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Troubleshoot with install logs | CS5, CS5.5, CS6

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Adobe Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, CS6 product installers record their actions in log files. These log files can be useful in determining whether certain errors occurred during an installation. For silent installations, the log file is the only place that records error messages.

Analyze the main Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, CS6 product install log

Analyzing the main installation log can consist up to three main steps. Proceed through each section until you locate your installation errors.

1. Analyzing the log Summary

If you're troubleshooting install errors for Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, or CS6 and the error occurred after you clicked Install, analyze the main installation log.

  1. Navigate to the log files in one of the following folders:



    • Windows 32 bit (XP, Vista, 7): \Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers\

    • Windows 64 bit (XP, Vista, 7): \Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Installers

    • Mac OS: /Library/Logs/Adobe/Installers/



    The log filename includes the product name and install date, followed by ".log.gz." The extension .gz indicates a compressed format. 

     
  2. Use a decompression utility such as Winzip or StuffIt to decompress the .gz file. Once uncompressed, the log file is a plain text file.

     
  3. Open the .log file using WordPad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac OS).



    Note:     By default, log files open in Console on Mac OS. Select all of the text by pressing Command+A, and then copy and paste it into a text editor before continuing.

     
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the log. Look in the --- Summary --- section for lines that start with ERROR: or FATAL and indicate a failure during the installation process. 



    Important: Some entries that start with ERROR or FATAL are not actionable error messages. Some ERROR and FATAL messages only indicate the component that failed, and not what caused the failure. See Informational ERROR and FATAL entries.



    There could be multiple errors. Error messages look like the following:



    ERROR: 1 Error rolling back command ARKCreateDirectoryCommand

    ERROR: 2 Unable to create directory "E:\ProgramFilesAdobe\Adobe Contribute CS5      

     
  5. Search the Adobe knowledgebase for a TechNote that provides a solution to each error message. When you search, omit paths and machine-specific information from search strings. For the preceding errors, for example, you would search on “Error rolling back command ARKCreateDirectoryCommand” and “Unable to create directory.” 



    For a list of possible errors that appear in your installation or launch logs, see Installation, launch errors | Creative Suite 5, CS5.5 (cpsid_83481).

2. Analyzing MSI errors (Windows)

The Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, and CS6 installer uses a few Windows installers. These installers can produce error codes that don't appear in the Summary section of the log file.

Important:  The error appears before the search term in the following format:Error 1234.

  1. Using WordPad (Windows), search for Return value 3.
  2. Search the Adobe Knowledgebase for any errors found. Omit any file or registry paths from the search.
  3. Repeat the search until you have reached the end of the log file.
  4. Scroll to the summary section of the log and look for any of the following entries.  If you find any of the following entries, see Visual Studio runtimes fail during installation | Creative Suite 5, CS5.5 | Windows (cpsid_84252).
    • ERROR:  - Microsoft_VC80_ATL_x86: Install failed
    • ERROR:  - Microsoft_VC80_CRT_x86: Install failed 
    • ERROR:  - Microsoft_VC80_MFC_x86: Install failed 
    • ERROR:  - Microsoft_VC80_MFCLOC_x86: Install failed 
    • ERROR:  - Microsoft_VC90_ATL_x86: Install failed 
    • ERROR:  - Microsoft_VC90_CRT_x86: Install failed 
    • ERROR:  - Microsoft_VC90_MFC_x86: Install failed

3. Analyzing advanced failures

The Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, and CS6 installer reports most of the errors in the Summary section of your installation log file. If there aren't errors in the Summary section, the last failed component installation caused the installation failure. Errors not generated by Return value 3 error codes also indicate that the last failed component caused the installation failure. Troubleshooting advanced failures sometimes requires you to determine troubleshooting steps if no error message is generated.  

Component installations start with:

Installer Operation: <Component name> *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*==*=*

Component installations end with:

*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Operation complete. Setting status: # =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*

Follow the instructions below to find the last component that failed to install.

Important: Do not search the log for the status: # possibilities. Status: # entries that did not prevent the installation sometimes occur. Only the last component installation that failed caused the issue to occur.

