Installation of Adobe Acrobat Reader fails in a TS (1636)

The Toolkit General Discussion
1

Hi,

I've packaged Adobe Reader using Evergreen and deployed it to SCCM. The app installs fine from Software Centre.

When I try to install it as part of a Task Sequence, it fails with error 1636.

Looking at the logs, the EXE is successfully copied locally to C:\ProgramData\Evergreen<etc> and the file executes successfully too.
This EXE is a self extractor, the files are created in a temp folder, and the actual installation starts (it's an MSI wrapped by an EXE).
AFAICT in the MSI logs, the error is triggered when the MSP tries to launch.

I've seen numerous mentions of this error online, but nothing really helpful.
I've tried the 32-bit and 64-bit versions, I've tried extracting the files and running the setup in 2 steps in the script, but it's not helped.

Our current workaround is to create a Package in SCCM and use the EXE with a batch file.
Ideally I'd like to switch to deploy it as an Application with PSADT+Evergreen, like the rest of ours applications.

Currently running PSADT 4.1.5

2

As you state this installs fine from Software Centre, but fails to install as part of a Task Sequence, makes me think that it could be related User vs System context installs which lead me to this ArcGIS Reddit post:

i.e. Could the original app be installed in the user context and the patch is being installed in the System Context (or vice versa)?
N.B. There are also some useful tips in the above Reddit post that may help you - Specifically I'd get it to create a verbose log file to see what's causing this.

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3

I'm just doing something similar but with Winget in a PSADT script. (I've heard of Evergreen but not got around to using it).
I'm just testing at the moment and running into the same issue, error 1636 from a TS. An install post-build seems fine. I've read a suggestion to select this box on the Deployment Type: "Run installation and uninstalltion program as 32-bit on 64-bit clients".
image
Adobe Acrobat Reader 24.005.20307 Install Issue

4

Hi @dancing-groot, could you showcase what commands you're using? Your install commands, how you're calling the .EXE .MSP files, or whatever else you might be using in your PSADT script or SCCM/Task sequence configurations? I have Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat Pro deployed in various different environments using different mediums (MDT, Autopilot, SCCM, Intune) and have not experienced any issues with the base install (DC) or for any subsequent patch for over 6 years. I've also dabbled with Evergreen for a few months, however I do not invoke the module to download bits during a live install. I tend to just use it to populate my network shares that has our live updated executables.

I'd love to have a look and compare what we might have different and provide insight if I have any.

Kindly,
Nik

5

Confirmed: The suggestion to select that box worked for me.
(Adobe Reader winget ID: Adobe.Acrobat.Reader.32-bit, Win11 x64, PSADT 4.1.7)

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Hi @cantsleep , this is a summary of the commands I use:

$EvergreenName = "AdobeAcrobatReaderDC"
$EvergreenArgs = { $_.Architecture -eq "x64" -and $_.Language -eq "English (UK)" }
$AppArgs = '/sAll /msi /norestart /qn ALLUSERS=1 REBOOT=ReallySuppress /L*v C:\Windows\Logs\Software\AdobeReader.log'

$EvergreenApp = Get-EvergreenApp -Name $EvergreenName -ErrorAction Stop | Where-Object { $EvergreenArgs.Invoke() } | Sort-Object Version -Descending | Select-Object -Last 1
$AppInstaller = $EvergreenApp | Save-EvergreenApp -Path "C:\ProgramData\Evergreen\$EvergreenName" -Force

Start-ADTProcess -FilePath $AppInstaller -ArgumentList $AppArgs -CreateNoWindow -Verbose

User Experience is set to:

  • Install for system
  • Whether or not a user is logged on
  • Installation program visibility: Normal
  • Allow users to view and interact with the program installation: NOT ticked

Also, "Run installation and uninstall program as 32-bit on 64-bit clients" does not apply for me as I'm installing the 64-bit version. I also had issues with the 32-bit version (although arguably I hadn't ticked that box at the time).

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7

Also, as an aside, Evergreen allows you to have a local library, so when the installation runs it first checks if the library is accessible and contains the application, and if yes download from there.