Unable to install Acrobat Reader DC. Newer Version Already Installed. Windows 10. Cleaner Tool run

[Martin28970237xnkw]

I have previously used Acrobat Reader DC and had previously uninstalled it.  I am now trying to reinstall, and am continually getting the message "newer version already installed".  I am using Windows 10 and am downloading via Chrome.  Javascript is enabled in Chrome. Activex scripts are enabled.  I have run the Acrobat Cleaner utility.  It seems everything that can be tried has been tried.  I would be grateful for any assistance on this issue.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

When do you get this error message? Is it during the download, or when you try to install the downloaded software? The Cleaner should definitely remove anything that the Reader installer could potetnially identify as a newer version.

[Martin28970237xnkw]

The message is displayed by the Acrobat Installer at the end of the installation.  During theinstallation, the progress bar moves across the screen and reports progress.  However, when the error message is displayed, it shows an empty progress bar.  No error number is reported.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

This is weird. I would re-run the Cleaner - just in case - and then try to install from a fresh download. I assume you've already tried to reboot the computer. If not, do that after running the Cleaner. Do you have other user accounts on this computer? If so, I would try to use a different account to run the installation to see if that makes a difference. 

[Martin28970237xnkw]

Thanks, Karl, for trying to help me with this one.  Your time is appreciated.  The cleaner told me it had removed Acrobat successfully - however, I'll give it another go in the near future.  I have already tried to restart the computer. The only other account on this computer is a Guest account, and I don't wish to create a new account to deal with this problem.  Each time I have tried to install has been from a fresh install.  This happens by default, since the installer deletes the installation file at the end, which means that one must go to the Adobe site to download a fresh installation every time of trying. 

[Martin28970237xnkw]

To avoid confusion, the cleaner I am running is AdobeAcroCleaner_DC2021.

[Martin28970237xnkw]

The cleaner tool is 4.0.0.  When run, the cleaner tells me that it cannot find Adobe Acrobat installed on the computer.  It offers to clean it from the non-existent c:\program files\Adobe\Acrobat directory.  I tell it to additionally look for the c:\program files (86)\Adobe directory which is empty but does exist.  However, it warns me that it will ignore that directory, since a valid Adobe Acrobat installation was not found at that location.  I am then told that Acrobat has been succesfully removed, and asked to reboot.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

This is the correct Cleaner (there are two, one for Acrobat, and one for Creative Cloud). There is a chance that there is something wrong with the Windows installer system that keeps track of what is installed. Microsoft has a tool to fix those problems: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-r...

That would be my next step in troubleshooting. After that, I would dive into the Windows Registry to see what is stored that might reference Adobe Acrobat or Reader. 

Do you have any ohter Adobe software installed on this computer? 

[Martin28970237xnkw]

Having rebooted, I try to download again from https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/    This places the file readerdc64_uk_hi_cra_mdr_install.exe on my computer.  I run it.  A progress bar shows progress, below a message saying "Adobe Acrobat Reader DC: Downloading...".   During this process the message changes to say "Installing" instead of "Downloading".  The progress bar advances as far as 90%.  I am asked to approve the addition of the Acrobat extension to Chrome.  Following this, there is a pause.  The progress bar changes to show no progress.  A red cross is displaye to the right of the progress bar.  The message above the progress bar changes to say "Adobe Acrobat Reader DC: Newer version already installed".  A "Finish" button is displayed.

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

Have you tried to no add the Acrobat extension to Chrome? 

[Martin28970237xnkw]

I tried the Windows troubleshooter, but it couldn't help.  I edited the registry to remove some but not all references to Acrobat where it seemed appropriate/suitable, but did not remove others such as references where I was warned that doing so could cause instability.  I didn't remove anything in the Software section, because the references were to other Adobe softare (eg Distiller) and any DC settings for other Adobe softare surely shouldn't make the Acrobat installer think that Acrobat is installed.  After rebooting, installation failed again.

[Martin28970237xnkw]

On the last attempt before trying the solution that worked, I wasn't offered the option to add the extension to Chrome, otherwise I would have answered "no".  However, this is a moot point given that I was able to install using the solution I've flagged as the correct answer.

[Karl Heinz Kremer · Accepted solution]

Here is one more potential fix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cBjBgrujWo

This is for an old version of Windows and also for a three year old version of Acrobat Reader, but it may still work. 

[Martin28970237xnkw]

Karl, thanks for this last suggestion.  Very simple, but it worked!  Twice during installation, I received a message "Error 1406. Could not write value to key \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\AcrobatInfo.exe.  Verify that you have sufficent access to that key, or contact your support personnel.".  The available options were Abort, Retry or Ignore.  Retry proved unsuccessful, so I chose Ignore.  Installation completed successfully.  It's installed Acrobat Reader continuous release version 2023.001.20064 64 bit, rather than Reader DC, but it doesn't seem to matter. The interface looks the same/similar.  I loaded a document as a quick test, and it seemed to work fine.  So thank you very much for that.  If I ever run into that problem again, this will save me so much time, and I hope that this page will also save time for others who come across the same problem.  For reference, the path I found the setup.exe file in was C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\Setup\{AC76BA86-1033-1033-7760-BC15014EA700}, so the directory structure in Windows 10 is obviously a bit different from Windows 7.

Thank you very much for the time and effort you put in to help me with this.  I'm glad that it paid off.  Best regards, Martin

[Karl Heinz Kremer]

Martin, thanks for letting us know that this worked. Having my comment selected as the correct answer will definitely help others in the future. I never ran into this problem myself, so I had to dig around a little. I will keep this in my backpocket, just in case it shows up again. Thanks again. for the feedback. 

[JR Boulay]

[MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]