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Question

Adobe Acrobat Pro 2024 Classic in RDS (Microsoft Remote Desktop/Terminal Servers)

Forum|Forum|13 days ago
September 10, 2026
8 replies
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Hello, Does anyone know if Adobe Acrobat Pro 2024 Classic can be installed in RDS (Microsoft Remote Desktop Service)? I have contacted Adobe support and waiting for a reply. I installed Acrobat Classic: In Remote Desktop, I was still unable to access Acrobat Pro features and received a message indicating that my IT administrator had not granted access. However, when I installed Acrobat Classic locally on my laptop via Software Centre and signed in with the same account, Acrobat Pro features worked successfully. We use Named User License and Federated ID to log in.

We had Adobe Acrobat 2020 installed - however that was not NUL and it worked fine

A

authentic_warrior682dAuthor

Participant

Hi @DFWTechGuy, @Anand Sri Bhattacharya and @BaniVerma

Thank you for all your help and suggestions.

I have figured out the issue:

I deployed Acrobat Classic on an RDS environment using the Unified Installer and followed Adobe's guidance to enable"Suppress Sign-In in Acrobat", which is intended to allow unlicensed users to use Acrobat as a reader while licensed users can sign in and access Pro features.

Adobe documentation followed during testing:
https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/acrobat/kb/download-acrobat-classic.html

However, during my testing, this did not work as described. I could sign in successfully with a valid Acrobat Pro Classic licence, but Acrobat remained in Reduced/Reader Mode and the Pro features stayed locked.

The fix was to remove the sign-in suppression setting by setting bIsSCReducedModeEnforcedEx=0. As soon as I did this, the Pro features were unlocked and Acrobat worked as expected.

As a result, I will be deploying Acrobat without sign-in suppression enabled. Users without an Acrobat licence will need to use another PDF viewer, such as Microsoft Edge, while licensed users can sign in to Acrobat and access Pro features.

I also found reports from other customers describing the same behaviour, which suggests this is not specific to our environment:

https://community.adobe.com/questions-9/acrobat-pro-you-do-not-have-access-to-this-feature-1275122
https://community.adobe.com/questions-9/bisscreducedmodeenforcedex-not-working-as-expected-1305421
https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/44853835--unified-64-bit-adobe-acrobat-reader-dc-isn-t-rea

BaniVerma

Community Manager

Hi @authentic_warrior682d,

Thank you for coming back and laying this out so clearly, and thank you for sticking with it until you found what was actually going on.

To confirm what you found: with Suppress Sign-in in Acrobat enabled, signing in with a valid Acrobat Pro Classic license didn't move Acrobat out of Reduced/Reader Mode in your RDS environment, and turning off that setting was what unlocked the Pro features for you.

Looking at the two threads you linked, this isn't isolated to your environment. Both describe the same gap between what Suppress Sign-in in Acrobat is meant to do, let unlicensed users read for free while licensed users get Pro features after signing in, and what actually happens once a licensed user signs in. Given how it's turned up across different Acrobat versions and deployment setups over the past few years, deploying without sign-in suppression, the way you've landed on, is a reasonable path forward.

We're going to flag this pattern internally, along with the threads you found, so it has visibility beyond what each organization has to work around individually.

Thank you again for closing the loop here. This will genuinely help the next person who runs into it.

Thanks,
^BS

A

authentic_warrior682dAuthor

Participant

Has anyone actually done this in their environment? Deployed Acrobat Pro 2024 Classic in RDS - Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Hosts

D

DFWTechGuy

Participating Frequently

Since the same Federated ID gets Acrobat Pro features when installed locally, I’d look at the RDS deployment/licensing rather than the account itself.

Adobe does support Named User Licensing in virtualized environments, but the RDS/virtual environment needs to be deployed correctly for NUL. I’d check the Adobe Admin Console product profile and make sure the user is assigned the correct Acrobat Pro entitlement, then verify that the RDS package was created for Named User Licensing.

The old Acrobat 2020 installation working doesn't necessarily mean the same setup will work with the newer NUL licensing model.

If you can confirm whether this is a dedicated RDS session/VM or multiple users sharing the same server, that would also matter for the deployment approach.

