Windows 10: Can't change default app from Acrobat Reader DC to Acrobat

When I open Reader here is the dialogue box that appears:



I click 'No' but that has no impact. As soon as I do this and close the application the icon for all of the PDF on my desk to change to the Adobe Reader icon. After that nothing will change them back.

I just googled this and it looks that this is an issue that people have had in Win 7, Win 8.1 and Win 10.
It is odd that its not happening on my Win 10 Home box. Since I need to be able to work with PDFs that I download through my browser on a daily basis, I'm just going to keep Acrobat Standard 9.x and ditch Reader. Its really not imperative to have both.

 

UPDATE: After doing a bit of research on the Adobe Users Forum I've discovered that the behavior by Adobe Reader DC is by design. It runs in protected mode and therefore is considered by Adobe to be secure. It therefore assumes priority for opening pdf files. However Adobe goes on to say that when it installs and it detects that you have another adobe reader, in my case Acrobat Standard 9.5.5, it will ask you which program you wish to be the default pdf handler. Despite numerous uninstalls and reinstalls I never get the chance to choose. Reader DC will simply not let me assign Acrobat as the pdf handler, except Edge. Also interesting is that this is not happening on my WIN 10 Home PC, although it also has Acrobat Standard 9.5.5 installed. Possibly if I changed Reader DC to the default handler and then tried switching back to Acrobat Standard 9.5.5 I might have the same problem. In any case I've ditched Reader and kept Acrobat Standard.
I've also noticed that whenever I uninstall Reader DC and then try to run Acrobat that Acrobat has to reinstall/repair itself. Could be an indication that Reader DC is doing something to Acrobat at a very basic level to insure that it remains the default. If anyone has any additional info I like to hear it.

 

Have you tried installing Reader and then go into Acrobat Std and making the default change there instead of in the Reader. This is what I did and have had no problems since. I can open a file in Reader, but this does not change my default pdf application - it always stays as Acrobat Pro.

 

I looked around but I couldn't find any place in Acrobat Standard 9.5 where I can make that change. Is it in Edit/Preferences/General? Could you direct me to the place I will definitely try it.

 

Unfortunately I am running Acrobat Pro X. In this version it is under Edit/Preferences/General and a large button in the 'Application Start Up' section at the bottom of the dialogue.

 

Unfortunately it's not there in 9.5.5. Thanks much for your help.

 

When Acrobat changes the file associations it will be changing a value in the registry. Therefore it should be possible to find the appropriate place in the registry and manually make the changes. This may be something you are not happy doing, therefore your solution to remove Acrobat Reader from your computer is probably the best solution (or upgrade to Acrobat Pro X!). After all, you probably never use the reader if you have Acrobat - even the browsers allow you to have an Acrobat plug-in instead of a Reader plug-in.

 

It thought about doing that. I'm comfortable with editing registry items and have done so for years. Although I suspect that Reader probably looks at specific keys each time it runs and reverses any user edits to ensure the Reader is the most "secure" PDF application. That's how I would code if I were the developer. Nonetheless I will have a go at it and report back. Who knows, I might get lucky,

 

VICTORY AT LAST!!!!
The solution turns out to be installing Reader XI in lieu of Reader DC. Reader XI at can be found at:
Adobe - Adobe Acrobat Reader DC Distribution. Although the page title is Adobe Reader DC Distribution you can select "Reader 11.1.10 English for Windows" in the Step 3 dropdown. The downloaded install file is "AdobeRe11010_en_US.exe".

During the installation a dialogue box allows you to decide if it becomes the default pdf handler.



This option is not available with Reader DC.
During the installation of Reader XI the pdf file association is changed to Edge so you'll need to change it back to Acrobat 9.5. That's it all done. Just remember not to accept and upgrade to Reader DC in the future.

 

Hi cormanaz.
Please see my latest post (#22). I think it will solve your problem, it solved mine. Let me know if you have any questions. If it does then please mark this thread as solved.

 

I run Acrobat 11 Pro, and Reader is not installed. I've been though every suggestion mentioned, including manually editing the registry. No joy. Note that this issue appeared after I upgraded to my Win 10 Pro x64 to the latest patch - Build 10586. I can load a PDF in Acrobat with the "Edit with" context menu, but that's not satisfactory. If I install Reader, I would not want it as my default when I have Pro. Thanks.

 

Hi JimmyW. I'm not sure I understand how you want Acrobat to behave. Do you want to have PDF that IE opens to appear in Acrobat?

 

Thanks. I want Acrobat Pro to open when I click on a PDF. Now, it opens in Edge.

 

So you've tried using the "Set As Default PDF Handler" preferences in Acrobat? I believe that its all the way at the bottom of the General section, at least it is on my Adobe Reader DL. I can not reproduce the problem since I have Acrobat Reader DC on one PC and Acrobat 9 on the other but neither of them opens pdf's in Edge. Maybe try uninstalling Adobe Pro and then reinstalling it.

 

Many thanks for your posts, SoFine409; I'm just about to try out your solution. My problem is more or less the same, except I am using Adobe Acrobat 8.3. I cannot afford the current version, nor do I really need it since Acrobat 8.3 does work perfectly well with Windows 10.

Personally, I don't want Adobe Reader, but without it the thumbnails of PDF documents will not show in Windows Explorer. Have you also experienced this?