Adobe Photoshop CS3 installation problem

I received my Adobe Photoshop CS3 upgrade last night and when I tried to install it, I got a very unhelpful cryptic error that stated something like “Cannot continue, Photoshop CS3 conflicts”. Remembering that I had installed the beta version of Photoshop CS3 a few months back, I trashed it along with the Adobe Bridge CS3 beta. After emptying the trash CS3 still wouldn’t install! And there was no indication given of why not. Just the same error message.

I suspected that there were other related CS3 beta files (preferences, settings and such) on my computer that needed to be removed but I was naturally unable to determine where they lived and what files to remove. Google to the rescue, I came up with this:

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/04/cs3_cleanup_scr.html

It’s an automated script that will seek out and delete the old CS3 beta files for you so you can then successfully run the installer.

It took me about 10 minutes of research to be able to finally get the installer to actually run, but I fear a lot of people who aren’t as technical (or as good with ‘net searches) will have a frustrating experience when they run into this same problem trying to install their CS3 upgrades.

Adobe really needs to get their act together. They charge a pretty penny for their product, why can’t the installer identify and give the option to remove these files automatically? At the very least, the error message could have been a lot more informative. Shame on Adobe.

UPDATE February 15, 2008:

Please see this newer post of mine for updates on this issue:

More Photoshop CS3 installation woes

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