Acrobat failed to load its Core DLL--can't open pdf files as a result

[_Angie_Cevallos_]

I just installed Acrobat Reader 9 and I am getting this error message. I shut down the computer to no avail. I am not able to read any pdf files. Any help is appreciated.

[robbiepsmithsr]

Thank you, that worked for some reason, now it opens.

[Test Screen Name]

Very interesting fix. Others please let us know if it works for you, or if it doesn't. Also any idea why it works??

[Angeldia30]

this didn't work for me now what?

[ESOL23]

I too have jsut strted to get Acrobat Failed to load its Core dLL>  It is very frustrating. I need to read PDFs for work. I disabled Nortan, tried repair and even tried to call Adobe to no avail . Iwas on hold for over an hour and they never answered..(just used minutes on my phone) If any one know anything please help. I just instalalled anew microsoft windows. Could that be the culprit/ If no body here can help. where can I go to get this fixed?

[envsafety]

Per my previous post: 1. you can read PDF files with free Microsoft File Viewer

and 2. I would try running the Kaspersky-TDSSKiller scan: see #51 from envsafety on April 6.

D.

[ESOL23]

Thank you, thank you, thank you..it worked!! I had even paid $38 for help at Justanswer.com and the tech yesterday could not help me. You are the best!

[willythagr8]

I know different things are working for different people...so here's what I did to fix the problem. I ran windows defender offline version (you have to put it on a cd or flash drive & restart with it inserted), and it Found/Cleaned 346 infected files, and also removed 27 Viruses...

After it took it 7 hours to complete the full scan and correction...Adobe worked again 100%

And no, this was not my personal computer, it was one of our computers at work.

[pwillener]

Thank you for posting your solution - good to know that a different approach also works.

[D_Whiddon]

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this.  Would you be able to explain?  Sorry.

[Guest]

Copy all the files in the reader folder from the path listed above(Not the folders in the reader folder) and then click on My Computer, then click on Local Disk (C:) and paste the files there. This is the root and it will work.

[D_Whiddon]

Thank you for the explanation.  I pasted the files in C: but I am still receiving the error message.  Not sure why it didn't work for me?

[KEJKMARL]

I did now says I am missing a plugin but at least opening getting somewhere

[Test Screen Name]

If it says you are missing a plug-in, I suspect you are trying to run the copy of AcroRd32.exe that you copied, now in C:. This is logical but not what is needed. You would continue to run the original copy (from the Start menu, icon, or whatever).

[KEJKMARL]

That is what I am doing

[envsafety]

If you downloaded and ran the Kaspersky TDSSkiller malware scan that was in the link and did not find any malware then this would not solve your problem. Sorry.

[D_Whiddon]

Thank You!! I just retried this and it worked! I can't thank you enough!

[lucindanb]

I have been trying to fix this for days including restoring my system and uninstalling and reinstalling the ap.  I was ready to give up and pay someone a lot more savy than me to try to fix it when I saw your post.  It worked.  Thanks!

[Guest]

If someone still has a computer that has this error and hopefully ha a small windows install you could run Disk2vhd and upload this somewhere on the internet,  I'd like to analyse the image and identify the malware.

[D_Whiddon]

My Adobe is finally working but now I can not print any of my pdf documents.  Do you have any suggestions with this problem?

[Guest]

Hi Whiddon, this is still due to the infection.  The best work around at this time is to download and install Sumatra PDF http://download.cnet.com/Sumatra-PDF/3000-18497_4-10698785.html  to print PDFs.  I should have an infected computer in my possession on the 11th and hopefully will be able to analyse and determine a fix for the problem.

[Guest]

Thank you so much!!  I have been trying to fix this issue for days and your solution worked like a charm.

Regards,

Gail

[envsafety]

Hi Folks,

We've had problem – we have not been able open PDF files with Acrobat reader.  This initially was a major issue because I have so many PDF files. 

Here is the error message:

Incompatible with system configuration.  Do you want to open with protected mode disabled?

When I try to open with protected mode disabled I get:

Fatal Error:  Acrobat failed to load its Core DLL.

After uninstalling and reinstalling with no help, I realized I could open the files with Microsoft’s file viewer – so it wasn’t as crucial to solve the problem ASAP.

So we spent time following up on a potential BOT infection.  Comcast had sent us an EMail saying that they thought that one or more of our computers had a BOT.  The only symptoms we had was that my lap top crashed a couple of times in the past week; and we lost the ability to read PDF files.  The Email gave a choice – either follow instructions to get rid of the malware yourself or seek specialized help from Comcast to get rid of the problem (for $129).  So I did the do-it-yourself version and did not find the BOT.  After several calls to Comcast and at least an hour we were connected with someone from their Tech Support who knew what he was doing.

He gave us a file that took one minute to download and another minute to do the scan.  It found the BOT and removed it.  AND once I rebooted my laptop the PDF problem went away. 

So in case you have had strange computer problems, here is the file location

http://download.cnet.com/Kaspersky-TDSSKiller/3000-2239_4-12684178.html

Don’t click on the 3-step running banner that says “start download”

but click on green button on the left that says “Download Now (CNET Secure Download).”

If you have problems, hopefully this will solve it.

Thanks

[TiggerTurtle]

Thank you so much I have been working on this for days, scanning, uninstalling, reinstalling and could not get anywhere.  I just tried that and it is all better I can once again open my files.  Truely appreciate the insight.

[KevinA223]

Thank you for posting this info. The scanner found a rootkit on my system, and after Cure removed it Reader works again.

[Dpakch]

Hi Everyone,

The Adobe team has been working on this issue offline and with many of our customers over phone calls and emails. The investigations have concluded that this break is caused due to the presence of malware on the system. We have been able to see significant success with the use of Kaspersky TDSSKiller tool. Many users on the forums had reported the same and we have also been able to confirm results with some infected machines.

If you are facing this issue, we recommend running the tool on your system. For installation and usage instructions, please refer to “How to disinfect a compromised system” on http://support.kaspersky.com/5350?el=88446

We are continuing investigations and will post an update as soon as we have further details.

Thanks to everyone who posted in and provided details. Given that the cause was an infection, detecting and isolating it without your support would have been near impossible.

Regards,

Deepak