Adobe Community: Can't install Adobe Air on Mac OS 10.5.6

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Can't install Adobe Air on Mac OS 10.5.6

Mar 10, 2009 4:02 PM

Hello all,

I cannot, for the life of me, get Adobe AIR to install on my Mac Pro. Whenever I open the installer I get this message:

quote:

An error occurred while installing Adobe AIR. Installation may not be allowed by your administrator. Please contact your administrator.

I AM, in fact, the administrator of this computer and I'm logged into said account, but I continue to get this error. I made sure to repair my permissions, but of course that proved nothing. Can anyone provide some insight into this? I don't know how to get the installer to log and/or where to find these logs, so help with that would be great too.

Thanks!
Tyler

30897 Views 38 Replies Latest reply: janlei, Mar 24, 2013 10:59 PM

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1. Cesare Rocchi,

Mar 11, 2009 8:51 AM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Have you an older air version installed?

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2. Tyler Hauser,

Mar 11, 2009 12:42 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Ah yes, that would be important information to include. My apologies. I have Adobe Creative Suite installed and I believe it "installed" version 1.1 on my computer but I cannot seem to locate it. Adobe's uninstaller doesn't allow for the uninstallation of AIR, so I'm confused.

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3. tzeng,

Mar 11, 2009 5:07 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Could you find Adobe AIR Uninstaller in /Applications/Utilities?

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4. Tyler Hauser,

Mar 11, 2009 10:09 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Looking in my Utilities folder, I find the following:

• Adobe Installer/Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium

That appears to be an alias to the Adobe uninstaller for Creative Suite in my Application Support folder. Opening this uninstaller allows me to essentially uninstall EVERYTHING except AIR.

There are also these folders...

• Adobe Utilities/Adobe Updater6
• Adobe Utilities/ExtendScript Toolkit CS4
• Adobe Utilities/Pixel Bender Toolkit

I tried using Spotlight to find anything to do with Adobe AIR. I tried searching "Adobe AIR", "AdobeAIR", "AIR" and of course "Adobe", and I could not find an application called Adobe AIR nor could I find an uninstaller.

Is it possible it could be hidden? Does that happen? I'm such a computer dunce.

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5. Tyler Hauser,

Mar 13, 2009 5:22 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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OK, so after looking ALL over the damned internet, I finally found a solution to my problem. So, as it turns out, I did in fact have an old version of AIR installed somewhere on my computer. But, there wasn't an uninstaller to be found. So, I found some code to use in Terminal to use the latest installer to uninstall the program.

"./Adobe AIR Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe AIR Installer" -uninstall

This didn't quite work for me. It attempted to uninstall all versions of AIR but it failed.

After searching some more, I found that I could use the following code to allow some "extra privileges" in order to successfully uninstall the program.

sudo "./Adobe AIR Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe AIR Installer" -uninstall

It prompted me for a password, I entered the admin password and voila!

I then opened the Adobe AIR installer and it works like a charm.

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6. tzeng,

Mar 13, 2009 5:55 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Glad you solve the problem.

I have been a little busy to answer to this question.

I have to say, you probably won't say you are a computer dunce in the future. Otherwise people won't tell you to do something like "sudo ..".

You have done very well by your own.

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7. Tyler Hauser,

Mar 13, 2009 6:00 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Thanks!

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8. mitchellashley,

Dec 22, 2009 12:19 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Tyler - I've had EXACTLY this same problem with the Creative Suite and until now haven't seen anyone else who had the same situa
tion or any solution. Your solution was spot on. I had to make one little change in the sudo command (no spaces in the .app name).

sudo "./AdobeAIRInstaller.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe AIR Installer" -uninstall

Thanks. Now I can finally run Tweetdeck and Balsamiq on Mac OS X.

Mitchell

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9. deniskin,

Jan 27, 2010 7:28 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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If the previous version of Adobe AIR wasn't properly uninstalled, that might cause a problem. I had the same issue. I went to Macintosh HD/Library/Frameworks and found the old version of Adobe AIR framework. After deleting it everything was fine.

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10. suhrmd,

Feb 12, 2010 9:29 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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What does it mean to post some code. I have never done this.I do not know where to put in the code. I tried deleting adobe air from frameworks, but it didn't fix the problem.
Thanks

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11. Daveejay,

May 21, 2010 2:45 PM in reply to deniskin

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Same Problem. Same fix. Voila! So grateful to you for posting this advice. Cheers

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12. lizbethkirk,

Jul 9, 2010 5:43 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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I can't believe this error is still around over a year later. I have tried EVERY thing mentioned here and STILL cannot install Adobe AIR. I have Mac OS 10.5.8 - the only difference I get "command not found" when I try the command line option.

