here on my site. I am reposting it, and updating the other articles on this site to this information.

Uninstall Flash Player completely:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

Make sure you have the right MacOS:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb401617&sliceId=1

The “Help” page for installation related issues:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/microsites/searchEntry.do?locale=LA_eng_US&publicationstatus=KCP_Publish&;usemicrosite=true&cmd=search&product=SG_CREATIVESUITE_1_1&searchString=installer&micrositeId=MS_Customer

How to locate the installation log file:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb400593&sliceId=1
(This is very handy to have prior to calling technical support since it will help facilitate troubleshooting.)

Also, update Acrobat to 8.1.

If these don’t work and you still are having trouble installing a Creative Suite you have purchased and our Customer Support has not been able to help, please send me an email directly at:

bhills@adobe.com
Barry Hills
Sr. Director, Engineering and Program Mgmt
Creative Suite

I hope this information helps those individuals who are still struggling to install CS3. In spite of all of the problems I had installing CS3 myself, I’m glad I upgraded. I’ve really enjoyed how well the apps work together, so much so that I ended up buying InDesign CS3 as well.

Barry, thanks for the updated information, and for being proactive on this matter. You’re restoring my faith in Adobe.

This item was posted by Chris Harrison.

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102 comments on “Updated Information on Installing Adobe CS3”

Posted by s mcnulty on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007.

While I commend Barry for his efforts I still feeel- Uhhm why are we having this conversation?? all over the web? Simple, Adobe has – again- ignored the finish necessary to roll out a new product. This stuff is NOT rocket science. Basic testing like this is mundane, its not sexy, its easy to overlook but when your stuff doesn’t work with YOUR OWN stuff- I’d say that is some pretty spectacular ‘oversight”. My only hope is that he has to step over lots of bodies on his way to work in the morning -every morning – but history says thats not likely to happen at Adobe. They simply do not care.
Posted by s mcnulty on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007.

While I commend Barry for his efforts I still feeel- Uhhm why are we having this conversation?? all over the web? Simple, Adobe has – again- ignored the finish necessary to roll out a new product. This stuff is NOT rocket science. Basic testing like this is mundane, its not sexy, its easy to overlook but when your stuff doesn’t work with YOUR OWN stuff- I’d say that is some pretty spectacular ‘oversight”. My only hope is that he has to step over lots of bodies on his way to work in the morning -every morning – but history says thats not likely to happen at Adobe. They simply do not care.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007.

I agree with you that it’s silly this discussion is still happening. Since May, I’ve averaged about 150 visitors a day looking for information on installing CS3. I’m just glad they’re FINALLY going out and being more proactive about dealing with the installation issues.

Do I think the installation issues are more widespread than the 1% Adobe is claiming? You bet your ass I do.

Do I forgive Adobe for the hours and hours I personally wasted trying (and eventually succeeding) to install CS3 on my system? No… But if I, or anyone else for that matter, can make it easier for some other person to get it on their system… then posts like this… information like this should be shared.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007.

I agree with you that it’s silly this discussion is still happening. Since May, I’ve averaged about 150 visitors a day looking for information on installing CS3. I’m just glad they’re FINALLY going out and being more proactive about dealing with the installation issues.

Do I think the installation issues are more widespread than the 1% Adobe is claiming? You bet your ass I do.

Do I forgive Adobe for the hours and hours I personally wasted trying (and eventually succeeding) to install CS3 on my system? No… But if I, or anyone else for that matter, can make it easier for some other person to get it on their system… then posts like this… information like this should be shared.
Posted by Jeff Mastromonico on Monday, August 6th, 2007.

I have had no install issues, but have found the new dreamweaver to be incredibly slow on the mac, almost to the point where I want to downgrade. I have read that others also are having this problem.
Posted by Jeff Mastromonico on Monday, August 6th, 2007.

I have had no install issues, but have found the new dreamweaver to be incredibly slow on the mac, almost to the point where I want to downgrade. I have read that others also are having this problem.
Posted by Barry Hills on Monday, August 6th, 2007.

Hi Jeff-

Have you looked at either of these Tech Notes re: DreamWeaver and Mac performance issues?

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_16104&sliceId=2

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb401608&sliceId=2

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Dom on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007.

talk about time wasted. My web standard version crashed and flash would not start, then the IT admin handed me the Premium version so now to install that i’m going to have to uninstall WS and reinstall so that i can deactive then uninstall again and install Premium .. and i can’t do anything else while all that is going on .. what are we looking at adobe, half a day’s pay? :(
Posted by Dom on Wednesday, August 8th, 2007.

talk about time wasted. My web standard version crashed and flash would not start, then the IT admin handed me the Premium version so now to install that i’m going to have to uninstall WS and reinstall so that i can deactive then uninstall again and install Premium .. and i can’t do anything else while all that is going on .. what are we looking at adobe, half a day’s pay? :(
Posted by maddog on Saturday, August 11th, 2007.

If I ever see an Adobe employee walking across the street…I won’t brake
Posted by Chris Harrison on Saturday, August 11th, 2007.

Even if you were kidding, that’s a little much.
Posted by maddog on Saturday, August 11th, 2007.

If I ever see an Adobe employee walking across the street…I won’t brake
Posted by Chris Harrison on Saturday, August 11th, 2007.

