Adobe Acrobat Reader DC will not run after uninstalling Adobe Flash

Report · Jan 05, 2021

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC will not run after uninstalling Adobe Flash.

After uninstalling Adobe Flash, when I start Adobe Acrobat Reader DC I get the following error:
Invalid Plugin Detected. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC will quit.

It sometimes takes 10 seconds or so for the rror to come up.

I tried re-installing Acrobat Reader DC, but had trouble here too. The regular installs from https://get.adobe.com failed with 'Install Failed', that's all it says.

I found I could install successfully using a full install file: AcroRdrDC2001320064_en_US.exe,
but I still get the 'Invalid Plugin Detected' error after install.

If I deleted or renamed the following plugins from the C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\plug_ins directory that it would stop this error:
EScript.api
IA32.api

But now other things like 'Check for Updates' do not work.

Versions:

Installed Acrobat: C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader\AcroRd32.exe
Version: 20.13.20064.405839
Creation Date: 2020/10/23
Creation Time: 9:42:24 AM
Locale: English (Australia)
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10
OS Version: 10.0.19042

Anyone can help?

Report · Jan 11, 2021

Ok solved - not an Adobe problem, rather it was a Microsoft Windows one. I think uninstalling flash was just a co-incidence.

Running debug (WinDbg) showed that there was a problem with code verification for the .dll plug-in files. I discovered this was not just with Adobe but also for other install files. With debugger I get errors like:

*** WARNING - PE SIGNATURE VERIFICATION FAILED !!!
*** Filename: D:\software\Nvidia\460.89-desktop-win10-64bit-international-dch-whql\NVI2\NVI2.DLL
*** Error: 0x800B0001

I think my registry and/or certificate store had a problem but I was darned if I could fix it. Some .dll files load ok, and others do not.

Windows things I tried:

unzipping the install and checking the individual files' digital signatures - all checked ok

sfc /scannow - no problems

sigverif - no problems

checking the Windows event logs for code signing problems - no problems

installing the signing certificates for the failing files - did not fix it

In the end I did a clean Windows re-install, and that fixed it. This is of course a complete cheat but solved my problems.