Why Is Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Update Service Running If Auto-Updates Are Disabled?

[sunil_2567]

Hi everyone,

I am currently troubleshooting an issue with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2015 (Version 2015.006.30033), and I am confused about how updates work in this version.

• I have confirmed that bUpdater is set to 0 in the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\2015\FeatureLockDown\Services), which should disable automatic updates.
• However, I noticed that the Adobe Acrobat Update Service (AdobeARMService.exe) is running in the background.
• Despite the service running, Acrobat Reader is not updating automatically.
• I manually checked Help > Check for Updates, and updates are not being installed automatically.

My questions are:

1. Does the 2015 Classic Track support automatic updates, or does it only receive manual updates?
2. Why is the update service running if updates are disabled via bUpdater = 0?
3. Is there any way to enable automatic updates for this version, or is upgrading to a Continuous Track version required?

Any insights from the community or Adobe experts would be really helpful!

Thanks in advance.

[LeoUpdaterX]

The Service you mentioned is not Updater. Think of it as a process that provides elevation for Updater when elevation is required to install available updates. It is running because it is needed to also install updates for Updater itself.

bUpdaterr registry value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\2015\FeatureLockDown\Services disables updates for Services installed with Reader, but not Reader updates.

To disable Reader updates, you will need to set bUpdater in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\2015\FeatureLockDown

[sunil_2567]

Does that mean that we change the Register value for UPDATE RO 1, Will it update  Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2015 (Version 2015.006.30033) automatically to the latest version?

[LeoUpdaterX]

Automatic updates are enabled by default. You should not set bUpdater at all and, if it is set to any value, best is to simply delete it.

Some admins customize install to disable updates, which sets bUpdater during initial install of a product.

If that is your case, simply deleting this value is not enough. You will have to uninstall product and install again without this customization.