Help! Reader DC crashes instantly even after reinstalling it

Report · Sep 09, 2018

Running Windows 10 Build 1803. Yesterday Acrobat Reader worked fine. Tonight - not at all. I opened a document - it shut down immediately. No error message, it just closed. I tried several times. I thought maybe I needed an update, so I downloaded the latest version and installed. That gave me an error saying "Adobe Reader DC already installed" (or close to that). So I uninstalled the program, downloaded it again, and reinstalled - but it is still closing instantly, even when I open the program without a document. I can't even get to the help menu before it's gone.

I found this page: Resolve Acrobat DC intermittent crashes on Windows and thought I'd try it even though my crashes aren't intermittent, but the first 3 solutions require you to have the program open, which I can't do, and the fourth, running "acrodist," doesn't work at all - Windows says there is no such command.

Help! I have dozens of PDF bookkeeping pages to print out so I can finish up extended business taxes and get them to the accountants so they can be filed on time!

Echo

Report · Sep 10, 2018

Hello Echo,

We're sorry for the trouble you had with Adobe Reader, please reboot the machine once and use Acrobat cleaner tool to remove any corrupt and conflicting installation files of Adobe Reader Download Adobe Reader and Acrobat Cleaner Tool - Adobe Labs

Reboot the machine again and install the latest version of Adobe Reader from Adobe - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Distribution and check.

If you still experience any issue, please create a test user profile with full admin rights and install Adobe Reader and check.

let us know how it goes and share your observation.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

Report · Sep 25, 2018

Thank you, Anand. I have finally had time to complete part of your instructions (I'm sorry, I've been slammed with a massive do-it-NOW project and have had to copy any PDFs to an older computer in order to print them). I rebooted, ran the cleaning tool, rebooted again, downloaded from the page you referenced, and installed. As I watched the installation occur I saw it said "Patching files" for awhile which seemed odd if the prior installation was gone completely. But anyway - it did not work. The program still closes about 2-3 seconds after opening.

I will try the other part of your instructions when I have time. I don't know how to create a test user so will have to have time to get instructions for that, too.

Thanks again. I'll get back to you.

Marcia