Problem installing and updating applications using the Application Manager on Mac

[Hessijames]

After subscribing to Creative Cloud I downloaded and installed the Application manager. Selecting "Installieren" (install) on an application successfully initiates the download and extraction. After that the Application Manager just shows "Auf Installation warten..." (waiting for installation). This statet, however, doesn't change at all. Even after waiting for an hour there is no installation. Trying to update a manually installed application even freezes in "Auf Installation warten...". In case of Photoshop it even mounts a DMG but does not show any visual sign of actually installing the application.

Adobe Application Manager 7.0.0.324 on Mac OS X 10.8.4.

Removing and reinstalling the Application Manager did not solve the problem even after uninstalling all Adobe apps and running the cleaner tool. Reboots did not help either.

Any help will be appreciated.

/Edit:

Starting the AAM as root using the Terminal solved my problem:

# '/Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/PDApp/core/PDApp.app/Contents/MacOS/PDApp'

See also: http://limerdm.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/adobe-application-manager-updater-fun/

Hessi

[Hessijames]

With the new Creative Cloud app installing applications seems to work out of the box. However, trying to update the newly installed applications displays "Warten..." (waiting) forever.

Adobe should definately fix this more than two years old issue.

Hessijames

[Manish-Sharma]

Can you share the update log which could help us know what might the cause of the issue ?

• Windows 32 bit (XP, Vista, 7): \Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers\

• Windows 64 bit (XP, Vista, 7): \Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Installers

• Mac OS: /Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers/

http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/troubleshoot-install-logs-cs5-cs5.html

[Hessijames]

I just removed all Adobe applications, ran the Cleaner Too, spent 20 minutes removing the remains and installed a freshly downloaded Creative Cloud.

I would happily post the logs but they didn't change when updating:

root@epsilon:/Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers# md5 *

MD5 (Adobe CSXS Infrastructure 4 Driver 4 06-19-2013.log.gz) = 389f5ed8ab161516fe317b570f5d1090

MD5 (Adobe Photoshop CC 14.0 06-19-2013.log.gz) = 9eb387561b84dfd02807ba6200744c88

MD5 (Adobe Premiere Pro CC 7.0.0 06-19-2013.log.gz) = 183d36ff2eea7e0344c9676dcdb779b8

Here, I updated Premiere CC and waited till it hang at 50% and "Warten..."

root@epsilon:/Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers# md5 *

MD5 (Adobe CSXS Infrastructure 4 Driver 4 06-19-2013.log.gz) = 389f5ed8ab161516fe317b570f5d1090

MD5 (Adobe Photoshop CC 14.0 06-19-2013.log.gz) = 9eb387561b84dfd02807ba6200744c88

MD5 (Adobe Premiere Pro CC 7.0.0 06-19-2013.log.gz) = 183d36ff2eea7e0344c9676dcdb779b8

[Hessijames]

Update:
I was finally able to find some log files that actually changed. They cover starting Creative Cloud, selecting "Apps", Updating Premiere CC and closing Creative Cloud.

~/Library/Logs/AdobeDownload/DLM.log

http://pastebin.com/xjfi4Ny0

~/Library/Logs/AdobeDownload/DLM_Native.log (which shows 1 error and 2 warnings)

http://pastebin.com/j750dGKF

I hope to hear from you soon.

Hessi

[Hessijames]

I just updated to the latest version of the Creative Cloud application manager. It's still broken.

I tried updating from within Photoshop CC (Hilfe -> Aktualisierungen) and got an even weirder error:

http://imgur.com/IGnuAHm

I have to add that there is no Adobe process in the process list.

I strongly suggest Adobe looks into this issue and fixes the bug or at least announces a workaround. I can't believe I am paying 60 euros a month for this masterpiece of software development.

Hessi

[Jeff A Wright]

Hessijames did you review your installation logs for the words ERROR and FATAL to determine what caused the installation to fail?  In message #3 it appears you did locate the install logs.

[Hessijames]

Jeff, please see Message #4 for the FULL DLM* logs. The logs mentioned in message #3 did not change when the error occured and are therefore not of any help as message #3 indicates.

[Jeff A Wright]

Yes Hessijames you have posted your download logs.  I would recommend you review the logs you identified in message #3. 

If you are looking for direct support with reviewing the installation logs then please contact our support team.   You can contact our chat support at http://adobe.ly/yxj0t6.

