Skip to main content
M
MWilcox
New Participant
November 21, 2019
Answered

Microsoft Edge Keeps Hijacking My .pdfs

  • November 21, 2019
  • 6 replies
  • 22448 views

Has anyone else had trouble with their Windows 10 machine resetting their default program for .pdfs to Microsoft Edge no matter how many times you tell it Adobe Acrobat Pro DC?  If so, have you found a fix or do I just have to "deal with it".  It's getting to be very frustrating -- some days I change it back a dozen times or more.  If anyone has any suggestions, I will be very grateful.  Thank you.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Bill5C62

    None of the various registry hacks or Edge file renaming/removal tricks worked for me. What did work was:

    Launch Edge

    Ellipsis (…) in upper right

    Settings

    Cookies and site permissions

    PDF documents

    Set Always open PDF files externally to ON

    6 replies

    E
    Eli35931475o72q
    New Participant
    March 7, 2024

    I know this is an old thread, but here is something to consider.  Some MSI's have the autorepair set. If someone does a WMI query for the Win32_Product class, it can cause those MSI's to do a repair which then takes over the PDF association.  I have seen this in our own environment.  We found in the event logs that on reboots there are several MSI's installing again. In some cases it will update the installed date of those applications to that day's date.  

     

    We found that one application was set to be uninstalled via GPO but was failing and then kicking off the automatic MSI repair and therefore taking over the PDF association, and sometimes, just setting it to nothing as you have commented.

     

    To solve this you must find out what is causing the Win32_Product query (script?), and/or if there is an install or uninstall failing from a group policy or startup script. (look in the application event log for events 1035, 7035, 7036)

     

    Here is the documentation that supports this behavior:
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-US/troubleshoot/windows-server/admin-development/windows-installer-reconfigured-all-applications

    Another site that explains the same behavior and how people installing with powershell or other scripts can cause this behavior.
    https://devblogs.microsoft.com/scripting/use-powershell-to-find-installed-software/

    The particular paragraph: "If you choose to query Win32_Product class by using Get-WmiObject, you’ll find yourself [Bad] waiting for your query (or application) to return [Ugly] a consistency check of packages that are installed as it attempts to verify and repair installs. (For more information, see Event log message indicates that the Windows Installer reconfigured all installed applications).:

     

     

      Park Street Printers
      Park Street Printers
      Known Participant
      March 7, 2024

      Thank you for that informative post. I think it will help some people. I'm going to do some reading tonight at home, based on what you've cited.

        A
        Amo01
        New Participant
        February 21, 2024

        I had the same issue but found the solution in the following link:

         

        https://allthings.how/how-to-change-default-pdf-viewer-on-windows-11/

         

        L
        Lester98A7
        New Participant
        February 22, 2024

        Whilst this does allow you to set your default apps, it doesn't fix the problem as Microsoft still decides, at seemingly random points in time, to reset the default back to Edge.  Even after I managed to get rid of Edge off my PC Microsoft still changed the default (but to nothing).

        Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
        Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
        Braniac
        February 22, 2024

        Yes, that's correct.

        MS will continually redirect URLs to their browser. Tends to happen when they roll out a large enough update to Windows OS.

        And that's why it's important for us users to complain to our government authorities:  I know here in the states, it might take a while for our agency to rap a company's knuckles, but eventually they do and it can have strong consequences for the company; the software could become banned on government computers which is several million in the US.

         

        So get those complaints in! (See US and EU links above)

        And don't forget to mention that eventually MS doesn't respect the user's choice and flips it back to their browser — without warning.

         

        |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
        P
        Peter3554711970t3
        New Participant
        February 19, 2024

        Hi all,

         

        I am also strugeling with the same issue and stumbled upon this post. Someone suggested reporting this as anticompetitive behavior with the US government. This is a great idea, so I checked if this is also possible within the EU, and it is!

         

        https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/antitrust-and-cartels/procedures/complaints_en#:~:text=You%20can%20provide%20information%20on,the%20practice%20you%20have%20observed.