A

authentic_warrior682dAuthor

Participant

Hello,

Many thanks for your reply. I used the Adobe Customization wizard to set installation option for virtual environment support.

I’ve just been testing with my account and can confirm I do have the Adobe Pro 2024 Classic license assigned to me.

I followed the RDS deployment guide as well.

These are dedicated RDS sessions - we have 8 session host servers - multiple users sharing same server.

Thanks!

Anand Sri Bhattacharya

Community Manager

Hello @authentic_warrior682d

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. Sorry for the trouble you had.

Acrobat Pro 2024/Classic can be deployed in an RDS environment, but the installation and each user’s Pro entitlement must both be configured correctly, and Named User Licensing is the reason your Pro features are blocked. That "your IT administrator has not granted access" message is a licensing/entitlement message, not a broken install. Acrobat is falling back to an unlicensed (Reader-like) mode because the signed-in identity is not being licensed for Pro in that RDS session.

Confirm the host OS: Acrobat Pro 2024 lists 64-bit Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022 as supported. If you are using another Windows Server version, confirm support with Adobe before proceeding.

Verify the entitlement: In the Adobe Admin Console, go to Products > [Acrobat product] > Product Profiles > [profile] > Users and confirm the Federated ID is assigned to the correct Acrobat Pro/Classic entitlement. If the message states that the user does not have access, also verify that the SAML NameID/email exactly matches the user in Admin Console. Please check this article for more details: https://adobe.ly/4r23KSI

https://adobe.ly/4r53wKt

Check the RDS deployment: Adobe’s current packaging documentation confirms that Acrobat Classic can be included in a Named User Licensing package. Shared Device Licensing is not supported in virtual environments. For an image-based RDS deployment, Adobe also requires the user’s AppData\Roaming\Adobe data and HKCU identity/licensing data to roam with the user; the documented installation properties are ROAMIDENTITY=1 and ROAMLICENSING=1. Do not launch Acrobat on the master image before capturing it. Check these articles for more information: https://adobe.ly/4A0RVAh

https://adobe.ly/3UBkDaW

https://adobe.ly/4r7ZVM3

Retest sign-in: In Acrobat, select Menu > Help > Sign out, sign in again with the Federated ID that has the entitlement, and restart Acrobat.

Also, if possible, your Admin Console administrator should contact the Enterprise support team through the Admin console, so that the dedicated Enterprise support team can assist you.

I hope this helps. Please reach out if you need any assistance.
Regards,

Anand Sri.

A

authentic_warrior682dAuthor

Participant

Hello,

Many thanks for your reply.

We are on Windows Server 2025

I have reached out to adobe and waiting on their reply.

All settings are correct, Login fine, license assignment correct etc - it is just not unlocking the pro features in RDS.

I am using my account for testing so I’ve checked all the settings etc.

I used the Customization Wizard and RDS deployment guide to install with all the correct settings.

These are individual session host servers - we don’t use a master image.

As this is not classed as Enterprise - we do not use the adobe admin console to create the package (I checked and you can’t create a classic installer package from there) - we need to use the Adobe Acrobat Pro 2024 Classic installer which is available from Adobe.

Thanks!

BaniVerma

Community Manager

Hi @authentic_warrior682d,

Thank you for the extra detail, and sorry this is still blocking you while you wait to hear back from Adobe.

One thing worth flagging in the meantime: per Acrobat Pro 2024's system requirements (https://adobe.ly/3TtTnuB), the documented supported Windows Server versions are 2016, 2019, and 2022. Windows Server 2025 doesn't appear on that list, which means it’s not supported.

Given that, it may be worth testing the same deployment (same Customization Wizard settings, same Federated ID) on one of the documented server versions, ideally Windows Server 2022, to help narrow down whether this is tied to running on Server 2025 specifically, separate from the licensing or deployment configuration itself.

One more thing worth confirming, since it wasn't clear from your last reply: within the RDS session itself (not locally), have you tried fully signing out of Acrobat (Menu > Help > Sign out), then signing back in with the Federated ID and relaunching?

Please let us know what you find, and we'll go from there.

Thanks,
^BS

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