I have a user who all of a sudden cannot open PDF files. I looked on her
computer and any PDF file just shows up as a Windows defualt file icon and
there was no file association set up for the PDF extension. I verified that
Acrobat Reader 7.0 was installed.

I right-clicked on the file and chose "Open With", but Acrobat Reader was
not listed. I clicked on Browse and browsed out to the Acrobat Reader
executable, but after I selected it, Acrobat Reader never showed up in the
list of programs to use in opening the files.

I opened up Windows Explorer and went to Tools->Folder Options and then
clicked on File Types. I scrolled down to the PDF extension and it showed no
program assigned to it. When I clicked on the Change button, it took me to
the same "Open With" window and I still had the same issue of not being able
to get Acrobat Reader to show up. Back on the File Types window I clicked on
the Reset button, but it just associated PDF with Notepad.

I uninstalled Acrobat Reader and then reinstalled it, but I still had the
same issue. I noticed that if I logged in as myself, then the association
was correct, but not while logged in as her. Does her profile just need to
be created? Also, if I opened Acrobat Reader and then went to File->Open and
selected a PDF file, then it opened fine, but still did not allow me to
associate the PDF extension with Acrobat Reader. As far as I know, nothing
was changed on this computer. It was working just the other day and now it's
not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason

Great that you verified acrobat 7 is working on the PC,

can you check what is her effective access to the acrobat and the exe?
should read, exec, list.

Sounds like your were doing all one should do.


Try this:
how about in your account, regedit, export
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\7.
then logout, login the user's account and try to improt the exported reg
file

What happens? If you are not allow to import, then you need to give the
user change permission on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat
Reader\7.

"Jason" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:59650A6B-D5CC-4C82-825C-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a user who all of a sudden cannot open PDF files. I looked on her
> computer and any PDF file just shows up as a Windows defualt file icon and
> there was no file association set up for the PDF extension. I verified
> that
> Acrobat Reader 7.0 was installed.
>
> I right-clicked on the file and chose "Open With", but Acrobat Reader was
> not listed. I clicked on Browse and browsed out to the Acrobat Reader
> executable, but after I selected it, Acrobat Reader never showed up in the
> list of programs to use in opening the files.
>
> I opened up Windows Explorer and went to Tools->Folder Options and then
> clicked on File Types. I scrolled down to the PDF extension and it showed
> no
> program assigned to it. When I clicked on the Change button, it took me
> to
> the same "Open With" window and I still had the same issue of not being
> able
> to get Acrobat Reader to show up. Back on the File Types window I clicked
> on
> the Reset button, but it just associated PDF with Notepad.
>
> I uninstalled Acrobat Reader and then reinstalled it, but I still had the
> same issue. I noticed that if I logged in as myself, then the association
> was correct, but not while logged in as her. Does her profile just need
> to
> be created? Also, if I opened Acrobat Reader and then went to File->Open
> and
> selected a PDF file, then it opened fine, but still did not allow me to
> associate the PDF extension with Acrobat Reader. As far as I know,
> nothing
> was changed on this computer. It was working just the other day and now
> it's
> not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Jason

Jason,

Login as Administrator, and then use the OpenWithAdd utility below to
register the "AcroRd32.exe" with the open-with dialog once.

Registering a program with the "Open With" dialog:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/openwithadd.htm


--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"Jason" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:59650A6B-D5CC-4C82-825C-(E-Mail Removed)...
I have a user who all of a sudden cannot open PDF files. I looked on her
computer and any PDF file just shows up as a Windows defualt file icon and
there was no file association set up for the PDF extension. I verified that
Acrobat Reader 7.0 was installed.

I right-clicked on the file and chose "Open With", but Acrobat Reader was
not listed. I clicked on Browse and browsed out to the Acrobat Reader
executable, but after I selected it, Acrobat Reader never showed up in the
list of programs to use in opening the files.

I opened up Windows Explorer and went to Tools->Folder Options and then
clicked on File Types. I scrolled down to the PDF extension and it showed
no
program assigned to it. When I clicked on the Change button, it took me to
the same "Open With" window and I still had the same issue of not being able
to get Acrobat Reader to show up. Back on the File Types window I clicked
on
the Reset button, but it just associated PDF with Notepad.