Even if you were kidding, that’s a little much.
Posted by Hussein Adnan on Sunday, August 12th, 2007.

I can’t install Adobe CS3 on Vista.. when trying that, a loading bar are displayed on the screen and then, it disappears and nothing happened
Posted by Hussein Adnan on Sunday, August 12th, 2007.

I can’t install Adobe CS3 on Vista.. when trying that, a loading bar are displayed on the screen and then, it disappears and nothing happened
Posted by Jesse on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007.

I was preparing to try installing CS 3 Master collection no for 6th time in a week and now I can’t seem to remove CS 3 installer from Add/Remove programs. I used the Windows installer Clean up utility to remove all Adobe software. Did I goof?
Posted by Barry Hills on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007.

Hi Jesse-

There is a better ‘cleaner script’available that Adobe provides which is a better way to completely remove previous (and partial) installations.

The URL with instructions are at:

http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs3clean.html

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Jesse on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007.

I was preparing to try installing CS 3 Master collection no for 6th time in a week and now I can’t seem to remove CS 3 installer from Add/Remove programs. I used the Windows installer Clean up utility to remove all Adobe software. Did I goof?
Posted by Barry Hills on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007.

Hi Jesse-

There is a better ‘cleaner script’available that Adobe provides which is a better way to completely remove previous (and partial) installations.

The URL with instructions are at:

http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs3clean.html

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by twiztickler on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007.

can’t believe nothing is working… what’s wrong with adobe installers?????
Posted by Jesse on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007.

Not sure twiztickler. I would like to point out that I was contacted almost immediately by Barry; who has put me in contact with a colleague. The Adobe installer files are being reviewed but nothing definite yet. I’ve made some recommended tweeks but still no progress. For me, regardless of what is done the installation continues to keep hanging up at the same place on disc 2.
Posted by twiztickler on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007.

can’t believe nothing is working… what’s wrong with adobe installers?????
Posted by Jesse on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007.

Not sure twiztickler. I would like to point out that I was contacted almost immediately by Barry; who has put me in contact with a colleague. The Adobe installer files are being reviewed but nothing definite yet. I’ve made some recommended tweeks but still no progress. For me, regardless of what is done the installation continues to keep hanging up at the same place on disc 2.
Posted by Tony on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007.

add me to the list of people experiencing huge issues getting this to install.

I’ve tried manually removing every previous Adobe product (still can’t believe that is a recommended solution)

I’ve tried the CS3 clean script

I’ve manually removed flashplayer, and I’ve manualy cleaned of flashplayer entries in the reg…

…still no joy
Posted by Tony on Tuesday, August 28th, 2007.

add me to the list of people experiencing huge issues getting this to install.

I’ve tried manually removing every previous Adobe product (still can’t believe that is a recommended solution)

I’ve tried the CS3 clean script

I’ve manually removed flashplayer, and I’ve manualy cleaned of flashplayer entries in the reg…

…still no joy
Posted by Barry Hills on Thursday, August 30th, 2007.

Hi Tony-

If you email me at bhills@adobe.com with your contact info, I will give you a call and see if we can get you up and running.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Thursday, August 30th, 2007.

Hi Tony-

If you email me at bhills@adobe.com with your contact info, I will give you a call and see if we can get you up and running.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by ante on Thursday, August 30th, 2007.

This installer is the worst ever made. i´m returnig the CS3. I can handle my work with CS2 for now.
Posted by ante on Thursday, August 30th, 2007.

This installer is the worst ever made. i´m returnig the CS3. I can handle my work with CS2 for now.
Posted by Barry Hills on Thursday, August 30th, 2007.

Hi Ante-

I would encourage you to email me at bhills@adobe.com and give me your contact info.

I have been able to help others on this forum who have had some installation issues.

CS2 is good, but there is a lot of goodness in CS3 that you might want to take advantage of.

If you are willing to give it one last chance, please email me and I will call you.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Friday, August 31st, 2007.

Hi Ante-

I would encourage you to email me at bhills@adobe.com and give me your contact info.

I have been able to help others on this forum who have had some installation issues.

CS2 is good, but there is a lot of goodness in CS3 that you might want to take advantage of.

If you are willing to give it one last chance, please email me and I will call you.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by John on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007.

The really, really sad thing is that a cracked version of the CS3 suite gives less (or zero) headaches that a product that you paid a lot of money for.

And that shouldn’t be true.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007.

Unfortunately, it is because of cracked software that stuff like Activation has become a necessary evil with software like CS3. I don’t think Adobe set out for so manypeople to have problems installing the software. Mistakes were made, problems cropped up that were probably unforseen… and now you have people like Barry Hills visiting sites like mine to help rectify the problems people are having. It’s not a perfect solution, but at least *something* is being done at this point.
Posted by John on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007.

The really, really sad thing is that a cracked version of the CS3 suite gives less (or zero) headaches that a product that you paid a lot of money for.

And that shouldn’t be true.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Sunday, September 2nd, 2007.

Unfortunately, it is because of cracked software that stuff like Activation has become a necessary evil with software like CS3. I don’t think Adobe set out for so manypeople to have problems installing the software. Mistakes were made, problems cropped up that were probably unforseen… and now you have people like Barry Hills visiting sites like mine to help rectify the problems people are having. It’s not a perfect solution, but at least *something* is being done at this point.
Posted by Jesse on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007.

