Acrobat DC replacing Reader DC (32-bit) 2022.001.20085 Automatically

[Shannon235324883rxl]

Has anyone noticed Reader being "updated" to Acrobat during the scheduled update task?  I had a client contact me yesterday regarding Reader not working after being updated to the latest version 2022.001.20085 and found the systems now had Acrobat DC (64-bit) installed instead of the 32-bit Reader.  Found in the event log where Reader had performed an update and then later where AcroPro.msi had began an installation.  I've been able to recreate it on a test system by simply installing Reader (32-bit), checking Reader is functional and reports the correct version installed and then opening the task manager and kicking off the scheduled Adobe update task.  Checking for updates within Reader correctly reports the latest version is installed and doesn't cause Reader to be removed and replaced by Acrobat.

I had removed Acrobat DC and reinstalled Reader DC on several systems yesterday only to find they had all "upgraded" to Acrobat in the early morning hours when the scheduled task executed.

Using a PowerShell script to remove the scheduled task in the meantime.

Spot checking some systems from other clients and it's not limited to just this single client.  And as I mentioned, I can recreate this over and over on my test system.

[Shannon235324883rxl · Accepted solution]

Looks like I found the answer.  Just taken a long time to see this hit any systems.  Verified the suggested registry setting to prevent the update to 64-bit does keep Reader from being replaced by the 64-bit Reader/Acrobat.

Acrobat Reader DC migration to 64-bit (adobe.com)