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December 19, 2017
Question

Fatal error - Acrobat failed to send DDE command

  • December 19, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 61982 views

Hi all.

We have a third party bit of software which generates reports in PDF format and automatically opens the generated report in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC via SQL. For some reason around 2 weeks ago, instead of opening reports in Adobe Acrobat, it now generates an Adobe Acrobat fatal error, "Acrobat failed to send a DDE command".

We have tried completely removing Adobe Acrobat using the removal / cleanup tool but we're still getting the same problem.  I have followed advise from I have been getting the "acrobat fail to send a DDE command" , and problem still persists.  The only thing I did not do was change was the Log On properties of the Remote Procedure Call service.  I would like to avoid making a major change such as this, but if there is good evidence this is the fix I will revisit this as an option.

This is running on Server 2012 with terminal services.  The current version we are running is Version 2018.009.20050.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Many thanks,

Greg

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

AnandSri
Community Manager
Community Manager
January 29, 2018

Hello Greg,

Sorry for the delay in response to your query and apologize for the inconvenience caused. I have sent you a private message, please check your email inbox.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

Participating Frequently
March 2, 2018

What was the solution to this?

AnandSri
Community Manager
Community Manager
March 10, 2018

Hello Eniac,

Sorry for the delayed response and inconvenience caused. If you have tried  all the suggestions mentioned above, and the issue still persists, please contact the Adobe Acrobat technical support team so that they can take remote access to  the computer and can assist you Contact Customer Care

Feel free to update this discussion for any further assistance.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

AnandSri
Community Manager
Community Manager
January 15, 2018

Hello Greg,

Thank you for the details. Please disable the protected mode for testing purpose and see if this brings any difference. Please change the settings to default again.

Please collect the log files of the machine and share it us through the Private message, I have sent you the instructions to collect the log files via private message, please check your email inbox.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

January 22, 2018

Hi Anand,

I've tried with protected mode on and off (Was already disabled) and still getting the same issue.  I have also added the file locations into the Windows trusted sites and added as a host on the privileged locations settings.  But the issue is still persisting.

I've run the log collector, but the ZIP file generated is empty?

Thanks,

Greg

AnandSri
Community Manager
Community Manager
January 10, 2018

Hello Greg,

Sorry for the delay in response to your query and apologize for the inconvenience caused. As per the description above, you are getting an error message of Adobe Reader failed to connect to DDE Server, Is that correct?

Please try the following troubleshooting steps mentioned below:

   1) Make sure that the application is not open to the Task Manager.

  •     Go to the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del.
  •     Go to the processes in Task Manager.
  •     End all processes related to Acrobat.
  •     Restart the computer.
  •     Launch Acrobat again.

2) Repair the application. Open Acrobat and navigate to Help menu > Repair installation.

3) Check the file association on your system.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

January 12, 2018

Hi Anand,

This is an error coming up on a terminal server with multiple users logged in.  However we have tested by closing the acrobat processes and rebooting, but as you may appreciate this is not something we can do often.

I have also repaired the installation, as well as completely removing and reinstalling.

I have checked and reset the file associations on the system as well.

Are there any further checks and tests that we can perform?

Thanks,

Greg