Well Said Chris. I thought my situation hopeless but because of this site and because Barry did contact me almost immediately I have had my problem solved. The software is installed now and I can now begin my journey in discovering more bugs, just kidding. The folks I dealt with at Adobe were very helpful and seemed to truly want to learn as much about the problems as possible. If nothing else is working to install CS3 I encourage you to please send Barry an email.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007.

Jesse, I’m glad you’re up and running with CS3! Now go create stuff!

Barry, thanks again for helping people that stumble across this ol’site o’mine.
Posted by Barry Hills on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007.

Hi Chris-

Your site provides a great service to the creative community and I am happy to help out where I can.

I encourage others who are still having installation issues to provide me with their contact info and I will do my best to get them up and running quickly.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Jesse on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007.

Well Said Chris. I thought my situation hopeless but because of this site and because Barry did contact me almost immediately I have had my problem solved. The software is installed now and I can now begin my journey in discovering more bugs, just kidding. The folks I dealt with at Adobe were very helpful and seemed to truly want to learn as much about the problems as possible. If nothing else is working to install CS3 I encourage you to please send Barry an email.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007.

Jesse, I’m glad you’re up and running with CS3! Now go create stuff!

Barry, thanks again for helping people that stumble across this ol’site o’mine.
Posted by Barry Hills on Tuesday, September 4th, 2007.

Hi Chris-

Your site provides a great service to the creative community and I am happy to help out where I can.

I encourage others who are still having installation issues to provide me with their contact info and I will do my best to get them up and running quickly.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Bob on Friday, September 7th, 2007.

Hi Barry and all others.
So Barry, if you have helped so many people here get their CS3 up and running why are there still so many people here who cant find any info on how to get it going? Why not just post the info right here for us all to read?
I’m about to throw this computer out the window at this point! Maybe I should learn how to use Corel Draw instead and go back to using Quark!
Posted by Bob on Friday, September 7th, 2007.

Hi Barry and all others.
So Barry, if you have helped so many people here get their CS3 up and running why are there still so many people here who cant find any info on how to get it going? Why not just post the info right here for us all to read?
I’m about to throw this computer out the window at this point! Maybe I should learn how to use Corel Draw instead and go back to using Quark!
Posted by Barry Hills on Saturday, September 8th, 2007.

Hi Bob-

Before you throw your computer out the window, please email me your contact info and I will get in touch with you directly.

There were two main installation issues:

1. Not uninstallling the PS Public Beta before installing the GM causes a conflict
2. A conflict with previous versions of Flash Player installed which leave behind registry entries

The first is largely gone because most of the people that had the public Beta now have the shipping PS and are past this problem.

The tech note on the second issue is at the top of this thread but I will also include it here:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

There are several other problems people are encountering (permissions, media, Acrobat conflict etc) but very few are exactly alike to where you can just point to a specific tech note and say that will solve your problem.

Often we need to look at the installation log to determine the point of failure.

One thing I have done as a result of talking to folks from this thread is to work with our Customer Support team to make it easier to find information on installer related issues on our Help site.

Next week you should see a link off the main CS3 support page on adobe.com directly to a consolidated list of all install tech notes so folks can have a complete list of all the installation issues we have encountered in one place.

As soon as that is live I will post that URL.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007.

All-

I worked with our Customer Support department to consolidate the installer related tech notes onto a single URL which can be accessed off the main support page.

To get to the installer Tech Doc page directly go here:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/microsites/microsite.do?msid=MS_CS3_1_1

I hope this helps get people information more expeditiously.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by andrew charles on Friday, September 21st, 2007.

Hi everybody! i have a very bizarre expereince with the CS3 i ordered. i installed my ADOBE CS 3 WEB PREMIUM in my laptop which is an Acer Aspire 5672WLMi. Everything was intsalled except the Illustrator so i googled for any bugs or tricks i have to do to install the Illustrator program. i followed all the possible troubleshooting steps like uninstalling everything, mounted the DVD on my HD and used the Windows Install Clean Up with the WINCS3CLEAN program and did all the steps mentioned above but nothing seems to get the Illustrator to install in my laptop. i also tried to uninstall all adobe programs and cleaned up everything Adobe in my system; then i installed Illustrator independently with the MSCONFIG method but still the installation failed. Just a while ago i combined the MSCONFIG method with the “Windows Install Clean up + WINCS3Clean + uninstall flash + adobe acrobat 8.1″ method but still the illustrator wont install. im getting really frustrated here coz ive been trying this install-uninstall stuff for almost a week now. Thank you in advance for all the help! i’m still keeping my hopes up for Adobe which ive been using for 7 years now. God Speed!
Posted by andrew charles on Friday, September 21st, 2007.