This is absolute nonsense!

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13. lizbethkirk,

Jul 10, 2010 4:07 AM in reply to lizbethkirk

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Took a peek at the log file from the install. Interesting:

Jul 9 20:27:24 /Volumes/Adobe AIR 1/Adobe AIR Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe AIR Installer[1088]: error during install: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Unhandled exception Error: Could not create directory /Applications/Adobe/Flash Player/AddIns/airappinstaller" errorID=3010]

So I went to the directory Applications and found there was an old text file called "Adobe". I renamed that text file, than ran the Adobe AIR installer and it WORKED!!!

So make sure you take a peek at the log files at:

/private/var/log/system.log

Thanks!
Leslie

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14. Zaphod Beeblebrox,

Jul 23, 2010 9:09 AM in reply to lizbethkirk

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Brilliant, Leslie. I signed up for this forum just to add my support for your reply. The silliest thing is that Adobe placed the Adobe file there in the first place. When you look at it closer, it has some notification text about upgrading from a trial version of Photoshop or something. We did that, but this file was not removed and prevented Air installer from upgrading 1.1 to 2.

Thanks for the tip.

Z

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15. Alison S McKellar,

Jul 27, 2010 5:53 PM in reply to Zaphod Beeblebrox

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Yes!!! Thank you so much!

For those of you out there that have trouble finding the file, like I did, just search in Finder for a document named Adobe and rename or delete it.

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16. SW Rick,

Aug 2, 2010 6:01 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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I tried uninstalling, and it apparently did so (I had 1.5 or something like that installed). There was an app for Uninstall. But I still cannot get the dog-gone new version to install.

Why did the new version offer to update the older version, and then fail to do so or go to completion? Why should I have to uninstall it manually when there was no dialogue to that effect?

I tried the text in Terminal, but no such folder exists.

So I no longer have Air installed for the applications which require it, and I cannot get a new version to install. I click on the Adobe AIR Installer icon, it apparently starts - it shows up in the Dock. But nothing, nada, beyond that.

Here's some of the error report I get:
Process:         Adobe AIR Installer [1350]
Path:            /Volumes/Adobe AIR/Adobe AIR Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe AIR Installer
Identifier:      com.adobe.air.Installer
Version:         2.0.2 (2.0.2.12610)
Code Type:       X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [214]

Date/Time:       2010-08-02 18:01:00.039 -0700
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.6.4 (10F569)
Report Version: 6

Interval Since Last Report:          490293 sec
Crashes Since Last Report:           12
Per-App Interval Since Last Report: 809 sec
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report:   6
Anonymous UUID:                      7CD0C31E-4CD1-47C3-925D-490C053D72AE

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGBUS)
Exception Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE at 0x000000000000000c
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Thread 0 Crashed: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

What to do? Why is this such a PITA app?

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17. angarrid,

Aug 4, 2010 6:19 PM in reply to SW Rick

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rnfee,
Can you verify if you still have folders/files present from previous AIR?
-Uninstaller file under /Applications/Utilities folder. If still present can launch uninstall?
-Is there an AIR folder under /Library/Frameworks/ Adobe AIR.framwork folder?

Similar to lizbethkirk reply Jul 10. Make sure you have rights to Adobe folders in the follwoing paths if present and that the file also named "Adobe" is not present:
To test if the locked Adobe folders are causing error for the AIR installation...
Can you rename the "Adobe" folders if present and try your specific installation/uninstallation ?
1) /Applications/Adobe - rename Adobe folder to oldAdobe
2) /Users/"your user name"/Library/ApplicationSupport/Adobe - rename Adobe folder to oldAdobe

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18. agorman_co,

Aug 10, 2010 8:41 PM in reply to lizbethkirk

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Leslie,

You hit the nail on the head! This was exactly my problem. I've been going in circles trying all previous solutions. I'm glad I persisted and found your post.

$ grep "Adobe AIR Installer" /private/var/log/system.log

revealed

Aug 10 21:11:20 bhavana-3 /Applications/Utilities/Adobe AIR Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe AIR Installer[1781]: Error occurred; beginning rollback: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Unhandled exception Error: Could not create directory /Applications/Adobe/Flash Player/AddIns/airappinstaller" errorID=3010]

So I deleted /Applications/Adobe and that worked perfectly!

Thanks so much.