  1. Scroll to the bottom of the installation log file.
  2. Slowly scroll up from the Summary section of the log. 
  3. Find a log entry with a status: #, where pound is not 0.  The line is similar to:

    *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Operation complete. Setting status: 7 =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*

    Note: This entry indicates the end of a component installation that exited with errors.

     
  4. Once you have identified the last component that failed, read each line of the component installation. Scroll to the top of the component installation.  
  5. Review the log entries between the beginning and ending lines of the component installation for any error messages that occur.
  6. Search the Adobe Knowledgebase for any errors in this portion of the log.
    • If no errors are indicated, troubleshoot the referenced component. Use the log to see the type of actions taken by the component installation and to determine troubleshooting steps. To troubleshoot Search for Help, Adobe Media Player (AMP), or AIR runtime failures, see AIR component fails when installing Creative Suite 5 products (cpsid_85187).

Troubleshooting the failed installation component requires you to determine what the component is trying to install, then perform component-specific troubleshooting. For example, if the installer tried to install a font pack but there aren't errors between the beginning and ending component installation log entries, troubleshoot fonts. For example, uninstall and install a font, check permissions on the fonts folder, and disable font management utilities.

Informational ERROR and FATAL entries

The following entries for Windows users indicate that 64-bit components could not be installed and can be ignored on a 32-bit system:

  • ERROR: The payload with AdobeCode: {1E0B4F40-6DC4-4C09-B889-F595D34B4B86} has required dependency on:
  • ERROR: Family: CoreTech 
  • ERROR: ProductName: Adobe Player for Embedding x64 
  • ERROR: MinVersion: 0.0.0.0 
  • ERROR: This dependency is not satisfied, because this payload is x64 and is not supported on this machine. 

The following entries indicate that an installation component has failed, but do not indicate the cause of the failure. You can ignore entries similar to the following:

  • ERROR: Removing this dependency from list. Product may function improperly. 
  • ERROR: - AdobeColorJA CS5: Install failed 
  • ERROR: - Adobe ReviewPanel CS5: Install failed 
  • ERROR: - Photoshop Camera Raw (64 bit): Install failed 
  • ERROR: - Adobe Photoshop CS5 Core_x64: Failed due to Language Pack installation failure

Analyze the Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, or CS6 PDapp log

If you're troubleshooting install errors for Creative Suite 5, CS5.5, CS6 and the error occurred before you clicked Install, analyze the PDapp.log file.

  1. Navigate to the PDapp.log file in one of the following folders:



    Note: The following folders are hidden by default. If necessary, use Folder Options (Windows) or Terminal (Mac OS) to show hidden files.



    • Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp

    • Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Temp

    • Mac OS: Users/~/Library/Logs

     
  2. Open PDapp.log in a text editor such as WordPad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac OS).



    PDapp.log records installation attempts sequentially. Each line in the log starts with a date and time stamp, which indicates when the installation was attempted. Each attempt starts with a Build Version number.



    Analyze only the most recent attempt. If you can’t determine which build attempt is the most recent, delete PDapp.log and run the installer again.

     
  3. In the most recent installation attempt, look for lines identified by [ERROR] or [FATAL]. For example:



    5/1/2010 13:49:48.847 [ERROR] DWA.SystemRequirement SystemRequirements check FAILED for payload - Adobe Media Encoder CS5 PCI WRAPPER

    5/1/2010 13:49:20 [FATAL] PIM - Error could not create PIM Common Folder Path... F:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE\PDApp\



  4. Search the Adobe knowledgebase for a TechNote that provides a solution to each error message. Omit paths and machine-specific information from search strings. For the preceding errors, for example, you would search on “DWA.SystemRequirement SystemRequirements check FAILED for payload” and “PIM - Error could not create PIM Common Folder Path.”

Use Adobe Support Advisor to troubleshoot install logs 

The Adobe Support Advisor is a free, AIR-based application that reads Creative Suite product log files and provides links to solutions documents. For more information, see Using the Adobe Support Advisor (kb405816).

Still need help?

If there are no TechNotes in the knowledgebase for your errors, contact Adobe support.

You can also visit the Adobe product forums.

Keywords: cpsid_84451

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