Hi everybody! i have a very bizarre expereince with the CS3 i ordered. i installed my ADOBE CS 3 WEB PREMIUM in my laptop which is an Acer Aspire 5672WLMi. Everything was intsalled except the Illustrator so i googled for any bugs or tricks i have to do to install the Illustrator program. i followed all the possible troubleshooting steps like uninstalling everything, mounted the DVD on my HD and used the Windows Install Clean Up with the WINCS3CLEAN program and did all the steps mentioned above but nothing seems to get the Illustrator to install in my laptop. i also tried to uninstall all adobe programs and cleaned up everything Adobe in my system; then i installed Illustrator independently with the MSCONFIG method but still the installation failed. Just a while ago i combined the MSCONFIG method with the “Windows Install Clean up + WINCS3Clean + uninstall flash + adobe acrobat 8.1″ method but still the illustrator wont install. im getting really frustrated here coz ive been trying this install-uninstall stuff for almost a week now. Thank you in advance for all the help! i’m still keeping my hopes up for Adobe which ive been using for 7 years now. God Speed!
Posted by Kenny on Saturday, September 29th, 2007.

I received the dvds of cs3 but couldnt load it on my test laptop as it only has a cd rom. Pity adobe didnt think of its customers having only cd roms rather then DVD to load software.
Posted by Kenny on Saturday, September 29th, 2007.

I received the dvds of cs3 but couldnt load it on my test laptop as it only has a cd rom. Pity adobe didnt think of its customers having only cd roms rather then DVD to load software.
Posted by dommidge on Sunday, September 30th, 2007.

Why is it sooooo slow to install and uninstall? It takes longer than anything I’ve ever seen before by a factor of at least 25.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Sunday, September 30th, 2007.

@dommidge … I think the time it takes to install the apps varies. For me, the install process took hours upon hours, For others, it was a quick process.
Posted by dommidge on Sunday, September 30th, 2007.

Why is it sooooo slow to install and uninstall? It takes longer than anything I’ve ever seen before by a factor of at least 25.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Sunday, September 30th, 2007.

@dommidge … I think the time it takes to install the apps varies. For me, the install process took hours upon hours, For others, it was a quick process.
Posted by Barry Hills on Monday, October 1st, 2007.

Hi Dommidge-

Given that most of the Suites now have more apps, shared tech and content, each installation is multiple Gigabytes (compressed) which depending on your disk speed and other factors can take a long time.

Hopefully, tha only happens once, but for those experiencing installation issues where there are multiple uninstalls and reinstalls this can be frustrating.

Chris- One other tech note you might want to post in the ‘main section’at the top of the thread is how to locate the installation log file. This is very handy to have prior to calling technical support since it will help facilitate troubleshooting.

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb400593&sliceId=1

As always, please feel free to contact me directly. If you don’t hear back from me within 24 hours, the email probably got buried in my inbox so please resend.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Alex Holsgrove on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007.

Firstly – thanks for setting up this site. I have finally installed CS3 on Win Vista Ultimate.

Secondly – thanks to Barry Hill. I’ve never seen any sort of tech support activly help its customers on a forum or blog other than the company support pages. Good on you and thanks for your help.
Posted by Alex Holsgrove on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007.

Firstly – thanks for setting up this site. I have finally installed CS3 on Win Vista Ultimate.

Secondly – thanks to Barry Hill. I’ve never seen any sort of tech support activly help its customers on a forum or blog other than the company support pages. Good on you and thanks for your help.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007.

Alex Holsgrove, I’m glad you got it up and running and I’m glad you found info here helpful. I can’t thank Barry Hills enough for stepping up and offering his services to help folks that have stumbled across my site.
Posted by Chris Harrison on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007.

Alex Holsgrove, I’m glad you got it up and running and I’m glad you found info here helpful. I can’t thank Barry Hills enough for stepping up and offering his services to help folks that have stumbled across my site.
Posted by Richard Darby on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007.

I followed all of the techniques outlined in the forums and finally got my CS3 upgrade to work. My co-worker (we have identical computers and installations) decided to install the upgrade to a different directory than the default directory (he used Adobe2) and the install went flawlessly. Everything seems to working fine on his computer, so I would suggest people try that first before juping through all the hoops I had to go through!
Posted by Chris Harrison on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 Support Center is also a good place to start as well.
Posted by Richard Darby on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007.

I followed all of the techniques outlined in the forums and finally got my CS3 upgrade to work. My co-worker (we have identical computers and installations) decided to install the upgrade to a different directory than the default directory (he used Adobe2) and the install went flawlessly. Everything seems to working fine on his computer, so I would suggest people try that first before juping through all the hoops I had to go through!
Posted by Chris Harrison on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007.

@Richard Darby – Nice tip. Hopefully it will help people struggling to install CS3. The Adobe Creative Suite 3 Support Center is also a good place to start as well.
Posted by Mike Davis on Saturday, December 15th, 2007.

Adobe CS3 is the slowest installation I have EVER seen in my life! I want to open my machine and check to see that the dual cpu’s and 2 Gigs of RAM are actually still in my machine.
I read all the comments above and even the responses by Adobe. But at the end of the day I have not found any answer to WHY Adobe would ever bother to release to the public a new software suit that loads and unloads so slowly that I can, literally, go to bed and wake up the next morning to see it finish.
Come on Adobe, this is not right. The previous version of CS2 apps loaded quickly. Yes, yes, version integration ect, I read it. But seriously, people will not buy this suite or install it if it takes 2 hours to upgrade even on a fast machine.
Bloatware?
I think the programmers at Adobe need to streamline the whole thing. All the Adobe software is getting way out of hand, file size wise. Reader unpacks to 80 megs? Excuse me? It’s a PDF reader. Why is it now 80 mb, when 3 versions ago it was like, 1.5 mb?
Is there another application hiding inside it? Perhaps there is a secret game of UnReal Tournament hiding inside Reader.
Maybe Adobe owns shares in a hard drive manufacturing company like Seagate or Western….
Posted by Mike Davis on Saturday, December 15th, 2007.

