7   Adobe Properties

Set MSI and Adobe properties as needed to perform the actual install as follows:

  • Property values are case sensitive: use all CAPS.
  • If you’re using the MSI installer, configure abcpy.ini.
  • If you’re using the Setup.exe bootstrapper installer, configure setup.ini.
  • On your command line, you can use msiexec and Adobe properties and switches.

7.1   Property list

Feature V. Property Description
Virtualization 11.0 & later VIRTUALIZED_LOCALE Specifies the product language in virtualized environments. For example, VIRTUALIZED_LOCALE=fr_FR, results in all locale-specific keys to be written in French. In the absence of this property, preferences are written in the OS's default language.
Installation 9.0 & later REGISTRATION_SUPPRESS Suppresses the product registration screen.
Installation 8.0 & later INSTALLDIR Specified the installation directory.
Installation 8.0 & later SOURCELIST SOURCELIST provides a way to point to installation files on a network. It is a semicolon-delimited list of network or URL source paths to the installation package which is appended to each user's existing source list. The installer uses the first accessible location it finds, and only this source is used for the remainder of the installation. Therefore, each item in SOURCELIST must contain:
  • A complete source for the application, including all files and cabinets.
  • The entire directory tree at each source location must be the same.
  • An MSI file with the same file name and product code.
Installation 11.0 & later IGNOREVC10RT IGNOREVC10RT need only be used when all of the following are true:
  • During Acrobat installs on 64-bit machines
  • When Visual C++ x64 2010 SP1 Runtime is not installed
  • Installation is NOT done via setup.exe.
  • The following functionality is NOT needed: 1) Acrobat PDF Creation add-on (PDFMaker plugin) for Microsoft Office 64-bit applications (viz. Word, Excel, PowerPoint & Outlook) and 2) sending emails or resolving addresses via 64-bit Microsoft Outlook.
Since Acrobat looks for Visual C++ x64 2010 SP1 Runtime (VC) by default, set IGNOREVC10RT to 1 if it is not present AND not needed. During non-setup.exe installs when VC is not present, installation behavior is as follows:
  • Command line installs abort if IGNOREVC10RT=1 is not passed.
  • UI installs display a dialog asking the user whether they would like to continue or cancel.
  • Setup.exe installs succeed. Installs never abort as the property is passed while spawning the MSI.
For MSI installs, use Require64BitVC10RT in the Setup.ini file under the Startup section.
Shortcuts 10.1 & later DISABLEDESKTOPSHORTCUT
  • 10.1 and later. Reader only: When set to 1, the desktop shortcut will not be created at the initial install or after any updates.
  • 11.0 and later. Customize the behavior by using the SUM of any values. For example, a value of 12 disables the AAM and Forms Central shortcuts.
    • null (property is not set): All shortcuts except AAM are created.
    • 0: Create all shortcuts.
    • 1: Disable all shortcuts. This is the only valid value for Reader.
    • 2: Disable all Acrobat shortcuts, but not AAM or Forms Central shortcuts.
    • 4: Disable AAM shortcut only.
    • 8: Disable Forms Central shortcut only.
Note: The property can only be used with a MSI (full) installer; it cannot be used with when applying an MSP update.
Forms Central 11.0 & later DISABLE_FORMS_CENTRAL YES prevents install of the Forms Central application and its shortcuts as well as the fcdt file extension. It also prevents the application from appearing in the Custom Setup dialog.
Fonts 10.0 & later DISABLE_ASIAN_FONTS YES prevents the installation of Asian language components.
Browser integration 9.0 & later DISABLE_BROWSER _INTEGRATION YES prevents the viewer from opening in a browser. Beneficial in Terminal Server environments. When a PDF file opens in a browser and the user browses to a different page, viewer components stay in memory until the browser is closed.
Installation 10.0 & later DISABLE_CACHE 1 disables setup file caching. The opposite of ENABLE_CACHE_FILES.
Installation 9.0 & later ENABLE_CACHE_FILES 1 (the default) enables setup file caching of the installer files on the local system. The opposite of DISABLE_CACHE.
Installation 9.0 & later ENABLE_OPTIMIZATION 1 runs a disk defragmentation utility that will automatically cluster files on a portion of the destination drive during installation, thereby improving launch time and performance. Defragmentation requires available disk space on the destination drive and adds time to the installation.
Distiller 10.0 & later DISABLE_DISTILLER YES prevents the installation of Distiller components.
PDFMaker 10.0 & later DISABLE_PDFMAKER YES prevents the installation of PDFMaker.
Installation 9.0 & later EULA_ACCEPT YES prevents the EULA from appearing the first time the viewer is invoked. For 10.1.4, see the release notes.
Installation 10.0 & later IGNORE_INTEROP_REQS YES disables interoperability dialogs in the full UI mode and allows installation to continue in the reduced UI mode or completely silent mode.

