Adobe PDF Printer Missing Fix - Adobe Acrobat 8.1 - Vista

Report · Jul 24, 2007

Adobe PDF Printer Missing Fix - Adobe Acrobat 8.1 - Vista

1. Type "C:\Windows\inf" into the search box on the start menu.
2. Locate the INFCACHE.1 file and right-click it and select Properties.
3. On the INFCACHE.1 Properties window tab to the "Security" tab and click the "Edit" button to change permissions on this file.
4. On the Permissions for INFCACHE.1 window click the "Add" button.
5. On the Select Users or Groups window click the "Advanced" button.
6. A new Select Users or Groups window will open and then click the "Find Now" button.
7. The search results are sorted alphabetically; locate the username you logon to Windows with and then double-click.
8. Under the "Enter the objects names to select..." you should see something like this YOURCOMPUTERNAME\Yourusername
9. Now click the OK button.
10. You will now return to the Permissions for INFCACHE.1 window.
11. Under the Permissions for Yourusername you need to tick "Full Control" under the Allow column. Click the "Apply" button and then the "OK" button.
12. You will be prompted with a "Windows Security" window, just click the "Yes" button and continue.
13. Delete the INFCACHE.1 file.
14. Restart your computer.
15. Open Adobe Acrobat 8.1
16. Locate the Help menu item and click Repair Acrobat Installation
17. Restart if requested to do so.

This fix worked on Windows Vista Business Edition (32-Bit).

Report · May 16, 2008

I have 32-bit Vista Ultimate and Acrobat 8.1.2 - no PDF printer. The method described in this thread did not work for me. But here's what did work.

* Open Control Panel, select Printers
* Click Add a Printer
* Click Add a local printer
* Select Use an existing port (should be preselected), change the port to "Desktop \*.pdf (Adobe PDF Port), click Next
* On the next page, click Have Disk...
* Click Browse and browse to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 8.0\Acrobat\Xtras\AdobePDF (or wherever you have Acrobat installed), click OK.
* It should now show a series of "Adobe PDF Converter" entries. Select the first one and click Next
* Change the printer name if desired, uncheck the box to use it as a default printer, click Next
* Do not print a test page, click Finish
* Find your new printer in Printers. Right click on it and select Properties, Advanced
* Click "Print directly to the printer", click OK

You're in business.

Report · May 27, 2008

I tried everything and used everyone's advice.

For me the problem has been that when it was send to the printer, it get stuck at spool. I changed the the pdf printer to

Find your new printer in Printers. Right click on it and select Properties, Advanced
Click "Print directly to the printer", click OK

per Steve's advice and it works now.
Good luck.

Report · Jul 23, 2008

I have windows XP media center. I uninstalled Acrobat 8 to download Acr 9 pro extended. No adobe printer was installed .
Tried the steps given here by Steve Lionel. I was able to add the "Adobe PDF Converter" as printer. Although after the 7th step in Steve's fix, the wizard asked me to search for some files (from XP CDrom) which I was able to locate in the Windows folder-drivers folder and the system32-spool folder.
I went to acrobat,opened a pdf file and tried to print with this printer and saved it on the desktop. A file appears, but adobe cannot open it however it activates adobe illustrator and opens in that program.
Lots of time has gone. No solution yet.
Appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks

Update!!!
I tried printing on this printer from a webpage and it converted the webpage like charm.
I am more than happy even if I get to use this printer to convert webpages to pdf as now I don't have to install those shady pdf converters and printer drivers.
This is good as the fix given here works even for XP.
Thanks for this wonderful solution.

Report · Oct 16, 2008

The original fix described in this thread by Gnavicks - 06:29pm Jul 24, 2007 Pacific seems to work for Windows Vista Home Premium Edition - 64 bit.

Report · Nov 11, 2008

I have the problem too. I am running 32 bit Vista Home. I'm running MS Office 2000. My copy of Acrobat came with CS3 and has auto-updated and now says it's at Acrobat Pro v8.1.3. Shortly after I click the button to convert a .doc to a .pdf, I get a message stating "Acrobat Distiller has stopped working." It happens with every .doc file I've tried.

I tried deleting the Adobe PDF printers and then adding a new one. It didn't help.

I converted one .doc file on the Adobe web site, but I'd like to be able to convert files on my own machine.

Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.

Report · Nov 14, 2008

Worked like a charm for me.

Changed permissions. Deleted INFCACHE.

Restarted.

Ran adobe repair mode.

Restarted.

Adobe PDF Printer was in the printer list now and can successfully convert word documents.

Using Vista Home 32-bit.

I used this to fix as part of my way of fixing the Missing PDFMaker files error.

Report · Nov 23, 2008

No joy for me. It still doesn't work!

Is anyone from Adobe reading this?

Report · Nov 28, 2008

Thank you very much for this fix, it worked for me on Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional with Windows Vista Ultimate

Report · Nov 29, 2008

I spent several days uninstalling and re-installing the Adobe 8 b/c the PDF printer didn't work. I tried the fixes listed on the Adobe forums to no avail. After much searching I found a freeware install that converts to PDF. You can find the Bullware at http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

This was the only thing that worked for me, but I'm up and running fine now.

Report · Dec 03, 2008

I am having this problem with windows XP pro and adobe pro 8.1. PDF printer driver is missing. I have tried to install and uninstall many times with no luck. I am also having this problem with standard 8.

Report · Dec 03, 2008

Marjorie,

See my previous message for freeware that I found to be a good workaround. It's not perfect b/c it doesn't fix the Adobe printer, but I've used the Bullzip printer to convert several times with no problems.

Report · Dec 04, 2008

ConnollA,
Thanks very much for pointing me/us at the freeware Bullzip printer. I installed it and things work pretty well. My initial impression is that the colors on images in my converted files are not very true to the way they started out. I need to look at that more closely to verify this. But at least I can convert documents now.