I uninstalled Acrobat Reader and then reinstalled it, but I still had the
same issue. I noticed that if I logged in as myself, then the association
was correct, but not while logged in as her. Does her profile just need to
be created? Also, if I opened Acrobat Reader and then went to File->Open
and
selected a PDF file, then it opened fine, but still did not allow me to
associate the PDF extension with Acrobat Reader. As far as I know, nothing
was changed on this computer. It was working just the other day and now
it's
not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason

It did appear to have to do with the registry. I tried replacing the
registry key you mentioned, but I still had the same problem afterwards. I
ended up renaming her user profile folder (C:\Documents and
Settings\%username%) and allowing Windows to create a new one when I logged
back in as that user. I then copied everything from the old profile folder
into the new profile folder, except for the "NTUSER.DAT" file, which I
understand to be the user registry hive. I ended up having to reset some of
the settings for the user, such as the background, where programs open up to,
and little things like that, but the PDF to Acrobat Reader connection was
working again. Thank you very much for your help.

-Jason

"jg" wrote:

> Great that you verified acrobat 7 is working on the PC,
>
> can you check what is her effective access to the acrobat and the exe?
> should read, exec, list.
>
> Sounds like your were doing all one should do.
>
>
> Try this:
> how about in your account, regedit, export
> HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\7.
> then logout, login the user's account and try to improt the exported reg
> file
>
> What happens? If you are not allow to import, then you need to give the
> user change permission on the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Adobe\Acrobat
> Reader\7.
>
> "Jason" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:59650A6B-D5CC-4C82-825C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I have a user who all of a sudden cannot open PDF files. I looked on her
> > computer and any PDF file just shows up as a Windows defualt file icon and
> > there was no file association set up for the PDF extension. I verified
> > that
> > Acrobat Reader 7.0 was installed.
> >
> > I right-clicked on the file and chose "Open With", but Acrobat Reader was
> > not listed. I clicked on Browse and browsed out to the Acrobat Reader
> > executable, but after I selected it, Acrobat Reader never showed up in the
> > list of programs to use in opening the files.
> >
> > I opened up Windows Explorer and went to Tools->Folder Options and then
> > clicked on File Types. I scrolled down to the PDF extension and it showed
> > no
> > program assigned to it. When I clicked on the Change button, it took me
> > to
> > the same "Open With" window and I still had the same issue of not being
> > able
> > to get Acrobat Reader to show up. Back on the File Types window I clicked
> > on
> > the Reset button, but it just associated PDF with Notepad.
> >
> > I uninstalled Acrobat Reader and then reinstalled it, but I still had the
> > same issue. I noticed that if I logged in as myself, then the association
> > was correct, but not while logged in as her. Does her profile just need
> > to
> > be created? Also, if I opened Acrobat Reader and then went to File->Open
> > and
> > selected a PDF file, then it opened fine, but still did not allow me to
> > associate the PDF extension with Acrobat Reader. As far as I know,
> > nothing
> > was changed on this computer. It was working just the other day and now
> > it's
> > not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jason
>
>
>

Our problem is a bit different but releated. Since installing SP2 on one of
our computers, a pdf file attached to an email will not open although Adobe
Reader is installed. The error says the file type is not linked to a
program. However, if we save the attached pdf file to the desktop, it opens
properly. The starnge things is a different computer that had SP2 previously
does not have that problem. Very strange. Any assistance will be greatly
appreciated.



"Ramesh, MS-MVP" wrote:

> Jason,
>
> Login as Administrator, and then use the OpenWithAdd utility below to
> register the "AcroRd32.exe" with the open-with dialog once.
>
> Registering a program with the "Open With" dialog:
> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/openwithadd.htm
>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
> Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
>
>
> "Jason" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:59650A6B-D5CC-4C82-825C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a user who all of a sudden cannot open PDF files. I looked on her
> computer and any PDF file just shows up as a Windows defualt file icon and
> there was no file association set up for the PDF extension. I verified that
> Acrobat Reader 7.0 was installed.
>
> I right-clicked on the file and chose "Open With", but Acrobat Reader was
> not listed. I clicked on Browse and browsed out to the Acrobat Reader
> executable, but after I selected it, Acrobat Reader never showed up in the
> list of programs to use in opening the files.
>
> I opened up Windows Explorer and went to Tools->Folder Options and then
> clicked on File Types. I scrolled down to the PDF extension and it showed
> no
> program assigned to it. When I clicked on the Change button, it took me to
> the same "Open With" window and I still had the same issue of not being able
> to get Acrobat Reader to show up. Back on the File Types window I clicked
> on
> the Reset button, but it just associated PDF with Notepad.
>
> I uninstalled Acrobat Reader and then reinstalled it, but I still had the
> same issue. I noticed that if I logged in as myself, then the association
> was correct, but not while logged in as her. Does her profile just need to
> be created? Also, if I opened Acrobat Reader and then went to File->Open
> and
> selected a PDF file, then it opened fine, but still did not allow me to
> associate the PDF extension with Acrobat Reader. As far as I know, nothing
> was changed on this computer. It was working just the other day and now
> it's
> not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Jason
>
>
>

This is a different problem, Howard. Can you post the file association info
for .PDF ?