"Interoperability" refers to supported installations where one product is installed over another. For example, Acrobat Standard cannot be installed on top 3D. There are 3 use cases: The installation must abort, the installation cannot continue without user action (usually uninstalling the previous product), and the installation can continue. This property turns off warning dialogs for installation failure for the first two cases, thereby causing the abort to happen silently.
Installation 10.0 & later ISX_SERIALNUMBER This property accepts a retail or volume serial number so that the product is pre-serialized (licensed) during the install. It is useful for mass deployments and silent installs. If a number is not passed, then a trial version of the product is automatically installed. Like all properties, this property can be used in setup.ini, abcpy.ini, and on the command line.
Installation 11.0 & later PRESERIALIZATIONFILEPATH PRESERIALIZATIONFILEPATH grants an offline exception to the online activation requirement for volume serial numbers. If Adobe servers cannot be contacted, no activation occurs. However, if Adobe servers can be contacted, activation does occur.

The property accepts a path to a prov.xml file containing the requisite parameters. You can set the property automatically via the Wizard. Alternatively, create the prov.xml file manually by downloading the APTEE tool and running the following command line with your volume serial number.
  • Standard: adobe_prtk --tool=VolumeSerialize --generate --serial=(serial number) --leid=V6{}AcrobatStd-AS2-Win-GM
  • Pro: adobe_prtk --tool=VolumeSerialize --generate --serial=(serial number) --leid=V6{}AcrobatPro-AS2-Win-GM
PDF Ownership 10.0 & later IW_DEFAULT_VERB
  • Make Reader the default PDF viewer: For Reader only. Set IW_DEFAULT_VERB to Read
  • Make Acrobat the default PDF viewer: For Acrobat only. Set IW_DEFAULT_VERB to Open.
IW_DEFAULT_VERB interacts with the Adobe property LEAVE_PDFOWNERSHIP which is often used for silent installs where the user should not be asked to select a default PDF viewer.
PDF Ownership 10.0 & later LEAVE_PDFOWNERSHIP New for 10.0. YES prevents the new installation from taking over PDF ownership. NO allows the new install to own opening PDFs. May interact with IW_DEFAULT_VERB for some versions. It is often used for silent installs where the user should not be asked to select a default PDF viewer.

For 11.0 and later, do not use this property when OWNERSHIP_STATE has a value of 1 or 2.
PDF Ownership 11.0 & later OWNERSHIP_STATE New for 11.0. Windows 8 only. Specifies whether to take ownership of any file type the product recognizes (pdf, fdf, etc.).
  • 0: Do not take ownership.
  • 1: Take ownership for the current user. The UserChoice key for the current user is updated.
  • 2: Take ownership for all existing and new users. The UserChoice key for all existing users is updated and a system level xml file will be updated to handle any future users.
Default UI-based installations will display a checkbox that allows the user to set the product as the default PDF owner and set OWNERSHIP_STATE to 1. When the checkbox is not selected, OWNERSHIP_STATE is set to 0. Default silent installations assume OWNERSHIP_STATE is 2.
Installation 10.0 & later REMOVE_PREVIOUS Specifies whether to removes an already installed product. The property can only uninstall a previous version of the product when that same product is being installed. For example, REMOVE_PREVIOUS=YES during an Acrobat install will only uninstall previous Acrobat versions. It will not affect any version of Reader that is present.

