Cannot open Adobe Reader DC or XI - File path not valid

[Guest]

I have been troubleshooting a PC owned by a family friend for the recent inability to open the Adobe Reader program; either through the .exe file, the Start Menu shortcut, or when trying to open a .pdf file. The error message comes up as something along the lines of "C:/Program Files (x86)/Adobe/Acrobat Reader/AcroRd32.exe cannot be found", and I have found a few other forum posts dating back to 2015 with this issue.

Renaming the AcroRd32.exe to anything else (i.e. AcrobatRd32.exe, reader.exe) allows the program to open and I can then open .pdf files using the programs' File>Open option. It works exactly as intended except it does not act like it should when trying to set a program to be the default viewer of .pdf files, as it will not come up in the "Open With" part of the right-click menu in Windows Explorer.

The PC is running Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit; I have run AVG on this computer and it detected a potential registry issue, so I installed CCleaner and ran its registry optimization process, which detected a number of broken registry links related to Adobe. Unfortunately none of the registry cleans fixed the issue.

I ran the AdobeLabs Reader Clean Tool over the system and restarted each time, then reinstalled first Reader DC and then Reader XI - both of them had the same issue with AcroRd.exe.

If anyone could recommend any further actions I could try, that would be much appreciated.

[Adorobat]

Hi Skotavus1

Try to perform the step given in this link: Associate PDF files to always open in Acrobat or Reader on Windows 10​

Let me know the results.

Thank You,

Shivam

[Guest · Accepted solution]

The user has informed me via email that he has uninstalled and reinstalled the program again today and upon opening it, it asked about using this program to open all PDF files. He can now access the program by opening a PDF with double-click but it will not load from desktop or start menu shortcuts.

He will keep me informed of any new developments, but he is at least able to use the program again.