Any ideas on how to install Adobe Acrobat 7 on Win2k w/o IE?

I tried IEPatcher (thanks to CrashBurn for pointing out the tip on FDV's page) but it didn't work.

It doesn't install or it installs and doesn't work?

Sorry should have provided more detail.

Acrobat 7 does not install. Says "IE 5.5 or higher needed. Go to microsoft.com to get it."

Why IE is needed for Acrobat is beyond me.

I ran IEPatcher on the Acrobat install files but it didn't work.

You could try Foxit Reader instead. Its fully compatible with PDF files and its a self contained exe that you just run without having to install, I love it. Its only 2.46Mb and it loads instantly.

Edited October 18, 200520 yr by At0mic

Did you try the adobe installer from ryanvm.msfn.org?

Thanks for the suggestions. Looked at RyanVM's site.

I need to have the ability to (1) type things in to pre-made Adobe forms and save it and (2) print to Adobe PDF.

There are a number of freeware and good cheap alternatives to Adobe for (2). To my knowledge, only Adobe Acrobat and NitroPDF do (1).

Oh well, was hoping there was a hack or something but hacking an installer to avoid IE is prolly not on the top list of priorities.

And does the ryanvm installer of the adobe reader 7.03 work or not :-/

acrobat reader all versions work without problems.

acrobat 7 (the program acrobat, not reader, but acrobat) does not work without ie.

acrobat 6 (the program acrobat, not reader, but acrobat) works fine without ie.

i don't know yet how to trick it as i have not had time to waste screwing around with adobe's products either their creative suite (well, indesign and photoshop) doesn't need ie, yet acrobat does. something's screwy.

It would be interesting to run Acrobat on an IE system w/ FileMon, to see what calls it makes, or the installer to see what calls it makes...whether or not it is doing registry checking, or just calls to some dll's that installing IE 5.5 adds into the system. If it does either of those 2, that would be easily fixed -- well not easily perhaps, but certainly doable.

If its doing something else more insidious perhaps not so doable, but would have to think it would be one of those 2...

[Aside]

I refuse to license programs that don't have Individual/Private Pricing, or Freeware Private Use.

Expecting an individual to pay the same price as Corporate, or more is ludicrous. (Since Corporations get licensing discounts)

And honestly I really doubt that most people using Photoshop or the like have actually paid for it, what individual in their right mind will pay more for a piece of software than their Operating System or computer cost.

[/Aside]

Yes, sorry if I was unclear, I meant Adobe Acrobat the program, not Adobe Acrobat Reader.

[Aside] I hate Adobe products. They're expensive and incredibly bloated, but until NitroPDF came around (which I have not tried), there is no choice but to use them if you need to be able to save fill-inable PDF forms.

I will give NitroPDF a shot, but Acrobat 7 integrates to all these other programs that I use.

[/Aside]

Anyway I have Acrobat 7 in this XP machine so I ran Filemon as suggested. The log is attached.

I'm not sure why Acrobat 7 needs Explorer, it was a shock to me. The only thing I can think of is that Acrobat 7 has a pre-fetch routine so that Acrobat 7 loads at startup and therefore appears to load faster. Could this be IE dependent?

Edit: I am trying to attach the FILEMON log but it will not attach. I am uninstalling Acrobat on this computer and will re-install it running FILEMON and try to attach a combined zip later.

Edited October 18, 200520 yr by saugatak

If one Must use Acrobat, give "Adobe Reader SpeedUp" a whirl, http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/prods/misc/

I wonder how well Acrobat would run, inside a win98'ed VM hehehe.

Edited October 19, 200520 yr by Crash&Burn

Ran Filemon on Acrobat and Acrobat Install.

Whew, the filemon log on the install is 23 MB and I cut it off about a 1/3 of the way through the install.

Clearly can't post it here.

*chuckle* Well yeah, you have to set up some filtering rules...for files/threads/paths to block

What you would be looking for are calls into the system32 directory - likely, and or if it attempts to check the existance of the Internet Explorer directory.

With no filters, it would be a huge mess, as every system call is listed, and most aren't relevant