Adobe CS3 is the slowest installation I have EVER seen in my life! I want to open my machine and check to see that the dual cpu’s and 2 Gigs of RAM are actually still in my machine.
I read all the comments above and even the responses by Adobe. But at the end of the day I have not found any answer to WHY Adobe would ever bother to release to the public a new software suit that loads and unloads so slowly that I can, literally, go to bed and wake up the next morning to see it finish.
Come on Adobe, this is not right. The previous version of CS2 apps loaded quickly. Yes, yes, version integration ect, I read it. But seriously, people will not buy this suite or install it if it takes 2 hours to upgrade even on a fast machine.
Bloatware?
I think the programmers at Adobe need to streamline the whole thing. All the Adobe software is getting way out of hand, file size wise. Reader unpacks to 80 megs? Excuse me? It’s a PDF reader. Why is it now 80 mb, when 3 versions ago it was like, 1.5 mb?
Is there another application hiding inside it? Perhaps there is a secret game of UnReal Tournament hiding inside Reader.
Maybe Adobe owns shares in a hard drive manufacturing company like Seagate or Western….
Posted by GregoryZephyr on Sunday, December 16th, 2007.

I am totally dismayed with CS3. I have a brand new Dell Inspiron 1721 with Windows Vista Prem and I followed all of the advice in the comments and after 4 installation attempts, it finally worked. Now, 2 weeks later, I get an error “Dreamweaver has failed catastrophically due to sublicense failure. You must reinstall the application.” Is this typical? So I reinstalled Dreamweaver from my hard drive again and now it does not open at all.

Does anyone have a recommendation? If I get standalone Dreamweaver and Photoshop (the two main applications I use) and throw CS3 in the trash will I still have similar problems? Would Adobe let me trade what I paid for CS3 for just the two apps? I’ve been computing since the 80′s and this is by far the most expensive ‘lemon’I have ever encountered. I am in the San Francisco Bay Area and I am ready to take my laptop to Adobe headquarters and challenge the CEO to get the damn thing to actually work.
Posted by GregoryZephyr on Monday, December 17th, 2007.

I am totally dismayed with CS3. I have a brand new Dell Inspiron 1721 with Windows Vista Prem and I followed all of the advice in the comments and after 4 installation attempts, it finally worked. Now, 2 weeks later, I get an error “Dreamweaver has failed catastrophically due to sublicense failure. You must reinstall the application.” Is this typical? So I reinstalled Dreamweaver from my hard drive again and now it does not open at all.

Does anyone have a recommendation? If I get standalone Dreamweaver and Photoshop (the two main applications I use) and throw CS3 in the trash will I still have similar problems? Would Adobe let me trade what I paid for CS3 for just the two apps? I’ve been computing since the 80′s and this is by far the most expensive ‘lemon’I have ever encountered. I am in the San Francisco Bay Area and I am ready to take my laptop to Adobe headquarters and challenge the CEO to get the damn thing to actually work.
Posted by Barry Hills on Monday, December 17th, 2007.

Mike-

If you want to contact me directly, I would be happy to talk about the issues related to installation time.

Some of it is there is a lot more being installed in CS3 vs earlier versions (apps, program files, content etc) and there is a minimum amount of time it takes the data to go from the DVD to the HDD.

There are some things we are going to do in CS4 to improve overall installation time as well as allow users to install fewer items if desired which will help in net installation time.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Monday, December 17th, 2007.

Hi Gregory-

If you email me directly (bhills@adobe.com) and give me your contact information we’ll get you up and running.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Monday, December 17th, 2007.

Mike-

If you want to contact me directly, I would be happy to talk about the issues related to installation time.

Some of it is there is a lot more being installed in CS3 vs earlier versions (apps, program files, content etc) and there is a minimum amount of time it takes the data to go from the DVD to the HDD.

There are some things we are going to do in CS4 to improve overall installation time as well as allow users to install fewer items if desired which will help in net installation time.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Monday, December 17th, 2007.

Hi Gregory-

If you email me directly (bhills@adobe.com) and give me your contact information we’ll get you up and running.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by David on Thursday, January 10th, 2008.

Hi guys

Has anyone encountered the issue with Adobe Contribute CS3 when the installer starts but never continues and closes down almost as quickly as it appears. I am installing this onto XP SP2 machine and have tried many suggested posts with no luck. It’s driving me crazy!!! The user had Photoshop CS2 installed which I thought could be the issue but even after uninstalling that it still did the same thing.

Thanks
Dicky
Posted by David on Thursday, January 10th, 2008.

Hi guys

Has anyone encountered the issue with Adobe Contribute CS3 when the installer starts but never continues and closes down almost as quickly as it appears. I am installing this onto XP SP2 machine and have tried many suggested posts with no luck. It’s driving me crazy!!! The user had Photoshop CS2 installed which I thought could be the issue but even after uninstalling that it still did the same thing.

Thanks
Dicky
Posted by Steven Livingston on Thursday, January 17th, 2008.

