An Internal Error Occured, Cannot Use Adobe Acrobat

Question

Hello,

I'm receiving an error on a team member's computer that pops up after the program is opened and I try to navigate the toolbar in Adobe Acrobat. This error doesn't occur when I open the program as admin and only seems to happen when it's opened with their profile logged in. We use SSO in our environment.

Here's some troubleshooting steps I've taken:

Killing program and then re-open
Restart computer
Check for updates
Make sure Adobe and CC are updated
Use both AcroCleaning Utility and CC Cleaning Utility and then reinstall
Uncheck various settings in the app preferences
Check Security tab of shortcut/program for users that should not be there

My thought is that the issue is somehow related to Adobe being in some kind of authentication loop or their version of Adobe being in "Old Acrobat." I can't select any of the options at the top toolbar. When I do, I get the above error message. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Tariq Ahmad · Answer

Hi @ArcturusMengsk,

Thanks for sharing the details. That “An internal error occurred” message can sometimes indicate permission or configuration issues, especially in customized deployments.

Since Acrobat works fine when launched with administrator rights, this likely suggests a permissions-related issue with either the installation or the user profile. That you already have found out.

Here are a few things you might check:

Check Folder/File Permissions:

Make sure the current user has full read/write permissions for:

%appdata%\Adobe\Acrobat\
%localappdata%\Adobe\Acrobat\
The main installation folder (e.g., C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat)

Customized installs sometimes restrict these unintentionally.

Custom Installation:

If Acrobat was installed via an enterprise deployment or custom script, verify whether any AppContainer restrictions, Group Policy, or custom preferences are enforced.
Try running the app after disabling any startup scripts or extensions, in case one is causing the failure.

Test with a New User Profile:

If possible, try logging in with a different Windows user profile. If it works fine, the issue is likely tied to the original profile’s environment.

More information on deployment and customization, please check: https://adobe.ly/3J9970s

Let us know if you’re able to test these suggestions — happy to continue helping.

Best regards,
Tariq | Adobe Community Team

Check Folder/File Permissions:

Custom Installation:

Test with a New User Profile:

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