RdrCEF high cpu usage

[jairop52591993]

Good Morning.
First of all, sorry for my low level of English.

A few days ago I installed Adobe Reader DC on all servers in my farm Citrix XenDesktop 7.6. Everything started well but now I have problems with high CPU usage. I have seen that for each user using Reader DC open between 1 and 3 processes with the same name, RdrCEF.exe. This process consumes a lot of memory and sometimes, depending on the PDF file, use much of the CPU causing performance problems in other user sessions on the server .

What is this process RdrCEF? Why it is opened several times per user ? And most importantly, how I can prevent this process use as much CPU?

I hope someone can help me.
Thank you.

[yanikw93770720]

[lolix]

Just killed 6 instances of the RdrCEF.exe for the same user (user session on RDS server) !

Would be great to know what services are handled by RdrCEF.exe....

I tried to renamed RdrCEF.exe and RdrServicesUpdater.exe. No problem in reading & printing but "Save as" doesn't work anymore

[Tullamore75]

Renaming is not possible since we use the signing options. We use 2008R2 RDS servers. We noticed that when Acrobat DC latest version is started from a App-V 4.6 sequence the RdrCEF.exe process starts having trouble. Continuous CPU usage of about 10-17% per user. Sometimes the process is a ghost and uses the maximum amount of memory available and still using CPU of about 10-20% per process.

We have tried WSRM but since the CPU usage is continuously changing WSRM doesn't keep up.

This is killing for the RDS servers !

When will this be fixed? We have been reading about this issue ever since the first Acrobat Reader DC came out.

[Tullamore75]

Found something but this is not a final solution....!!!

- Starting Acrobat Reader from an App-V 4.6 Sequence

- CPU (RdrCEF.exe) starts using 15-20% CPU

- Run: [INSTALLDIR]..\AcroCEF\RdrServicesUpdater.exe /regserver

- CPU is at 0-1%

- Now as long as you only open a PDF there's no problem.

  If you for example try digitally sign a PDF the CPU directly hits the 15-20% again

- You can repeat the 3rd step and the CPU will drop.

- In the end after repeatin the 3rd step between different actions in Acrobat Reader. The AcroRd32.exe will hang.

Still looking into the issue here....

[Carlo_CDT]

Hi

We have experienced this problem too and I found a very good workaround.

After struggling for days to solve this problem, it worked by simply running this process:"AcroRd32.exe" in Windows 7 compatibility mode.

Here are the steps I made to solve this problem:

1. Logon on each Windows Server where the AcroRd32.exe processes may run

2. Select the properties of one of the AcroRd32.exe processes within Task Manager

3. Select tab:Compatibility; Compatibility mode: "Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 7"  and click on "Change settings for all users"

4. Click Apply and that's it

Now check if its process quits well, when closing Acrobat Reader....?

[Alibakkar]

Same Problem here:

High CPU and Memory usage of RdrCEF.

Win Server 2008 r2 & latest Reader DC Version (18.011.20038)

[Sunil_Soni]

Hello Everyone,

Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Would be great if environment could be shared for detailed investigation where issue is occurring consistently.

Interested folks, kindly drop me at susoni@adobe.com with the reference of this forum link.

-Thanks

Sunil Soni

[Tullamore75]

After having contact with Adobe we had to use App-V 5.x for the application (because Adobe does not support App-V 4.6).

We still faced the problem of high CPU and memory on RdrCEF.exe We found following:

- User has opened Acrobat from explorer with a pdf opened

- Now user opens a pdf document from within a App-V 5.x sequence

- New instance of Acrobat is opened...

- RdrCEF.exe starts using 10-30% CPU and a lot of memory

The issue seems to be in how Acrobat is started from the App-V Sequence. When AcroRd32.exe is called with the parameter /N the RdrCEF.exe starts using CPU and memory. If it is started without the parameter /N there is No Problem at all !