I have to agree with the installation slowness. I am running a dual Xeon Mac Pro with 4GB of RAM and have been sitting here for an HOUR waiting for the installation process to complete. Of course this entire process started due to the fact that all the Adobe apps refused to show the “Print with Preview” dialog which is absolutely necessary for my Epson 9600 to work (paper selection and the like).

Barry, go right ahead and try to defend this crappy product all you want – I never had these issues with CS2 (well, the random deactivations do come to mind). The fact of the matter is Adobe is charging a premium price for a “premium” product and not stepping up to the plate when it comes to testing and compatibility. To add insult to injury, Adobe feels that it’s perfectly OK to shuffle my support issues to some dolt in India who can do nothing but read from a script.

If Adobe is looking for a large scale user revolt, or a product liability case, they’re gonna get one if they keep this crap up. I have a business to run here.
Posted by Barry Hills on Thursday, January 17th, 2008.

Hi Steven-

Let me know if your installation completes. If it doesn’t let me know and I can help you.

I recognize that it takes “a long time” to install, there is a lot of software to install.

What a lot of folks are frustrated with is when the installation fails and they can’t use the software at all.

I am not following your claim that ‘this all started with ‘Adobe apps refused to show the “Print with Preview” dialog’. Is this a Leopard issue? Do you need a new Epson driver?

Your second paragraph doesn’t make any sense to me but I would be happy to talk to you directly.

Please email me your contact information to bhills@adobe.com.

I lead the engineering team for Creative Suites and also have close contacts with our support organization so will be able to help you.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Thursday, January 17th, 2008.

All-

I have been answering a lot of emails about installer issues and the reality is once you have your issue resolved, most people are content to move on (I would likely do that myself).

I have tried to reach out to everyone who has contacted me about any installation issues they are having.

In my job I get hundreds of emails a day from my colleagues so it is possible I have missed a couple from you guys… so if you don’t get a response from me in 48 hours send another note, please.

Many times, I pass the issues along to a senior support specialist down the hall but I ensure that I am cc’d on the correspondence to make sure the issue was resolved.

My job at Adobe is leading the engineering team for the overall Creative Suite team – that includes the installer engineering team – so it is important to me that there is an opportunity for me to help resolve customer issues where ever I can.

I encourage all of the people that I have engaged with and that have gotten help to write back here and share their experience… good or bad.

If you are not getting the support you need, please do contact me.

That is the only way I can help. I am happy to talk to anyone about any issue and promise I will do my best to help in any way I can.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Steven Livingston on Friday, January 18th, 2008.

I have to agree with the installation slowness. I am running a dual Xeon Mac Pro with 4GB of RAM and have been sitting here for an HOUR waiting for the installation process to complete. Of course this entire process started due to the fact that all the Adobe apps refused to show the “Print with Preview” dialog which is absolutely necessary for my Epson 9600 to work (paper selection and the like).

Barry, go right ahead and try to defend this crappy product all you want – I never had these issues with CS2 (well, the random deactivations do come to mind). The fact of the matter is Adobe is charging a premium price for a “premium” product and not stepping up to the plate when it comes to testing and compatibility. To add insult to injury, Adobe feels that it’s perfectly OK to shuffle my support issues to some dolt in India who can do nothing but read from a script.

If Adobe is looking for a large scale user revolt, or a product liability case, they’re gonna get one if they keep this crap up. I have a business to run here.
Posted by Barry Hills on Friday, January 18th, 2008.

Hi Steven-

Let me know if your installation completes. If it doesn’t let me know and I can help you.

I recognize that it takes “a long time” to install, there is a lot of software to install.

What a lot of folks are frustrated with is when the installation fails and they can’t use the software at all.

I am not following your claim that ‘this all started with ‘Adobe apps refused to show the “Print with Preview” dialog’. Is this a Leopard issue? Do you need a new Epson driver?

Your second paragraph doesn’t make any sense to me but I would be happy to talk to you directly.

Please email me your contact information to bhills@adobe.com.

I lead the engineering team for Creative Suites and also have close contacts with our support organization so will be able to help you.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Barry Hills on Friday, January 18th, 2008.

All-

I have been answering a lot of emails about installer issues and the reality is once you have your issue resolved, most people are content to move on (I would likely do that myself).

I have tried to reach out to everyone who has contacted me about any installation issues they are having.

In my job I get hundreds of emails a day from my colleagues so it is possible I have missed a couple from you guys… so if you don’t get a response from me in 48 hours send another note, please.

Many times, I pass the issues along to a senior support specialist down the hall but I ensure that I am cc’d on the correspondence to make sure the issue was resolved.

My job at Adobe is leading the engineering team for the overall Creative Suite team – that includes the installer engineering team – so it is important to me that there is an opportunity for me to help resolve customer issues where ever I can.

I encourage all of the people that I have engaged with and that have gotten help to write back here and share their experience… good or bad.

If you are not getting the support you need, please do contact me.

That is the only way I can help. I am happy to talk to anyone about any issue and promise I will do my best to help in any way I can.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Jide Ajayi on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008.

When I try to install CS3, the adobe setup progams runs dropping some file on my system then it shows the loading setup screen and remains there indefinitely. When I check the task manager, i see 2 instances of add or remove adobe cs3 master collection and both of them are not responding. What do I do Barry?
Posted by Jide Ajayi on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008.