See: FileExtInfo - View the association settings for a file type easily:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/fileextinfo.htm

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"Howard - JC Publishing" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in message news:6CC7D578-8C01-469D-A7F7-(E-Mail Removed)...
Our problem is a bit different but releated. Since installing SP2 on one of
our computers, a pdf file attached to an email will not open although Adobe
Reader is installed. The error says the file type is not linked to a
program. However, if we save the attached pdf file to the desktop, it opens
properly. The starnge things is a different computer that had SP2
previously
does not have that problem. Very strange. Any assistance will be greatly
appreciated.



"Ramesh, MS-MVP" wrote:

> Jason,
>
> Login as Administrator, and then use the OpenWithAdd utility below to
> register the "AcroRd32.exe" with the open-with dialog once.
>
> Registering a program with the "Open With" dialog:
> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/openwithadd.htm
>
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
> Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
>
>
> "Jason" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:59650A6B-D5CC-4C82-825C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have a user who all of a sudden cannot open PDF files. I looked on her
> computer and any PDF file just shows up as a Windows defualt file icon and
> there was no file association set up for the PDF extension. I verified
> that
> Acrobat Reader 7.0 was installed.
>
> I right-clicked on the file and chose "Open With", but Acrobat Reader was
> not listed. I clicked on Browse and browsed out to the Acrobat Reader
> executable, but after I selected it, Acrobat Reader never showed up in the
> list of programs to use in opening the files.
>
> I opened up Windows Explorer and went to Tools->Folder Options and then
> clicked on File Types. I scrolled down to the PDF extension and it showed
> no
> program assigned to it. When I clicked on the Change button, it took me
> to
> the same "Open With" window and I still had the same issue of not being
> able
> to get Acrobat Reader to show up. Back on the File Types window I clicked
> on
> the Reset button, but it just associated PDF with Notepad.
>
> I uninstalled Acrobat Reader and then reinstalled it, but I still had the
> same issue. I noticed that if I logged in as myself, then the association
> was correct, but not while logged in as her. Does her profile just need
> to
> be created? Also, if I opened Acrobat Reader and then went to File->Open
> and
> selected a PDF file, then it opened fine, but still did not allow me to
> associate the PDF extension with Acrobat Reader. As far as I know,
> nothing
> was changed on this computer. It was working just the other day and now
> it's
> not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Jason
>
>
>

Can I email the .txt file directly to you or should I paste it to the
newsgroup?

Howard


"Ramesh, MS-MVP" wrote:

> This is a different problem, Howard. Can you post the file association info
> for .PDF ?
>
> See: FileExtInfo - View the association settings for a file type easily:
> http://windowsxp.mvps.org/fileextinfo.htm
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
> Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
>
>
> "Howard - JC Publishing" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote in message news:6CC7D578-8C01-469D-A7F7-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Our problem is a bit different but releated. Since installing SP2 on one of
> our computers, a pdf file attached to an email will not open although Adobe
> Reader is installed. The error says the file type is not linked to a
> program. However, if we save the attached pdf file to the desktop, it opens
> properly. The starnge things is a different computer that had SP2
> previously
> does not have that problem. Very strange. Any assistance will be greatly
> appreciated.
>
>
>
> "Ramesh, MS-MVP" wrote:
>
> > Jason,
> >
> > Login as Administrator, and then use the OpenWithAdd utility below to
> > register the "AcroRd32.exe" with the open-with dialog once.
> >
> > Registering a program with the "Open With" dialog:
> > http://windowsxp.mvps.org/openwithadd.htm
> >
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> >
> > Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
> > Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
> >
> >
> > "Jason" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:59650A6B-D5CC-4C82-825C-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > I have a user who all of a sudden cannot open PDF files. I looked on her
> > computer and any PDF file just shows up as a Windows defualt file icon and
> > there was no file association set up for the PDF extension. I verified
> > that
> > Acrobat Reader 7.0 was installed.
> >
> > I right-clicked on the file and chose "Open With", but Acrobat Reader was
> > not listed. I clicked on Browse and browsed out to the Acrobat Reader
> > executable, but after I selected it, Acrobat Reader never showed up in the
> > list of programs to use in opening the files.
> >
> > I opened up Windows Explorer and went to Tools->Folder Options and then
> > clicked on File Types. I scrolled down to the PDF extension and it showed
> > no
> > program assigned to it. When I clicked on the Change button, it took me
> > to
> > the same "Open With" window and I still had the same issue of not being
> > able
> > to get Acrobat Reader to show up. Back on the File Types window I clicked
> > on
> > the Reset button, but it just associated PDF with Notepad.
> >
> > I uninstalled Acrobat Reader and then reinstalled it, but I still had the
> > same issue. I noticed that if I logged in as myself, then the association
> > was correct, but not while logged in as her. Does her profile just need
> > to
> > be created? Also, if I opened Acrobat Reader and then went to File->Open
> > and
> > selected a PDF file, then it opened fine, but still did not allow me to
> > associate the PDF extension with Acrobat Reader. As far as I know,
> > nothing
> > was changed on this computer. It was working just the other day and now
> > it's
> > not. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Jason
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>

