Disable the "Welcome to Acrobat Reader" "Start Tour" on first launch

[Mike30675754jt07]

Hi All,

I have deployed Adobe Acrobat Reader DC via GPO into a Windows 10 AD environment using the enterprise installer and configured with the Acrobat Customization Wizard DC. The installed verison is 2023.003.20215.

My requirement is simple. When a domain user opens Reader for the first time, I want Acrobat Reader DC to open and display the PDF file that the user is trying to open, without showing any other welcome screens or asking any questions or doing anything other than showing that PDF file.

What I have tried:

1. In the customization wizard, I set as many options as I could find to disable such prompts and I disabled all Adobe online services.
2.  Set these registry keys via GPO:

   
   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\HomeWelcomeFirstMileReader]
   "iFirstMileStage"=dword:00000001
   "bHasShownReaderAppCard"=dword:00000001
   "bHasShownScanAppCard"=dword:00000001
   "bScanAppUsed"=dword:00000001
   "bFirstMileMinimized"=dword:00000001
   
   

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown\cWelcomeScreen]
   "bShowWelcomeScreen"=dword:00000000
   
   

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\UsageMeasurement]
   "bInstalledCleanupCheckDone"=dword:00000001
   "bHighbeamNoticeShown"=dword:00000001
   
   

   [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Adobe Acrobat\DC\FTEDialog]
   "iFTEVersion"=dword:0000000a
   "bWelcomeCard_AcroUpdate"=dword:00000001
   "bHighBeamCard"=dword:00000001
   
   

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\Installer]
   "ENABLE_CHROMEEXT"=dword:00000000
   
   

3.  Installed the group policy template AcrobatReaderDC.admx and set:
   Show messages when I launch Reader to Disabled
   Don't show messages while viewing a document to Enabled
   Turn off user participation in the feedback program to Disabled
   
   

Despite doing all of the above, the "Welcome to Acrobat Reader" screen is displayed with the blue button that says "Start Tour" upon first launch for each domain user. How can I stop this behaviour?

[S. S · Accepted solution]

Hi @Mike30675754jt07,

Hope you are doing well. Thank you for reaching out!

From the above message, I suggest adding the What's New Experience dialog request as well. You can refer to the link for more: Lockable Settings (adobe.com)

Also, the first time experience can be disabled using the given steps: Lockable Settings (adobe.com)

Hope this helps.

-Souvik

[Mike30675754jt07]

Hi Souvik,

I can confirm that by following your instructions for the mentioned registry entries, the welcome screen popup no longer shows. Thank you for providing this information!

To further simplify this for anyone else reading, I have set these registry keys via group policy:

HKML\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown\bToggleFTE

DWORD 1

HKML\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\FeatureLockDown\bWhatsNewExp

DWORD1

[Quoc33916239maxh]

I figured it out!  I just deleted Adobe Acrobat and I no longer get the stupid pop-ups!!!!

[AHMET34856535tz47]

For the ones suffering; it did work, preferences are also saved:

Right click the Adobe Shortcut / Select Properties / Compatibility Tab -> Uncheck compatibility