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CDI_Support
Participating Frequently
February 16, 2011
Question

Adobe Reader 9.4.2 - PDFs won't open in IE 8 & IE 9

  • February 16, 2011
  • 12 replies
  • 57598 views

The recent Adobe Reader 9.4.2 is causing issues with PDFs opening in IE 8 and 9 browsers.  Prior to this update our users have had no issues with opening PDFs generated by our website.

Our website generates USPS labels using Siberix ReportWriter software.  We have not released any updates for at least a month.  Again, before the release of Adobe Reader 9.4.2, there was no issues with our website's PDFs opening in IE browsers.

User System Specs:

Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7 Ultimate

Adobe Reader 9.4.2

Internet Explorer 8 - "File Download" window issue

Internet Explorer 9 - "File Download" window issue

Firefox 3.6.13 - No Issues

Chrome 9.0.597.98 (with Adobe Reader 9.4.2 plugin enabled and Chrome PDF Viewer disabled) - No Issues

The "File Download" window states the following (in addition to a Save and a Cancel button): "The file you are downloading cannot be opened by the default program.  It is either corrupt or it has an incorrect file type.  As a security precaution, it is recommended that you cancel the download. ..."

We have the following workarounds to address this issue with our customers, but they are not ideal:

  • Update to Adobe Reader X
  • Disable "Display PDF in browser" Reader option
  • Don't update Adobe Reader 9 to 9.4.2
  • Install other PDF Reading software.

Any solutions to this issue would be appriciated.

Thanks

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    12 replies

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    A
    Adobe Employee
    Ankit_Jain
    Adobe Employee
    February 17, 2011

    Hi,

    Can you please try out the following steps to help isolate the issue:

    1. Try opening a PDF on your local system, in Internet Explorer 8/9. What is the behavior.

    2. Try opening some other PDF at some other URL on Internet Explorer 8/9 such as:http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/837/cpsid_83708/attachments/Acrobat_Reader_ReleaseNote_9.4.2_8.2.6.pdf

    3. If possible, can you share a link currently not working on your customer's system.

    Thanks in advance.

    Ankit

    C
    CDI_SupportAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 17, 2011

    Thanks for your reply,

    As to your questions:

    1. Try opening a PDF on your local system, in Internet Explorer 8/9. What is the behavior.
      1. Using a PDF that was saved when receiving the "File Download" window, the user/we can open the file without issue (both by opening through Reader 9.4.2 and through IE 8/9). 
      2. This is also the case for every other PDF that they/we open from the local system, not related to our website.
    2. Try opening some other PDF at some other URL on Internet Explorer 8/9 such as:http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/837/cpsid_83708/attachments/Acrobat_Reader_Re leaseNote_9.4.2_8.2.6.pdf
      1. This link worked and the PDF file opened without issue
    3. If possible, can you share a link currently not working on your customer's system.
      1. Unfortunately that isn't possible.  The file is generated based on user settings as well as being created on-the-fly (from memorystream).
      2. However, here is a link to a saved PDF generated from our site that had the "File Download" window issue - https://secure.confirmdelivery.com/MAILnet/EZAddressPDF.pdf
        1. When using this direct link, the file opens fine for us

    We investigated further with other PDFs generated by our website (we have pages that create order forms, and other documents), and they all work fine.  All the PDFs generated on our site use the same PDF generating software (Siberix ReportWriter) and are all generated from memorystream.

    Below is the asp.net/vb.net code we use to post all website generated PDFs to our users:

    Response.ContentType = "application/pdf; name=" & randomName & ".pdf"

    Response.OutputStream.Write(pdfByteArray, 0, pdfByteArray.Length)

    Response.OutputStream.Flush()

    Response.OutputStream.Close()

    B
    brennca
    Participant
    February 17, 2011

    Also seeing this issue.  Windows Vista SP2 with IE8 and Windows 7 with IE8.  PDF generation is also done on the fly, and streamed back to the client.  With Reader 9.4.1, this was working fine.  After 9.4.2 upgrade, now we get an IE file download block message.  We can click "Download File", but then we get a message to Save the PDF, instead of the PDF opening in the browser window like it always has.  After clicking Save, and saving it to the desktop, the PDF can be opened in Adobe Reader standalone.  We have the Internet option in Reader set to open in the browser.  The text of the Save message is: The file you are downloading cannot be opened by the default program.  It is either corrupted or it has an incorrect file type.  As a security precaution, it is recommended that you cancel the download.

    S
    sc1977
    Participant
    February 16, 2011

    We have also started to experience the same problem here since people's reader was upgraded to 9.4.2.  We need a solution to this ASAP!

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