Update of acrobat dc changes default printer

[Qian15C3]

Each time after acrobat installs an update, my default printer is changed from the pdf printer to something else.  I suspect that this is because the update deletes and reinstalls the pdf printer and the default printer thus goes to something else during this process.

Note: windows 10 is not managing my default printer. 

[ls_rbls]

I'm a little confused... If Windows 10 is not managing your default printer then what is?

[Qian15C3]

I manually set which printer is default.  There is an option to let windows manage the default printer based on user behavior.  I turned that option off.

[ls_rbls]

Are you referring to the last two updates?   Or have you observed this happening with every update since you've subscribed to Acrobat Pro DC?

I didn't see anything addressing what you're describing in the Acrobat Pro DC release notes, but since I have MS Windows 10 and I have not experienced this issue every time my Acrobat performs an update, I am thinking of maybe a temporary cache folder, or a user profile temp folder that may need to be cleaned or deleted.

What I have seen before though, is that with every update, wether it be MS Windows or Acrobat, a printer firmware and printer drivers doesn't necessarily update altogether.

Let's say that may be that is the case, then It may be possible that the issue is addressed if you manually force an update of the default printer driver but using the drivers provided by the printer manufacturer, not the generic drivers that Windows update fetches automatically during unattended updates.

In my personal experence throughout many versions of MS Windows that I've used, sometimes Windows update don't respect your manually set default configuration(s) which in occasions it  reverts programs to other undesired system defaults.

That said, you may also want to check if the printing device manufacturer have posted in their release notes this as a known issue, or check in the Micrososft Knowledge base as well to see if Micrososft is also tracking this behavior with other program not just the printing device drivers for your particular model and brand.

I know this is not much help, but if you share your printer model and brand, and the exact build number of your Windows 10 version I can do some more digging.

[Qian15C3]

Thank you!

This problem appeared only in the last month or two.  I don't think it happened with every update but I could be wrong.

I set "Adobe PDF" (the virtual printer of Acrobat for making PDF) as my default printer.  So there is not a make, model or driver, I guess.  What I observed is that the default printer became another printer on my system.  If it was indeed the update of acrobat that caused this problem, you wouldn't observe it if your default printer is not Adobe PDF, because deleting a non-default printer does not affect the default printer.  However, in my system, where Adobe PDF is the default, deleting it will cause windows to set the default to another printer because there must always be a default printer.

Windows 10 Pro, Build 19042.685

Printers on my system:

• Brother MFC-7840W (physical network printer)
• Brother MFC-L8850CDW (physical network printer)
• Brother PC-Fax (virtual)
• Microsoft Print to PDF (virtual)
• Microsoft XPS document writer (virtual)
• OneNote (virtual)

[iamjamieq]

I've been having this same issue for a couple of months, and only today just determined that it was Adobe causing the issue, not Windows. While not seriously disrupting, it is rather annoying, and I hope it can get fixed. Regardless, I completely disabled Adobe updates. 

[ls_rbls]

Would you mind sharing how did you disabled the updates completely? 

I have experienced many issues with updates recently, both with MS Windows and Acrobat.

[iamjamieq]

In Task Manager, in the Startup tab I disabled Adobe Updates Startup Utility and AcroTray (not sure if that's anything to do with updates but I don't need it anyway). Then in the Services tab I stopped AdobeARMservice which is the Adobe Acrobat Update Service. 

I also opened Task Scheduler, and in the Task Scheduler Library, I disable Adobe Acrobat Update Task. 

[ls_rbls]

Awesome. Thank you!

[ACF12B]

I have been experiencing the same problem for a least a couple of years on two separate PCs, one running WIndows 10 and the other WIndows 11. My default printer is Adobe PDF, but every time Acrobat updates, the default printer changes to something else, just like the other users report. Disabling auto-update doesn't solve the problem - I don't think it is sound IT practices not to update apps. Surely Adobe should fix this issue.

[ls_rbls]

+++ EDITED REPLIY, attached a crappy screenshot

++Adding to your very relevant observation,

I think there is a setting on Microsoft Windows ==>> Control Panel ==> Devices and Printers, that you may disable.

It is more of a feature rather than a printing default printing preference that lets the Windows operating system handle default printers automatically.

See if you're able to disable that, leaving the Adobe PDFMaker as the default printer only.

See screenshot below:

 

I was having the same issue before and unchecked that option.

See if this works for you.