When I try to install CS3, the adobe setup progams runs dropping some file on my system then it shows the loading setup screen and remains there indefinitely. When I check the task manager, i see 2 instances of add or remove adobe cs3 master collection and both of them are not responding. What do I do Barry?
Posted by potential buyer on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008.

When I try installing it in tryout mode it comes up with a requester:
“Please insert Adobe Premier Pro CS3 into F:to continue installation”

This happens after the Summary screen just as installation would begin.
I tried it on two different machine; problem is the same. One is Vista Business the other is XP pro/SP2.
(Of course the disk is in the drive; that is how the installation was started …)

Any idea?
Thanks,

Bill
Posted by Daniel on Friday, April 4th, 2008.

Nine months between the first comment on this thread and this comment I am typing now – enough time to give birth to a child – and Adobe still has not bothered to fix the problems with CS3. I just had to do a disk erase reinstall of Mac OS X Leopard on the laptop I have owned for less than 48 hours due to installation problems with CS3. I had no shareware, previous versions of Adobe products, or anything dodgy on my system: it is brand new, the only things on it were the programs that come preinstalled on OS X Leopard and iWork 08. I am in the middle of the installer now (it’s been running for half an hour) so we’ll see if it works this time.

Barry you can say whatever you want but ultimately you put out a bad product and you know it. The extra support is helpful and appreciated but it is clear that Adobe has no intention of fixing the problems with CS3 so it’s all a little hollow.

And then you have the gall to hype CS4. Well let me tell you something: it had better be spectacular, and while it doesn’t have to be flawless, it had better meet the bare minimum standard of not making your customers wish they hadn’t bought it. Because I guarantee that every person who has had these installation problems is a dissatisfied customer with whom Adobe has at most one more chance.

I hear the new version of Quark is amazing. Adobe cannot afford to rest on its laurels much longer.
Posted by Barry Hills on Friday, April 4th, 2008.

Hi Daniel-

Can you email me your contact info?

I would like to talk to you about some of the concerns expressed and to make sure you are up and running.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Jeff on Friday, April 25th, 2008.

This is absolutely crazy.. I just started a new DELL Precision, with a Quad Core 6600, 4 GB ram, 10,000 RPM drives, etc, etc… Microsoft Office is the only other product on this computer right now… Currently I am at 1 1/2 hours of staring at just Acrobat 8 Pro getting installing… I already tried once of the DVD, then copied it to my desktop, uninstalled, and trying again…. Total so far 6 hours wasted trying to get this to work. I will no uninstall again, try the cleaner script, etc… Sorry guy, spending $1600 is allot of money to waste so much time trying to install something.. One day, someone will come out will software and knock you off the top of the food chain.
Posted by Chris on Friday, April 25th, 2008.

Jeff, I feel your pain. Considering it was a “fresh” machine, the only thing I can think of that may have caused the problems you’re having would be be pre-installed software, i.e. a slightly older version of Flash Player or something. Please email bhills@adobe.com your contact info (i.e. phone, email, etc.). He’s been really great about helping folks that have dropped by my site with difficulties.
Posted by Barry Hills on Friday, April 25th, 2008.

HI Jeff-

I am really sorry you are having such trouble installing CS3.

Please do email me your contact info and I will make sure we get you up and running soon.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Todd Christensen on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008.

OK, so after already spending a couple of hours and then finding this page, I decide I don’t have the time to spend on all of this crap to try and get software that I purchased in good fatih to work on my computer.

So I call Adobe and say I want a refund and they have the NERVE to say I have to provide a physical document to them in writing saying that the software was destroyed. So they sell you crap that doesn’t work and then they don’t even give you a practicle way to get a refund. I’m so frustrated I almost threw my phone through the wall. This is absolutly unbelievable.
Posted by Barry Hills on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008.

Hi Todd-

I am sure I can help get you a refund if that is what you want. I am glad you didn’t hurt your phone or wall.

I would prefer to help get you up and running with CS3 so please do email me your contact info and I will give you a call. (bhills@adobe.com)

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Luis on Monday, May 26th, 2008.

I just bought the CS3 upgrade for my new vista PC.

Downloading was a nightmare. After literraly trying for 20 hours, I went to my old XP, downloaded the files, put them in a disk and then transfer the files to my vista (I wonder why would Adobe provide just ONE method to download… they know how Vista behaves with their download manager, or viceversa….).

Anyway… That was just the tip of the iceberg. Now matter what I do, I cannot install Acrobat Professional 8, the installer keeps sending me the “Component Install Failed”, but everything else works fine. I honestly dont want to reinstall anymore, I’m afraid this will make my problem worse.

How can I force that Adobe installation? If I try to use the msi, it prompts me for a serial, but the serial for the whole suite doesnt work. Any ideas?
Posted by Sammi on Saturday, May 31st, 2008.

this is ridiculous now. I have a deadline to meet, now i am spending hours to install this software. I am a designer not a technician or developer. I need something that’s easy enough to go up and running, so i can focus on my job.
by the way, your tech support # only works during business hour. out small business owners do have to work after hours.
Posted by Barry Hills on Monday, June 2nd, 2008.

Hi Sammi-

I am sorry for the frustration you are experiencing. Believe me, most folks at Adobe also work ‘after hours’too.

