Adobe Reader Keeps Freezing for everyone in the company when opening PDFs

[Olivier_G81]

Dear Adobe Community

For some weeks nobody in the company can use the Adobe Reader anymore without experiencing constant freezes. We've tried some fixes (e.g.: Menu > Disable new Acrobat Reader, Preferences > Generative AI > Disable generative AI features, completely reinstalling acrobat reader) None of these have helped permantently. All users have complained that it keeps crashing for them despite the actions we have taken to troubleshoot the issue.

We've now adviced users so open PDF's with the browser. Please advice how to fix this.

[Riko_8388]

Did you manage to find a fix for this? Found this thread through Google.

[Olivier_G81]

Hi Riko,

Sadly, not yet. 

[shaktikeshri · Accepted solution]

Hi @Olivier_G81 

Sorry for the inconvenience caused:

Let me know the following:

1. Please try unchecking "Run in App Container" in Security(Enhnaced) Preferences and try again to see if this setting fixes the issue.
2. Is it happening after the Windows update?
3.  Is Windows Defender in your machine? If yes, please disable it and try again.
4. Share logs with me https://helpx.adobe.com/in/acrobat/kb/acrobat-diagnostics.html . Please share logs for the case where issue is reproducible. Upload the logs and share the ID which gets generated at the end.

Thanks,

Shakti K

[Olivier_G81 · Accepted solution]

Hi Shakti, this solved the issue for us. Thank you very much!

[Riko_8388]

Disabling "Enable protected mode at startup" under Security (enhanced) fixed it for us.

From what I can tell, the issues only occurs under 24.003.20.180. Uninstalling this version and installing the "latest" version from the Adobe website (which is older, 24.003.20112) also works, but unfortunately it automatically updates to .180 again. 

Here's a registry key to disable the protected mode which I will start rolling out tomorrow:

Solved: Adobe Reader DC disable Protected Mode via GPO - Adobe Community - 8152344

[Riko_8388]

Quick follow up: The "fixed" this issue by having our employees clear their recently opened files. If you open Adobe Reader (the actual program, not a pdf) there's a "clear recent" button on the bottom right. For some reason, this fixed it. I don't know if there's a script or GPO for that, we simply informed our employees to click that button.

[JR Boulay]

[MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]