If Adobe were a man, I would punch him.
Posted April 24th, 2007 by nrbI just got off the phone with Adobe technical support. It wasn’t a pleasant call to say the least. You see, I am apparently nobody to Adobe; part of the 0.5% of users who ever use any of the filesystem options presented to us while installing OS X. Now, because of that, I get to spend the next 2 or so work days backing up, reformatting, reinstalling and reconfiguring my system because Adobe decided to not support one of the out-of-the-box install options for OS X. Just…. grand.
Now apparently being the fucking weirdo I am I decided to set up the filesystem as case-sensitive while installing OS X onto my pretty new iMac. Why? I do a lot of web development work that ultimately goes live on Linux servers with… a case-sensitive filesystem. Therefore I can do all of my development and testing locally and then push it live with minimal fuss, as far as the file names and directory structure is concerned.
Since I recently obtained a new Intel Mac, Photoshop has never worked. When I transferred the my copy of CS2 (via Migration Assistant) and tried to launch it it would give me a “File Not Found” error and then choke and die. I figured, “Hrm, Migration Assistant must have missed a file or two” and since the release of CS3 was imminent, I made due with faithfully lugging my laptop with me in case I needed to do any graphics work.
I was rather excited then this morning when my boss gave me approval to purchase CS3. “Ah”, I exclaimed with joy, “My image editing woes are over!” But lo, it was not to be. Six hundred and fifty dollars and a 45 minute download later, I am greeted by this prize:
Just in case it can perhaps help others who are Googling this well thought out, descriptive error message (I was almost completely unable to find anything when I searched), it reads:
System Requirements Error
This software cannot be installed because the file system of the OS volume is not supported.
Now just to be clear, it’s not like I have an esoteric hacked-to-hell system; HFS+ is the default file system for OS X. It’s just that mine knows the difference between “Apple”,”apple” and “appLe”. However, since it is apparently inconceivable that anyone would ever need case-sensitivity in the default file system, Adobe chooses not to support it… or publish that case-sensitive file systems are not supported in the System Requirements… or include anything in the FAQ or general support sections.
Dreading the worst, I called Adobe’s tech support line and talked to a tech who confirmed what I knew in my heart to be true. Getting CS3 to work would take a reformat and reinstall of my system drive since “we use some of the built in frameworks and the system needs to know where to find them.” (Never mind that thousands of third-party developers seem to be able to write apps that both leverage system frameworks and work without a hitch on my ‘unsupported’ file system. But hey, good attempt at deflecting the blame from your company, bucko.) He did however, refer me to knowledge base article 400587 which gives a wealth of information (har har har) about the problem and it’s resolution.
It’s taken me roughly 40 minutes to write this. iBackup is telling me I have 24 minutes remaining before I’m backed up and good to reinstall. Meanwhile, the project that was the reason I purchased CS3 (to save time, ha!) is languishing in the corner with the rest of my work. I’m lucky I have such a cool boss, or else I would be much more upset by this point.
34 Responses to “If Adobe were a man, I would punch him.”
June 7th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Unbelievably slack on Adobe’s part. I’ve just come across your post googling the same problem. I got round it with CS2 by creating a case-insensitive disk image and installing to that but it appears that CS3 won’t even allow that.
What a bunch of numpties.
June 10th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Snap, same problem.
I work extensively with linux so a case-sensitive file system makes sense!
Now I have to change it for Adobe’s sake?
June 24th, 2007 at 3:40 am
Me too
I am so sick of the standard of apps accepted by Mac users.
I have recently taken up the Mac 12 months ago after 10 years as a Linux-only developer.
Selecting case-sensitive when presented with the choice was just common sense as far as I was concerned. Thus far (since buying a Mac - which I love by the way) more than half of the “made for Mac” applications which I have bought and tried to install have failed due to this one point alone.
HOW FUCKING HARD IS IT TO SPELL FILE NAMES CORRECTLY YOU DUMBASSES!!
I have never found it a problem.
And I thought Windoze was the only OS left stupid enough to think Apple == aPPLe.
Seriously bummed after waiting almost an hour for this piece of crap to download.
June 25th, 2007 at 8:31 am
@Dave:
I don’t think the problem lies completely with the ’standard of apps accepted by [us]‘, I think it has more to do with laziness on Adobe’s part. Part of the excuse Adobe hyped up to explain why it was taking so long for a Universal Binary version of Photoshop to come out was that they were ditching their legacy Metroworks codebase and refactoring everything in XCode. Well… what happened? The Adobe rep I spoke with blamed it on the way the OS X Frameworks are accessed, claiming that CS3 could not differentiate /Library/Frameworks/blahblahblah from /library/frameworks/blahblahblah. In fact some anecdotal evidence suggests that by creating all lowercase symlinks to the proper libs will, in fact, allow you to install on a case-sensitive filesystem. However, if they did in fact use the core, Apple-supplied tool to develop this version THE GOD DAMN LIBRARY ACCESS METHODS ARE RIGHT THERE! This whole thing reeks of laziness on Adobe’s part. My money is that Adobe, somewhere along the line, decided that a full XCode port was just too much of a hassle and was taking too long and instead decided to write wrappers for the Metroworks legacy turd-code.
