Acrobat Reader DC will not open on Windows 10.

[kims24994979]

Hi ,

I have windows 10 and acrobat reader DC.  Acrobat will not open, just spins and then stops.  PDFs will not open unless I open through email.  I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling, I have tried trouble shooting.  not sure what else to do.  I have read other threads that suggest opening Acrobat and changing settings but I cannot even open to get to settings.

Thanks

[Vishnubhai71]

Hi. I did the acrobat cleaner tool and have downloaded, restarted and reinstalled 3-4 times. Adobe Acrobat is still not working and microsoft support suggests you may be working on a fix to be compatible with their latest update. I got a strange message from windows when clicking on the app to open it (screen shot):

[Sir_Bastian]

Same problem here, can not open pdf-files and acrobat DC and Dreamweaver 2020 on window 10 version 1903 after windows security update of adobe flash player (KB4561600) and cumulative windows update (KB4560960)
Please help 

[bfewell]

I had a customer experience the same issue after updates both Acrobat and Reader will not open.  I'm having the user uninstall the KB4561600 update first to see if that resolves the issue.  Microsoft needs to go back to more testing before releasing these updates to the public.

[micky99]

same problems as everyone in here working fine up to last windows10 update all so stop my outlook working.

so if you want to get in to your pdf files what I did is download Libre office reads all files but will change your pdf file to an odf file.

what I have noticed is that with adobe and windows office all the EXE files are missing.

and my restore points are not working thanks microsoft you did it again.

[Malka007]

One week Later: still same problem!!!!

Unacceptable.

I am furious, but either ADOBE  or WINDOWS people could not care less!!!

[micky99]

Just found this on microsoft website. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4560960/windows-10-update-kb4560960

Issues with last window 10 update and some fixes.

hope this helps

[tysonf63598718]

I have finally fotten it to run out of the creative cloud app. It is no longer a standalone application, but it will run without internet connectivity.

[Furdeedee]

Same problem as everyone else. Compatibility workaround worked.

[FedUpWithReadrNotWorking]

As with the seeminly hundreds of others, HEY ADOBE ARE YOU GOING TO EVEN RESPOND TO ANY OF US?????

Cannot open any PDF's. Have had to resort to wanky 3rd party apps to even be able to see them.

I also now get a pop up when ever I try to open a pdf asking for permision for Adobe Acrobat Reader to make changes to my computer. I give it and then nothing happens (that I can see). So what is your software doing in the background on my compter? Are you harvesting data? Spyware? It cetrainly isnt doing the one thing that it is supposed to be doing. It isnt reading pdfs at all.

Is anyone from Adobe going to respond to any of these? The cleaner does nothing, running as admin does nothing. Running at windos 8 does nothing. The OP was over 6 months ago. WTH are you people doing?

[gorilladoc]

I am having this same problem.  I have uninstalled and reinstalled and used the Adobe tool, etc.  I still cannot open PDFs  I also pay for Adobe Acrobast PDF Pack subscription and still PDFs will not open on line.  I chatted twice with on-line help and both times they tell me to ccheck the forums!  Duh - I did that already.  I see many people are still having this problem and am wondering if a fix has been found since the last post in October.

This is si frustrating and really impacting my business.

[EARivera]

By right clicking on Adobe Acrobat Reader Icon, selecting properties, then Compatibility and then selecting to execute this program in compatibility mode for Windows 8 works great for me.

This compatibility workaround worked !!!

[defaultgmwy35pqqyp2]

the adobe cleaner tool link is 404 .I can just uninstall cant. I shouldnt have an issu

[Duncan22128837bn8k]

Just to add to this, and apologies if it slightly off topic, but I have documentation that requires the use of Adobe 4.0.

Im running a windows 10vm and the adobe 4, plus all other required files, are stored in the root of the C: drive on the vm.

When double click the app icon, it correctly tries to open adobe 4. The splash screen appears, and then disappears...and then nothing.

Ive tried setting compatibility mode to win 8 (the newest option), and also tried running as administrator. No luck.

There are no other versions of adobe installed on this win10 vm.

