Failed uninstall has left me unable to remove Adobe Acrobat Reader DC from my desktop

[DanH1944]

I had version 21.011.20039 installed on 1/12/2022 - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. Now I have one Adobe folder in my "c:\Progrtam Files (x86)" folder with 2 exe's, RdrCEF.exe and RdrServicesUpdater.exe, both of which appear to be installer software, not PDF readers.

When I rtry to uninstall from the control panel, it says the "feature you are trying to use is on a network resource that is unavailabnle". I have no idea what network resource that could possibly be. It's looking for an .MSI that just doesn't exist.

When I ran the Adobe Acrobat DC Cleaner Tool (AdobeAcroCleaner_DC2021.exe), it said it "could not find Adobe Acrobat installed on the machine".

When I try to run the Microsoft Installation fixer (MicrosoftProgram_Install_and_Uninstall.meta.diagcab) it syas "Troubleshooting could not identify the problem".

Nevertheless, when I search the registry for "Adobe", it's loaded with mentions. Shouild I try writing a bot that edits the registry to replace all mentions of "Adobe" with Adobe_caca" ?

Please help!! I would love to be able to install a working Acrobat Reader. Thank you!

[ls_rbls]

Those are not installer files themselves.

Only .msi files know how to install/unistall themselves.

And Adobe Acrobat .msi packages contain subroutines that check if an older version of the same product is already installed.

Usually the correct way to uninstall a program via Microsoft Installer package, is by executing it and choose from the Setup Wizard "Uninstall".

Then employ the Cleanup tool to remove old traces of that software.

If you're having this issue is very probably because you tried to uninstall the software manually and deleted the .msi package that was used to install that version of Acrobat  that you're not able to fully remove.

The same is true for both Adobe Acrobat Reader and Adobe Acrobat Pro; they share many of the same system libraries.

I will assume that if this was the case, and you were not able to find the .msi package for your version, to sign out from the current user account that you're using (even if it is an Adminstrator account) and sign back in as Administrator but using the built in Windows Administrator account (by default it is hidden, if you don't see it enable it).

If you are able to download again the Acrobat Reader version 21.011.20039, you should be able to run the setup program and uninstall apropriately without messing around with registry keys.

[DanH1944]

Thank you for your help.

1) I did not try to uinistall it manually. As I recall, it was back in Feb 2022, I was trying to install something (I think from Adobe) that was free and would let me type into pdf's with edit boxes. When I ran the install, it destroyed my installation and left me with no way to view PDFs

2) True that I have no MSI to provide the uninstall software with what it needs.

3) I don't understand, "to sign out from the current user account that you're using (even if it is an Adminstrator account) and sign back in as Administrator but using the built in Windows Administrator account". Is this something I have to do on order to run the setup in 4) below?
4) I found the DL for the Acrobat Reader version 21.011.20039. When I ran it (readerdc_en_ka_install.exe) here's what I got

Any ideas on what to try next?

[ls_rbls]

Please share the link where you downloaded that version.

And would you also be able to provide the link that you used to install the 7-day free trial of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC?

[DanH1944]

ls_rbls Thank you for your reply.

I found the Adobe Acrobat DC 21.011.20039 at  https://www.updatestar.com/en/directdownload/adobe-acrobat-dc/2336709

The install attempt was something like 9 months ago. If you know a way to download my chrome history, I could search through it to find the link you asked for. Otherwise it will take me about 30 min of holding down the scroll arrow to get back to February's browser history.

[ls_rbls]

That doesn't look like a legitimate download site for Adobe Acrobat.

Hopefully you didn't downloaded that version from a scammer website.

You should always use official Adobe download links:

• https://get.adobe.com/reader/

• https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/acrobat/kb/troubleshoot-reader-installation-windows.html

*** The second link includes another link to download older versions.

[DanH1944]

ls_rbls: Sorry, unable to complete the action you suggested.

When I go to your 2nd link, I see this page where I took the screenshot hovered over the DL link to display it in the lower left

But apparently that's a broken link becuase clicking it brings me to a 404 error

[ls_rbls]

Let's try this:

If I am not mistaken, There is only one method available to access older versions via public ftp url since the actual FTP download method is now reserved for Enterprise support (but I may be partially wrong).

Do you still have Internet Explorer fully installed?

Even though this web browser is already unsupported it still acts as a shell on behalf of the operating system's File Explorer (previously a.k.a "Windows Explorer").

In addition, the family of  modern web browsers have completely disable the ability to use ftp urls to download files with this old and unsecured method directly from a web browser.

But ! you can type in in your Internet Explorer's URL address bar the following URL:

• ftp//:ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/win/AcrobatDC

AND get access to this ftp site.

There many others ftp sites like this one from different companies all around the globe that still provide public access through ftp  URLs. You just have to search them out patiently.

In addition, they allow public access to theor FTP download servers  without having to access them with an FTP downloader program nor  through a web proxy server browser extension that requires an exclusive user name and password, for example.

But anyway, You'll be able to see in that FTP directory that the latest version of Acrobat Reader was released back in October 2020.

That being the case, if you choose to download that version, you can still try and install it and then manually apply the updates.

On the other hand, whichever version of Acrobat you had installed before is newer.

So you may also want to try to use the HTTPS "get"method directly  from your web browser like everyone else is doing nowadays and in order to download the most recent installer.

You may use this official URL:

• htrps://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions

Alternatively, you may also want to use this other URL:

• https://get.adobe.com/reader

If you choose to download Acrobat from the second link above, make sure to include with your download "Adobe Genuine" ; tick the checkbox provided on that page "Install Adobe Genuine Service" before clicking on the download blue button provided below that checkbox.

ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS:

Be advised that there are two versions: 32bit and 64bit.

If your Windows 10 is a 64bit version it supports both Acrobat Reader installer versions (32 or 64bit).

However, I would highly advise to go with the 32bit version of Acrobat Reader for Windows 10:

• Reader DC 2022.003.20263 English for Windows

LAST NOTE:

We are far from done yet.

We still have to figure out how to remove the old traces of whatever unbranded version of Acrobat Reader you downloaded from that other website.

In the meanwhile, let me know when you are able to successfully download Acrobat Reader and if it lets you run the installer at all.