This property can be used during both Acrobat and Reader installs. The default is YES.
Installation 10.0 & later REMOVE_PREVIOUS_READER Acrobat only: Specifies whether to remove any existing versions of Reader on the system during an Acrobat install. The property can be used in tandem with REMOVE_PREVIOUS when earlier versions of both Acrobat and Reader need to be removed as part of a new Acrobat install.
Synchronizer 9.0 & later SYNCHRONIZER READER ONLY. NO prevents installation of synchronizer.exe components which are used for collaborative commenting, reviews, forms sharing, and the download of trust anchors from Adobe for signature workflows
Updates 10.1 & later DISABLE_ARM_SERVICE_INSTALL Reader 10.1 and later as well as Acrobat 10.1.4 and later installs ARMsvc.exe as part of the Updater which enables silent and automatic updates on Windows 7 and Windows Vista machines. A value of 1 prevents the install of the ARM service on Windows.
Language 9.0 & later LANG_LIST Specifies the languages to install when using MUI installers. The property is ignored if the installer runs in full UI mode. Valid values include:
  • A single locale code: For example, en_US or fr_FR
  • A comma separated list of locale codes: For example, en_US, fr_FR, de_DE
  • ALL: Installs all languages
  • es_MX, en_GB and fr_CA map to the MSTs for es_ES, en_US, and fr_FR respectively.
Note that installing more than one language requires a MUI serial number or silently installing in trial mode. For Reader, the property can only be used with a MUI installer. Invalid values result in the error "LANG_LIST contains values which does not match the serial number".
PDF Ownership 8.0 > 9.0 DEFAULT_VERB Replaced by IW_DEFAULT_VERB with 10.0. Sets the default PDF viewer. Serves as a condition for the installation of the several components related to the file extensions like PDF as well as browser integration.

For 9.x and earlier, the behavior is as follows:
  • Reader set to READ (Default): Reader takes over PDF ownership.
  • Reader set to OPEN: Reader will not touch PDF ownership.
  • Acrobat set to READ: Acrobat will not touch PDF ownership.
  • Acrobat set to OPEN (default): Acrobat takes over PDF ownership.
Interacts with LEAVE_PDFOWNERSHIP.
3D 8.0 > 9.0 DISABLE_3D YES prevents the installation of 3D components.
Accessibility 8.0 > 9.0 DISABLE_ACCESSIBILITY YES prevents the installation of Accessibility components.
Installation 8.0 > 9.0 DISABLE_AIR_SHARE AIR is not included with the Reader download. YES prevents the installation of the AIR runtime.
Spelling 8.0 > 9.0 DISABLE_LINGUISTICS YES prevents the installation of spelling components.
Multimedia 8.0 > 9.0 DISABLE_MULTIMEDIA YES prevents the installation of multimedia plugin components.
Search 8.0 > 9.0 DISABLE_SEARCH YES prevents the installation of searching and indexing components.
Fonts 8.0 DISABLE_CE_FONTS YES prevents the installation of Central European fonts
Image viewer 8.0 DISABLE_IMAGEVIEWER YES disables the image viewer plugin
Installation 8.0 SUPPRESS_APP_LAUNCH YES disables and hides the "Launch" checkbox on final dialog.
Language 11 & later SUPPRESSLANGSELECTION MUI installers only. The default of 1 does the following:
  • Sets the language to the OS language for all users.
  • Disables the language selection dialog on application startup for any user.
  • Sets HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\(product)\(version)\Language\UseMUI\bUserMUI to 1
This is particularly useful for multiuser installations where the language selection dialog would normally appear if a different user logs in, Citrix installations, and so on.
A value of 0 results in the language selection dialog appearing at first launch for every newly logged in user of the machine. For Acrobat this property is not applicable. When Acrobat is installed with MUL serial number and LANG_LIST=ALL, the launch language would be the same as OS language unless a language transform is also applied.
Updates 11 & later UPDATE_MODE Reader only. If updates have not been disabled, use this property during initial installs and patches to control how the product updates. While 11.0 introduces a new install dialog which allows users to set this preference, the installer can be pre tuned with the desired setting via UPDATE_MODE. This property sets HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe ARM\1.0\ARM\iCheckReader

Possible values include:
  • 0: Manually check for and install updates
  • 2: Download updates for me, but let me choose when to install them
  • 3: Install updates automatically
  • 4: Notify me, but let me choose when to download and install updates
© Copyright 2012-2013
Adobe Systems, Inc.
Updated May 14, 2013.