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Adobe Acrobat Reader shows a Grey Screen after installing KB5074109 when utilising the WebBrowser component in Windows

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Since installing KB5074109 the WebBrowser component can no longer load PDF’s within applications utilising Windows WebBrowser component.

Instead of displaying Adobe and the PDF in the browser a grey screen appears and the Adobe Acrobat Reader process is launched but appears to not do anything.

Users are using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader (2025.001.21111, although had a previous version when logged).

As a work around we currently disable the add-in in Internet Options which provides users with a popup to Open or Save the PDF instead.

I was monitoring threads

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/issues-with-adobe-dc-reader-after-windows-11-update-kb5074109/td-p/15665887 and https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/pdf-documents-not-loading-after-june-8th-on-64-bit-web-browser-control-web-app/td-p/12121363 (Although 4 years old had responses this week which included one saying it was being investigated by developers) but it appears since yesterday the community site has changed and responses and threads have disappeared.

Is this still being investigated as we don’t have the issue with other PDF Readers.

chrissmithdatelgroupCorrect answer

Inspiring

Initial tests show KB5079473 Adobe Acrobat Add-in is working for Windows 11 25H2, testing for Windows Server still ongoing

chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

Hopefully patch Tuesday will include whatever Microsoft has fixed for Adobe Acrobat Reader.

We have noticed 26H1 is released however it appears this is currently for new machines only.

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthorCorrect answer

Inspiring

Initial tests show KB5079473 Adobe Acrobat Add-in is working for Windows 11 25H2, testing for Windows Server still ongoing

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

Our testing for Windows Server KB5078740 (Didn’t appear in Update History for some reason) shows this also works - March 10, 2026—KB5078740 (OS Build 26100.32522) - Microsoft Support

We have noticed KB5079473 March 10, 2026—KB5079473 (OS Builds 26200.8037 and 26100.8037) - Microsoft Support states

[Windows Defender Application Control] Improved: This update improves how Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) handles COM objects allowlisting policies. COM objects were blocked when the endpoint security policy was set higher than the allowlisting policy. With this update, COM objects are allowed as expected.

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RobbyMolver

Participant

Has anyone tested the latest update (KB5077241)? It was released yesterday.

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

Not yet

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RobbyMolver

Participant

Correct, I missed a number.

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Lucas5FBE

Participant

As a workaround you can set the following registry value, you’ll then see more than one iexplore process. Based on our observation the ActiveX works fine when loaded out of the main iexplore process:

Key Path:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

Value Name: TabProcGrowth

Data: 1

Value Type: DWORD or REG_SZ

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

I have tested this and this won’t work when using the embedded browser component.

I have tested on Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025

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positive_Marvel7593

Participant

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S

stesz

Inspiring

This is super helpful, thank you!

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

I suspect its MS breaking COM/ActiveX add-ins, I assume that’s how Adobe still integrates with the legacy web component in Windows.

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mbettencourt

Participant

The KB5077181 update brought back the problem that was fixed in KB5074105.

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AnandSri

Legend

Hello @mbettencourt @Noah_Tec

Thank you for reporting this, and I am sorry for the trouble. We will get this investigated with the product team and will update the thread if any workarounds are available.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

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L3m0nZ

Participant

@AnandSri , there is a workaround available by disabling the Adobe add-on in the internet options.

This way the prompt “open, save as, save” pops up instead of receiving the preview.

But of course: the issue should be resolved globally.

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Noah_Tec

Participant

The issue has resurfaced with the latest patch, KB5077181. It was previously fixed in KB5074105, but the new update seems to have reintroduced the issue.

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mbettencourt

Participant

Yes, the KB5077181 update brought back the problem that was fixed in KB5074105.

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

Hopefully Adobe are still looking into the issue but no response from anyone at Adobe since in almost 2 weeks.

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S

stesz

Inspiring

Unfortunately, we were unable to uninstall KB5074109 due to it being deemed a critical update for Windows. While we were able to block the patch for a few users, the problem reached them yesterday after more updates were installed. I am unable to determine which newer update broke this, but am also unable to install KB5074105 as they are on a newer build. (Windows 11 25H2, build 26200.7840).

If anyone knows of a different patch for this build that would fix this, please let me know. I’ve also fully updated Acrobat and reviewed Adobe’s release notes and Known Issues KB, which doesn’t mention this issue.

Based on the other posts here, it sounds like something that needs to be resolved on Adobe’s end to fix the addon. I hope to hear an update soon! We are using the workaround for now.

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emil77dean

Participant

Next cumulative patch from Microsoft for Windows 11 (2026-02 - KB5077181) also blocks Adobe ActiveX plugin which works only in IE mode.

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

Yes we are a bit stuck with having to disable the add-in or suggest another PDF reader until either Adobe or MS can resolve.

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AnandSri

Legend

Hi All,

This has already been reported to our team, and they are working to get a solution/workaround for the issue. As this is also dependent on MS, we have not received any confirmation yet.

I will update the thread if we receive any updates/solutions related to this.

Thanks to all for your patience and cooperation.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

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askalka

Participating Frequently

Hi @AnandSri

this is the feedback i got from Microsoft today:

o far, however, I haven’t been able to find any confirmed or conclusive evidence.

If we don’t know which specific Windows API call used by Adobe’s code is failing—and how this failure prevents the control from rendering the PDF correctly within the client area—we cannot make a reliable statement about which changes introduced with KB5074109 ultimately caused Adobe’s code to fail and the control to stop rendering.

To recap: once the issue occurs, one or more Adobe.exe process instances remain running.
This could indicate a problem in Adobe’s ActiveX control, specifically its inability to perform the required inter‑process communication with one or more Adobe.exe instances.

As a result, the COM interfaces exposed by the control become unstable, which appears to be an additional side effect (or a separate issue) that should be reviewed by Adobe.

In short, based on the available technical details and observed behavior, Microsoft is not in a position to draw a reliable technical conclusion regarding either the root cause of the issue or which change may have resolved it without having investigate a details root cause analysis.

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Niceouttoday

Participant

I noticed the post disappear as well. Very interesting, Microsoft released a 4’th January update lol… Jan 13, Jan 17, Jan 24 and now Jan 29. At least they are working on things. We’re going to try 5075105, thanks for posting.

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Anywen

Participant

After installing latest Windows Update (January 29, 2026—KB5074105 (OS Builds 26200.7705 and 26100.7705) Preview - Microsoft Support)
The issue seems to be fixed on one of my test computer.
I’ll try on more to confirm but this seems promising

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chrissmithdatelgroupAuthor

Inspiring

That's weird, its just got the fix for the missing icon on the logon screen hasn’t it?

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Anywen

Participant

Hello, weird for sure, changelog don’t seems to talk about this.
I’ve got 2 more computers (3 for now) with the patch applied, and reader is working in IE mode

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I assume you mean KB5077241?

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