critical error during PS CS4 installation

Woot!
problem solved! Photoshop up and running!

turns out it was an IE/javascript issue, found solution in a thread on a similar problem with the Dreamweaver beta (which is probably why I didn’t find it earlier)

In case someone else encounters this problem, here’s the link:

< http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm ?forumid=72&catid=674&threadid=1366170&enterthre ad=y#4980409>

Martijn

Strange that one has to modify the Registry to properly install the software.

Messing with the Registry is very problematical for the uninitiated. No notice of backup first was posted either.

I have the same problem with the disc version.Did you get it started?

Yes I did, Michael, following the instructions to the letter, in the link I posted (second post in this thread, you may have to hit ‘previous’ if you can’t see it). Have had no problems since. I’ve repeated the link here. If you do have the exact same problem, and if you’re confident about modifying the registry it’s worth a try, otherwise you should contact Adobe support…
Good luck!

< http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/messageview.cfm ?forumid=72&catid=674&threadid=1366170&enterthre ad=y#4980409>

Martijn

Hi Martijn,

Adobe won’t give me access to the forum that you have sent us a link to – is there any way you can copy / paste the steps to edit the registry here?

Thank you!

Hi Allen,

I can’t get access anymore either. Maybe some of that forum has been closed or archived.

However, I saved the relavent text, here are the instructions; all caveats apply of course (be careful; backup registry first, at your own risk etc.);

"
Open your IE, copy&paste the following code into the address bar and click go

javascript:document.write(navigator.userAgent)

It will show you about your UserAgent value, just like ‘Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)’ or so.If you find something in a mass, that’s exactly the point.
"

The first bit above is a bit strange (I don’t understand what he meant by ‘if you fing something in a mass’ but it shouldn’t really matter since this step is informational only. The following is the bit that matters:

"
Now, please open the Registry Editor (start->run->regedit), locate the subkeys as follows

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform

Remove all values except (Default) in each ‘Post Platform’ key,restart your computer. All things should go right.
"

I hope this will work out for you, as it did for me. If you do not find the extra keys there anyway (besides ‘default’), yours may be a different problem…

Martijn

Make sure you have a My Documents folder attached. For example, mine is on an external drive which was not connected when I as trying to install CS4, once I attahced it, and I had a My Documents folder, CS4 installed without a hitch!

Hi Martijn Pleines,

By "Remove all values", do you mean to say "Physically delete all registry keys except the (Default)" under each of the "\Post Platform" that you posted, or are you saying delete the actual "Value data" (double-click the registry keys to see it) for each registry key listed under each "\Post Platform"?

You also have an error:

This…
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Internet Settings\User Agent\Post Platform

Should say…
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Internet Settings\5.0\User Agent\Post Platform

AaronCWright, what you said about My Documents is not clear at all. You need to be specific if you want people to know what you’re talking about. Care to clarify?

The "my Documents folder is by default on the system drive (C:\).

It is possible to move it to another drive.

Since the installer looks for it during installation, if it’s on a switched off external drive you’re out of luck.

Hi Trevor,

I removed the keys themselves, not just the data.

Sorry about the omission, I just copied over the instructions from the original post verbatim, wanting to make sure no mistakes of my own would creep in (I had saved the original instructions for printing-if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have been able to repeat them here at all because I too, seem to have lost access to the original post)

I have always kept My Documents as it is by default, so that is a seperate issue I guess. I rarely use it, but looking at it just now, Adobe does appear to have installed a stock photos folder (but empty) in mine (‘AdobeStockPhotos’), so perhaps that’s the problem Aaron encountered.

Hey Martijn,

I deleted the registry keys like you said. It’s working now.

Thank you so much! 🙂

Cheers,
Trevor

Congrats, that’s great to hear, Trevor! Have fun exploring the new software!

First off a BIG Thanks to Martijn Pleines & whomever came up with this fix in the Dreamweaver Beta Forum.

In my case Photoshop CS4 upgrade would install fine in Vista HP 32 SP1 but not XP Pro 32 SP3 on a dual-boot machine. The environment checking seemed to go OK, but the actual setup program would crash with an unspecified error – the logs showed what appeared to be a scripting error, but without any real info, error # etc… My guess (& it’s just that) is that the JavaScript (&/or whatever scripting used) just wasn’t updated to include or understand the .NET CLR keys – perhaps these two that were different from Vista?: ".NET CLR 3.0.04506.648"="" & ".NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152"=""

FWIW my XP registry had User Agent keys under both …\Internet Settings\… & …\Internet Settings\5.0\… for both HKCU & HKLM, so I imagine users with this problem should check all 4 possibilities. I’d also suggest exporting the Post Platform keys before deleting anything so you can put things back – I had problems running ie7 for example without those .NET CLR… keys present.

