"An Internal Error Occured" when clicking on a PDF and Windows Explorer preview pane is showing.

[lisar19299332]

Hi there,

Running Windows 11, up-to-date system and up-to-date Creative Cloud and Adobe Acrobat DC. I have my preview pane visible when going through my files, and sometime in the last 2 weeks PDFs no longer show up in the preview pane. Instead, windows explorer freezes for a few seconds and then shows an Adobe Acrobat "An Internal Error Occured" pop-up. I tried clearing out my temporary files, and tried creating a "2022" folder in C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Local\Adobe\Acrobat\ which was suggested in this thread. Neither worked. All other file types (.jpg, .doc, etc.) show up in the preview pane just fine. Any suggestions?

 

[markelrayes · Accepted solution]

I FOUND A SOLUTION.

I had to go C:\Users\[me]\AppData\Local and right click the Adobe folder, click properties and go to security tab. I had a bunch of left-over "Account Unknown" listed besides my three main ones (System, [me], Admin). I deleted all the account unknowns.

That fixed it for me.

[Eric Brandley · Accepted solution]

This worked, for me! (thank god, what a pain in the a**)
I couldn't find the "AppData" folder, I ended up finding it by clicking "view", then "show" and then toggling on "hidden files".

[_johnpalmer]

Mine said this too.  Be sure to click APPLY when you get this error.  You should be able to ignore the warning all the unknowns were removed anyway 🙂 

Thank you @markelrayes this solutions worked for me (W11 - up to date / CC up to date).

[Lisa27917775lrzm]

What if I do not have any leftover unkown accounts in the Security Tab? 

[Adept5EDB]

I had this problem too.  One window back, in Adobe Properties, there is an advanced button at the bottom.  Click that and in the next popup you can disable inheritance.  It will ask you what to do with the existing inheritance rules, and I chose the option to turn them each into explicit rules.  That cleared out the last unknown account for me.

[Sígrid Degobi]

Had the same message. I left just that one and deleted all the others. It worked.

[Emilia5CCB]

Just hit 'Apply' and then 'OK' and it will delete that remaining account automatically, did for me!

[Julian308232071p9y]

Seems like the first one from top to bottom is binded to the previous one, so if you try to delete the first one in first place this message appears. For me i deleted it all from the next to "System" to top one, like from bottom to top, and as i tried to delete the first one in irst place too just like you, that message poped, but right as i closed that window once i have had deleted the previous ones as i described it just have been removed.

[psyborg042]

I had the same experience, but once I clicked Apply and then OK, that last Account Unkown went away.

I hope that helps

[koyuki25]

Same for me. I closed everything, opened it again and it was gone. 

[lisar19299332]

That worked for me too! Thank you so much!! 🙂

[Vibrant_individuality5E82]

Thanks. You saved my ass 🙂

[Christian236303668g11]

Works like a charm, you saved my day, markelrays! For ver grateful 🙂

[RocketFive]

I've been trying to fix this for months, and this worked. You're a star!!!!!

[Vu5F90]

THANK YOU x 10,000 times!!!

Your contribution is way more valuable than what Adobe has done.

[Ramon254622708tq8]

Great, thanks, how is it possible that it happens to many people? And Adobe don't say nothing.

[RedFeathers]

It's a little disappointing that the Adobe employees don't respond on the queries either, or they reply once and never again. At least there are some brilliant people on the forum who help out.

[David Virgilio]

That works perfectly! Thank you.

[RocketFive]

Strange, I just clicked on a PDF, and the same problem came back, an error popped up, and Windows Explorer froze. It was working fine since I did this fix, and everything was great this morning; it's only been in the last hour something has changed.

I went to the Adobe folder as per outlined in this fix, and all of those unknown accounts were back. I've deleted them all again, and the PDF preview is working fine. The question is, what's causing all of these unknown accounts? Is this something we have to keep doing? Seems very odd.

[lisar19299332]

Agreed! It would be nice if Adobe would chime in 🙂

[AllGraphik]

I was wondering the same thing, what caused this creating of unknown accounts that to so many. Before I got the step to fix this issue from this community, I had contacted Adobe customer care, the tech support did clean removal of the complete adobe applications installed on the system remotely such uninstallation, deleting all folders etc. And it worked for few hours and then the issue was back. But since I have done the fix given here, issue has not been generated yet. Also there was an update from Adobe few days ago, might be the hot-fix. Who knows? 

[RedFeathers]

Hi RocketFive,

When you remove the Unknown Accounts that returned, go into Advanced and click on Disable Inheritance and let me know if that works?

Do you use your Adobe account on multiple PC's or do you have more than one Adobe Account?

I'm wondering if that's why they are created.

[RocketFive]

Hey RedFeathers

Sorry for the late reply; it's been a crazy week. I've gone into advanced as you suggested, and it's asking 'What would you like to do with the current inherited permissions?'. The options are 'Convert inherited permissions into explicit permissions on the object' or 'Remove all inherited permissions from this object'. Which is the best to choose?

I only have my Adobe account on one PC. I was wondering if some other software (like Microsoft Edge or Chrome) is creating these as they have PDF previews?

Thanks again for your help.

[RedFeathers]

Hey there, no problem, I know how it goes, especially towards the festive seasons when deadlines loom.

You need to select the 'Remove all inherited permissions from this object' for the Unknown accounts before it will allow you to remove the last one.

[RocketFive]

Yeah, deadlines are pretty much my life right now 🙂 

Perfecto, thank you. I'll give this a shot later when I have a moment; currently on another deadline, phew!

[defaultja22hg0ztr3p]

Thank you very much! This worked for me perfectly 🙂

[peters85445095]

@markelrayes LEGEND!! Thank you so much!!