[Hessijames]

# zgrep -e '(ERROR|FATAL)' /Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers/*

did not provide any results. Which is not surprising since the installation worked but the updating (which did not change the installation logs) failed.

I just finished a 90 minutes talk with a very motivated Adobe support employee who was unable to resolve the issue even using screen sharing.

I suggest we end this redirection odyssey and fix the problem right here in the forums where all information is available to all interested Adobe employees.

Hessijames

[Jeff A Wright]

Hessijames without being able to view your installation logs it is not possible to advise you on the next steps for you to complete.  You can find full details on steps to review and interpret your installation logs at Troubleshoot with install logs | CS5, CS5.5, CS6 - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/troubleshoot-install-logs-cs5-cs5.html.

Do you also have a case number from your interaction with our support team which I can review?

[Hessijames]

The support chat started at approximately 19:53 CEST. I first talked to "Kulkarni", then to "Nidhaal". Your support system did not provide any case number or the like.

It seems my grep command was wrong. There are indeed errors:

http://pastebin.com/AJ2pkXtc

The list of warnings is longer.

/Edit:

# ls -lahd '/Users/pr/Library/Preferences' '/Library/Preferences'

drwxrwxr-x  140 root  admin   4,6K 24 Jun 21:05 /Library/Preferences

drwxrwxr-x  939 pr    staff    31K 24 Jun 21:38 /Users/pr/Library/Preferences

/Edit2:

Warnings in the Photoshop log (which also fails to update):

http://pastebin.com/JRAiiMH7

No warnings in Adobe Setup Error.log.gz

Hessijames

[Jeff A Wright]

From the portion of the installation log you have posted it looks like you are facing file permission issues.  In specific the portion I am looking at is as follows:

19:15:01:139 | [ERROR] |  | OOBE | DE |  |  |  | 3158354 | DF037: Unable to delete directory "/Users/pr/Library/Preferences". Check and correct folder & parent directory permissions and then try again.(Seq 12679)

/Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers/Adobe Premiere Pro CC 7.0.0 06-24-2013.log.gz:06/24/13 19:15:01:150 | [ERROR] |  | OOBE | DE |  |  |  | 3158354 | DF037: Unable to delete directory "/Library/Preferences". Check and correct folder & parent directory permissions and then try again.(Seq 12680)

It would appear that you will want to adjust file permissions on the User/pr/Library/Preferences folder.  You can find details on how to adjust your file permissions at Troubleshoot with install logs | CS5, CS5.5, CS6 - http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/troubleshoot-install-logs-cs5-cs5.html.  Please make sure to apply any permissions changes to the enclosed objects.

[Hessijames]

Is Creative Cloud actually supposed to (try to) delete these two folders? They are not Adobe-specific (as pointed out in the support articles) but contain preferences of a bunch of other software vendors.

The support article suggests setting the permissions to world writable which is obviously no good idea. However, my user (pr) has already write permissions to /Users/pr/Library/Preferences (see post #11). In addition, the Creative Cloud application asks for root privileges during the update process. However, I have now recursively set the permissions to 777 for all files and directories in /Users/pr/Library/Preferences containing adobe or Adobe. The problem remains.

I have to remind you that the discussed logs only changed during the installation of the applications which worked flawlessly. They did not change during the update process which is stuck at 50% and "Warten...".

Hessijames

[Jeff A Wright]

Hess it should not be removing the entire preferences folder.  It is more likely that it was verifying that the directory was in a writeable state.

I don't know what installation logs you have posted but I would recommend reviewing the installation log specific to the update you are attempting to apply.

[Hessijames]

Jeff as I pointed out in post #3, there is no single file in /Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers that changed during the (flawed) update process. This is why I posted the DLM logs.

Please provide me with an email address I can mail all logs to and with the exact path(s) of the logs you need.

Till now I have spent several hours tracking down the bug, trying workarounds, reinstalling /all/ Creative Cloud applications (including the 3rd party plugins I am using), conducting telephone calls and text chats with your support and creating log exerpts and screenshots for the forums. Hence, you will probably understand that I have to refocus on other activities now and leave the fixing of software bugs to the developers/vendors.

Hessijames

[Jeff A Wright]

Patrick can you please update your contact information under your account to include a phone number.  I have submitted a request for a member of our support team to contact you.  Since we only have your e-mail information on file they will likely attempt to contact you via your e-mail address at <Removed by Moderator>.

