Acrobat No Longer Working in Windows 10

[BubbleHouse]

I commented in another Adobe Forum yesterday and haven't received one single bit of help and probably won't. The latest 'Acrobat' software in Creative Cloud is absolute junk and it's the only software that doesn't offer an older version - like one that works? I've uninstalled 5 times now, did a completely clean and fresh installation and it STILL won't work! Any PDF I select from Windows 10 File Explorer now, will no longer preview and then freezes file explorer and you have to do a shutdown. When I try to open the program, I have to Run as Administrator to get it to open but then it asks to remove it from it's security sanbox thing and then it opens and works. When I close it, I have to do it all over again but then sometimes still won't open. Won't even open when prompted through Creative Cloud dashboard. I've tried every single thing I can find online and this is simply a corrupt version. I have a new computer and it always ran fine until recently - assuming after an update. But CC doesn't even show which version it is or give any info. It just says 'Acrobat'. No longer Acrobat Pro or DC or whatever. People have reported this issue on here since 2017 so WHY IS THIS STILL NOT FIXED ADOBE??? I've lost 3 days of work to this and as a designer, I NEED to be able to access my pdfs without all of this hassle and it freezing my computer. CAN SOMEONE... ANYONE... PLEASE HELP ME WITH THIS??? It's not corrupt pdf files, or a virus, or a bad install, or a file association issue, or any of the other junk answers I keep seeing online that keep being marked 'Correct Answer' but clearly still not solved. Come on Adobe... SERIOUSLY? This is killing my business right now and getting me behind on work. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO GET THIS RESOLVED? Thank You.

[Hollie279331713m8z]

I don't have any assistance or troubleshooting but I'd like to second this post. 

I have 100 Acrobat Pro users in my organization and reports of staff who are unable to open any PDFs have been trickling in DAILY. Opening the app directly appears to show 2 instances of Acrobat in the task manager but the app will not open. Trying to open PDFs causes the same issue. 

We're forced to use Adobe Acrobat x32 for a specific plugin, but we're unable to use the software at all now. It seems to be after recent January updates. 

We've performed recommended reg fixes, changed protected view settings, done ALL recommended troubleshooting and still the only fix is to perform a clean uninstall and re-install which itself takes nearly 30 minutes per instance and even this doesn't permanently solve the issue. 

BubbleHouse's frustrating is definitely shared. Can we PLEASE get a fix for this?!

[BubbleHouse]

Thank you for adding to the conversation and what a nightmare to have that many people in your organization with the same issue! Yes, I've done ALL recommended troubleshooting here as well and then some. If the app were a physical entity, it would literally only be useful right now as a paper weight.

[ls_rbls · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I normally don't encounter these issues if the 32-bit version of Acrobat is manually installed not using the CC Desktop app on 64-bit version of Microsoft Windows 10.

Since you are content creators, I assume that you must be signed in consistently to the Creative Cloud but I don't use it at all.

If you notice the CC Desktop app will install 64-bit programs only, and more specifically they all install  to C:\Program Files.

Conversely, if you choose to manually install the 32-bit version of Acrobat separately from the CC app, it will install to C:\Program Files(x86).

The CC desktop app seems to be faulty when deploying 64-bit modules and dynamic link libraries(.dll) .

It makes sense to me to see this  conflict arise since a handful of Creative Cloud background processes share the same libraries and folder paths as Adobe Acrobat (64-bit).

Which is why you'll notice a repetition of these background processes names listed in the Task Manager.

What is key here, is to not install Adobe Acrobat Pro using the Creative Cloud desktop app.

With that said, you must also look into Microsoft's initiative to move Microsoft Windows to a 64-bit only world (like Apple did with macOS).

Unattended Windows updates are now enforcing upgrades to 64-bit only apps, plug-ins, drivers, and programs.

What used to work before is now deprecated or completely removed with these new system updates (this is true for those of you that upgraded from Microsoft Windows 10 to 11 version on the same machine).

In which case, it won't hurt to review if the WOW64 subsystem is working properly.

I would say to test Adobe Acrobat in compatibility mode (for an older version of Windows, like Windows 8, for example).

Additionally, any changes that have worked for you before using Admin rights must be done with the Windows built-in Administrator account globally;  not with the current user account with Administrator rights.

I hope any of this helps and makes sense to point you in the right direction.

[BubbleHouse · Accepted solution]

Thank you so much! I just got off the phone after 2 hours with Adobe remoting into my computer and it was resolved with the manual download of the 32bit version. I will say that compatibility mode did not work for the 64 bit version but I'm going to post here again with where I left off and got it fixed. I think you pretty much covered it though!