Andy

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19. Chris Campbell,

Aug 11, 2010 9:53 AM in reply to agorman_co

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Moderator Note: Moved to the Installation Issues forum

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20. Jeff Coughlin,

Nov 19, 2010 6:21 AM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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If anyone is interested, one of the Adobe engineers posted a temp fix (Apple script) that you can download and run. Use at your own risk of course, but I ran it and it fixed my issues instantly (repairing permissions and removing the excess /Applications/Adobe folder if it exists).

I assume they're working on a more perminent fix (maybe even incorporating something like this into the next AIR installer. who knows), but until then this fix got me back up and running.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/3272498#3272498

-Jeff

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21. steve.ro,

Nov 23, 2010 5:01 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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None of these solutions worked for me on 10.6.5. What finally worked was deleting the folder Users/Shared/Library/ApplicationSupport/Adobe. No idea why. No idea why Adobe's uninstaller could not do that. No idea why it took so long to figure this out. No idea why adobe let's problems like this fester. I am a developer, trying to create Air applications, and it took me several frustrating hours to try this random act of desperation. What's an average user to do? I have only one clue to Adobe's behavior: When I contacted Adobe about this, they insisted I buy a support contract before they would help me.

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22. Chris Campbell,

Nov 24, 2010 10:22 AM in reply to steve.ro

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Hi Steve,
I'm sorry you ran into installer issues with AIR. Its odd that the applescript didn't help you, as it specifically tries to adjust the properties of Users/Shared/Library/Application Support/Adobe. We definitely don't want these problems to fester, believe me I want them fixed asap. Would you mind posting your AIR log so I can take a look and see if anything pops out at me? I'd like to update the script and more importantly, get another bug in our database to fix the root issue if you were seeing something we aren't aware of.

Thanks,
Chris

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23. Molasar,

Dec 25, 2010 9:44 AM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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I'm on OSX 10.6.5

I just downloaded the lastest AIR installer...

What's funny is that when I try to run the installer, and it asks me for my password, I can't type it in!!!

I even tried typing it in the Finder search textbox and copy / paste, but no dice!!!

What's wrong??

I don't have any previous AIR installed.

HELP!!!

Mike

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24. DR23GN,

Jan 6, 2011 9:13 AM in reply to Molasar

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Just try Installing it as root user.

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25. lizbethkirk,

Jan 6, 2011 11:28 AM in reply to DR23GN

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That was one of the first things I tried before I came upon the solution.

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26. Chris Campbell,

Jan 6, 2011 3:31 PM in reply to Molasar

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Hi Mike,
You should be able to just use your user account password that you setup when you first created your Mac account. You can change the password, if needed, in the Accounts panel in System Preferences.

Chris
Molasar wrote:

I'm on OSX 10.6.5

I just downloaded the lastest AIR installer...

What's funny is that when I try to run the installer, and it asks me for my password, I can't type it in!!!

I even tried typing it in the Finder search textbox and copy / paste, but no dice!!!

What's wrong??

I don't have any previous AIR installed.

HELP!!!

Mike

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27. Molasar,

Jan 6, 2011 5:11 PM in reply to Chris Campbell

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The problem is that when the dialog window pops up (so that the AIR Installer can proceed) asking for my password (my user account is already filled in), my keyboard just drops dead!

The cursor is on the password textbox but whatever I do (type), nothing happens.

So I click on the Finder Spotlight Search box and I can type. I click back on the user/password dialog, and again I can't type. Cursor is there, blinking, but nothing gets "typed". It's just dead.

So I figure, ok, I'll type my password on Finder's Spotlight searchbox, copy it, and paste it on the user/password dialog. Doesn't work.

When I call it a night, and exit the AIR Installer, my Mac seems to be unresponsive. I have no remedy but to press and hold the Power button. Nothing works. Can't shut down using the menu, etc. Finder just seems to drop dead. Dock is also unresponsive. I'm like WTF!!???

There is nothing wrong with my iMac, since I can run chunky apps like Logic Pro 9.1.1, Final Cut Pro, Propellerhead Reason, Cinema 4D, etc. no problem. I have all the latest drivers and updates.

I've scanned all drives using Disk Utility, etc. All is ok.

But when I launch the AIR Installer, all hell breaks loose.

I can't figure it out...

I have a 2008 24" Alum iMac, 2.8GHz Core2Duo, 4Gb RAM, 320Gb + 1Tb HDDs, ATI video, stock keyboard and mouse, TC Konnekt 6 Firewire audio interface, Fatar Studiologic VMK-188Plus Master MIDI controller keyboard via USB. Nothing strange or weird here... Everything works like a charm. Nice and snappy.

I love my Mac.... except when I run AIR Installer! (Quick! Where did I leave the shot-gun??)

