A lot, let me repeat a LOT of people are having issues when installing Adobe CS4 onto their PC’s and MAC’s, during installation (Checking System Profile) it “freezes” at 90% I say “freezes” with parenthesis because it technically doesn’t freeze, the process just never continues. Ok, so your here because you have this issue and you don’t want to hear the BS…so here goes the solution… It isn’t because of Adobe Flash, it isn’t because of a trial installation of CS4 or CS3. It’s the lame ass stupid fckin anti-piracy check.Here’s how to solve the problem and install your legit OR pirated copy (Shadyman) or whatever version you have.
First:You must un-install prior installations of CS4, attempting to do so by Windows Control Panel>Add remove programs (or Programs & Features in Vista) (Mac users typically use APPZAP) , results in FAILURE, the stupid shit just doesn’t remove.
So go HERE and download the uninstall app from Adobe, BUTbefore you run it, Windows user must download and install (then restart their computers) “Windows Uninstaller something or other utility” (Link is included in the PDF in the uninstaller program from Adobe ) Trust me, you can’t skip this step. 
my fellow MAC users, the process is almost identical, except well, you won’t use Windows unistaller something or other, you’ll use the MAC version, which the link is included as well in the same location above.
Second: you run the Windows/Mac uninstaller utility, it will ask for a restart, sooo Restart…once your back in Windows (or Tiger/Leopard) , run the Adobe uninstaller utility, it is a Command prompt box in windows, and I haven’t run it in MAC sooo I imagine it to be a terminal utility. It will ask if you want to remove Adobe CS3 or CS4, I just chose to remove everything. Once its done uninstalling (it took like 10 minutes), go into Control Panel and run windows default uninstall (add/remove programs , Programs & features in Vista) , Mac users, your pretty much ready for the next step after a restart.
Back into windows/Tiger/Leopard, DISCONNECT from the INTERNET completely, I say this because some people don’t pay attention that if they disc0nnect a LAN line, sometimes a wireless signal is picked up and again, your connected to the internet, just disable all NIC or wifi ports completely. Mac users, disable Airport, disconnect Cat5 cable, This applies for genuine versions as well as pirated versions! Once you’ve done all this, now run the installater
Since you’ve most likely watched the install a thousand times by now, your going to be anticipating the installer to freeze again at 90%, and for some funny reason, it will pause on 90% for about 45 seconds, but this time, IT CONTINUES!, go ahead and proceed with the installation, once its done:
Legitimate users:once the install is completed, you can register (if you want), and plug/turn on/enable the internet and your done 
Pirated users:Once install is complete, it asks to register, obviously you don’t want to do that, close it and exit installation , DO NOT RUN CS4 components yet, install your crack, either the .exe replacements, or the activation disabler, or whatever crack you have, THEN run a CS4 component. After this, you can plug/turn on/enable the Internet and your done
Always here with the raw deal:
Exempt
UPDATES: Seems like a lot more people run into this problem than I anticipated, here are some more solutions if the one I provided didn’t work, these have been submitted by visitors
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Submitted by: “Flasher”
I tried this and worked fine…
SOLUTION :
(1) Attempt to install Flash CS4 upgrade normally (clicking setup.exe). You probably already did this…so you can actually skip…
(2) Go to control panel, add/remove programs and you should see Flash Professional CS4 in the program list. Leave the control panel up, you will need this later…
(3) Navigate to the following folder on your hard drive: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers\a68eec966ce913ddaa63251dc82ed31\resources\common\scripts
(4) Locate a file called “ContainerProxy.js” open it with a text editor (E.G.: Notepad).
(5) Go to line 1102 or simply search for: “jsonObj = _jsonToObject(window.external.SetSessionInitialized(initValue));” and replace this line with: “jsonObj = _jsonToObject(SetSessionInitialized(initValue));”
(6) Save the file by pressing [Strg]+S or use the menu: Menu -> File Save.
(7) Go back to the Control Panel
(8.) Highlight software being installed (Flash CS4 )
(9) Reinitialize the installation by clicking on the change/remove button.
(10) Setup should now work as normal.
Another Solution:
Submitted by : Pablo & The Shadow of Destruction
For Mac users:
Block all connections to activate.adobe.com with little snitch!
edit /etc/hosts before installing
add 127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com
How to:
Step 1 – Open Terminal and paste in:
sudo /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit /etc/hosts
(Hit return and type in your admin password)
Step 2 – In TextEdit add new lines:
127.0.0.1 activate.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 practivate.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 ereg.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 activate.wip3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 wip3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 3dns-3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 3dns-2.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 adobe-dns.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 adobe-dns-2.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 adobe-dns-3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 ereg.wip3.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 activate-sea.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 wwis-dubc1-vip60.adobe.com
127.0.0.1 activate-sjc0.adobe.com
and save it.
