Assign Adobe Reader as default PDF reader through command line or powershell (Windows 10)

[jimmerb83]

I work IT at a small corporation and am having an issue with Microsoft Edge where after assigning Adobe Reader as the default for PDFs through the settings menu, Edge will assign itself as default after a random period of time (a day up to weeks later).  This is impacting all of our Windows 10 PCs.

I’m looking for a method via command line or powershell script to silently assign Adobe Reader as the default PDF reader without user interaction.  This solution can’t involve the “assoc” command, as using command prompt I’ve verified “assoc .pdf = Adobe Reader”, but in reality the default reader is still assigned to Edge.

I’ve created a registry change implemented site wide that will block Edge from opening PDFs;  This registry change is automatically applied daily to block Edge, but the user still needs to manually assign Adobe as the default.  I’d like to avoid that by using a script that will assign it automatically, as it needs to be applied to hundreds of PCs on a daily basis.

[Bacterin1]

If all computers are on a domain, use the GPO functionality to do this.  It's far easier than anything else.

[jimmerb83]

Unfortunately we don't use GPO.