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PDF files do not open properly


mikep56

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Hi All,

I have a peculiar problem with my Windows XP Pro SP3 box. It has had many versions of Adobe Acrobat and various other pdf readers installed and removed. Along the way something peculiar has happened that even removing and reinstalling will not fix.

If I am on a webpage that has a link to a pdf document, normally clicking on the link will open the default pdf reader and open the file in it. In my case, the pdf reader will not open and the page just stays where it is, as if the link was never clicked. However I have to open Acrobat and then drop the link onto it for the document to appear.

Does anybody have any idea about this?

Regards,

Mike

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You didn't mention the web browser you use.

What happens in a browser window or tab is ultimately controlled by the browser itself. So even if you add/remove AcroRead a hundred times, the Adobe installer/uninstaller might never edit a particular browser's configuration. This is true especially for Opera, but may be true for all. If any of them are altered by the Adobe installer/uninstaller I would imagine that MSIE would be the likely one.

In Opera it is ... Tools > Preferences > Downloads ... select: Application/pdf ... click EDIT.

I'll let other members explain the steps for other browsers which I rarely use anymore.

The point is, Adobe may have set the PDF web associations in the registry to one thing, but the browser itself is set to another action. They all must be in sync.

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Hi CharlotteTheHarlot,

I never knew about the programs settings in Firefox; that is my browser of choice. I changed it from "Preview in Firefox" to "Use Adobe Acrobat 7". I will reboot and let you know if it helps.

Mike

EDIT:

Hi CharlotteTheHarlot,

No luck, it still the same way it was before. I am running Firefox 19.0.2

Edited by mikep56
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You'll have to take a fine-toothed comb to Acrobat Reader now ( and I'm assuming you have Acrord32.exe on 32-bit WinXP ).

(1) You say Acrobat Reader never opens from Firefox? Does it open from a shortcut? If it does, check the shortcut properties and note the exact path and exe specified in it. You will need this information. If it is not specified in the shortcut, you will need to use Explorer or another file manager to find the actual file. Now double-click it to make sure it is in fact working. Now you know what it is that you need to search for ( the full path and filename ).

(2) Next step is to go into REGEDIT, make sure the highlight is at the top on "My Computer". Press F3 and bring up the Find dialog. Enter Acrord32.exe. Continually pressing F3 again will repeat the search for the next entry. You are looking for registry entries that contain a path such as C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 9.0\Reader\Acrord32.exe ( which I have on this computer here ) or any similar entry. Specifically, you are looking for any deviations from the correct path noted in (1). These will need to be corrected. Since you say you installed multiple readers it is likely that a stale entry or two are still existing.

( Note, I am describing the Find command as opposed to searching a registry export on purpose. It is likely that Adobe is using Expand_SZ strings for the command and these will not show up in plain text in an export )

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( Note, I am describing the Find command as opposed to searching a registry export on purpose. It is likely that Adobe is using Expand_SZ strings for the command and these will not show up in plain text in an export )

Note. :whistle:

Forget about the built-in Registry editor :w00t: and get a good tool capable of listing found items :yes: .

I personally still use the good old "lite" version of Registrar:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050706043434/http://www.resplendence.com/downloads

jaclaz

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Forget about the built-in Registry editor :w00t: and get a good tool capable of listing found items :yes: .

This is a very good idea, I just wasn't sure of his level of understanding so I stuck with the built-in solution. Personally I bought both Registry Workshop and RegWorks for the detailed stuff because they have radical search-replace and display options.

NB: I can't remember the exact version at the moment, but at least one of the Resplendence Registrar versions has an extremely high pollution ( bloat ) factor. I can dig it up if you are curious. I tested a slew of these things on Win9x back in the day.

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Hi CharlotteTheHarlot,

I am using Acrobat 7 Standard, not Acrobat Reader.

Shortcuts to PDFs that I have on my desktop that point to locally stored files open normally in Acrobat 7. It is links to PDFs in Firefox that do nothing.

I have a pretty good level of understanding and I am not afraid to use the registry editor.

Hi jaclaz,

I can use regedit, should I still download registrar?

Thanks both for your responses.

Mike

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It is strange that nothing happens at all, even with the (new) "Preview in Firefox". Have you had that with various web pages or have you always tried with the same one ? It could also be that the file is downloaded in the background or that the opening of a new tab is blocked.

As you have Windows, why don't you try the same pages in IE? It could show you if there is a problem with FF or with Adobe Acrobat 7 (which by the way is very different from "Acrobat Reader 9").

Edited by Ponch
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Hi Ponch,

That is a brilliant idea!

When I open the link in IE a message box pops up saying that "There is a problem with Adobe Acrobat/Reader. If it is running please exit and try again (1014:1014)".

Do you have any idea what those numbers refer to?

Oh and the browser page stays blank.

Mike

EDIT: The page in IE stays blank whereas the page in Firefox does nothing; it stays where it is like nothing has been done.

Edited by mikep56
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When I open the link in IE a message box pops up saying that "There is a problem with Adobe Acrobat/Reader. If it is running please exit and try again (1014:1014)".

Do you have any idea what those numbers refer to?

Google shows a bunch of hits. A thread at answers.microsoft.com ...

