How to prevent the rollback of Acrobat installation on Windows 64-bit

Last updated on May 16, 2021 06:12:14 AM GMT | Also Applies to Adobe Acrobat XI

Acrobat installation rolls back with some error

Acrobat installation rolls back with error 28000, or Acrobat installation rolls back and the verbose log shows the following entry:

MSI (s) (E0:64) [04:29:58:495]: Executing op: CustomActionSchedule(Action=AAMIU_Install.196A45B3_0387_4DF9_9420_597B6F2F9ADD, ActionType=3073,Source=BinaryData,Target=AAMIU_Install,CustomActionData=YES)
MSI (s) (E0:FC) [04:29:58:495]: Invoking remote custom action. DLL: C:\Windows\Installer\MSI4D14.tmp, Entrypoint: AAMIU_Install CustomAction AAMIU_Install.196A45B3_0387_4DF9_9420_597B6F2F9ADD returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
Action ended 4:29:59: InstallFinalize. Return value 3.

To resolve the error and install Acrobat successfully, try the solutions below in the order they appear.

Solution 1: Make sure that the registry entries have correct values

Disclaimer: Solutions below involve modifying the Windows registry. Adobe doesn't provide support for problems caused by improperly modifying the registry, which contains critical information about your system's hardware and software. Before modifying the registry, create a backup of the registry. For more information about the registry, see the documentation in Windows or contact Microsoft.

Steps to quickly fix the registry entries:

Download the file below: Click Get file (RegistryKey_CommonFileDirValue.zip). The file is downloaded in the Downloads folder.

Download

Get file
RegistryKey_CommonFileDirValue.zip
Open the file to unzip it: Click Open or double-click the filename.
Extract the .reg file: Right-click the filename and choose Extract, choose a location to save the extracted file, and then click Unzip.
Double-click the extracted file to import it into your registry. If you see the User Account Control prompt, click Yes.
If you see another prompt or warning dialog box, click Yes. Finally, you see a confirmation message that the keys and values have been successfully added to the registry.
Now try installing Acrobat or its latest patch.

Note:

If you are not on the computer that has the issue, save the .reg file to a flash drive and then copy it on the computer that has the issue. If you are a domain admin, you can also use GPO to call the .reg file on a remote computer.

Information about the registry changes

This .reg file creates or modifies the registry entries as mentioned below:

Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

String: CommonFilesDir -> Value: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files

String: CommonFilesDir (x86) -> Value: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files

Solution 2: When Acrobat installation rolls back with error 28000

When Acrobat installation fails with the following error message: "Error 28000: Installation of Acrobat Licensing Module has failed."

Try the following workarounds.

Workaround 1: Rename the OOBE folder

Go to the following location: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe”
Rename the OOBE folder to OOBE_old.
Now try installing Acrobat or its latest patch.

Note:

This change also affects the licensing of other Creative Cloud Applications, like Photoshop, InDesign, etc. You need to sign in again when you launch any Adobe Product.

Workaround 2: Rename the Adobe folder

Caution:

Try this workaround only if you don't have any other Adobe products installed on your computer. If you have other Adobe products installed on your computer, they will stop working and you will have to install them again.

Go to the following location: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files"
Rename the Adobe folder to Adobe_old.
Press Windows + R keys to open the Run command prompt, enter appdata in the Open field and then click OK.
Double-click the Local folder to open it, and then rename the Adobe folder to Adobe_old.
Now try installing Acrobat or its latest patch.

Solution 3: When Acrobat installation rolls back with error 28000 along with the error Imslib not found

Acrobat installation fails with the error message: "Error 28000: Installation of Acrobat Licensing Module has failed", along with the error message: "Imslib not found."

Try the following workaround.

Workaround: Kill the "AAMCustomHook" process and then reinstall Acrobat

On Windows:

Open the task manager: Right-click an empty space on the Windows taskbar and choose Task Manager or Start Task Manager.
In the Task Manager window, right-click the AAMCustomHook process and choose End Task.
Close the Task Manager window.
Reinstall Acrobat.

On Mac:

Open the activity monitor: Open Finder and go to Applications > Utilities and then double-click Activity Monitor.
In the Activity Monitor window, select the AAMCustomHook process and then click the Cross button at the upper-left corner of the window. To confirm, click Force Quit.
Close the Activity Monitor window.
Reinstall Acrobat.