         

        Also a note to Adobe: could you please add the keys to disable this switching in the Adobe installers? I am using a managed PC so have no rights to edit the registry myself, plus it would be a good way to fight back!

        Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
        Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
        Braniac
        February 19, 2024
        quote
        ...I checked if this is also possible within the EU, and it is!

        https://competition-policy.ec.europa.eu/antitrust-and-cartels/procedures/complaints_en#:~:text=You%20can%20provide%20information%20on,the%20practice%20you%20have%20observed.

        By @Peter3554711970t3

         

        Thanks for adding the EU's URL to this thread, @Peter3554711970t3.

         

        |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
        A
        Anonymous
        February 16, 2021

        The problem is that when MS updates Windows, it is wiping out the user preferences and, consequently, hijacking PDFs to MS Edge rather than Acrobat (or any other brand of PDF reading program). Your preferred program for reading PDFs is ignored by the new version of Windows.

         

        MS's action could be interpreted as "anticompetitive conduct" by the US government's FTC Technology Enforcement Division.

         

        If you are a US citizen, file a complaint with the FTC! See this webpage for information about how to do this. Just takes a simple email to the address listed: https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-competition/inside-bureau-competition/technology-enforcement-division

         

        Personally, I'm sick of this s*** from Microsoft. It's been happening for 2-3 years. Let's get it stopped.

         

          J
          JESSE5C09
          New Participant
          July 28, 2021

          https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/articles/top-feedback-summary-for-july-27/m-p/259253

            E
            E. Lassanyi
            New Participant
            August 2, 2021

            Thanks for posting that.

            Planned

            Edge should respect the default PDF viewer

            49 weeks

             

            Wow, that's nearly a year away...  <sigh>

            B
            Bill5C62Correct answer
            New Participant
            February 15, 2021

            None of the various registry hacks or Edge file renaming/removal tricks worked for me. What did work was:

            Launch Edge

            Ellipsis (…) in upper right

            Settings

            Cookies and site permissions

            PDF documents

            Set Always open PDF files externally to ON

              ls_rbls
              ls_rbls
              Braniac
              February 16, 2021

              Thank you for sharing that feedback.

               

              I think that is actually the correct answer.

              J
              JESSE5C09
              New Participant
              August 2, 2021

              I have a GPO pushing that, and I still see Edge taking over.

              ls_rbls
              ls_rbls
              Braniac
              November 21, 2019

              Hi,

               

              Try the following work around through registry editing:

              Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System

              and paste the following string value DisablePDFHandlerSwitching   then add 1 in the value field

               

              idea taken from this link : https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/AdminGuide/pdfviewer.html

               

               
               

               

              If the method above doesn't work try these other steps:

               

              https://appuals.com/how-to-disable-edge-pdf-viewer-in-windows-10/

              C
              catherinek73334226
              New Participant
              December 7, 2020

              Thank you for posting this. I am having the same issue. I followed all of the steps above, and it worked, but ultimately did not fix the problem.

              My application settings no longer reset to Edge as the default application, but the files themselves still do . I will go in to the settings and choose adobe acrobat as the default application for .pdf's, but then a few minutes later Windows will reset and no default application will be listed. Therefore, the files will still default to Edge. 

              I've been trying to fix this problem for over a year and it is driving me crazy. I'm sure it is intentional on Windows part, but there has to be a solution by now!

              ls_rbls
              ls_rbls
              Braniac
              December 8, 2020

               But to be sure you can try the same guidance as mentioned above with a new user profile account in the same computer.

               

              If it works in the new user account but not in the current user account, then we can assume something is wrong in a temporary cache folder or similar of the current user account that may need to be cleaned or deleted for good (but I may be wrong).

               

              However, I am more inclined to think that you may be missing a step.

               

              When you right-click on a PDF file, select from the context menu "Open with"  and then from the next context menu select "Choose another app".

               

              The slide below shows the following options:

               

               

               

              Left-click once on "Adobe Acrobat DC" to select the desired PDF handler from the list of programs, and then tick the checkbox below (lower left corner of that context menu) then click OK.

               

               

                Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
                Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices