Uninstall and Remove Adobe CS3, CS4 and CS5 with Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool

Users who are having problem or encountering error when trying to uninstall pre-release or beta version of Adobe CS3, Adobe CS4 or Adobe CS5 suites (e.g. Master Collection, Design Standard, Design Premium, Production Premium, Web Standard and Web Premium) or applications (e.g. Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, After Effects, Contribute, etc.) due to previous or pre-release version of Adobe products can now make use of Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool to remove traces and bits of Adobe software.

The Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool resolves installation problems for Adobe Creative Suite 5, Adobe Creative Suite 4, and Adobe Creative Suite 3 software. Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool can clean up remnants or install records for previously installed pre-release installations of Creative Suite products. Despite been mainly provided as a tool to fix and resolve conflict caused by pre-release (beta or RC release candidate) of Adobe software, Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool should work on any final RTM version of Adobe software too.

The Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool does not interfere with existing installations of previous versions of Adobe Creative Suite products. It allows user to specify which products to clean up, so user can remove and delete a version of Adobe CS products independently.

Once the old install records of Adobe Creative Suite are removed, user should be able to start the installation of Adobe Creative Suite again. Note that Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool may not remove all directories, registry keys, configurations, and preferences that might have been installed. Instead, its main purpose it to allow the new installation of Adobe software can proceed and complete without failure.

Prerequisite to Use Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool (from Adobe TechNote)

• Back up all files stored in Adobe product directories. This may include custom plug-ins or profiles you have installed.
• Uninstall the Adobe Creative Suite product through Add or Remove Programs Control (Windows XP) or the Programs And Features Control Panel (Windows Vista/Windows 7), or navigate to /Applications/Utilities/Adobe Installers folder and double-click the Adobe Creative Suite product uninstaller (Mac OS X).
• Download, install and run Windows Installer CleanUp Utility (msicuu2.exe).

Download Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool for Windows: WinCS5Cleanupscript.zip (executable is CS5InstallerDatabaseUtility.exe)
Download Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool for Macintosh: MacCS5CleanupUtility.dmg

Important: After running the CS5 Cleaner Tool, you may still see an entry for the product in Add or Remove Programs Control Panel (Windows XP) or the Programs and Features Control Panel (Windows Vista/Windows 7). Double-click the entry and choose Yes to delete it.

To verify that Adobe CS5 Cleaner Tool completed successfully:

1. Navigate to one of the following folders:

   • Mac OS: /Users/[Username]/
   • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[Username]\
   • Windows Vista or Windows 7: C:\Users\[Username]\

2. Open the Adobe CS5 Installer Database removal application.log file (Mac OS) or the Adobe CS5 Installer Database removal script.log file (Windows) in a text editor such as WordPad (Windows) or TextEdit (Mac OS).
3. Ensure that there is no error been logged.