Windows Virtual Deployment Overview¶
This document is designed for enterprise IT professionals who have already configured the installer and are ready to deploy the product in a virtual environment.
Announcements¶
2022: 64-bit unified installer for Acrobat and Reader is now available. A single installer installs both apps, and a user’s credential determines which features are available.
June 2022: The Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) plugin is now bundled with the Acrobat package. Existing MIP plugins should be uninstalled prior to installing or upgrading to a new app. For more MIP details, see https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/mip-plugin-download.html.
Licensing support on VMs¶
Organizations must have a valid Acrobat software license for every user that has access to Acrobat on a server. For more information, refer to the Software license terms.
Product |
Serialized? |
Named user? |
FRL online |
FRL offline |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Citrix XenApp |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
The activation count is increased by one for each server. Admins can control user access by specifying groups. Named user deployment is only supported on Citrix Xenapp and Xendesktop 7.6 and above. |
Windows Terminal Server |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
|
Microsoft App-V |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
The activation count is equal to the number of clients on which a package is published. Admins can pre-serialize the package or allow users to activate with an ID. Note that App-V is not tested in Citrix environments. |
VMware Horizon |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Named user deployment is only supported on VMware Horizon 6.2 and above. |
Resource planning¶
Note the following:
Acrobat products leverage Windows’ User Profiles feature to provide end users with a custom experience with respect to settings and files. Follow standard VMware’s methodologies for mapping user resources across one or more servers:
Registry: Registry preferences to control the UI and application behavior. Follow the VMware recommendations when planning for registry configuration and deployment.
Files: The application creates and writes to files automatically, but end users can also store information such as signature appearances, contacts, templates, and so on. Follow the VMware recommendations for setting up file I/O.
Separate installers: When enterprise workflows require components that use separate installers, run those installers at deployment time. End users without admin privileges on the server won’t be able to install components if their workflow suddenly requires them. For example, you may need font pack or spelling pack installers.
Known issues common to virtual installs¶
Push notifications to specific users are unsupported.
If users sign in on both a virtual environment and a physical machine, then they may be randomly signed out from a physical machine. This is because users can activate Acrobat on multiple virtual machines while only two activations are allowed per user. The current implementation provides an over activation workflow for these environments which does not force users to see or interact with any dialogs.
Volume licenses are deleted when multiple users launch the product simultaneously before it is activated.
In the Help menu, signed-in users are not shown as signed-in on subsequent sessions.
Users may appear as signed-in on the Help menu even if they are signed out from the Creative Cloud Desktop application or signed out of the current session.
Signing in with IDs having no subscriptions may result in random failures.
Why do I see an error that my license is expired or not activated?
Users must launch Acrobat prior to using “Print to PDF”, the Microsoft Office Acrobat plugin, or any other PDF Maker features.