August 24th, 2007 at 10:51 am
[...] by web designers working on servers with case sensitive filesystems, no less). I know I’m not the only one who feels this way, [...]
August 29th, 2007 at 3:41 am
Same problem here :-/
With the very first cReaTive sUIte, I had been able to install the apps on a case-insensitive disk-image. But no way here with this CS3!
Trust me or not, but the only apps with which I’ve encountered the problem are softwares from Adobe (CS3) and HP (All-In-One drivers and apps)! Too small companies to spend enough time to develop things properly, I suppose :-/
October 4th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I did about the same thing. Formatted my Macbook’s HD case sensitive without thinking anyting bad and ended up with hours of lost work due to CS3 not working on this file system (I had reformatted the HD and rebuilt the system from my Mac Pro with the migration assistent).
all I can say ist that I really feel abandoned by Adobe. They should inform their customers about such issues. This is intolerable. Never would I have imagined that CS3 would be incompatible with a file system that was there long before its release. I have lost valuable hours of my work. This is absolutely intolerable and I feel very helpless and sad.
October 28th, 2007 at 8:38 am
I just upgraded to Leopard, had to reinstall cause of issues, finally finished loading all of my previous apps and prefs and then was presented with this POS error message? Adobe can LIck MY bALLs on this one — thanks for making me waste another day redoing everything, bunch of lazy-ass coding fucktards. /rant
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Damn, got the same problem and I just finished putting all my system in place.
Would’nt it be possible to make an image of the whole OS, reformat with the right settings (not case sensitive) and then restore image?
Worth a try maybe…
November 5th, 2007 at 5:17 am
Mate, I’ve got the same problem. I just installed Leopard, I decided to use case sensitive file system because of unix compatibility and when I started to install CS3, I suddenly realised I have to reinstall the whole system! Adobe sucks…
November 18th, 2007 at 9:19 am
I just ran into the same thing. OMG! I am so pissed about that. COMMON! Grrrr…. well time to reformat… the joys. The only saving grace is that CS3 was the first thing I was going to install after Upgrading to Leopard.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
ADOBE - please point to me where on this box I hold in my hands does it say anything in regards to case insensitive file system as a requirement.
This is what I see:
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
* PowerPC G4 or G5 or multicore Intel processor
* Mac OS X v.10.4.8
* 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
* 1GB of available hard-disk space (additional free space required during installation)
* DVD-ROM drive
* QuickTime 7 software required for multimedia features
* Internet or phone connection required for product activation
* Broadband Internet connection required for Adobe Stock Photos and other service
November 21st, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Arrgh!! Me to.
I had no problem installing my other 3rd party apps, just CS3. CS3 gave me the “This software cannot be installed because the file system of the OS volume is not supported” error. I was stumped, until I stumbled on this site.
Bloody hell!!
November 25th, 2007 at 1:45 am
Had the same thing after installing fresh copy of Leopard.
It really is quite incredible they should do this. And it is not like we are talking about a minor nuisance, but a major pain in der arsch. Reboot after install is bearable, although not ideal. Reformat and re-install OS prior to install is just not acceptable.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
I can’t believe this… What kind of developers do they have working for them? If you are a developer at Adobe get your act together and think about what you are doing. We are not talking about a couple of developers struggling to make the cut. This is fucking Adobe!!! Hire some competent developers that actually know and understand what the hell they are doing. This is mediocre and unacceptable to say the least.
Good one!
December 3rd, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Same problem, no solution. This is so frustrating!!! Maybe if enough people complain they will do something about it. So the option is reconfigure your drive or downgrade. Yeah, sweet.
December 7th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
What idiots. Lazy Lazy Lazy Lazy.
Too bad Gimp doesnt have a real port for OS X - instead of the crap X-Windows version.
December 12th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
I had the same problem, and if you are just using photoshop, and have a backup of or access to a non case sensitive mac someone made a script to correct the case sensitivity of the problematic files. You bypass the installation, just drag all the program files needed over from the non case sensitive machine to your computer, and then run the script and it starts up just fine.
There are good and easy instructions.
