Change the Installation Path of Adobe Series Software and Disable Auto-Update

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As I still use a 256GB SSD as my main drive and Adobe will stubbornly install their enormously space-consuming software to the C drive without asking me, I decided to find a way to change its installation path, as well as block its auto-update program from networking cause its quite annoying.

Please note that all of the following actions require a disconnection from the Internet!

Change Installation Path

First, open ./products/Driver.xml in the installation package folder, and add the following content into <RequestInfo>.

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<RequestInfo>
    <InstallDir>D:\Software\Program Files\Adobe</InstallDir>
</RequestInfo>

Then replace the contents in <InstallDir> with the installation path you want, which should look something like this.

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<DriverInfo>
+    <RequestInfo>
+        <InstallDir>D:\Software\Program Files\Adobe</InstallDir>
+    </RequestInfo>
    <ProductInfo>
        <Name>Photoshop CC (2018)</Name>
        <SAPCode>PHSP</SAPCode>
        <CodexVersion>19.0</CodexVersion>
        <Platform>win64</Platform>
        <EsdDirectory>./PHSP</EsdDirectory>
        <Dependencies>
            <Dependency>
                <SAPCode>ACR</SAPCode>
                <BaseVersion>9.6</BaseVersion>
                <EsdDirectory>./ACR</EsdDirectory>
            </Dependency>
            <Dependency>
                <SAPCode>COCM</SAPCode>
                <BaseVersion>1.0</BaseVersion>
                <EsdDirectory>./COCM</EsdDirectory>
            </Dependency>
            <Dependency>
                <SAPCode>COPS</SAPCode>
                <BaseVersion>1.0</BaseVersion>
                <EsdDirectory>./COPS</EsdDirectory>
            </Dependency>
            <Dependency>
                <SAPCode>CORE</SAPCode>
                <BaseVersion>1.0</BaseVersion>
                <EsdDirectory>./CORE</EsdDirectory>
            </Dependency>
            <Dependency>
                <SAPCode>CORG</SAPCode>
                <BaseVersion>1.0</BaseVersion>
                <EsdDirectory>./CORG</EsdDirectory>
            </Dependency>
        </Dependencies>
    </ProductInfo>
</DriverInfo>

Double-click the installer to install offline.

Uninstall Creative Cloud

  • If you don’t intend to use this software, you can uninstall it with Adobe’s official uninstall tool, the download link is as follows.

    Creative Cloud Cleaner tool

    Offical tool to uninstall Adobe Creative Cloud

  • Right click the cleaner tool and select Run as Administrator option.

  • Type e for English and press Enter, then type y to accept and press Enter
    Adobe02.png

  • Type 6 and press Enter to select Creative Cloud Only option.
    Adobe03.png

  • Type 6 and press Enter to select Clean All option.
    Adobe04.png

  • Quit the program after uninstalling successfully.

Disable Automatic Updates

There are three steps to disable automatic updates, the first two for Acrobat and the third for all Adobe software.

Disable Startup Programs

Press and hold the CTRL, Shift, and ESC keys simultaneously to launch the Windows Task Manager, find the following three items, right-click on each item and select the Disable option.

  • acrotray.exe
  • updaterstartuputility.exe
  • AGCInvokerUtility.exe

adobe11.png

Disable Task Scheduler

Press and hold the Windows and X keys to open the WinX Menu and select the Computer Management option. Then click to open the System Tools - Task Scheduler - Task Scheduler Library, find the following three items, right-click on each item and select the Disable option.

  • Adobe Acrobat Update Task
  • AdobeAAMUpdater
  • AdobeGCInvoker

adobe21.png

Configure Firewall Rules

The last step is to add Windows Firewall rules to block all Adobe programs from networking. Because you need to add numerous firewall rules, it is recommended to use a script to add them. The following script will disable the networking of all programs in a folder based on the path entered.

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@Echo Off
SetLocal

:begin

echo:
echo ****** Prohibit networking of programs in folders ******
echo:

set /p folder=Please enter the folder path: 
If Not Exist "%folder%\" Exit/B
If /I "%CD%" NEq "%folder%" PushD %folder%
Set "Cmnd=netsh advfirewall firewall add rule action=block"
echo:
For /R %%a In (*.exe) Do (For %%b In (in out) Do (
      echo Creating Prohibited %%b Rules【%%a】
      %Cmnd% name="blocked %%a via script" dir=%%b program="%%a"))

echo:
echo Done, network connections have been disabled for all programmes in %folder%
echo ----------------------------
echo:

goto begin

Script Source: 知乎@数据分析

Copy the script into Notepad and save it as Firewall Blocker.bat. Be careful to select the encoding method as ANSI when saving, otherwise the characters will be messed up when you run it.
Adobe41.png

There are two folder paths that need to be entered:

  • Previously changed installation path in <InstallDir>
  • C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe