Acrobat Pro 2017 registration requires Internet Explorer?

[gplibrarian]

Installing Acrobat Pro 2017 (NFR license I purchased through Techsoup) on Windows 10 20H2 with Edge, Chrome, and Firefox installed, all currently patched and up to date. When I run Pro the first time I am prompted to sign in to register, but then told I need to update my OS or browser. I click the learn more link, and I am told Internet Explorer is required!? Adobe says the system requirements include Firefox and Chrome. Is there any way around this requirement for IE? If I purchase a license for Pro 2020 will it use a modern browser?

Thank you for any advice.

Jeffrey Pike

[BarlaeDC · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Acrobat Pro 2020 does not require IE, and Acrobat Pro 2017 is almost at End of Live so I would recommend updating.

[gplibrarian]

@BarlaeDC:

Thank you for that tip. I will update.

Jeffrey Pike

[Test Screen Name]

Internet Explorer is a part of Windows, so it won't appear in the list of system requirements. Did you delete it somehow?

[gplibrarian]

@Test Screen Name:

It's still there, but Microsoft seems to have effectively made it so invisible that Pro's install routine can't even find it.

Jeffrey Pike

[Chris 486]

HI Jeffery,

The sign in screen does indeed use IE to create the sign in page. I am not aware of a workaround. You will need to have IE installed for the sign in function to work. 

[gplibrarian]

@Chris 486:

I guess IE was still sufficiently a force in 2017 that it could be leveraged, but Edge was released in 2015, and certainly Microsoft was already warning the Windows community in no uncertain terms that IE was on its way to EOL. Besides, Chrome and Firefox had been around for more than a decade by then. It seems perverse Adobe would have continued to cling to IE, as archaic and insecure as it was.

I'm not sure I can install IE anymore, and to the extent it represents a security risk, I'm unwilling to try. I'll upgrade to Pro 2020, which, I understand, should solve the problem.

Thank you for replying.

Jeffrey Pike