I hope this helps, though it is only for people that are only using Photoshop, and if you haven’t re-formatted. You could go through the other programs on the old system and change the case sensitive files, and then drag them over to, if you have the time/need. Either way, here is the link for anyone who needs it:
http://startthink.blogspot.com/2007/12/adobe-photoshop-cs3-on-mac-os-x-case.html
January 8th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Hi folks, I had the same issue and this is how I “solved” it. Still required a reformatting, but not a reinstall:
1. Boot from Tiger/Leopard DVD (with some big external media attached).
2. Run Disk Utility and select the volume in question (not the drive).
3. Click “New Image” and save the DMG to the attached external drive.
4. Once the image is created, reformat the volume to be non-case sensitive HFS+
5. Restore the DMG from the external drive to the new volume.
6. Reboot and enjoy the crappy Adobe apps.
It takes a while, but is less daunting than backing up and reinstalling/reconfiguring everything.
Hope this helps, and I hope Adobe gets it’s sh#t together soon.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
I got along a similar route like Brent, but using the command line (Terminal app):
1) I borrowed a second external drive from a friend of mine to not use my backup on my external drive while trying to modify my boot partition. A firewire drive is preferable, as usually they are a bit faster and you can boot from it directly.
2) I had to clean up my system from identical file and/or directory names, as they generated an error in step three otherwise. I did a simple script to identify those clashes:
—-
import os
s = set()
for line in os.popen(”locate ‘/’”):
line = line.strip()
lowerLine = line.lower()
if lowerLine in s:
print “%s exists in different casing too” % line
s.add(lowerLine)
—-
(Create a file containing the python script above, name it “checkcase.py” and run it by “python checkcase.py” in a Terminal window. Solve the issues reported by the script by renaming the affected files and/or directories. Note that the script will continue to report the clashes until the locate-db is recreated, which is done by a cron-job once a day.)
3) Run “sudo asr -source /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD -target /Volumes/(you-name-it) -erase -format HFS+”
4) In case you have used a firewire drive, you can use “sudo bless -folder /Volumes/(you-name-it)/System/Library/CoreServices” to make it bootable.
5) You can now already boot from the external firewire drive (hold the option key while booting) and give the Adobe installer another try.
6) You can overwrite your internal drive the the content of the external drive with a similar asr command like in 3. However, you don’t need the -format option anymore, as the external drive already is HFS+. Alternatively the Disk Utility Restore can be used in this step too.
Still, Adobe sucks. I’ve payed 1500 Euro for that crap. Unfortunately returning it to my software dealer is not an option for me. So I have to repeat it: Adobe sucks. Sucks. Sucks.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
The blog removed some crucial text from my post above, namely what I wrote in angle brackets. You need to replace the name of your external drive maked by “(you-name-it)” in the following commands:
3) should read “sudo asr -source /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD -target /Volumes/(you-name-it) -erase -format HFS+”
4) should read ““sudo bless -folder /Volumes/(you-name-it)/System/Library/CoreServices”
Additionally, in 6 it should read “command like in 3″.
I’m sorry about the mistakes. (You may correct that during moderation. Beside that: thanks for the blog and the plattform to post opinions.)
NickNote: Thanks for the awesome info, wobsta! I’ve gone ahead and edited your post above with the changes. Thanks again, this is awesome! (Where were you 8 months ago?
)
January 15th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Seriously this couldn’t possibly be any more freakin gay!
Adobe you should be embarrassed!
So has anyone been so brave as to image your disk, re-format case insensitive, install the stupid Adobe apps, then image and re-format case sensitive again, then restoring the second image?
Wonder if it would work and Adobe is just being ultimately retarded??
Oh yeah did someone else mention that Adobe SUCKS!
January 22nd, 2008 at 6:15 am
Same shit here… What a bunch of losers…
I installed a complete server and have to restart all the shit because of Adobe…??
Shit Shit and shit again… than you very much…
mm….
January 25th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Grrrrr…
In the past I’ve used Photshop, Pagemaker and Premier on my PC/Windoze - but I got a shiny new Mac on New Years so decided to switch… So I’ve spent the last few weeks migrating my usual Wintel Apps and book marks and play lists etc across and getting everything setup just right…
Just spent over $2K on CS3 Master Collection only to get this same damned error message!
As soon as I read the error message I felt a sudden creeping sensation that it had something to do with my choice of HD Formatting during my Leopard install - but I just didn’t feel that Adobe could have been so damned stupid, careless, or lazy.
I went onto the Adobe Forums (Their search facility is woeful) and I couldn’t find anything at all - left a message anyway.
Tried to run the install again just in case. Then I did a search on the actual error string on Google. Found that useless KB TechNote article from Adobe and this brilliant blog - Thank You!
Before I set off on the fix described above, I’ve just got a question. I’ve been using “Time Machine” to backup to an external drive. Would it be sufficient to restore the Time machine, or do I really need to take a complete image?
Or is there anyway to install directly to an external drive that is already Case-Challenged?