Grateful for any advice - I cant repair my car without opening this workshop manual...in adobe 4! 🙂

Thanks - Duncan.

[Petr238100450j53]

This thread is about two years old, but is there any working solution? I have new win10 installation with all updates, new version of Adobe Acrobat reader DC installed. Program is running in compatibility mode, but only when I run the program directly. But when I want to click on my PDF nothing happends. There is DC proccess in task manager, but DC wont start. I tried to uninstall-clear-reinstall but nothing helps. Any suggestions?

[MeenakshiNegi]

Hi Petr,

Thank you for reaching out, and sorry about the trouble.

Please try to remove the application and run the cleaner tool (https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/Labs/cleaner.html). 

Reboot the machine and install Reader DC from the following page: https://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/.

Check if you still experience the same behavior.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Meenakshi

[Petr238100450j53]

Hi,

thank you for the manual, I tried it, but it doesnt help.

On download page I tried to choose ENG version, because CZE is 2019 version, but that not help too. And instalator from that page installed only 32 bit version instead of 64 bit (there was no selection to choose version to install). Any other suggestions?

Thank you,

Petr

[mollykitti]

I had this same problem and none of the prescribed troubleshooting worked for me either.  I tried every solution I could find on the internet, even some of the sketchy sounding turn off all your security suggestions - nothing.  Compatability mode and admin mode did nothing.  The "are you friggin' kidding me" fix ended up having to do with the uninstall/reinstall.  When I selected "I have a serial number" option, it came up with a serial number which I confirmed on my Adobe account was correct, but the reinstall never worked.  Finally, I deleted and re-typed this serial number.  Suddenly everything works fine.  No admin, compatability mode, regedits, etc needed.  Why would anyone think to re-type a serial number that's already there?!?  Seems like Adobe could save their customers a lot of headache, by either fixing this or at least explaining this.

[Davian242818205iln]

I found that deleting the PfxEngagementx.api file under Adobe installation folder then running a repair resolved the issue.

[Kevin27569540jdxh]

Does anyone have an update on this by any chance?

I'm having the exact same problem i.e. I'm running Windows 10 and I'm unable to open pdf's directly from folders.

I did finally manage to get Adobe Reader itself to open by opening it in unprotected mode with compatibility set to Windows 8. (I'm not sure which of these is allowing me to open Adobe by the way!)

And I can then open pdf's from there. But this is really quite inconvenient. You don't have to open Word first before opening a Word file do you?

I've had Microsoft run all of their truoble shooting techniques and I've uninstalled / re-installed Adobe Reader several times now. But with no positive result (other than to waste a lot of time).

Any further solutions / suggestions would be most welcome otherwise it will be time for me to bin Adobe as a pdf reader.

[Davian242818205iln]

Did you try my method of fixing the issue?

[Kevin27569540jdxh]

I can't find a file named 'Pfxengagement' anywhere. So I can't commnet on that method.

[Petr238100450j53]

No, I still don´t have a solution. I tried all methods which should fix the isssue, but nothing works. I have to open acrobat manually before opening PDF. Interesting is that if you want to open PDF from email client then it works without any problem. But if I´am try to open it from explorer or double commander then it not open and I have to kill all adobe proccess in task manager, run reader manually and click on PDF again.

[defaultgmwy35pqqyp2]

ive gone across to foxit , its probably not as feature filled as adobe but
it its meeting all my needs at the moment

[Kevin27569540jdxh]

I've now done the same. I can't waste any more time on this issue which seems to have no solution that works.
I have another laptop which has W11 - Reader is working fine on that at the moment.

That may be the ultimate solution for the other laptop - upgrade it to W11. But if Foxit works, I probably won't bother.

[Heber312735118ppt]

My Adobe Reader wouldn't open anymore after I run a cleaner app to improve performance on my PC. I found out the app offered to put to sleep or deactivate some programs not in use at the moment and it included Adobe Reader. I executed the cleaner app again and clicked on reactivate Adobe and Word (which also had stopped responding). They both started working immediately, as always, praise God.  \o/