How to silently install Adobe Creative Cloud

You’ve got some users that need access to Adobe Photoshop or Dreamweaver perhaps…that’s where deploying Adobe Creative Cloud comes in. This post will have two parts. First you will make configurations using the Creative Cloud Packager, then you will create a deployment package to silently install Adobe Creative Cloud.

Note: These steps will ONLY work for Team, Enterprise, or Education plans of Creative Cloud, NOT individual.

Making configurations with the Creative Cloud Packager

You’ll need to have administrator access to the Creative Cloud account. Log in at Adobe.com and select Manage team. From there you will be able to download the Creative Cloud Packager under Deployment Tools > Download Win.

This will download the CCPLauncher.exe. Launch the executable and login, then you will be able to select Create Package.

Now you’ll need to give the package a name, a location where the package should be saved, architecture (32 or 64-bit), and the license type. License type will vary from plan to plan. Named License is available for the Teams plan. Serial Number License is available for the Enterprise plan, and Device License is available for the education plan. You should only see the license(s) applicable to your account.

In Package configurations, de-select the Applications & Updates via the Apps Panel options if the users are not also local administrators. This will keep your users from getting update notifications or otherwise being prompted to install updates.

Next, select the applications and/or updates you wish to build into your installer.

That’s it! Click build and the Creative Cloud Packager will create a directory containing your MSI installer.

Silently install Adobe Creative Cloud package

For these next steps you’ll need to have PDQ Deploy downloaded. The free version works great for deploying to either 32-bit or 64-bit architectures. However if you want to create a deployment package that will deploy to both the 64-bit installer and the 32-bit installer to the respective target computers, you’ll want a two-step package that allows you to specify which architecture each package is to be deployed.

For our example we will create a two step package to silently install Adobe Creative Cloud Package to both architecture types.

1. In PDQ Deploy click New Package or select File > New Package.

2. Name the Package and make sure you have your copy mode set to pull. Pull is recommended due to the size of this installation. Using the pull copy mode also requires that you place the Repository on an accessible file share. (Learn more about Push vs. Pull Deployments.)

3. Click on Step 1, give the step a title. For the Install File, navigate to the directory where you downloaded the Creative Cloud 32-bit installer. Make sure you select Include Entire Directory. If left unchecked your deployment WILL FAIL as you will be missing important pieces required for the installation.

4. Click on the Conditions tab and select the O/S Version. Since Adobe Creative Cloud products will only run on Windows 7 and above, exclude XP and Vista. Exclude servers unless required. Select the appropriate architecture. Since this step is installing the 32-bit Creative Cloud applications, select 32-bit from Architecture.

5. If you have a full PDQ Deploy subscription and need to deploy another architecture type, add a new Install step. Repeat steps 1-4 with the new install file. If you are using the free version of PDQ Deploy or only need to deploy to one architecture type you’re ready to save and silently install Adobe Creative Cloud.

After you save the package you will find it in the Packages folder in the left side tree. Highlight the package, and click Deploy > Deploy Once in the right corner of the console.

IMPORTANT: While we make every effort to test on multiple platforms and architectures, it is highly recommended you test the deployment before a general release into production. Given the possibility of the package being substantially sized, testing will provide important information on bandwidth limitations and deployment times. In our tests, a single instance of Photoshop took anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes to deploy.

Troubleshooting deployment issues

If the package deployment fails and/or you receive a 1603 error, please try the following.

• Machines should be fully patched and not in need of a reboot.

• Check to ensure sufficient space is available on the drive where Adobe CC will be installed. Some Creative Cloud deployments can be several gigabytes in size, which includes the files copied to the target and the installed size.

• Clear out %WINDIR%\Temp directory.

• Review the troubleshooting steps in this article.