Grey Screen in IE 11 after newest DC update

[RXRD]

After the newest Adobe Reader DC update Version 2015.020.20039, my users keep getting a grey screen when opening a PDF in the browser. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the product and it still happens. The only way around is to uninstall and download an older version of Reader.  Is anyone else getting this issue? I keep getting calls from more and more users and when I check, sure enough Adobe Reader was just updated. I need this resolved as soon as possible. It worked just find before the update. Thanks!

[~graffiti]

Not sure if it's been mentioned already but the usual cause of this is a setting in preferences. If the pdf's are scans, then having this setting wrong in preferences will only show a gray screen.

Go to Edit>Preferences>Page display>Page content and information and check the box that says "Display large images".

[~graffiti]

My above advice is only for the problem as stated by the original poster. It looks like a couple of other folks have jumped in with different problems that this won't fix.

[Guest]

We've tried this setting change with one of our customers and they said that it didn't work.

Unfortunately I can't reproduce the problem myself on one of several machines, which is hampering my investigation.  We've already advised customers who have contacted us before now to revert back to version 11.  We're having to test any fixes on customers that haven't rung in before, which is less than ideal.

Although we do have a work around which we've tried to make our customers aware of, they are still ringing in.  A daily progress update would be good. 

My machine is

Windows 7 version 6.1.

IE 11.0.35.

Adobe Reader DC 2015.020.200399

[Nitish_kumar1]

Hi Julian,

We need your help in reproducing this issue in house.

If possible can you please share your email id and help us in understanding and reproducing the bug.

You can also share me your email id in private message.

My email id : nitiskum@adobe.com

Thanks,

Nitish

[Guest]

Nitish,

  I've just sent you an email to your address with more details of what we're seeing.

[sb116]

Hi All,

For testing, please try to open a different sample PDF on the Internet Explorer browser.

And confirm if the issue is reproduced on that as well.

Regards,

Supriya

[Guest]

As many of us have stated, we have tried multiple pdfs. It is happening at random. I have have restarted the browser and it worked for a bit and then failed again.

[jshulenberger]

I have several users who work in Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10 all day opening .pdf files.  At first they can open .pdf files fine.  After a bit, it seems that AcroRd32.exe hangs up, and they can't open them any more.  They close the browser (the browser is set to clear cash when they close it), and open it back up, and they can again open .pdf files for a bit.  When it fails, it doesn't matter which .pdf file they try to open, it just gives a grey screen.

I am downgrading the PC's to the previous version as a fix.

[Guest]

One of our techs can reproduce the problem at will.  He has DC reader and IE 11. He just opens and closes the same PDF over and over and after about 10 or 12 successful attempts it fails. After that he cannot open any pdf until he reboots his computer.

Regards,

Bflugs

[Swenny27]

Like others have stated, this is not an issue with one PDF.  There are most likely hundreds, if not thousands, of people having this issue who haven't posted.  Stop thinking that this is a one-time issue and start thinking that this is a larger issue caused by the most recent DC update

Some notes for you to help in your troubleshooting:

1. The issue occurs when opening PDFs from the internet in IE11.  For our company, if we added the site we open them from to the Trusted Sites in IE and lowered the security to Medium-Low, it works consistently

2. As others have stated, the error may not happen right away, but after approximately 30 minutes of opening and closing PDFs, it starts producing this gray screen.  No error

3. Using Reader XI also fixes the issue

Looking forward to a quick update or hotfix

Thanks

[shaguftas6892493]

Hi Josh,

1. Can you please  check if the issue persists after turning off Protected Mode in Reader DC.

(For this Go to Preferences >> Security (Enhanced) >> Enable Protected Mode at Start up - Uncheck this checkbox)

Please try this with your normal IE configuration.

2.  Can you try this as well -

Open the registry editor and go to the section below and locate the TabProcGrowth key: 

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

If the key does not exist, create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and name it as TabProcGrowth and set it to 0.

