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chrisc19589743
Participant
February 14, 2018
Question

Adobe Acrobat DC 2017 Crashes Immediate on RDS Server 2016

  • February 14, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 16022 views

Hello,

I've been trying to figure this out for a while, we're running Acrobat on a Remote Desktop Server running Windows Server 2016. If logged in as an admin it seems to always work fine, and some non-admin accounts do as well. Most users though experience the program start to launch than immediately close with no errors being displayed or showing in Event Logs.

The version of the software is Adobe Acrobat 2017 - 17.011.30078 and shows as fully update to date.

I've added the following registry key as recommended in some other forums

HKLM >> Software >> Policies >> Adobe >> Adobe Acrobat >> 2017 >> FeatureLockDown >>

Name= bProtectedMode

Type = REG_DWORD

Data = 0

I have also uninstalled and reinstalled multiple times and the server has been rebooted after each troubleshooting step.

I verified it was active on multiple users, but some are still crashing and since it's crashing immediately I have no way to checking settings to see if Protected Mode is actually off.

Right now as a work around we have just Adobe Acrobat Reader DC so people can at least open PDFs even if they can't edit and manage them.

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

MachineBean
MachineBean
Participant
March 1, 2019

I had a very similar problem with Acrobat Reader DC in a server 2016 RDS environment, and i was able to fix it in two ways

  1. I found that if i opened a PDF with Reader instead of opening the program directly, it would take several seconds to crash. after a few tries i was able to go to Edit > Preferences > Security (Enhanced) >  and uncheck Enable Protected Mode at startup before the program crashed.
  2. after i knew this was a viable fix i found adding a new DWORD value named bProtectedMode with the value of 0 to the following registry keys fixed the issue by disabling Protected Mode at startup
    • for x64 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown
    • for x86 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown

here is some Adobe documentation that i found helpful when figuring out what values to add to the registry Protected Mode

hope this helps someone

S
stephenw60667956
Participant
November 8, 2018

Having the exact same issue on a Server 2012 R2 RDS Server. 

We have two RDS Session Hosts, once a user starts getting this problem, it doesn't matter which Session Host the user logs onto they get the same error.  Which makes me think it's something profile related.  I tried restoring both VM's back to before the problem started, it seems to work for an hour or so, then starts faulting again.  I've even tried restoring the VM then disabling the Adobe Update service before attaching the virtual switch but the same thing happens.

The users are using published Web Apps, but I also see the error when logged directly onto the server via the Hyper-V console.

Is anyone from Adobe looking into this?

I would use different PDF software , but our main line of business application integrates with Adobe!

Adorobat
Adorobat
Participating Frequently
November 22, 2018

Hi stephenw,

Sorry for the delay in response.      

As per the issue description mentioned above, Acrobat DC crashes on RDS Server , is that correct?

Could you check if an update is available for Acrobat using "Check for updates" option under "Help" menu,  You may also download updates from here: Adobe software and product updates

Reboot the machine after installing update and try again.

You may also visit the following forum threads discussing the similar issue:

Adobe Reader DC crashes on Remote Desktop Server 2016

Adobe Reader DC has errors and crashes with Windows Server 2012 R2

Acrobat DC crashes on Windows 2012 R2 RDS server

Could you share the error message users are getting when Acrobat crashes?

What is the dot version of Acrobat you are using? You may refer to the steps given in this link on how to check the version in Acrobat:

Identify the product and its version for Acrobat and Reader DC

Let us know if you need any help.

Shivam

RobbinK
RobbinK
Participant
November 6, 2018

HI,

I had exact the same problem, i found a few years ago online a fix.

it worked for me with different versions of Adobe Reader, now i have used it with version:

2019.008.20080

I add by an policy the following Registery key:

Hive:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER

Key path: Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\Privileged

Value name: bProtectedMode

Value type: REG_DWORD

Value data: 0x0 (0)

Common Options:

Stop processing items on this extension if an error occurs on this item: Yes

Run in logged-on user's security context (user policy option): Yes

    A
    Anonymous
    November 8, 2018

    Hi Robbin,

    Thank you for your answer. However, we have tried it, and it didn't solve the problem. Not all users on the Remote Desktop Server have that problem. We also tried to do a repair, but still Acrobat reader is opening, and immediately closes... We manually accepted the EULA, we did a repair, we entered the registry keys manually, but still it doesn't work..

    Regards,

    Reinout

    K
    Adobe Employee
    Kshakti
    Adobe Employee
    February 15, 2018

    Hi chrisc19589743,

    Sorry to hear the inconvenience caused to you and thanks for sharing the detailed information.

    Protected Mode is a feature for Adobe Reader DC only.

    So, bProtectedMode will have not affect Adobe Acrobat DC.

    To debug the issue for Acrobat, can you please let me know the following:

    1. Does crash happen just after application launch or opening any PDF file ?
    2. Does crash happens only on launching the application on RDS server or does it also crash when directly launched on server 2016.
    3. If crash happens on opening any PDF file, does it crash for all the files?
    4. If crash happens on opening any PDF file, how exactly are the users opening the file ?  (like double click or file->open or drag/drop)

    Thanks,

    Shakti

    C
    chrisc19589743Author
    Participant
    February 15, 2018

    Hello,

    That's good to know about the protected view, thank you!

    As for your question, Acrobat crashes immediately upon launch, whether it's opening a PDF or just opening the application, the window blinks up for a second an immediately closed completely.

    It seems to be 99% non-admin users, though a few of the non-admins aren't having the problem. All users are setup the same way.

    K
    Adobe Employee
    Kshakti
    Adobe Employee
    February 19, 2018

    Hi Chrisc19589743,

    Can you please provide crash dump .

    When Acrobat process crashed ..

    1. Open task manager
    2. Right click on Acrobat process 
    3. Select Create Dump

    Please forward the dump file .

    Thanks,

    Shakti

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