Creative Cloud management app failed to install, again, remedy, clue
Narr GM Coro Feb 12, 2014 11:21 PMIt failed yet again today for me, but in a particular way, and thereby gave a clue at least of one probably unknown failure mode which I can pass on.
- I was trying to install the very latest Creative Cloud manager, which self-announced itself today 12 February 2014 when I tried to use it to check for updated applications.
- it downloaded and started to run, then failed with the very clever 'failed to install' small alert. A small alert for very small knowledge of the actual cause? Surely you can do better.
- I went on the forums and found all the times and ways this has caught up others before. I saw the 'rename OOBE folder' trick, and remembered that thus was the only thing that would actually fix the Creative Cloud manager one or more times before on my computers.
- thus I tried to rename OOBE after killing every Adobe-named app in the Windows 8.1 Task Manager, and failed -- due to some nameless program holding it open.
- I then stopped and restarted the machine.
- I thought a moment and realized I'd run another Adobe installer an hour or two before, to updated Premiere Elements 11 to the latest possible Adobe Camera Raw as its updater offered.
- thus instead of renaming OOBE, I ran the Adobe Creative Cloud manager updater when it offered again towards the end of booting up
- this time it succeeded, hence I believe that other Adobe ACR installer had been at fault, leaving files unclosed or otherwise locked within OOBE. That's the new clue to Adobe developers.
- If this hadn't succeeded, I'd have stopped and restarted the machine again, and then renamed C:\Program Files(x86)/Common/Adobe/OOBE.
I think this renaming is a lot better way to proceed (stop/start, adding possibly safe boot with no startup apps if OOBE remains locked to renaming when that method may be needed) than using the AdobeCreativeCloudCleanup tool as the troubleshooting page recomnmends.
The reason: this benighted cleanup tool does _not_ offer any way to remove Creatuive Cloud manager itself, even though support here suggests that it does. You can only choose variations which insist on uninstalling all your Adobe programs, CS6 included with Creative Cloud ones. I am not going to do that except at extreme duress. So far renaming OOBE and thus forcing Creative Cloud to recreate it has fixed every one of the blind, unspecific, and prevalent errors with Creative Cloud.
I think that much better work can be done on this Creative Cloud software, but I am constrained by a particular American folk tale told to children, which suggests 'If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything.'
I can only say that respect will be gained not by talk, or telling a lot of complicated procedures to recover software that costs like an automobile.
Respect will only be gained by really involving yourself, learning, and then doing all of this correctly. That's what every respected software developer in the world does.