[ls_rbls]

You're welcome.

[BubbleHouse · Accepted solution]

Hello again! So I just got off of the phone with Adobe. They remoted in and it took almost 2 hours but we finally got me up and running again with a 32 bit version. Could be that something changed or was updated in Windows 10 recently and caused the 64 bit version to no longer respond properly.

Here's what got me out of the woods...

When you install Acrobat directly from Adobe Creative Cloud dashboard, it doesn't give you any options and just installs what it installs which was 64 bit Acrobat. Turns out that 32 bit will run on either system though.

They did all of the heavy lifting but it looks like they basically uninstalled the Acrobat 64bit and then ran their AcroCleaner to clean up all of the residual files. That is found here...

https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html

Whether this step is absolutely necessary, I can't say for sure.

But then to access a manual download of the 32 Bit Acrobat, you go here and be sure you're signed into your Adobe account... https://helpx.adobe.com/in/acrobat/kb/acrobat-dc-downloads.html

Everything works great now. Acrobat opens right up and PDF files are now previewing again in Win10 File Explorer and the file explorer is no longer freezing and crashing when trying to open a PDF.

I hope this helps someone out there! And if in doubt or still no luck, you can always call them and they'll likely want to remote into your computer. Hopefully their next update of the 64bit version will include a fix but I'll likely just stick with this version for as long as it takes. 🙂

[ls_rbls]

Great!

I am trying to help two other users in a differemt thread who are having similar issues.

I will share this link with your findings over there.

[mikemoriendi]

OMG! I've been trying so much stuff with the same issue and this finally fixed it. Thank you for sharing all this.

[BubbleHouse]

Awesome!

[Tucarlo]

Thanks. I have tried re-installing, unchecking boxes, etc. Out of all, this one worked. Installing 32bit on Drive C

[Barbara315862899glf]

Thank you so much.  I was ready to forget about ADOBE.

[Joel50BA]

Same.  Downloading and installing the 32 bit version worked for me.  What a relief.  I dont think I will rush back to the 64 bit version.  Just happy to be back at work.

[Nanny108]

Thank you so much!! None of my files would open this morning! I have stressed all day, worrying about this, and this worked!! Thank you! May you have a blessed Thanksgiving!

[kevin5EFE]

Thank you fo rthis inofrmation. I had a similar 2 hour session and I'm sure they did exactly the same. But. There are still aspects which are not working properley and freezing save as is one of them that only works occasionally and there are several fillable forms I have created which no longer accept images and other items. I suspect my windows version as well as the computer although 64bit version of windows, is quite old. Perhaps time for a new one. several of the creative cloud elements are no longer compatible and given the subscription cost, it may be time to upgrade. 

[PFgussy24]

I. Could. KISS. You!!! The 32bit version was the key! I have been fighting with this issue foverever (just wasted most of my morning trying to troubleshoot). You know on the one hand Adobe Acrobat is so feature rich it is indespensible but on the other hand the software can be so exceedingly infuriating it makes me want to find an alternative. I'm not sure why Adobe makes everything so hard for its users.

[BubbleHouse]

After rereading what you wrote, I guess I'll need to see if this 32 bit holds up for me! Fingers crossed.

[Mst29458879hvsp]

If Acrobat no longer working in Windows 10 then you need to Windows 11 upgrade from windows 10. The following article may solve your problem.

https://breakingtouch.com/tech/windows-11-upgrade-from-windows-10/

 

[The_Kiwi]

I do not recommend this "fix", the problem also exists on windows 11.

[Tucarlo]

I am using Windows 11. Worked for me

[Mst29458879hvsp]

If Acrobat no longer working in Windows 10 then you need to Windows 11 upgrade from windows 10. The following article may solve your problem.

https://breakingtouch.com/tech/windows-11-upgrade-from-windows-10/

[mikemoriendi]

The OP already posted a working fix. Also not all computers are compatible for upgrade to Windows 11.

[Lydi-Marie270483959231]

Your fix has been an absolute god send! It took me days and days to finally stumble across this thread after trying so many failed "apparent fixes" but this was the only fix that has actually worked on my Windows 11 machine. I can now actually open and edit my PDFs again!!! I cannot thank you enough! 

[Christopher34493191wx32]

If you click on menu then scroll down to Disable New Version and it will convert back to the older version. I did this and it worked. Too many bugs in the newer version. 

[kevin5EFE]

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

Thanks for the info, I'll try it. I agree, far too many bugs.