Adobe Acrobat Reader Freezing when opening Drawings - Windows 11 Pro

[Pedro34353963u4ng]

I’m troubleshooting an issue where Adobe Acrobat Reader freezes immediately upon opening locally stored PDF drawing files for one user. Interestingly, when I log in with my domain account on the same machine, the files open without any issues.

Troubleshooting Steps Taken:

1. Initial Steps:

   • Rebooted the machine.
   • Cleared Windows temporary files and Adobe Acrobat cache.
   • Verified that Windows and Adobe Acrobat are up to date.
   • Switched from the new view to Classic view in Adobe Acrobat.

2. User-Specific Problem:

   • I used my own domain account on the user’s machine to open the same files, and they opened without freezing. This suggests the issue is specific to the user's account or profile.

3. Reinstallation:

   • Following Adobe support's advice, I uninstalled Adobe Acrobat Reader using the Adobe Cleaner tool.
   • Rebooted the machine, reinstalled Adobe Acrobat Reader, and updated it to version 2024.003.20180.

Despite all these steps, the issue persists for the affected user.

Impacted Services:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader (freezing on locally stored PDF drawings)

Any advice on resolving this user-specific issue would be greatly appreciated.

[Pedro34353963u4ng]

I will provide a Dump file tomorrow when i log in to the user's machine again and will post it there.

[Pedro34353963u4ng]

because the Dump file is 700mb, i have attatched a link using wetransfer:

https://we.tl/t-HhkjSGs6yp

[johnc49737170]

We are experiencing the same issue with several of our users. I think the issue may be due to the latest Acrobat Reader update. 

[Pedro34353963u4ng]

additionals tasks i have done: 

- Unchecked "Enable Protected Mode At Startup." (Edit/Preferences/Security (Enhanced)

- Unchecked " Enable Enhanced Security

- Ran SFC /scannow to check and repair system files.

-I have recently reset Adobe Acrobat Reader’s settings by renaming the folder in AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat to Acrobat.old.

Can someone please help?

[eric_2558]

Replied below with a fix. 🙂 Hope it helps you as well.

[eric_2558]

I had a user with the same issue. I used your article here as confirmation that the issue of course was a new update. If you are on the same update as what my user had then it was the new adobe experiance that is causing the issue and this can actually be turned off from the options menu. Look for, "Turn off new adobe experiance" or "Turn off new adobe".

After turning this off it will require a restart but you should not have the program freeze at all after like what my user was seeing.

[Pedro34353963u4ng]

It’s still freezing (with the unresponsive spinning mouse icon) but becomes responsive after about 10-12 seconds. It’s not ideal, but at least it works. On my machine, the same drawing opens instantly, but on the user's machine, it takes around 10-12 seconds to open. Since the user frequently relies on opening PDF files, this delay is less than ideal.

Thank you so much for your response.

[eric_2558]

This is 100% the same issue my user was experiancing. When we clicked "Turn off new adobe" from the menu it got rid of this issue and did not freeze the 10-12 seconds after. 

Have you tried clicking "Turn off new adobe" after the users adobe unfreezes?

[Pedro34353963u4ng]

Yes, when the user was having this unresponsive issue, one of the first troubleshooting methods i've applied as i mentioned on my original post, was turning off "Disable new Acrobat Reader" through Menu butto. It helped the user a little bit but it is still 10 seconds unresponsive... Not ideal, but it's better than not working at all.

[Dipayan_Sur0467]

Exactly. This is the issue with the new update release - 2024.005.20307. Anyone has an official remarks from Adobe on this?

[ong_0993]

Looks like the recent updates are the cause for this. Happened right after the Adobe Update was pushed through.

Though not all the computes (all running Windows 11 Pro latest version) are having this issue though. 

And yes, it looks like the problem goes away if we disable the new adobe view. 

Not sure what to make of it.

[Pedro34353963u4ng]

i have found a fix finally for our issue. you might want to try this: 

• Uncheck 'Use Page Cache' in Adobe Preferences

  • Open Adobe Acrobat.
  • Go to Preferences (Ctrl + K or Cmd + K).
  • Navigate to Page Display.
  • Under Rendering, uncheck 'Use Page Cache'.
  • Click OK and reboot the application.

[TrevorDev]

Same issue.

Brand new HP EliteBook i7 with Windows 11 Enterprise 23H2 32B RAM nVMe2 drive.
I am subscribed to the full suite of Adobe apps and Acrobat came bundled however I am put of using it due to the hangs...does it when opening a document but sometimes if I am navigating the UI hangs for a good 15-20 seconds sometimes over a minute.