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Adobe Creative Cloud (Windows EXE)

Description

This recipe walks through deploying an Adobe Creative Cloud for Windows package, created in the Adobe Admin Console, as a FileWave desktop fileset.Fileset.

Adobe's current packaging workflow is in Admin Console > Packages. Creative Cloud Packager is still referenced in some Adobe tools/documentation, but Adobe notes that Creative Cloud Packager is no longer in development and recommends using the package workflows in the Admin Console.

Ingredients

  • FileWave Central
  • Adobe Admin Console access with permission to create or download packages
  • A Windows Adobe package from the Admin Console

Directions

  1. Log in to the Adobe Admin Console and open Packages. The Admin Console is where Adobe manages packaging, product selection, and deployment settings for Creative Cloud enterprise/teams customers.
    Adobe Admin Console Packages view
  2. Create or select the package you want to deploy. Choose Windows as the platform for a Windows deployment.
  3. For a managed deployment, create a Managed package, or use a pre-generated package if it already matches the applications and settings you need.
    Adobe package deployment method selection
  4. Select the Adobe applications and options required for your users. Keep the package focused; smaller, role-specific packages are easier to test and troubleshoot.
  5. Download the completed package from Adobe.
  6. In FileWave Central, create a New Desktop Fileset > Empty Fileset, then upload the Adobe package contents while preserving the package folder structure.
  7. Assign the filesetFileset to a small Windows test group first.
  8. Update the model and verify the installation before broad deployment.

For Windows packages, Adobe documents setup.exe inside the package's Build folder. Adobe also notes that deploying a package containing Acrobat by MSI instead of setup.exe can skip Acrobat, so use setup.exe unless you have a verified reason to do otherwise.

Configure the EXE in FileWave

After the Adobe package has been uploaded to the fileset,Fileset, configure FileWave to run the Adobe setup.exe installer during activation.

  1. Open FileWave Admin and navigate to the uploaded Adobe Creative Cloud fileset.Fileset.
  2. Double-click the filesetFileset to open Fileset Contents.
  3. If needed, clear Hide unused folders so the package folders are visible.
  4. Navigate to the Adobe package's Build folder and select setup.exe.
  5. Choose Get Info from the menu bar.
  6. Open the Executable tab.
  7. Enable Execute once when activated and Non-interactive (background).
  8. Enable Wait for executable to finish and set a practical timeout. The existing recipe uses 15 minutes; increase that if your selected Adobe apps routinely take longer in your environment.
  9. Add launch arguments with the + button if you need silent installation or custom install options.
Syntax:
setup [--silent] [--ADOBEINSTALLDIR=] [--INSTALLLANGUAGE=]

[ADOBEINSTALLDIR] is the installation directory where apps are installed on the client machine.
[INSTALLLANGUAGE] is the locale used for the installed apps.

Syntax example:
setup.exe --silent --ADOBEINSTALLDIR="C:\InstallDir" --INSTALLLANGUAGE=en_US
  1. Click Apply to save the executable settings, then close the Get Info window.
  2. Close Fileset Contents.
  3. The filesetFileset will show as Modified until the model is updated. Update the model when you are ready to save the change.

FileWave executable options for Adobe setup.exe

As always, test deploy the filesetFileset to a few devices before mass deployment.