Adobe Acrobat Reader DC consistently fails with error 1328 when upgrading Win 10 32-bit computers

Report · Mar 13, 2025

Win 10 64-bit computers do not exhibit this issue (even though they are installing the same 32-bit Reader updates). Win 10 32-bit computers fail in almost all circumstances, especially when running the MSP (or even the full installer) of any versions of Reader DC 24.005.20399 or above (24.003.20112 was the last version to install without error on Win 10 32-bit clients).

It kicks out this very common Adobe error every time it fails:

"Error 1328. Error applying patch to file c:\Config.Msi\PT1CB2.tmp. It has probably been updated by other means, and can no longer be modified by this patch. For more information contact your patch vendor. System Error: 8"

The failures are very consistent when running the installation from a command line (e.g. packaged distribution). This happens whether kicking the update off from an external installer (e.g. PSExec) or by manually kicking off the command line on a client. We also experience this error most times when just trying to manually execute the MSP or full installer of the newest versions on the client as well.

Some iterations of CMD line examples we have tried:

"%~dp0AcroRdrDC2400520399_MUI.exe" /qb /sall /msi /l*v "C:\Program Files\AppLogs\AcroRdrDC2400520399_MUI.exe.log"

(Full silent installation.)

msiexec.exe /p "%~dp0AcroRdrDCUpd2400520421_MUI.msp" /qn /l*v "C:\Program Files\AppLogs\AcroRdrDCUpd2400520421_MUI.msp.log"

(MSP silent installation)

msiexec.exe /p "%~dp0AcroRdrDCUpd2400520421_MUI.msp" /qn /l*vx "C:\Program Files\AppLogs\AcroRdrDCUpd2400520421_MUI.msp.log"

(The x on the /l*vx switch was at the suggestion of another Adobe Community post.)

The above command lines are run in CMD files. They run just fine on Win 10 64-bit. But they fail on Win 10 32-bit. Again, the older versions of Reader installed ok using the same command lines as above. It is just the newer ones that fail.

We are running some Win 10 LTSC 32-bit clients (both 1607 and 1809) in our manufacturing environment on older processes which require 32-bit. The end of life of 1809 LTSC is Jan 2029. So we would hope that Adobe Reader could be used on those builds until the end of support life. We have to keep Reader patched for the occasional security vulnerabilities. So it is important to get these patches working.

We have eliminated antivirus software as the possible cause. We have tried another community suggestion of cleaning out the C:Windows\Installer\$PatchCache$\Managed folder for Reader. We have tried uninstalling Reader completely, then running the latest AdobeAcroCleaner_DC2015.exe to clean it up, then do a fresh install of the newer version. It fails consistently even at that (it installs v15, then it fails on applying the latest MSP in the package, then it rolls back).

If we run the MSP file manually on a Win 10 32-bit computer, it will almost always stop with the same error. If we chose the "ingore" option each time the error comes up, then we can force it to install. However, we do not trust that these will not have future upgrade issues by using this method.

Again, we can consistently get 24.003.20112 to install on clients. But none of the newer versions will install. So I am guessing that something changed in those new versions which causes it to fail on Win 10 32-bit.

Report · Apr 16, 2025

@Paul249530736k4n sorry, hthis was quite a detailed explanation... let's hope I understand this...

Can you try extracting the contents of the full installer for the problematic Adobe Reader DC version and then attempting a manual installation of the base MSI file followed by a separate application of the MSP update file, ensuring you run each with verbose logging to pinpoint the exact file or registry key causing the patch application failure. You might also want to explore deploying the last known working version (24.003.20112) and then attempting to incrementally update to a newer version, one patch at a time, to identify the specific update that introduces the "Error 1328" on your 32-bit systems. This methodical approach could help isolate the problematic component or identify if a specific intermediate update is required for the newer versions to install correctly on the 32-bit environment.

Report · May 05, 2025

Hi @Paul249530736k4n,

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the trouble with installing Acrobat Reader.

To add to the creative explorer's comments, I suggest sticking to the version that works best for you (24.003.20112 in this case).

Since Adobe has stopped testing on 32-bit devices, we cannot guarantee that the newer versions will work. Please see: https://adobe.ly/3RM3xT3.

That being said, you might want to try a few steps.

Since the installer has changed from Acrobat and Reader to a more Unified setup, try installing from the EXE file instead of the MSP file.

If not tried already, try this on cmd:

AcroRdrDC2400520458_en_US.exe /sAll /rs /rps /msi EULA_ACCEPT=YES

Note:

Make sure to not use MSP files—use the full combined installer.
Run the EXE as administrator on the local machine (avoid network paths or PSExec for testing).
Disable UAC temporarily.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Souvik.