Printer driver did not install on Windows 7 x64

[feklee]

On a 64 bit Windows 7 system, I installed Acrobat Pro DC 2015 and its latest updates. However, the PDF printer does not show up:

I tried all steps described in @dmcmahon’s blog entry Acrobat: PDF Printer missing after installation on Windows 64-Bit. In between steps, I generously rebooted. The printer still does not show up.

What can I do? Are there any log files that give more detailed information?

[feklee]

What I tried now:

1. Uninstalled Acrobat Pro DC 2015.
2. Retrieved which drivers are installed (see also a post on SuperUser.com):
   
   >pnputil -e >drivers.txt
3. Checked `drivers.txt`, then – with `cmd.exe` started as Administrator – deleted all drivers provided by Adobe:
   
   >pnputil.exe -d oem113.inf
   Microsoft PnP Utility
   
   Driver package deleted successfully.
   >pnputil.exe -d oem153.inf
   […]
   >pnputil.exe -d oem154.inf
   […]
   >pnputil.exe -d oem155.inf
   […]
   >pnputil.exe -d oem156.inf
   […]
4. Rebooted.
5. Reinstalled Acrobat: no PDF printer driver
6. Rebooted.
7. Installed the latest Acrobat updates: no PDF printer driver
8. Rebooted.
9. Tried installing the driver manually: error message “Printer driver was not installed. Operation could not be completed (error 0x00000002).”
10. Rebooted.
11. Did repair installation of Acrobat: no PDF printer driver
12. Rebooted
13. Still no printer driver.

What else can I try? Where do I find log files that tell what is going wrong?

[feklee]

Using files from the original Windows 7 installation DVD, I now replaced `ntprint.inf` and `ntprint.pnf` in `C:\Windows\inf`, reinstalled Acrobat and the latest updates, and rebooted. The PDF printer has not been installed. When trying to install it manually, I still get error 0x00000002.

How do I find out more? Is there nobody here who can help?

[feklee]

No response, not even a suggestion. Did I perhaps post in the wrong forum? Or does Adobe not care about these forums?

[feklee]

Just installed the latest update to Acrobat Pro DC 2015. Still, the printer driver does not install.

What else can I try?

[Dave__M]

Is this a personal computer, or one managed at work?  If managed by an IT team, there might be a permission issue with installing a driver.  I know there are some installations I am permitted to do on my work machine, but some I can not without IT assistance.

I'll try to research and see if I can locate a fix.

My best,

Dave

[feklee]

Tanks Dave, for the response! It is a personal computer.

[Dave__M]

feklee,

I have searched in a variety of directions for a similar issue and/or solution.  So far, I have not found anything, but I will keep it on my radar.

My best,

Dave

[feklee]

  Thanks Dave, for your help so far! Two / three days ago, I gave it another   shot, again without success:

1. Uninstalled Acrobat.
2.   With msconfig, found that “Adobe Acrobat Update Service” is still running. According to services.msc, that is:   C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\armsvc.exe I disabled it.
3.   Downloaded <url=https://driverstoreexplorer.codeplex.com/>RAPR Started it as Admin. After clicking enumerate, I saw: oem113.inf  by Adobe, in driver class printers. I deleted that package.
4. Rebooted.
5. Installed the latest Acrobat Pro DC 2015.
6. Rebooted.
7. No printer.
8. Tried to install the printer manually, again error 0x00000002.
9. Uninstalled Acrobat and rebooted.
10. Using RAPR, again I removed the Adobe printer package.
11. Fixed registry issues using CCleaner, after making a backup. Repeated the process twice, until no issues were reported anymore.
12. Cleaned cache files, etc. using CCleaner.
13. Rebooted.

  Finally, I detected that there is a stray printer port: Foxit_Reader (Local Port) Maybe that’s the issue, but I don’t know how to remove that port.

  Any idea what else I can try? Is there perhaps a better PDF printer, one     that just works.

[Dave__M]

feklee,

Have you tried to install the print driver from the Windows Devices & Printers control panel instead of from the full program install routine?  Perhaps you can purge the Foxit driver from there as well?

My best,

Dave

[feklee]

As mentioned in the message which started this thread, I followed all the steps in the blog post Acrobat: PDF Printer missing after installation on Windows 64-Bit.

This includes attempts to manually install the printer via the Devices and Printers control panel.

No success.

It would be very helpful if there was a way to find out what goes wrong. Isn't there a log file? What else can I try?

[Dave__M]

Sorry - I did see this earlier in the thread, but missed it on revisit.

[feklee]

To get rid of everything Foxit from the past, I now tried the following process:

1. Installed Foxit PDF with all options. The Foxit PDF printer installed just fine.
2. Rebooted.
3. Uninstalled Foxit, got the error message: “Some elements could not be removed. These can be removed manually.”
4. Rebooted.
5. Deleted C:\Program Files (x86)\Foxit Software which still contained one file: Foxit Reader\plugins\ConvertToPDFShellExtension_x64.dll
6. Installed Acrobat. Again the PDF printer is missing.

What to do? Reinstall Foxit and use that instead? Then – with all these issues – I wonder what justifies the price for Acrobat.

A log file could tell me what is going on, but it seems that Adobe is not able to implement such a basic feature.