3. Lastly, is IE - Protected Mode enabled? If yes, please let us also know the value in following registry entries:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Isolation

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\Isolation64Bit

Thanks,

Shagufta

[Swenny27]

Hi Shagufta:

This is for one particular user, Molly.  She is running Windows 7, IE11 for reference

1. I tried this late last week and it did not resolve the issue

2. The DWORD did not exist, but the PDFs are opening correctly for this user at the moment.  So not sure if this would make a difference

3. Those two entries did not exist, which I'm assuming means Protected Mode is not turned on

I'm hoping to try your steps with someone that is having the issue at that moment.  Thanks for your assistance

[Swenny27]

Another example for Shagufta.  This is for Teri

2. I added the DWORD, killed the Adobe processes, tried opening the pdf, no go.  I then closed all IE windows, then tried opening it again, and it worked

3. Keys did not exist

I also can confirm that the Adobe process does not go away when you close the document when the issue is happening.  In this instance there were actually 4.  When I killed one, another one went away as well.  Adobe Acrobat Update Service is also running if that matters

[locrian1288]

I had a co-worker who hadnt run a report for around 30 minutes or more and upon looking at her tasks she still had 20 active adobe dc tasks. but she had closed all the pdf windows long before but still had an IE session open which held on. We had to manually kill each and they kill 2 at a time.

[shaguftas6892493]

Hi Josh,

Can you confirm if you are facing the same issue as julien Le Bourg  is facing i.e. the 'Initializing..' progress bar issue.

In case if your issue is different, can you please share a snapshot ?

Thanks,

Shagufta

[Swenny27]

Also for Shagufta, I am not getting the initializing window.  My issue is like almost everyone else which is a blank grey screen inside IE

[2SysPMS]

This is just time-wasting. As others have said, multiple PDFs, from multiple systems. It's pretty bloody easy to test I would think.The problem is that it is not consistent in the way it manifests itself *except* that it always does!

[erikd-omnique]

We have been able to un-install the DC version and use this link to install version 11 - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Install for all versions

Since we have changed to v11 non DC everything so far is working. Something with the DC version that's causing the pdf to hang at the gray screen.

[ManishPali]

Hi,

Is there a public link to PDF available which we could use to replicate this problem? or is there any particular site/portal where we could get such PDF in some workflow?

Seems like there are two issues, one which goes away after Dave's suggestion "Go to Edit>Preferences>Page display>Page content and information and check the box that says "Display large images"." and there is another which happen even with this workaround.

Thanks

Manish Pali

[Swenny27]

I believe this is Dave's fix that Manish is referencing:

"Not sure if it's been mentioned already but the usual cause of this is a setting in preferences. If the pdf's are scans, then having this setting wrong in preferences will only show a gray screen.

Go to Edit>Preferences>Page display>Page content and information and check the box that says "Display large images"."

If so, was this setting changed in the newest release?

[2SysPMS]

I have a tick box in Page Content and Information: "Show large images". It is ticked, it hasn't changed.

[Swenny27]

I just uninstalled DC, ran the cleanup, rebooted, and re-installed it on a Windows 10 PC.  The "Display Large Images" option referenced above is checked by default

Maybe others can check if that option is checked or not on the affected machines?

[gregkun]

I have like 30-40 people complaining about this since last week. I went to the settings and made sure the box is checked for "Display large images" and it is checked on each of the devices. They are all using IE 11 and Reader DC.

[arnelsc]

I have the same thing happening on 2 computers starting last week on Thursday 10/13.  As of today, we have all 6 shipping station with the same issues.  We use NetSuite on IE and print out packing slip to a PDF layout that opens on new tab.  If I clear the browsing history, the print to PDF tab opens fine but subsequent print to PDFs open a blank grey page.  It works fine on Chrome and Firefox however, we use other services that only works on IE so transitioning to another web browser is not an option.  This is affecting our production greatly.  It would awesome if someone could come up with a solution.

Our current workaround is to keep the previous good print to PDF tab open and allow NetSuite to reuse the tab for the next packslip.

[JlbCTG]

Hello,

I'm working in a gov organization in Luxembourg. Our external and internal users report much higher than normal issues opening pdf files form internet explorer. Download progression is stuck (in the status bar) and the message "initializing..." is displayed.

First thing I tried was asking disabling protected mode for the zone the site is in, seems to work around this problem, but it is not ideal.

The problem seems to appear on ie11, on windows 7, latest reader DC update. (October 11).

Some users have it every time, some just once in a while.

Julien.