Unable to delete temporary files

[Guest]

I am running Acrobat Reader 11.0.0 in a XenApp 6.5 Environment on Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.  We have recently started using Mandatory profiles and the option set to delete cached profiles on logoff.  We have started noticing that some of the profiles are not being deleted because of files that are locked by the system.  The files are named Z@*.tmp.  I have done some research into the issue and have found an article on your website that mentions this issue specifically:

http://blogs.adobe.com/dmcmahon/2011/11/08/acrobatreader-tmp-files-left-behind-in-temp-folder-after-...

Please note this article is dated 11/2011 and seems to refer only to XP, NT, and 2003 server.  Also at the bottom of the article it states the following:
Following our testing we have discovered that the issue does not occur in Windows 7, or Windows 2008 Server.  It seems that the updated versions of Windows provide a solution to this issue.  We would therefore recommend updating your OS if possible.

I have found that this is not that case and this issue seems to remain, at least in my configuration.

[ahmeda57658183]

This is what I did. I restarted the server, deleted old profiles and then logged on as a new user, opened an adobe document and closed it then logged off. I then logged back on the server as an admin and looked at the profiles. The user profile was still there and the temp files are still there. This server has the recommended .ini file. FYI, the server is windows 2008 R2 running XenApp 6.0 and profile management 5.2, adobe reader 11.0.10.  Any thoughts?

Thanks

[no1_knows]

Hi,

for me it seems to work, but I will verify this the next days.

[vGeesink]

Had the same problem, but also on physical systems, not only Citrix. Microsoft will be upgrading patches that are related with the font files. We resolved it first by uninstalling patches. In November the problem reoccurred. A new workaround for us was redirecting the %Temp% and %tmp% folder to local system C:\temp instead of [userprofile]\Temp. After a reboot the local Temp folder should be cleaned.

For us the profile folders on the local systems had to be cleaned, but they were not corrupted anymore by the locked temp z@.. files.

[no1_knows]

Hi,

confirmation: the fix with the *.ini file worked for me in two different eviroments.

best regards

[StefanSch]

For us, the INI Fix didnt work and we don't find this to be a good solution anyway.

We temporarily solved this by redirecting temporary folders for our users, like vGeesink mentioned above.

We are using a group policy now to change the environment variables TMP and TEMP to C:\temp\%USERNAME%

If you are going for this workaround, please note that some software doesnt like it if the default temp folder in the users profile (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp) is missing. So you should ensure the folder is created, if not existing, usin GPO.

This totally works, no more locked profiles on the terminal servers.

[nico_nl]

Did anyone have the chance to test if it is solved with the new Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2015 version?

[Rave]

Hi All,

The fix has Microsoft dependency. Microsoft will release a patch to fix the issue.

Regards,

Rave

[Guest]

Hey Rave,

so since you've put it out there, is there any time schedule since it's been over 2 years since the problem was first reported?  It just sounds like adobe doesn't have any idea of how to fix the issue so you've just said 'Microsoft will fix it' without any associated reference to this actually occurring.  I'm sure when I point my client to this thread he's going to ask the same questions.  Sure they changed the way they secured fonts but yours is the only software being reported with this issue of profile locking on exit.

[hudd45]

I think that Rave's response above is incorrect and almost delusional.  He says there is a "Microsoft dependency" because a MS update appears to trigger the issue.  However, the true cause is that Adobe is using a Windows API which has been unsupported since the Windows XP days.  Microsoft is understandably moving forward updates that no longer accommodate these long unsupported APIs.  Adobe's failure to abandon old unsupported methods is finally tripping up Microsoft and causing problems with each new MS update.

Writing temp font files to any location other than %windir%\fonts\ is unsupported by Microsoft. Newer MS updates have changes that no longer tolerate this.  Adobe Reader continues to do this anyway.  This creates problems.  100% Adobe issue.  0% Microsoft issue.  There is no reason for Microsoft to give any attention to this at all.  But Adobe seems unable to comprehend this--as evidenced by the few responses they have provided (see above). Therefore, we may never get a true fix for this issue.

Please see Michael's detailed blog post and Microsoft's KB2993651 for a more detailed explanation of the issue.

We did discover one specific way to delete these hung profiles without requiring a server reboot!  We are in a Citrix environment using Citrix User Profile Manager.  On a 2008 R2 server, when I first tried to delete one of these locked files, it said it could not be deleted because it was in use by the Citrix Profile Management Service.  We restarted the service and, VIOLA!!  The files were unlocked and the profiles could be deleted! 

I have not seen any other way to release these files short of rebooting the server.  Our ability to do so must have to do with how profiles are created by Citrix User Profile Manager. 

We have talked to Citrix about this and they do not encourage the Citrix Profile Management service being restarted during normal hours, so we have it scheduled to restart each morning at about 1am.  Then we use a DelProf2 script to run through and cleanly remove any old profiles.