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28. Chris Campbell,

Jan 6, 2011 5:14 PM in reply to Molasar

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Thanks for clarifying. This is one I haven't heard of before. What's strange is that this is a system dialog asking for elevated privledges so I'm wondering if you'll run into this using other third party installers. Let's try working around it by doing the following:

1. Mount the AdobeAIR.dmg file
2. Open the Terminal application
3. Type (or copy/paste) the following:

cd /Volumes/Adobe\ AIR/Adobe\ AIR\ Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/ sudo ./Adobe\ AIR\ Installer

4. It should then ask for your password inside the terminal window, bypassing that password dialog.

Let me know how that goes, I'll also ask around and see if anyone has seen the password field being unresponsive.

Thanks,
Chris

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29. malaya10,

Jan 6, 2011 5:20 PM in reply to Chris Campbell

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Hi Chris,

I'm having trouble installing Adobe Air on an older macbook pro (2006) running MAC OSX 10.5.8. Initially, all looks great and installation seems to be going smoothly until I click "Finish" on the installation window and then another window pops up that read

"An error occurred while installing Adobe AIR. Installation may not be allowed by your administrator. Please contact your administrator."

This is so frustrating especially since it already showed me a "installation complete" window just seconds before!

In addition, I recently purchased CS5 Creative Suite 5 Design Premium a few months back (Sept. 2010) which was when I first ran into this problem. I haven't had a chance to use any of the Design Premium software as of yet, so I'm not sure if any of them are affected.

Please help!!

- Malaya

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30. Chris Campbell,

Jan 6, 2011 5:31 PM in reply to malaya10

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Hi Malaya,
I just posted in your other thread. We must have just crossed paths. Would you mind giving that a try and we'll go from there?

Thanks,
Chris

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31. Molasar,

Jan 6, 2011 8:22 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Thanks Chris,

I have run into this system dialog (user / password) with most other installers, but haven't had this problem before.

This is truly a first!

Will try your solution asap and post back.

Thanks again!

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32. kure69,

Jan 26, 2011 9:11 PM in reply to Chris Campbell

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cd /Volumes/Adobe\ AIR/Adobe\ AIR\ Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/ sudo ./Adobe\ AIR\ Installer

This worked for me...for installing it.
When I go to run a air application its asking me to install it again!
Arrrrr

Thanks

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33. mollybells,

Mar 2, 2011 8:13 AM in reply to steve.ro

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THIS was the only thing that worked for me. Thank you!

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34. KnightOfNi,

Mar 20, 2011 10:33 PM in reply to Chris Campbell

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None of these solutions worked for me. I checked my log and this is the error that occurs during installation:

Exiting due to error: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="Error #2038" errorID=2038]

I checked for Error 2038, and it seems like it's a permissions issue, but on what directory I don't know.

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35. kure69,

Mar 20, 2011 10:50 PM in reply to KnightOfNi

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Another to over come the problem is to remove the adobe air and get and old copy from the installation CD's or installer and then updated the air app.

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36. Elf1elf,

Sep 27, 2011 9:06 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Thanks; the
sudo "Adobe AIR Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/Adobe Air Installer" -uninstall
worked perfectly for me after I made my way to the Applications directory. Glad to finally find this after suffering with missing features & help for a couple of years now. (Running MacOS X 10.6.8; never had working help for Photoshop Elements 8 or 9 until now.)

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37. Amanda_Le,

Jan 4, 2012 5:39 PM in reply to Tyler Hauser

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Hi,

I hope I'm not too late to get some help here.

I am by no means a very technical person, so if you could respond in a simple language to get me through this problem.. I would so greatly appreciate it.

Desired End Result: Download Balsamiq Mockup on my MacBookPro

This requires Adobe Air. Which I have installed, but after reading this thread I realized my problem is the same as many with regards to having Adobe Creative Suite 4 (with Adobe Air included) already downloaded on my computer.

I tried to follow the instructions for uninstalling the previous Version of Adobe Air on my computer, but I am having so much difficulty following what to enter in the terminal, etc..

Bottom Line:
Can anybody help me with step-by-step instructions to remove a previous version of Adobe Air (that came packaged with Adobe CS4) from my computer? So that I can install Adobe Air Version 3.1?

Thanks in advance!!

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38. janlei,

Mar 24, 2013 10:59 PM in reply to Amanda_Le

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In 2013, the new Adobe Air Tech Specs says that Mac OS 6.0 or higher is the only platform supporting it's use sadly and I have an OS 5.8. So, I guess it's time for out with the old, and in with the new! Technology is rapidly moving faster than my ol MacBook Pro's ability to keep up.

Jan

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