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Sonic Gal
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Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Standard will not install/uninstall

Jul 17, 2012 1:33 PM

Hello.

 

I currently have Adobe CS3 Design Standard on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit machine.  For well over a year, I've experienced absolutely no problems setting up the application, activating it, running it, and so on.  A few months ago, I began experiencing activation hiccups.  My product occasionally asked me to reactivate in order to use it, even though it's already been activated.  This occured several times, and at the beginning of this month, the activation process finally failed and I could not use CS3 without deactivating the product on my "other computers."  This of course is impossible, because I've only installed CS3 on my current computer, so all those reactivations must have filled the quota somehow.  In addition, there was no way to deactivate the software without actually being in the program, so I was stuck.

 

Long story short, I talked to customer support and got the activations sorted.  Now I'm experiencing another issue.  Because of this activation problem, my installation of CS3 became corrupt and I can't run anything correctly without a bunch errors appearing (files missing, licensing stopped working, etc).  However, I cannot uninstall or reinstall Adobe CS3 on/from my PC.  If I try to install the application from my DVD, the setup will state that it's "initializing" and immediately close the window after completion.  Nothing happens afterwards.  The setup just stops and no matter how many times I try to execute the installer, nothing more happens after the initialization window.

 

For uninstalling, Adobe's uninstaller fails to come up.  I've tried numerous times, but to no avail.  The uninstall window never appears.  I know this isn't a problem with my Windows OS because all my other application's uninstallers work perfectly.  Only Adobe's is malfunctioning.  When I click "Uninstall" in the program and features screen, the cursor will change to the "loading" circle, then immediately go back to normal.

 

So at this point, I have no idea how to get this program off my system.  Deleting it manually is the only choice, but I do not know all the locations that the files are spread around in my computer.  Thanks for any help on this problem.  Let me know if any more info or screenshots are needed.

1508 Views   9 Replies   Latest reply: Sonic Gal, Jul 17, 2012 5:03 PM
 
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  • Jeff A Wright
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    1. Jeff A Wright,
    Jul 17, 2012 1:52 PM   in reply to Sonic Gal
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    You can try running the CS Cleaner Tool for installation problems | CCM, CS6, CS5.5, CS5, CS4, CS3 - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/cs5-cleaner-tool-installation -problems.html to remove your installation.

     

    While reviewing your post and from the behavior you described it sounds like you have begun using a Registry Cleaner/System optimizer.  I would be curious to discover which one you have been utilizing?  The use of such applications can certainly cause the behavior you have been experiencing.

     
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  • Sonic Gal
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    2. Sonic Gal,
    Jul 17, 2012 2:07 PM   in reply to Jeff A Wright
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    I'll try the cleaner, but I heard stories that it can corrupt Windows after being used, so I was hesitant to try it.  Also, the directions say the program must be uninstalled already before using the tool, but I'll give it a shot anyways.  I guess I don't have anything to lose.

     

    I use CCleaner as a registry cleaner, but I don't use it often.  The only time I used it was after I was able to uninstall CS3 the first time successfully (when I was still experiencing activation problems).  Reinstall went without a hitch, but the activation was still botched and now certain files are missing.  Now, nothing works and I haven't touched CCleaner since.  I only use it after I uninstall a program and it's never given me problems before.

     
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  • Jeff A Wright
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    3. Jeff A Wright,
    Jul 17, 2012 2:42 PM   in reply to Sonic Gal
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    Sonic Gal something removed the entry for the program from the registry which is why it is no longer showing in Programs and Features.  Please try the clean tool.  Also if you are going to use some type of registry cleaner/system optimizer at minimum I would recommend making a back up of your registry prior to it's use.

     
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  • Sonic Gal
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    4. Sonic Gal,
    Jul 17, 2012 3:02 PM   in reply to Jeff A Wright
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    No, that's not correct.  It is in programs and features.  I never said it wasn't there.  I know that's related to the registry, but what I was saying is that the program itself will not launch the uninstaller.

     

    I will post back after the cleaner finishes.  Hopefully that will help.

     
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  • Sonic Gal
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    5. Sonic Gal,
    Jul 17, 2012 3:42 PM   in reply to Sonic Gal
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    Cleaner did not work.  It found no installations of the program and closed.

     
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  • Jeff A Wright
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    6. Jeff A Wright,
    Jul 17, 2012 4:16 PM   in reply to Sonic Gal
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    So when you activate the uninstaller via Programs & Features nothing at all happens? 

     

    You can try invoking the installer from your installer media and seeing if you will be successful for uninstallation and reinstallation that way.  If that fails though then your next step would be try looking at your event viewer to try to determine if there is any errors which are occuring when trying to run the installer.

     
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  • Sonic Gal
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    7. Sonic Gal,
    Jul 17, 2012 4:45 PM   in reply to Jeff A Wright
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    Yep.  Nothing happens at all. Windows tries to execute the uninstaller, but I don't get any other screen and all activity stops for the MSI.  I monitored it in Process Monitor and the MSI executable appears, but is quickly ended, like it couldn't find anything or something.

     

    It's as if windows has a blank entry in Programs and Features, because it used to show the size of the Adobe application in the "Size" column.  Now it's just blank.  Link to screenshot below:

     

    http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5006/screenshotcaf.jpg

     

    Note the install date.  That's when I was able to successfully reinstall it.  Now I can't even do that.  I should also mention I tried Revo Uninstaller.  It deleted one small registry key, but nothing changed.

     

    By the way, is the CS cleaner supposed to ask for a disc in the drive when you run it?  It refused to run unless I had one in it, so I used my install dvd.

     
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  • Jeff A Wright
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    8. Jeff A Wright,
    Jul 17, 2012 4:50 PM   in reply to Sonic Gal
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    No the cleaner should not have required access to the install media.  At this point the last thing I can recommend you try would be to review your event viewer to see if it provides you any actionable error messages when you try to invoke the installer.

     
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  • Sonic Gal
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    9. Sonic Gal,
    Jul 17, 2012 5:03 PM   in reply to Jeff A Wright
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    Well, the only way the cleaner runs is if I put any disc in the drive.  Not specifically the install dvd.

     

    And I refreshed event viewer each time I attempted to run the uninstaller.  Nothing changed.

     
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