Updating Adobe Reader Through Group Policy
- 4 Comments!
Group Policy-Active Directory¶ Acrobat products support post deployment configuration via GPO. The Windows Server Group Policy Objects (GPO) and the Active Directory. For a Reader XI version of this document see: Adobe Reader XI Deployment. Adobe Reader X is here and with the new protected mode feature to improve security you. Tabtight professional, free when you need it, VPN service.
Deploying Adobe Reader X - Aaron Parker. For a Reader XI version of this document see: Adobe Reader XI Deployment.
Like Adobe Reader X, an installation of Adobe Reader XI can check for updates automatically. In a small environment, this may not be a problem (honestly, I would. Create Group Policy Objects (separate article) VDA Group Policy Computer Settings (separate article) User Lockdown; File Explorer; Internet Explorer/Edge.
Adobe Reader X is here and with the new protected mode feature to improve security you should be considering your deployment plans now. Note: These instructions are based on the US English version of Reader, so you may need to adjust some specifics to suit your environment and language. Install 5Th Wheel Hitch Ford F 250 on this page.
If I recall correctly, Adobe Updater is a service that starts automatically when you boot your system. Go into Services.MSC and see if you find it there. Ever since I started working with Microsoft Active Directory (AD) in July 2001, I have always wondered what should be configured in the Default Domain Group Policy.
Licensing Your Deployment. Although Adobe Reader is free you’ll need to agree to and obtain a license to distribute it in your own environment.
A collection of Best Practices for configuring Group Policy.
Empower your students to express, explore, and showcase what they are learning through professional-looking e-portfolios, video projects, digital storytelling.
Obtaining a license is simple, you’ll just need to answer a few questions such as the number of copies, how you will distribute Reader, which platforms and some information on your company including contact information. The same license can be used for distributing Flash player and Adobe AIR. To apply for the license go to the Adobe Runtimes / Reader Distribution License Agreement. Obtaining the Adobe Customization Wizard. Unfortunately Adobe doesn’t use the same installer across all of their products – the installers for the Acrobat products are different to the Creative Suite products. For anyone who’s attempted deployment of the CS products would probably consider this a good thing. To start customising Reader before deploying, you’ll need access to the Adobe Customization Wizard.
The Customization Wizard X hasn’t changed much since the Customization Wizard 9, so if you have experience deploying Adobe Reader 8 or Reader 9, you’ll be comfortable customising and deploying the new version. The Adobe Customization Wizard X should be available from here – Adobe Customization Wizard X. Otherwise you can use this direct download link: Adobe Customization Wizard X.
An FTP site is also available – Adobe FTP site. The Customization Wizard should be installed to an administrative workstation and it will allow you to create a custom Windows Installer transform that can configure the Reader installation, including settings to: Optimise the behaviour of the installer by including silent installation, multilingual, and custom setup choices.
Remove previous versions of Acrobat and Reader. Suppress the EULA, registration prompts, and the Getting Started window. Customise key application preferences — turn off automatic updates, add and set default job options, and customize collaboration and security settings.
Remove shortcuts from the desktop and the Start menu. Edit each Adobe Acrobat application’s registry and installer tables.
Customize file attachment handling within PDF files, including specifying which file types you want to block. Add or edit files that will be installed, including customized Java. Script or plug- ins. Cnc Router Software For 2D Cutting here.
Preconfigure and lock Enhanced Security settings. Downloading the Reader X MSIWhen creating a custom installer for Reader, always start with the latest version which you may need to obtain from the Adobe Reader download page.
For an installer that you can extract and doesn’t include Google Chrome or Toolbar download the EXE installer from Adobe’s FTP site: ftp: //ftp. Note: if you need to download the latest installer, always grab a copy from the Adobe site to guarantee you have a source you can trust. Once you’ve downloaded the Reader installer, extract the setup files so that you can create a custom transform file.
To extract, run the following command line: Adbe. Rdr. 10. 10. If you don’t specific the - nos. You can change the installation path if required: Step 2 Installation Options: there a few options to consider here: Default viewer for PDF files – if you are installing both Acrobat and Reader on the same machine, which application do you want to open PDF files by default.
Enable Optimization – Windows Installer will defrag the installation post install, leave this option enabled. If you are deploying Reader with a deployment solution or virtualizing Reader, I recommend disabling this option. You can browse the local computer’s Registry to make adding entries simpler.
There are two edits I recommend making – browse to Destination Computer / HKEY. Set Action to Remove value. This will prevent the installer from adding these entries and starting unnecessary processes at user logon. This step is very important for Terminal Server / Remote Desktop Session Host environments to reduce the processes that will run in each user’s session. Step 5 Shortcuts: for whatever reason, Adobe deems in necessary to add a superfluous shortcut for Reader to the desktop. Don’t forget to remove that here – if you don’t remove the shortcut in the transform, it will be created when you patch Reader. Step 6 Server Locations: the Server Locations settings allow you to configure additional server location paths to ensure source resiliency for the Windows Installer package.
Step 7 Security: further information on Adobe Reader and Acrobat security can be found here: Acrobat 9 Security Administration Guide. Options to consider include: Enhanced Security Settings: Standalone and Browser (choose Enable & Lock)Prevent end- user to add trusted Files and Folders. Prevent end- user to add trusted Hosts. Step 8 Digital Signature: the Digital Signature settings allow you to specify the security options (verification, creation, reasons) for digital signatures.
Read more about Digital Signatures in the security guide and this document: Digital Signature Validation Cheat Sheet. Step 9 EULA: here you can suppress the display of the End User License Agreement when the user first launches Reader. The Check for Updates menu option will also be removed. Warning: It is extremely important to disable Adobe Updater on shared systems such as Terminal Server/Remote Desktop Servers – a standard user can initiate a reboot of a computer if Updater applies a Reader update. This is because the update is applied using Windows Installer which runs in the System context. Browser integration can be controlled here – you can force Reader to open PDFs outside of the browser rather than embedded in the browser window. Various menu items and features (such as Purchase Adobe Acrobat, Digital Editions) can be disabled.
The Product Improvement Program can be disabled. The Acrobat. com integration in Reader can be disabled. Step 1. 1 Comments and Forms: control and set options for comments in PDFs and forms. Step 1. 2 File Attachments: control the launching of file types from PDF documents. You may want to set this option: Default Action for Unspecified File Types: Never launch files of Unspecified Types. Step 1. 3 Launch Other Applications: the Launch Other Applications settings allow you to specify additional applications to be installed with Reader.
Step 1. 4 Direct Editor: if you want to make further edits to the transform file you can do so here; however I often prefer to save the transform and open it with a 3rd party MSI editor. To disable the Adobe Acrobat Update Service introduced with Reader 1. Service. Install table and take one of two actions. Drop the row Service.
Install. 1 to prevent the install of the service. Change the value of Start. Type to 3 (manual) or 4 (disabled)Disabling Additional Menu Items.
After creating a custom installation there are a few menu items (less than previous versions) that you may want to remove for end- users: These menu items are: Help / Online Support. This is because the repair is applied using Windows Installer which runs in the System context.
Just like previous versions, the only way to disable certain UI elements such as menu items and toolbars is to use Java. Script. This is a two step process – first we need to find out the name of the items we want to disable. To do that you will need to place some Java. Script in a file in the Java. Scripts folder where Reader is installed.
For example this on x. Windows, place the file here: %Program. Files (x. 86)%\Adobe\Reader 1. Reader\Javascripts.
Add the following code into the file and save it as List. Items. js//List. Items.
Open Javascript Console. List Toolbar Buttons in the Console. Items = app. list. Toolbar. Buttons().