We now start de Acrobat from the App-V without the /N and users can set through Adobe Acrobat Properties screen if they want to open on a new TAB or in a new instance.

[David_Merkel]

Two-part solution: 1) use Process Explorer (or a direct command) to change the priority of the rdrCEF CPU/memory hogs to Background 4.  The computer will relegate those tasks to the background, and other processes will work smoothly.

2) Let the processes run in the background.  They will eventually terminate when their updates are complete.

[Gideon Badenhorst]

Post Edited - Ignore this, was posted to wrong user.

[jba1]

Hi -  I have the latest update on Acrobat Adobe DC and it still uses up almost all of my CPU. It makes my computer make a humming noise... I'm on a Mac. Please help.

[P+P]

The issue is still there - I'm also running the latest version (20.006.20042).

The RdrCEF and the AcroRD32 processes use a lot of memory and cpu even when only small PDFs are opened by the users, which has heavy impact on the performance of the terminal servers. No Citrix involved here - just plain terminal server and RDP-Connections (via internal LAN). All microsoft updates are installed, too.

Will there be some fix soon?

[jdbunda]

Same issue here on Mac OSX Catalina 10.15.4 on Macbook Pro, with Adobe signature:

Architecture: x86_64

Build: 20.9.20063.381938

AGM: 4.30.101

CoolType: 5.14.5

JP2K: 1.2.2.46033

Started when I had three large PDFs open, wouldn't go away even after quitting the app.   RdrCEF continued to run using 100% CPU, fan running.   Killed RdrCEF from Activity Monitor, and system returned to normal.

[Amal.]

Hi Jdbunda 

We are sorry for the trouble and the experience. As described the Acrobat Reader is consuming high CPU usage.

Is this a behavior with a particular PDF file or with all the PDFs you open? Please try to open a different PDF file and check.

If its a file specific issue, please share the file with us for testing. Please upload the file to the document cloud (https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/home/) generate the link and share it with us.

Regards

Amal

[BertStevens]

Amal,

I have a client with this issue. I've uploaded a file as requested and sent you a private message with the link.

I did try running RDRcef in compatibility mode. It did not help.

Bert

[Amal.]

Hi Bert

Thanks for sharing the details.

Please try to update the application to the latest version 20.009.20065 and check if that makes any difference. Go to Help > Check for Updates

Let us know how it goes

Regards

Amal

[BertStevens]

I've updated my client's computer to 20.009.20067. I tried the file I sent you and still see a spike in CPU usage. However, now its only for a few seconds and then drops back to normal. I've requested my client let me know after using it and will keep you informed.

Thanks!

Bert

[karleenc10264509]

We have this problem also on our terminal server. Several instances of Adobe RdrCEF (32 bit) show up in task manager for each user and they consume a lot of CPU, halting our terminal server at times. This is on every PDF file.

[default5dzj1l3kf915]

The update did not fix anything, this is still a big problem. Has anyone else found a real solution to this? 

[karleenc10264509]

Since we could find no other solutions, we removed Adobe Reader DC and installed Foxit Reader. We have no problems with CPU usage now.

[Pmv5D82 · Accepted solution]

Reader DC 2021.00.7.20091 32bit version was causing trouble for us on our 2016 RDS farm srevers. I tried running updates, repairs and reinstalling but no luck. Upgrading to the 64bit version has seemed to do the trick for us.

[IT Management5FFB]

Hi,

Where did you find the version 'Adobe Reader DC 64 bit' ?

I find only Adobe Pro DC et Adobe Standard DC but not Adobe Reader.

Thanks.

Nicolas

[Pmv5D82]

https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

[image: image.png]

[IT Management5FFB]

I have access only that the version 32 bits. Maybe because the country (Belgium).

Is it possible to send me the exectuable file via wetransfer with a link ?

It's very emergency.

It would be much appreciated.

[Pmv5D82]

Yes I can send it. What OS do you need it for?