License: A distribution license is required for organizations to distribute Adobe Reader, you can apply here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/acrobat/pdf-reader/volume-distribution.html
Update cycle: Quarterly features/bug fix + Emergency Security Patching as needed (these tend to be much more frequent).
Requirements: Adobe Acrobat Customization Wizard download here: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Wizard/index.html
...
Patch Repository: ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub or https://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/
Edit: Added Method #2 due to Method #1 not working properly.
Package Creation :(Method 1)
All the .EXE files from the above directory can be extracted. I use 7-Zip to do this.
...
Deployment considerations: I recommend giving every computer a 1 week grace period to install Adobe within a maintenance window before aggressively pushing it out to all machines outside of a maintenance window when possible. The reason for this is that Adobe may require a reboot to install/uninstall. While this will be suppressed, there is always a small chance Adobe will not be able to install until a machine is rebooted.
Package Creation (Method 2):
This method creates a package utilizing Setup.Ini changes. I switched to Method 2 after I was unable to apply the latest MSP files via the msiexec.exe administrative install. I'm not entirely sure why this was an issue.
- Extract the Adobe executable (.exe) installer into a separate folder. This will be the root directory of your install package. I use 7-Zip to extract but any program should work.
- Verify setup.ini file has the patch details for the latest Adobe patch (.MSP). See below for the vanilla Setup.Ini
- Open AcroRead.MSI using the Adobe Customization Wizard and make the desired changes. See above for my preferred changes as they haven't changed.
- When saving the changes in the Adobe Customization Wizard, it will default to creating an MST file in the root directory (AcroRead.MST).
- Verify the MST file was added to setup.ini with the following line: CmdLine=TRANSFORMS="AcroRead.mst" See below for the Final Setup.Ini
See below for what a vanilla Setup.Ini will look like and what it should look like when complete.
Vanilla
[Startup]
RequireMSI=3.0
[Product]
PATCH=AcroRdrDCUpd2100120140.msp
msi=AcroRead.msi
Finished
[Startup]
RequireMSI=3.0
CmdLine=/sall /rs
[Product]
PATCH=AcroRdrDCUpd2100120140.msp
msi=AcroRead.msi
CmdLine=TRANSFORMS="AcroRead.mst"
When creating an SCCM Application, I choose a Script installer
For installation, the command string you require is setup.exe (the setup.ini file will take care of the rest).
For uninstlalation, I use msiexec.exe /x to remove the desired product code. You can get the product code from the MSI file AcroRead.msi.
Detection Method: I add a clause to check for Windows Installer and use AcroRead.MSI as the reference installer.
User experience: Install for System and weather or not a user is logged in are required.
Maximum runtime, I set to 30 minutes. You can change as desired.