I’d also suggest that in pre-Vista versions of Windows, if you have any doubts about screwing up the registry by editing it, you should back up the registry using ERUNT or similar software [or back up the entire disc]. Setting a restore point & later restoring it will not guarantee things will be put back 100%. Exporting the entire registry is pretty much useless unless you have a way to restore it that you’ve tried successfully & know to be foolproof. [Unfortunately from Vista forward I’ve had problems with ERUNT so can’t recommend other than System Restore.]

Thanks Again!
Mike

Mike,

In Vista, open your registry, file menu, select export. Export window will open. Under export range select all for the whole thing or the other option is range Make a name to save it as like blablabla.reg
Click save. I think the default folder is my documents but you can save it anywhere.

Hi David,

[With apologies for straying off-topic]
I’m unaware of any programs or tools installed with Windows that will restore an identical copy of your registry. Besides ERUNT, several of the fix-it or registry cleaning/tweaking programs can back up & restore your entire registry, including the popular CCCleaner, but I’ve seen so many folks get into trouble *Cleaning* their registry, I don’t feel good recommending any of them. Of course you shouldn’t have to use any Cleaning features to backup & restore your Registry, but the temptation is always there. ERUNT on-the-other-hand is a “One-trick Pony”, & does nothing but backup & (if need be) restore your registry, & for pre-Vista Windows I can’t recommend it enough.

Typing Regedit into the Run box starts the Window’s program of the same name, and it works fine exporting backups of individual keys, sub-keys, or even the entire registry, BUT, while merging back individual keys, or importing saved, partial registry backups works fine, you can’t restore the entire registry with Windows running… you can’t replace any keys/values that Windows is using at the time, so you have to restore the registry outside of Windows.

This is something many sites get wrong, & I’ve seen recently where Adobe has repeated this mis-statement too, advising their users to backup their complete Registry using Regedit. A relatively harmless way to prove the point is to set a Restore Point [out of an abundance of caution ;^) ], backup your entire registry with Regedit, then try to merge the exported .reg file. IMHO it’s better to find out it doesn’t work *before* you really, REALLY, need it to work.

Backing up & restoring the entire registry is what Window’s System Restore is supposed to do, since it changes things during a reboot/restart, before Windows fires up. The problem with System Restore is that it won’t always delete every new key or value added, just like it won’t delete every file change since the Restore Point was created. Vista’s System Restore is better than earlier versions of Windows, keeping a shadow copy of your drive’s content’s in a special format, but it’s not perfect. [note: just looking at that drive in other operating systems will delete any restore data if they don’t understand the special format Shadow Copy uses]

If a person is experienced with Registry editing, in this case IMHO there’s nothing at all wrong with using Regedit to export (save) just the “Post Platform” keys with sub-keys they plan on deleting. But if someone’s unsure about Registry editing, or just wants an extra measure of safety, back up the whole thing first using whatever favorite tools – just make sure restoring your backup works, or you’ve wasted your time.

Thanks,
mike

I agree Mike

critical error during PS CS4 installation … along with the message "Critical errors were found in setup Please see the Setup ….

Yes, could someone please post the solution in this thread? The links provided above are not working unless you are a beta tester.

This is to Martijn Pleines – THANK YOU SO MUCH! Your solution worked great! I have been searching this forum for a week and finally found this post. Your solution fixed my issue and I am in the middle of installing right now..

I truly appreciate people like you that take the time to actually post the how to fix an issue.

Sincerely,
Scott

Hi Scott what was the solution?

Scott, I’m having the same problem but don’t see the solution. Could you please help me as well. Thanks
Jim

critical error during PS CS4 installation

I am getting this message and have no idea how to correct it. Please advise.

I am installing CS4 PS with Vista and dual processors and a fast video card.

Thanks

Randy

This might help:

< http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb 408524&sliceId=1>

Just wanted to mention that I had the same UserAgent issue. Once I removed those .NET CLR keys from the registry I was able to install. That was quite a battle. Editing the registry was a last resort, but thankfully it worked. I still have an open ticket with Adobe Support so I’m going to mention this solution to them.

Oh my god, I just got the trial version to install after trying for 12 hrs.

I’m on Vista Home basic, acer laptop, I tried everything ..

I edited the registry as above(deleated the keys back to default), turned off firewall and anti virus, disconnected from the internet, shut down all my running programs including the acer empowering technology application( using windows taks manager) ran adobe wincleancs4 script twice, then cs3 clean script, made sure the adobe cs4 trial file that I downloaded was on my desk top, then turned off the uac (user account control).

Whilst running the clean up scripts to level 2 (maximum) I also chose the option to remove the adobe media player . One of the clean up scripts gives the option to do this, can’t remember which one.

I already have shockwave player and reader 9.1 installed, but I chose to install all the items on the trial. It worked like a dream.

I tried every fix you could imagine before, but IMHO it was probably running Both clean scripts to (level 2 with the remove media player option) as explained and finally turning off the UAC that did the trick.

Maybe if I’d turned off the uac first. I may not have had to do the others. all in all, by doing everything above, it finally worked.

Hope that helps someone.

Thanks all.