You can paste it here, Howard.

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"Howard - JC Publishing" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in message news:27F97671-B801-4E09-A7BA-(E-Mail Removed)...
Can I email the .txt file directly to you or should I paste it to the
newsgroup?

Howard

I am sending two reports. This is the one from the computer having the
problem:

FileExtInfo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FileExtInfo v1.0 - Log file
6/13/2006 7:48:59 AM


Complete File association information for ---> .PDF
Useful for troubleshooting File association and other problems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF]
@="pdf_auto_file"
"Content Type"="application/pdf"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF\OpenWithList]
@=""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF\OpenWithList\AcroRd32.exe]
@=""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF\PersistentHandler]
@="{B7509D6F-85EE-11d0-AF7D-00C04FD8DC02}"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pdf_auto_file]
@=""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pdf_auto_file\shell]


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pdf_auto_file\shell\Read]


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pdf_auto_file\shell\Read\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\Adobe\\Acrobat 7.0\\Reader\\AcroRd32.exe\" \"%1\""


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.PDF]
"Progid"="pdf_auto_file"


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.PDF\
OpenWithList]
"a"="primopdf.exe"
"MRUList"="bac"
"b"="AcroRd32.exe"
"c"="iexplore.exe"


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.PDF\
OpenWithProgids]
"pdf_auto_file"=hex(0):


Page 1

and here is the report from an identical computer where the attached pdf
documents can be opened within Outlook Express:

FileExtInfo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FileExtInfo v1.0 - Log file
6/12/2006 4:23:01 PM


Complete File association information for ---> .PDF
Useful for troubleshooting File association and other problems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF]
"Content Type"="application/pdf"
@="AcroExch.Document"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF\OpenWithList]
@=""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF\OpenWithList\AcroRd32.exe]
@=""


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.PDF\PersistentHandler]
@="{B7509D6F-85EE-11d0-AF7D-00C04FD8DC02}"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document]
"BrowseInPlace"="1"
"EditFlags"=dword:00010000
@="Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Document"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document\CLSID]
@="{B801CA65-A1FC-11D0-85AD-444553540000}"


[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AcroExch.Document\CurVer]
@="AcroExch.Document.7"


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.PDF]
"Application"="AcroRd32.exe"


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.PDF\
OpenWithList]
"a"="primopdf.exe"
"MRUList"="beadhgfc"
"b"="AcroRd32.exe"
"c"="IEXPLORE.EXE"
"d"="SPOOLER.EXE"
"e"="crw32.exe"
"f"="SPMaint.EXE"
"g"="XJOBATCH.exe"
"h"="SchedBrd.exe"


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.PDF\
OpenWithProgids]
"ft000001"=hex(0):
"AcroExch.Document"=hex(0):


Page 1

Thank you for your assistance.

Howard




"Ramesh, MS-MVP" wrote:

> You can paste it here, Howard.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
> Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com
>
>
> "Howard - JC Publishing" <(E-Mail Removed)>
> wrote in message news:27F97671-B801-4E09-A7BA-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Can I email the .txt file directly to you or should I paste it to the
> newsgroup?
>
> Howard
>
>
>

Howard,

Open Regedit.exe and navigate to:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\pdf_auto_file\shell\Read]

Right-click "Read" and select Rename

Type "open"

Close Regedit.exe

--
Regards,

Ramesh Srinivasan, Microsoft MVP [Windows XP Shell/User]
Windows® XP Troubleshooting http://www.winhelponline.com


"Howard - JC Publishing" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote in message news:7906F2D6-FFAF-4E9F-BD58-(E-Mail Removed)...
I am sending two reports. This is the one from the computer having the
problem:

FileExtInfo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FileExtInfo v1.0 - Log file
6/13/2006 7:48:59 AM


Complete File association information for ---> .PDF
Useful for troubleshooting File association and other problems
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~