Adobe Acrobat Reader crashes without error message for signed documents

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

Situation and error description

1. reader crashes without error message if you want to set a signature with certificate or if a PDF signed in this way is opened/signed.
2. signed PDFs can generally not be opened, neither by double-clicking nor by “Open file” via an open Reader. It does not matter whether the signature is from the internal CA or was created by an external party.
3. PDFs without a signature appear to work, but crash immediately when signed.
4. no error message is displayed.
5. no error is written in the Windows event log.
6. the problem has been occurring since about the last 3, 4 or 5 released versions.
7. 2025.001.20566 is currently installed.
8. the problem occurs mainly on 2016 RDS servers, of which there are several, but also occasionally locally on Windows 10/11 computers.

What has already been tried

9. uninstallation: folder cleanup and reg. cleanup + reinstallation = error remains.
10. repair installation without computer/server restart: the error is gone, but comes back after server restart/new user logon.
11. cleaned up the Adobe reg. values of the user during operation and with the RDS user logged on, also cleaned up GPOs for Adobe, all Adobe folders in the user profile %appdata% ... deleted.
After opening the reader, the first start including EULA query etc. appears as expected = the problem persists, signed PDFs or PDFs to be signed crash immediately.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

Addition
Regarding point 10: it is not always possible to make the reader work afterwards (repair installation).

12. Protected mode deactivated at startup = error remains.

[S. S]

Hi @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for your experience with using signed documents on Acrobat Reader.

Since you have shared most of the details, it would be helpful to have a few more pieces of information to investigate further:

1. Does the crash occur with any digital certificate you try to use? To test, can you create a new digital certificate, sign the file, and check if the behavior is the same?

2. Please help us gather logs from your machine: https://adobe.ly/4l1gBRA. Please make sure Procmon is selected. You can upload logs using this tool and share your Unique log ID with us. 

Look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Souvik.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

to 1.: as I wrote under 2. it does not matter which certificate. Files with digital signatures from third parties are also affected.

to 2: I have created a diagnosis. Who can I tell the ID to?

Again in addition to point 10: I now had an RDS where it occurred 2 days in a row and I was able to adjust it. When I wanted to test it again today, the problem did not occur on this server and with this one user.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

I also had another case today with a local installation on Windows 10.
I uninstalled Reader, then ran the cleaner, then installed the latest Reader from the Adobe website.

I was able to sign a PDF exactly once. On the 2nd attempt, Reader crashed again without a message. From then on I could no longer open any signed documents, nor could I sign another unsigned PDF.

Repairing this Reader installation had exactly the same effect. I was then able to sign another document exactly once, after which it crashed again.

[S. S]

Hi @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44,

Would you mind creating new diagnosis logs and share the ID here with us? 

This will also help us investigate further in this.

Also, please keep Acrobat Reader updated to the latest version (2025.001.20577).

Regards,
Souvik.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

ID: e4d16ce9-2064-4944-a3a9-b86389339267
I have updated to 2025.001.20577. But it still needs to be monitored.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

Diagnostics after updated to 2025.001.20577. The problem remains.
ID: 59117034-d743-4e3b-ab82-205a8487dadb

[S. S]

Hi @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44,

Thanks for sharing the Crash ID with the development team for further investigation.

Please allow me some time to get this checked and circle back to you.

Regards,
Souvik.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

How's it going?

[AnandSri]

Hello @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44

I hope you are doing well.

The product team is actively investigating the root cause of the issue, and we will update you once the fix is available. Thanks for your time and cooperation.

Regards,

Anand Sri | Acrobat Community Team

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

What has the product team been able to find out over the last two and a half months?

[AnandSri]

Hello @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44

I hope you are doing well, and sorry for the delayed response.

The issue was not reproducible in-house. However, the team is working to replicate and identify the cause. We will follow up here once there is an update.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[S. S]

Hi @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44,

Just chiming in to check if you can update the application to the latest version (25.1.20937) and check if it works for you.

To do so, go to Menu > Help > Check for Updates.

This version features multiple stability and performance improvements, and our team is unable to reproduce the issue in the latest version.

More information about it here: https://adobe.ly/3KngUc5

Regards,
Souvik.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

The problem remains.

[Aakash Deep]

Hi @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44 ,

Can you please share dumps(.dmps) for further investigation?

Please refer: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/acrobat/kb/collect-logs-crash-freeze.html for the same.

Thanks

Aakash

Using Windows error reporting to collect Acrobat/Reader crash dumps

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

Problem persists.
Version: 25.001.20997
Adobe Acrobat Diagnostics ID: 88a86370-d08b-46c2-aab5-0520d165644b

I have another larger “acroWinLog_xxxx.zip” log with another user that the diagnostic tool was unable to upload. It seems to me that the recording was more successful here. Where can I send it safely?

[AnandSri]

Hello @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44

You can upload the log files to a cloud storage, like OneDrive/Dropbox, and share the link here for download.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

[Enlightened_Rainbow0D44]

Hello, I will definitely not make these logs publicly available. I can upload them and send access via private message. Is that OK? To whom exactly? Should I use a specific subject line?

[AnandSri]

Hello @Enlightened_Rainbow0D44

You can share the logs with me in a private message by clicking on my community profile name and then selecting 'Message'. Please include your name and this community thread link in the message section for identification purposes.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.