This is still imperfect since DelProf2 will only delete profiles which are more that 1 day old, but it is a great improvement.  I hope this helps some of you.

[MichaelvK83]

Hi all,

I have read many many articles for this issue.

Outcome is, like this Michael's IT Blog, Adobe has to re-code Reader. (Adobe Reader’s Z@….tmp files cannot be deleted | Michael's IT Blog)

We have tried alot of ways to get this fixed, but neither uninstalling MS Patches, nor the AcroCT.ini files (yes both) are a fix for us.

If Adobe Reader needs to use temporary fonts for printing the PDF files, they have to Force unload and clean up the temporary fonts/files. (Font Installation and Deletion (Windows))

Since MS14-045: Description of the security update for kernel-mode drivers: August 27, 2014 there is a new behavior for Font and Font Resource installation/deletion.

Since Adobe Reader has NO support channel, NO way of contacting other than the forums:

How on earth could we get this to be fixed in a new release???

Should this message be posted on all threads for this annoying issue?
We are facing this problem with over 10 customers on over 600 Remote Desktop Servers - No way I am going to remove patch #1 from August 2014, which is being re-deployed in a newer fix every month..

The root cause is the programming in Adobe, which had been conform Microsoft's wishes, but this behavior change in removal has to be remarked to Adobe...

Regards and awaiting a way into the developers part on Adobe Reader.

Michael

[Test Screen Name]

Sounds like it could be described as a new feature so you could try the Acrobat Feature Request forum.

[Test Screen Name]

And by the way, Adobe staff might reply, but I've never seen a reply from developers. Who in any case don't choose what to change.

[kwenix]

hereunder a powershell script that will delete all 'orphaned' user folders that were not deleted because adobe temp files are still in use.

I have setting on my servers that removes user folders when user logs out (but as we know adobe folders are not deleted).

This script is fired at server startup to clean up the remaining mess...

(as usual, to be used at your own risk)

$StartPah = "C:\users"

$UserFolders = Get-ChildItem -Path $StartPah

ForEach ($UserFolder In $UserFolders)

{

  $Folder = Join-Path $StartPah $UserFolder

  $AppFolder = Get-ChildItem -Path $Folder –Directory -Hidden

  #folder should contain just 1 subfolder, named "AppData"

  if ($AppFolder.Count -eq 1)

  {

  if ($AppFolder.Name -eq "AppData")

  {

  Remove-Item $Folder -recurse -force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

  #re-read folder to see if delete was successful

  $AppFolder = Get-ChildItem -Path $Folder –Directory -Hidden

  if ($AppFolder.Count -eq 1)

  {

  Write-Host -foregroundcolor Red "Deleting $Folder failed - file(s) probably still in use"

  }

  else

  {

  Write-Host -foregroundcolor Yellow "Deleting $Folder succeeded"

  }

  }

  }

}

[MichaelvK83]

Hi Kwenix,

That can be used indeed, however some profiles are not being cleared when the .tmp files are still in use.

I had found a .ps1 from Prajeesh, which works perfectly (except for the .tmp files which in-use, but those profiles get cleaned up the second time the script runs).

HOWEVER......

This is not a fix, it is just a cleanup script.

We are still in need of a fix from the Adobe Reader team...

------------------

##########################################################################

#Purpose of this script is to find blank folders from particular location

#and report into a text file and delete.

#Version - 1

#Author - Prajeesh

##########################################################################

$date = ( get-date ).ToString('yyyyMMdd-HHmm')

$items = Get-ChildItem ‘\\127.0.0.1\c$\Users\’

foreach($item in $items)

{

      if( $item.PSIsContainer )

      {

            $subitems = Get-ChildItem -Recurse -Path $item.FullName

            if($subitems -eq $null)

            {

               $item.Fullname | Out-File -FilePath C:\temp\"EmptyFolder-$date.txt" -Append

                "Remove item: " + $item.FullName

                  Remove-Item $item.FullName -recurse -force

            }

      }

}

[cantorternary]

It is NOT just a Reader Problem. The locked temp file problems affect Acrobat 10, 11, and V2015. Same problem and never fixed. Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit.

It is NOT a Windows problem. No other program I have (hundreds) causes this issue. JUST Adobe.

I hold out ZERO hope for a fix.

[MichaelvK83]

I have opened up a Tweet to AdobeCare and Adobe_Reader.

They have shown interest in the issue, and the tweet redirects to this forum article.

We await further updates.

If possible, please retweet my post:

thanks.

[Rave]

Hi Michael,

We are aware of this issue and a Bug has been logged for the same.

It was found that the following windows update caused this issue to occur:

KB2993651

KB3000061

KB3002885

KB2970228

KB2993651

KB2982791

KB2975719

KB2975331

Regards,

Rave

[cantorternary]

The issue is about two years old and not solely related to current updates.