I'm kind of annoyed that this seems to be a problem affecting a number of people buying some pretty pricey software and Adobe doesn't seem to be taking any interest in the issue.

Thanks again for the workaround,
David

Report · Dec 04, 2008

Hi, David.

I'm glad that it worked for you. I agree that the Bullzip is only a workaround. It doesn't work perfectly, but at least I can convert with it.

I joined another forum about a month ago to try and work out another problem and I agree that Adobe isn't really taking an interest in the problems w/ version 8. What I found out from that forum is that they aren't going to focus on fixes for verion 8 b/c version 9 has already been released and they want us to buy that upgrade.

If you find an actual fix for the adobe printer please let me know.

Good luck,
Amy

Report · Dec 05, 2008

Version 9 didn't help me. I uninstalled 8 and installed the 9 trial. I was hoping to fix it and then uninstall 9 and go back to 8. No go on fixing the problem in 9.

Ron

Report · Dec 12, 2008

Hi everybody, Sweden calling (from France)
I'm running Vista Business, SP1. Have been forced (by Adobes update system) to update directly from 8.1 to 8.1.3 three weeks ago. Lost Adobe PDF-printer because of that update. Struggled -this forum's suggestion tested, 13 solutions tested without success in www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=333221, deleted the file INFCACHE.1 etcetera.
UNTIL this hint came from Adobe Technical support three weeks later: Disable User Account Control! - see www.adobe.com/go/kb404888.
This solved my (rather Adobe's) problem. Step by step: I started from 8.0 which was re-installed from the CD, then disabled UAC, tried convert a word file to PDF - it worked!!. Enabled UAC. Updated to 8.1, then to 8.1.1, 8.1.2, 8.1.2 SU and finally to 8.1.3.
Am now back in business - three weeks of hard work later.

Report · Dec 12, 2008

Thanks for the tip, Jan. It sounded like a real possibility so I tried it. Unfortunately, it didn't help my system.

Report · Dec 14, 2008

Clarification: ""tried convert a word file to PDF - it worked!!. "" Yes, but I'm afraid I had to accept that the PDF writer was missing, but with the answer "yes" to re-install Acrobat in something like "repair mode" - which took quite a while - everything should be fixed. (Forgive me - but three weeks trials and errors .... you don't remember every step precisely)

Report · Feb 06, 2009

Adobe PDF printer is missing and nothing will fix it.

I have tried every suggestion with no success. This is a Vista64 Ultimate machine. In the beginning, Acrobat 8.1.3 did install with the PDF printer and everything worked. One day, the PDF printer stopped working. I thought I needed to upgrade to Acrobat 9.0 so I did, and still the PDF printer was missing. I uninstalled all acrobat versions and reverted back to my Acrobat 8.1.3. No PDF printer.

When I manually attempt to install the PDF printer, this is the error message: "Unable to install Adobe PDF Converter Type 3 - User Mode, x64 driver. Unable to find core driver package that is required by the printer dirver package."

Deleting the infcache.1 file, rebooting and running repair does not work. This is so frustrating. Any other suggestions?

Report · Feb 06, 2009

I'm running 32 bit Vista so I don't know if this will work for 64 bit Vista. In the end, I installed the Bullzip printer driver and it resolved the issue. That was mentioned in this thread (I think). You can get it at:
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php

Hope this helps.

Report · Feb 08, 2009

In Win XP Pro and Acro 8.1.3 Pro, deleting infcache.1 and restarting and running Acrobat>Help>Repair Installation resulting in the same two failure messages already documented. Downloaded and installed Bullzip PDF printer, set as default, and there's joy in Mudville. Color looks OK in the generated PDF from a web page.
Dave
DaveScott@columbus.rr.com

Report · Feb 18, 2009

Adobe Acrobat Distiller version 5 printer driver stopped working I had the same problem as wchao above... <wchao - 7:11pm May 27, 08 PST (#26 of 44)> When I sent a document from MS Word or any other app to the Distiller printer, it would get stuck in the spool and fail to print. I did what wchao suggested in his/her note above. Find the Acrobat Distiller printer in Printers. Right click on it and select Properties then the Advanced Tab For me, "Print directly to the printer" was selected. I changed it to "Spool print documents..." and clicked OK After that I could print to PDF again. Good luck.

Report · Mar 01, 2009

Had "missing Adobe PDF printer driver" message after installing Acrobat 8 Pro on Win XP Pro SP3. Looked in Control Panel and there was no Adobe PDF printer. Followed Steve Lionel's method above and it worked perfectly. Thank you!

Report · Mar 03, 2009

Had missing Adobe PDF printer driver. Using version 6.0. Was logged in as administrator. Logged out and logged in as a regular user and the PDF printer was available. Shared the PDF printer, logged out, logged back in as administrator and the printer was now available.

Report · Mar 14, 2009

HELP!
I have the same problem that David seems to have with my Adobe Professional 8, I get the error of "Distiller has stopped working", it happens when I restart my computer and when trying to convert a document. I just upgraded my Office from 2000 to 2003 thinking it would solve the problem however it hasn't. I also have Vista Home 32bit.
Does anyone know how to fix this or have any suggestions on how to fix this?
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

Report · Mar 16, 2009

I found the Teed Up's email of 2/18/09 did work for me, although I'm running Vista 64bit. The instructions were as follows:

Find the Acrobat Distiller printer in Printers.
Right click on it and select Properties then the Advanced Tab
For me, "Print directly to the printer" was selected.
I changed it to "Spool print documents..." and clicked OK

If this doesn't work, there is also the option of downloading the Bullzip PDF printer (it's free). I used that as a work around until I was able to fix the regular PDF printer.
Good luck!