February 4th, 2008 at 2:39 am
un-be-lie-vable
that’s a horrible trick they’re playing on all of us case-sensitive-guys. no way i’m backing up and formatting my system for that single app. let’s hope their next update will provide support for case-sensitivity (??)
February 7th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I have this same problem. I had to do it this way. I basically migrated CS3 from a case-insensitive drive to a freshly formatted and Leopard’ed case-sensitive one. Then I copied the apps to a case-insensitive disk image. I get some harmless errors, but it works. See my posting for more detail. Good luck folks.
February 11th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I’m facing the exact same problem. This is ridiculous, extremely ridiculous. This has caused a great deal of turmoil already and will cause even more as I shall have to format the whole thing. I’m extremely upset with ADOBE for this retarded incompatibility.
I’m sorry you peeps don’t have anything to do with my anger but this has ruined my entire week.
Gui Righi
February 15th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Have you heard yourselves?. You sound like children stamping your feet. Stop whining, get off your fat asses and go and do something else, if you have found the that the whole world isn’t tailored around the *EXACT* things *YOU* are doing!.
Learn about Macs a little bit, because complaining that they’re not like Linux is… just hilarious. No - this is one OS that is actually EASY to use, believe it or not. Millions of other people worldwide have no complaints; you are a minority group. Get over it, pull your fucking socks up and move alone, nerds.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
@Helllo -
ADOBE DEVELOPER SPOTTED! (hahah jk)
Since your blind Internet nerd-rage seems to have caused you to fail basic reading comprehension, let’s review some of the facts.
Adobe promotes a $700+ suite of tools to Creative Professionals. Many of us are Creative Professionals, and only after Adobe took our money did we find out that there was a system requirement, namely the absence of a case-sensitive file system, that was not listed on the box (the Adobe tech support rep I called and spoke to was not even aware of it and had to confirm it with his supervisor). HFS+ (Case-Sensitive, Journaled) is one of the basic filesystems OS X supports and we, as professional developers whose work often or exclusively end up being hosted on servers with case-sensitive file systems (i.e. Linux) have our systems set up in a case-sensitive manner to avoid nasty and potentially very embarrassing errors (Imagine a site where all the images refuse to load because all the references point to images named “whatever.jpg” but the real image is located at “whatever.JPG”). This was done with Disk Utility during install, nothing that a noted Mac Expert such as yourself should be unfamiliar with. Now, we have already paid for this software and ensured that our machines meet the basic system requirements as stated on the box, on Adobe’s website, etc. and are all set to install when…. ERROR. Now we need to take time out of our schedules when many of us either bill by the hour or are up against deadlines to COMPLETELY REFORMAT AND REINSTALL OUR ENTIRE COMPUTERS.
This simply should not happen with professional grade software. Doubly so for a company with resources like Adobe’s. Thousands of developers can manage to make software that works flawlessly on case-sensitive filesystems, why can’t Adobe? Even then, to not tell us about it being a system requirement until after the fact? For shame.
No one is asking for the whole world to be tailored around the “exact things [we] do”. No one is asking for Macs to be more like Linux. You fail at reading comprehension and your ad hominem attacks only make you sound even more ignorant and childish.
So while we may be in the minority, we’re still right and you’re still a troll.
April 4th, 2008 at 8:42 am
http://imaginationunbound.blogspot.com/2007/12/adobe-photoshop-cs3-on-mac-os-x-case.html
Instructions for how to install Photoshop CS3 on case-sensitive Mac OS X
April 13th, 2008 at 7:40 am
I just got off the phone with Adobe ‘Customer Service’. They tried to hang up on me when I described this problem. Complete crap. What Apple and Adobe don’t seem to understand is that they have a symbiotic relationship. It’s gonna end up hurting both if they don’t get it together. This is a pretty lame issue that Adobe has really mishandled, and from the length of this thread looks like they’re actually determined to continue to do so. Having a little bit info about this beforehand would have really helped.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
I had it all running very sweet on my macbook pro. Until I decided to reformat my drive case-sensitive journaled. Like many others here, I realized I must have a development environment that mimics my production environment.
I literally spend the past 14 hours backing up my hard drive, making list of all applications I need to reinstall, format the drive, install the os, reinstall all applications, reconfigure my servers (apache, mysql, subversion, php5…), to then find out I cannot install Creative Suite.
I almost pulled my hair out.
I will spend the next many hours without sleep and redo it all back. WHAT a WASTE of TIME.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
I have a cloned version of my hard drive on a USB (from before when it wasn’t case sensative) I am able to run photoshop off of the external USB drive. Perhaps if you can some how get all the files onto that drive it’ll work
May 30th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Same same. However, Lightroom installed without a problem. I don’t understand the inconsistency.
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