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integral_D
Participating Frequently
May 26, 2010
Question

All my desktop icons are Adobe Reader icons, can't access related files

  • May 26, 2010
  • 6 replies
  • 248608 views

I was trying to open a file this morning, and when a pop-menu asked what application I wanted to choose (from a list) to open it, I clicked on Adobe Reader - just as a guess.   After that,  just about all my desktop icons are Adobe icons, and when I click on them, the pop up menus says I can't access the file.   These icons also show up on my menu of all my MS Office programs like Outlook, Word, Excel,  etc. 

Tech support at Adobe recommended I use System Restore, but it also is now an Adobe icon, so I can't open it.    If anyone can help reverse this, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

David

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    6 replies

    A
    Anonymous
    July 20, 2017

    i solved the issue

    1-     uninstall Adobe program

    2-      restart your device.

    3-     every software will reset to its default

    J
    Jayani5E50
    Participant
    April 23, 2021

    Hi i'm in school and I have a art project on adobe that I need to do. but I've had a strange problem where I can't use the icons, im on a chrome book so does anyone know how to fix the problem please

    H
    H_K_Proffesional_Teck
    Participant
    February 26, 2017

    Hi David...

    I think that's because of a registory error .

    simply go to this link and you can find out more about the probloem

    link:Application icons change to Acrobat or Reader icon on Windows

    I
    ineedhelprightmeow
    Participant
    May 1, 2015

    Well, i admit it, im pretty bad at computers, and the same only just now happened. So i made a quick account and came right here.

    Question: if i delete the adobe reader, does it delete it for every other account on my computer?

    thanks

    u_kali
    u_kali
    Participant
    March 12, 2015

    hi.  so I was not a member of this community until by a fluke my issue with this same problem was resolved.  I wanted to post to let people know what I did incase it could help someone in the future.

    my daughter was on the computer and opened java. it asked her what program she wanted to use to open and she clicked on adobe. it changed some of my icons to adobe reader icons and when they were clicked on they all opened only adobe reader.  I went into safe mode and tried to do a system restore but even there it just opened adobe reader:( I was so frustrated...I eventually decided to just use my restore discs to restore the pc but I have a ton of pictures and wanted to save them first.  while I was scrolling through my picture folder, I saw a video that i saved from my phone.  I decided to watch it and when I clicked on it, it asked me what program settings I wanted to use.  I clicked on "recommended" and the moment I did, all my icons in the sys tray went back to normal...IMMEDIATELY!! so happy this worked to out and I hope it will help someone else.  as you can tell I am not computer savvy for repairs, that was my late husbands domain, but I am so glad this worked because I just wanted to throw the computer out the window LOL!

    A
    Adobe Employee
    Ankit_Jain
    Adobe Employee
    September 16, 2010

    Hi David,

    From the look of things ot looks like you have associated all .exe's with Adobe Reader and made it as the default association. Thats why any and all applications on your system are trying to open themselves with Adobe Reader.

    To fix this issue, you will have to change the default associations for all files with the extension .exe. Can you please try the steps in the below mentioned link:

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950505 (For Vista and Win7 OS)

    For changing the default association for EXEs on a Win XP Machine you can perform the following:

    1. Open the File Types   dialog from any Explorer window -- use My Documents or My Computer (Tools |   Folder Options | File Types Tab).

    2. Scroll down to where EXE would be in the   alphabetical order and select the entry. Click on the Restore button on the bottom of the dialog. This should restor the association of the file.

    3. Incase the entry for EXE is not present, select the New   button, type in EXE for the extension and select the Advanced button. From   the list pick "Application". Click OK and close the dialogs.

    4. Restart your system and you should be good to go.


    Hopefully this should fix things for you.!!

    J
    john_shockey
    Participating Frequently
    September 17, 2010

    Hi Ankit,

    I attempted your solution. Reloaded Reader 9 and it took over all my applications again.

    D
    djboomingranny
    Participant
    May 29, 2013

    Ankit,

    Yes, I did follow those instructions.


    Sorry to dig up an old thread, i figured this might help someone else with this problem.

    I just had a user with this problem;

    they assosiated the .lnk file extension with adobe somehow.

    .lnk is the windows shortcut extension, so all their shortcuts opened adobe...

    I used Nirsoft Filetypesman to fix it,

    i just looked at the .lnk extension on a good computer, and the bad computer

    then changed the bad one to match the good one.

    Cheers,

    Dan

      pwillener
      pwillener
      Legend
      May 27, 2010

      What was the file you tried to open initially?  You seem to have permanently associated that file extension with Adobe Reader, so you need to reset that file extension.

      I
      integral_DAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      May 28, 2010

      Hi,

      First, thanks for responding. Unfortunately,  I don't recall what I was trying to open.  And yes, I think I've permanently associated nearly everything with the Adobe file extension.    In another post, someone else with the same problem uninstalled the Adobe Reader, which I did, and that took care of my problem for now.  He said that when he re-installed it, the problem came back.  I haven't tried re-installing it, concerned that I'll have the same problem again.   But I'll do that in the next few days to see how that works out.

      In the meantime, though, if this problem is the same as the other, I'm not sure I've solved the problem.  Can you instruct me on how to reset the file extension?   Here's the post from this other person:

      http://forums.adobe.com/thread/558537

      Thanks,

      David

      J
      john_shockey
      Participating Frequently
      September 15, 2010

      Hi,

      This also happened to me this morning. Now all my icons are PDF symbols and Reader opens when I try to open any other program. I uninstalled Reader it and it fixed itself but when I reinstalled the program the same issue occurred.

      I wanted to make PDF reader the default application when openning PDF's vs. Distiller, tinkered and broke my computer.

      Any clues on how to bring everything back to normaL?

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