I had the same problem. I had both Adobe 10.1.0 and Adobe 6 standard installed. I do not know how it happened. However, what I found out was, Adobe 6.0 was taking control of the internet browser viewing of PDF docs. When I opened adobe 10.1.0 "edit" --> preference--> internet, I could see adobe 6.0 is controlling the browser. I I could not change it to adobe 10.1.0 since it was greyed out. Even if I uncheck this box in adobe 6.0, I still could not change the adobe 10.1.0.
In adobe reader X i found if i went in and unchecked display in read mode by default and unchecked allow fast web view I no longer had any problem. All found under internet options.
thanks, fixed my problem - I already had read mode unchecked (and was still getting the error message) but also unchecking fast web view totally fixed it !

update: the error just recurred ! whoops...

I've now re-ticked the fast web view box (but left read mode unchecked) then went into Adobe Reader X itself and into Help and selected Repair Adobe Reader installation (note you have to then close Adobe Reader X while it repairs itself) - this has now fixed the problem (I hope)

update 2: the error just recurred - yet again

Decided to uninstall and reinstall the product and now working ok again.

( check out the many other hits for "(1014:1014)" ).

Anyway, it looks like the old cat chasing its tail game again, settings in the browser vs. settings in Adobe. Just my opinion, but I would disable any Adobe feature that involves the web browser or plugin, and instead set Adobe Acrobat to only be used on-demand. Then, in the FF browser itself, tell it to use Acrobat as described earlier. I would still audit the registry for Acrobat.exe or whatever they call it ( instead of Acrord32.exe ) to weed out any broken ones.

I don't have Acrobat ( the creator ) installed, just the reader. Is it normal to use Acrobat for viewing files in addition to editing them? I am wondering because in this scenario, these PDF "online files" in the Firefox browser must be cached to the always ambiguous browser cache folders and this introduces the possibility of permissions problem of opening a PDF not just for read-only viewing, but editing as well. Sounds troublesome for just popping an "online" PDF into a viewer. Just my opinion.

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Hi All,

So in addition to Acrobat Standard 7.1.0, I also had Adobe Reader 11and Adobe Reader 9.5.3. I was able to uninstall Reader 11.0.02, but Reader 9.5.3 gives me an error message:"This patch package could not be opened. Verify that the patch package exists and that you can access it, or contact the application vendor to verify that this is a valid Windows installer patch package".

It sounds like some corruption is causing my problem, but how to uninstall 9.5.3?

Thanks.

Mike

EDIT:

I also had pdflite and PrimoPDF installed. These are now gone, yet the problem persists.

Edited by mikep56
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Yes, it definitely sounds like you need to completely uninstall ALL PDF reader/editor programs, do a thorough registry clean, then reinstall, very carefully, only the applications that you intend to use and only if they can be installed without interfering with each other. Any that can be installed in a portable format probably should be to help minimize the possible interference, and pay very special attention to the file associations. I would probably do whatever installs you end up choosing and do not associate any file types with any of the apps during the install. After you have all the applications installed and running, as few applications as possible, then you can associate each file type to whichever application you wish to use for it. Just my two cents.

Cheers and Regards

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It sounds like some corruption is causing my problem, but how to uninstall 9.5.3?

I have some limited knowledge for Adobe reader 9 registry entry.

You can inspect the registry location in the following inf first.

The inf is to restore Adobe reader 8,9,10,11 to a uninstallable state if some pdf program breaks Adobe reader install/uninstall routine.

I strongly suggest before you 'right-click' the inf, and select 'Install', do a manual backup of these registry

location in case you wish to restore back to where you are before you run this inf. (Your milegae may varies)

The registry location I said to make a backup are in the INF.

After run the inf, use Add/remove panel to remove Adobe reader 9. (I assume you can still launch the Adobe Reader 9 uninstaller)

Hopefully it will works.

RestoreAdobeRdr9.txt

Rename RestoreAdobeRdr9.txt to RestoreAdobeRdr9.inf

;Restore Adobe Reader 9
[Version]
Signature=$Windows NT$

[DefaultInstall]
AddReg =REGEntries.AddReg

[REGEntries.AddReg]
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\.pdf,Content Type,0x0,application/pdf
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\.pdf,,0x0,AcroExch.Document
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\.pdf\OpenWithList\AcroRd32.exe,,0x10
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\.pdf\OpenWithList\AcroRd32.exe,,0x0

HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\MIME\Database\Content Type\application/pdf,Extension,0x0,.pdf
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\MIME\Database\Content Type\application/pdf,CLSID,0x0,{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000}

HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\MIME\Database\Content Type\application/vnd.fdf,Extension,0x0,.fdf
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Classes\MIME\Database\Content Type\application/vnd.fdf,CLSID,0x0,{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000}

HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers,{49400A7C-81A8-4F52-8CCE-D54739EE87EC},0x0,Adobe PDF Preview Handler
HKLM,SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\PreviewHandlers,{DC6EFB56-9CFA-464D-8880-44885D7DC193},0x0,Adobe PDF Preview Handler for Vista

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  • 2 weeks later...

After years, of watching Adobe Acrobat Reader get larger and larger till it was almost the largest program on my PC, I finally came across a new program called "Foxit Reader". After trying the new program on a secondary PC, I decided to install it on my main PC.

I didn't know just how deeply installed into my OS was, Acrobat Reader, so I used the UN-Install program "Revo UN-installer Pro", in Advanced mode, to get all of Acrobat Reader out of my OS. It removed all the program files and then scoured the registry for any left over entries, and there were a bunch of them. :(

Finally, when I was sure that Acrobat Reader was completely GONE, I then installed Foxit Reader. It opens and runs a lot faster than Acrobat Reader and takes up only a small fraction of the space on my hard drive. It also interfaces with Firefox, my browser of choice.

Happy Computing Mates!

B)

Edited by Andromeda43
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