Step 3 – leo: Open Terminal again and paste in:
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache
(Hit return and type in your admin password)
tiger: lookupd -flushcache
Another Solution:
Submitted by: “JP”
Solution!!
PC Users, i have a copy of CS4, i tried everything here, nothing happend, so this is what i did:
My copy has a DVD and 2 cds, i needed to extract the DVD to a folder “Adobe CS4″ and create folder “payloads” in “Adobe CS4″ and extract cd1 and cd2 in that folder, then run setup.exe.
So i move the complete “Adobe CS4″ folder to desktop, downloaded diskcleaner, run it, delete everything, turn off my wireless connection and run setup.exe again, it reaches 100% in 30 seconds!!.
Cheers!!
Another Solution:
Submitted by: “Dubs”
This worked for me.
Only part that I needed to do something different is the following:
Go to line 1102 or simply search for: “jsonObj = _jsonToObject(window.external.SetSessionInitialized(initValue));”
(I couldnt find this so I did a search for: setsessioninitialized)
It found the line and then replaced it with:
jsonObj = _jsonToObject(SetSessionInitialized(initValue));
SOLUTION :
(1) Attempt to install Flash CS4 upgrade normally (clicking setup.exe). You probably already did this…so you can actually skip…
(2) Go to control panel, add/remove programs and you should see Flash Professional CS4 in the program list. Leave the control panel up, you will need this later…
(3) Navigate to the following folder on your hard drive: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Installers\a68eec966ce913ddaa63251dc82ed31\resources\common\scripts
(a68eec966ce913ddaa63251dc82ed31 — It might be under a different name, just go into the folder and you will soon know if it’s the correct one or not.)
(4) Locate a file called “ContainerProxy.js” open it with a text editor (E.G.: Notepad).
(5) Go to line 1102 or simply search for: “jsonObj = _jsonToObject(window.external.SetSessionInitialized(initValue));” and replace this line with: “jsonObj = _jsonToObject(SetSessionInitialized(initValue));”
(PLEASE SEE THE TOP OF THIS PAGE FOR HELP ON THIS BIT ABOVE)
(6) Save the file by pressing [Strg]+S or use the menu: Menu -> File Save.
(7) Go back to the Control Panel
(8.) Highlight software being installed (Flash CS4 )
(9) Reinitialize the installation by clicking on the change/remove button.
Another Solution:
Submitted by “Lord Hellfire”
First of all. Disconnect the Internet, or better, set up a firewall to permanently block all communication with adobe.com for the programs… I simply dare not let it update anything, as that may screw up the installation. I have little faith in Adobe’s abilities to keep CS3 and CS4 running smoothly after updating. (And no. It’s not a pirated version. I’m just not eager to go through this three day hell again)
Read through the entire text before you try it yourself, as the solution at the bottom may be what also works for you and then it would be senseless to go through all these steps first…
– First of all, open a command prompt and type: change user /install
This enters the user profile into an Installation mode (Server 2008 R2, remember?), which permits more changes to the registry, than even “run as administrator” does.
Installing CS3 (I installed this AFTER I managed to get CS4 installed):
– See fixes for CS4 regarding unreadable registry keys. No need to check log, as installer shows you which keys.
– CS3 has quite a lot more of these unreadable keys in Server 2008, than CS4 does.
Installing CS4:
If something goes wrong and the installer will not initialize (stays at 90% for more than a few minutes), close the installer and do the following:
– Open the log file (unpack the .log.gz with winrar)
Located in C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Installers\
– Check the bottom of the log.
– Some registry keys will be noted as unreadable.
– Search for these HEX keys and change the parent and subkey ownerships to ‘Administrators’.
– Then add ‘Administrators’ as users with full rights on the subkeys.
– Remove any Adobe installation (Setup and any CS3/CS4 related installations) using Windows Installer Cleanup.
Download WIC here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301
– Run the CS4 Clean script. (requires WIC)
Download CS4 IC here: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/406/kb406241.html
– Delete the Program files(x86)/Common files/Adobe folder.
- If other Adobe programs use the Adobe folder, you may damage them, but they are a helluvalot easier to reinstall than CS3 and CS4.
– Reboot and try installation again. (Remember to ‘change user /install’ in a command prompt. This state changes whenever you log off, reboot or successfully complete an installation)
If it still fails/hangs at 90% for more than a few minutes, even after 10+ tries, then try this last simple workaround which worked for me… although I can only guess as to why…
– Start Internet Explorer.
– Start installation.
– Installer now completes the initialization beyond the 90%.
– Close Internet Explorer, when installer requests this.
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