For your refernece it appears the support case from your previous interaction is 184435510.  You can reference your support case and your contact information under your account at http://www.adobe.com/.

[Hessijames]

Jeff, thank you for initiating a support request. My telephone number is already included in my Adobe ID account as it was a mandatory field on creation.

Could you please remove my domain name from your previous message?

Hessi

[Jeff A Wright]

Certainly I have removed the domain.  From the records I reviewed yesterday I did not see a phone number listed.  Please review the e-mail address associated with your account as it is likely you will be contacted there first.

[Hessijames]

Since I haven't encountered any sign of life of the Adobe support (no mails, no calls and yes: my contact data is complete and up to date) I have investigated the issue further and found out that installing updates as another user works.

This information should help an Adobe developer or someone else being privy to the internal magic of the Application Manager to isolate the problem.

[Jeff A Wright]

Patrick I would still encourage you to update your account information.  I checked and we still have no phone number associated with your account.  Also case 184440180 got closed pending any updates.  It should be available under your support cases at http://www.adobe.com/.

Thank you for the update.  Happy to hear you were able to get the update installed.

[Hessijames]

Jeff, to be very honest, I am tired of both this contact information discussion and the lack of any help to solve my problem. My phone number is in my Adobe ID account and has always been:

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s67/sh/738c082f-009e-438b-b597-d36da2e26403/f96102470a102de141b537e35...

I have indeed got the update installed. This is an (inacceptable) *workaround* rather than a *solution*. So the problem is *not* solved.

Let me give a brief overview of my efforts to get the problem solved:

-Call to the phone support => "There is no update for Photoshop CC, it's probably a display error in the Creative Cloud application. I will not initiate a bug fixing request, you are free to create a feature request yourself."

-Created a feature request on the Adobe webpage asking to repair the display bug.

-Chat conversation: 90 minutes and the second employee (cudos for his motivation!) even connected by screen sharing but did not get my problem solved. Advised me to call the phone support (again) and tell them that he said there indeed /is/ an update for Photoshop CC.

-2nd chat conversation: I wrote a detailed summary of my problem, added the previous case number and linked the forum thread. The first Adobe support employee, however, started from the very beginning. He asked me what my problem was and even came up with the 1st-level joker tricks again (reinstalling Creative Cloud etc.). Then I was redirected to a second employee who also started at the beginning again, asked me what my problem was etc. In the end, he asked me to call the phone support again.

-21 forum postings, several screenshots and log excerpts, a lot of googling, a lot of reverse engineering to find out which files and paths are actually accessed but no solution. Two Adobe employees posting in my thread:

a.) One boilerplate-posting indicating clearly that my problem description was never read.

b.) You, Jeff asking me to read logs that did not change/were not created during my specific problem and reiterating FAQ-links asking me try to read the logs and solve my problem myself. In addition, a lengthy, back-breaking discussion about my phone number being in my Adobe account or not and a public posting with my private personal data.

To sum it up: I have invested several hours of my private time (I could perfectly use to get my photos edited) to find the cause of a software bug in a product I am paying 60€ a month for. From my point of view (and I am working in the IT business), no Adobe employee with deeper than cursory knowledge of the application* had a look into my problem. As stated in my first posting the problem seems to have survived several software updates over two years without being fixed.

I have never had any similar experience before.

Jeff, please reopen my case and initiate a support request, preferably by email. Please also try go get someone with knowledge about the application in this thread. I would be very glad if you could spare me any discussions about the missing phone number and non-existing logs.

Patrick

* Except Nidhaal from the chat who was very motivated but, in the end, lacked the language knowledge to cope with my German operating system.

[Hessijames]

On the occasion of your recent invoice I would like to ask if there is any progress solving my problem.

[Jeff A Wright]

Patrick I have requested a member of our support team contact you.  They should be contacting you via the e-mail address on your account.

[Hessijames]

Thank you. Even though I would have expected that you would at least fill out the escalation form correctly.

Contact preference is Phone => Should be email.

"Customer is unable to install updates to Photoshop" => Should be "Customer is unable to install any CC updates."

"Also unable to locate his installation log files" => Should be "Customer refuses to read non-existing files."

Customer dissatisfied with Adobe support is "No", should be "Yes".

I will not comment on the "Overall customer temperature" which - without knowing the maximum value - is surely higher than "****".

Jeff, thank you for at least creating this escalation, finally a glimpse of hope.

Patrick