Please do send me email (bhills@adobe.com) with your contact info and I will do my best to get you up and running soon.

If you do/did contact Tech Support and get a case number, I can help escalate that and make sure you get a quick resolution. This is generally a faster way to get to the end result than if you haven’t tried to call at all.

Note, there is a specific group of folks who specialize in installation issues but if they can’t help solve your problem quickly, let me know.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Chris Weedon on Thursday, July 24th, 2008.

I am now on my 5th try and 3rd day trying to Install CS3 master suite. This has been an utter pain in the a$$. I have stood by Adobe my whole graphic design career, and have never ever had issues with previous Adobe products. How is it, CS3 has so many installation issues, and after a year and a half of being out there, CS3.3 has the SAME exact issues?!!! The install process is painfully slow. I know there are a lot of programs and files, but come on…2-3 hrs to install?

I have tried all the suggestions on the Adobe website to fix my “licensing has stopped working” issue.
If any of these other suggestions don’t work, seems like Adobe has sold me a box of lemons.
Posted by Chris on Thursday, July 24th, 2008.

Chris, I’ve forwarded your information to Barry Hills at Adobe. If you could send him your contact info – bhills@adobe.com – either he or someone on his team will be in touch to assist you with the problems you’re having.

I wasn’t aware that install issues were persisting in the 3.3 release… I do agree that the amount of time the installer takes both installing and uninstalling is atrocious. I recently had to remove my copy of CS3 from a laptop I was decommissioning and it took several hours.

Please contact Barry. He’s been extremely helpful to others that have came here.
Posted by Barry Hills on Thursday, July 24th, 2008.

Hi Chris (Weedon)-

I just sent you an email on this and would be happy to discuss this directly and make sure you get up and running.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Chris on Thursday, July 24th, 2008.

Chris, I’ve forwarded your information to Barry Hills at Adobe. If you could send him your contact info – bhills@adobe.com – either he or someone on his team will be in touch to assist you with the problems you’re having.

I wasn’t aware that install issues were persisting in the 3.3 release… I do agree that the amount of time the installer takes both installing and uninstalling is atrocious. I recently had to remove my copy of CS3 from a laptop I was decommissioning and it took several hours.

Please contact Barry. He’s been extremely helpful to others that have came here.
Posted by Chris Weedon on Friday, July 25th, 2008.

Well after running the CS3clean script on level 3, I was able to install CS3.3 on my 7th try.
My god that was a pain, but once I race the cleaner script on a higher level, things seemed to work magically.

At the same time I installed CS3.3 on my laptop from my external HD, and got it on the first try.
Installing from the HD is defiantly quicker, as I started the laptop when the desktop was on disk 2, and they both finished at the same time.

I’m just glad I got the program installed, but that install process needs to really be addressed.
BTW, thanks goes out to Barry Hill and his tech support staff. Right after I had posted on here, I had gotten an email from Berry and his tech staff wanting to help.
Posted by Ricky Williams on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008.

Hello, I just purchased a Dell Inspiron 1721 with 3 GB of RAM, home vista premium and an AMD dual core processor and are not able to run any of the software on Adobe Premium Suite CS3. The software installs without problem but when I try to execute any of the programs (I use mainly Photoshop, Dreamweaver) the program loads in the task manager but does not appear on screen. It’s simply like they dont load.

Can someone help me with this issue please. It’s pretty urgent.
Posted by Barry Hills on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008.

Hi Ricky-

I am sorry you are having trouble with CS3. Can you send me your contact info and I will have one of our senior support folks get in touch with you directly.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Ricky Williams on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008.

Hope you can get back to me with some help.

Really appreciate it.
Posted by Ricky Williams on Thursday, July 31st, 2008.

Hi Barry,

I want to take the opportunity and the ability that this blog provides to thank you very much for all the suport and assistance you provided on solving my problem with the Adobe products. It turns out having an AMD processor has nothing to do with the software not working.

Thanks for the advice, instructions and updates to solve this problem. The support tech that was helping me out was also great and I cant thank you guys enough.

I have to admit I was skeptical about getting a reply and/or response from you guys, but am happy I posted my request on this website.

Thank you very much guys, Barry, Chris, everyone.

Cheers
Posted by Barry Hills on Thursday, July 31st, 2008.

Hi Ricky-

Glad we could help and thanks for sharing your positive outcome.

As noted above, I encourage others who are experiencing CS3 installer issues to contact me directly and I will do my best to get you up and running.

Thanks,

Barry
Posted by Lisa on Thursday, August 14th, 2008.

After having be directed to a variety of sites for info on problems with Adobe CS3 I would have to disagree with updating Acrobat to 8.1. This is where all my problems started. I found I could not open any pdf document and I could not open Acrobat at all. the common window opening that says “errors have occured and to report to microsoft) I could not uninstall the program as the file to unistall and install would not open. After contacting Adobe and using the clean script and also a windows cleanup tool (I cannot remember which one now) after some further instruction from the Adobe technical help I had manually removed all files relating to the Cs3 software and was finally able to re-install Adobe. I do not allow the updates but must admit I have not gotten any further wih using the program since all this has happened. So I am assuming all is okay.

What the heck is going on, you ask? Say hello to Tersus.

Super Ginormous

Updated Information on Installing Adobe CS3

102 comments on “Updated Information on Installing Adobe CS3”