[notabigfan]

I just reviewed these suggested "problem" updates on my Citrix servers and did not find one installed.  This is absolutely ridiculous that this issue can exist for as long as it has.  Every time I run updates on these servers I have to research what update is causing the temp file issue.  Please remedy already....    If anyone has any other PDF reader suggestion please list.   Thanks

[Daniele8627]

we have this problem in out department, please fix this issue

[Delid4ve]

We too at our company have this issue.

I am by no means a prgrammer / developer but have worked with computers as a personal interest since the days of commodore 64s and amstrad 1512's.

I look after our server (2008r2) and clients (all now win 7 64bit).  Although most here report the issue with citrix we are running standard windows active directory with roaming profiles and folder redirection.  All user folders are redirected to \\servername\user folders$\%username% with sync enabled at share level.  Appdata is redirected to \\servername\user appdata$\%username% with sync disabled at share level and profiles to \\servername\user profiles$\%username% also with sync disabled at share level.  Appdata is redirected as we need it for certain business apps to roam but sync is disabled due to locked outlook/chrome folders.

I have now tried all fixes in this forum, rolled back to 10.0.0 and still the issue persists.  the files are present in appdata\local\temp and do not get deleted on logoff (gpo deletes local profiles upon logoff) the next time we log on, after previously printing a pdf, it appends the username to username.domain then username.domain.001 etc etc.  I cannot believe that a company of adobes size and stature has let this go on for so long.  We are in the process of now dropping all adobe products for alternatives as I cannot continue to manage this as certain apps that we use do not recognise the appended userfolder as they refer to the local copy - if this changes as it is then the app cannot find its path.  I have also noticed this with any windows installations (programs and features) ie: gotoassist client - as it installs the client on demand from the net it fails to remove it on as the installation path maybe .001 then the next logon it is .002.  It also fails to reconnect support sessions as the token is not generated for the new appended username.

[Guest]

I didn't have issues with .tmp files being created by Adobe, perhaps complicated by citrix.

My problem was a .ttf font file I downloaded directly to the download directory but was unable to move or delete it. Any attempt to do either resulted in a "The action cannot be completed because file is open in system" error message.

My search for an answer lead me here (among other places).

I'm writing because I did find a simple solution to my problem.

1. Uninstalled the font using the option in popup menu launched by right-clicking on the font icon.

2. Renamed the font to microsoftsucks.doc.

3. Rebooted.

4. Deleted the file.

I don't know if this will help any of you with issues that differ than mine, but I hope this helps those that do.

[remcovdl]

After dealing with this annoying issue a few months ago in october it came back to haunt me once again..

The earlier fix was to uninstall KB2993651 and decline the update through Windows Update or WSUS. That worked for us.

That worked fine until last week when we had to perform a Windows Update cycle for other security related issues. After that update cycle we are seeing the z@ tmp files again on both our terminal servers (Server 2008R2, no citrix )

I've searched in my "installed updates" for all mentioned updates in this topic and found only 1 update mentioned here. In our case update KB2976897 which i'm going to uninstall later on.

We've also updated Adobe reader X to Adobe Reader DC (build 15.007.20033) but this newest edition does not solve the underlying issue. I don't have enough time to search if the newest build of Adobe Reader DC still uses the old "CreateScalableFontResource" function as mentioned by MichaelvK83. If so it will be very unlikely that Adobe is going to fix their issue... I can blame Microsoft for a lot of bad things happened to Windows updates recently but this isn't one of them. This is purely a Adobe issue going strong for years..

I'm so fed up with this I’m going to implement the workarround for redirecting %tmp% to another location.

[MeNoLikey]

We've been dealing with this since last year (2014), I've combed this forum every other month. The uninstalling of updates worked and the acro INI files worked, BUT they just come back when new updates come out. Another user on this forum (JC2IT) says that win32k.sys and gdi32.dll versions get updated and it goes to heck. This is true. we have two terminal servers and one remoteapp server that have Adobe on them and all three were plagued with these adobe temp files. Very annoying for high end (important) users to have temp profiles being created every day. So here's how to make sure you don't have these problems.

This is tedious, but has worked for us. When new updates come out for Windows, check on each KB article for that update and scroll down to MORE Information>FILE Information, and check to see if win32k.sys or gdi32.dll gets updated. if they are on the list, do not install those updates. Yes you are at risk for threats if this update is not installed, yes you will miss out on updates, but no more Adobe font temp files.

So every time i'm told we have some temp files on a server, I go back through the updates, check which ones have this update, uninstall the update, reboot (during maintenance time), and voila, no more adobe temp files. I've mainly been paying attention to win32k.sys since that has popped up the most in windows updates. We've been free of adobe temp files since January 2015, so I hope this helps.

[unsalted21]

That doesn't sound like a good idea. Adobe should fix this it's a pain in the ass