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Zer0Null
Zer0Null
Participating Frequently
Oct 18, 2018 10:56 AM UTC
Answered

Disable FIPS mode in Adobe Acrobat Reader DC?

Hi all,

I have searched far and wide, still can't figure out nor find any solution to disabling FIPS mode. Any documents that are configured to use digital signatures for us error out when signing with the following error:

"The document could not be saved. Use of non FIPS cryptography is not permitted while in FIPS mode." Then states document couldn't be signed obviously.

Anyone find a solution to this? I tried the bFIPSMode=0 manual HKCU entry that doesn't do anything. I also disabled protected mode. This instance of Adobe DC is on Windows 10.

Thanks for any help!

BobDaWebGuy
BobDaWebGuyCorrect answer
Participant
Jun 2, 2025 5:34 PM UTC

Zer0Null,

 

FWIW, I just encountered this for the first time.  The resolution, within my org, is to have that user added to FIPS-related Windows Active Directory Group.  I don't know how the policy is configured, but that resolved the issue.

 

Best of luck to you!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

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18 replies

BobDaWebGuy
BobDaWebGuyCorrect answer
Participant
Jun 2, 2025 5:34 PM UTC

Zer0Null,

 

FWIW, I just encountered this for the first time.  The resolution, within my org, is to have that user added to FIPS-related Windows Active Directory Group.  I don't know how the policy is configured, but that resolved the issue.

 

Best of luck to you!

 

Cheers,

 

Bob

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AnandSri
AnandSri
Legend
Jun 6, 2025 5:21 PM UTC

Hello @BobDaWebGuy!

 

I hope you are doing well. Thanks for sharing the steps that worked for you. This will help other users in the community facing a similar issue with an IT-managed machine. For an individual-managed computer, read and write permissions are required on the Adobe folders, as described above.

 

Feel free to reach out if you need any assistance.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

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frieda15A9
Participant
May 27, 2021 7:59 PM UTC

It's been some years since this question was posted, but I don't see that anyone provided an answer, so here it is:

 

For those of you who do not control the admin rights to a .pdf, but need to sign it and are receiving above error message, you just need to drag .pdf to your desktop, and then open it with Adobe Acrobat Reader.  You should then be able to sign it.

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Glenn26848304hndh
Participant
Oct 28, 2022 4:33 PM UTC

This solution sounds incredibly simple and I don't know why dragging a file onto my desktop and opening the document would then allow me to save a FIPS document.  I tried it anyway and dragging this file to my desktop before opening it did not change the unwanted behavior.

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Charis5D9B
Participating Frequently
Nov 8, 2022 4:22 PM UTC

I tried saving the doc to my desktop and it did NOT resolve the issue.

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Test Screen Name
Legend
Oct 22, 2018 3:48 PM UTC

It sounds as you may have very strict registry blocks stopping software reading and writing preferences. Check with your admins for policies. 

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Test Screen Name
Legend
Oct 22, 2018 3:34 PM UTC

What do you have under HKCU\Software? Anything else other than Adobe ?

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Zer0Null
Zer0NullAuthor
Participating Frequently
Oct 22, 2018 3:36 PM UTC

Just the usual: Classes, Microsoft, Policies

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Test Screen Name
Legend
Oct 22, 2018 3:29 PM UTC

Yes, that is DC, though it’s not the latest. You should have that in the registry if Reader ever ran. What does Regedit have under HKCU\Software\Adobe ?

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Zer0Null
Zer0NullAuthor
Participating Frequently
Oct 22, 2018 3:31 PM UTC

Only "\DC\AVGeneral" that I manually created for bFIPSMode

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cadbury
Adobe Employee
cadbury
Adobe Employee
Oct 22, 2018 9:38 AM UTC

Dear user,

Please confirm if you are setting the registry key correctly at the below mentioned path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER/SOFTWARE/Adobe/Acrobat Reader/DC/AVGeneral/bFIPSMode 

DWORD value to 0 to disable

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Zer0Null
Zer0NullAuthor
Participating Frequently
Oct 22, 2018 10:17 AM UTC

Correct, I have that entry yet FIPS mode is still enabled and the error is persistent.

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cadbury
Adobe Employee
cadbury
Adobe Employee
Oct 22, 2018 1:40 PM UTC

Dear user,

We could not reproduce the issue in house. We are able to use non FIPs compliant algorithms while signing when FIPS is disabled[with PM on/off] and not able to create with FIPs enabled.

Please could you tell us the Signature algorithm for the certificate[Select the digital id--View Details--Details--Signature Algorithm] .

Have you set any registry key to specify digest method while signing? Please could you go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\DC\Security\cPubSec and send us a screenshot of the registries set under this key.

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