Can't change default app from Acrobat Reader DC to Acrobat

ams said:

If you want to make Acrobat your default program for PDF files, you need to bring up Acrobat and go the Edit/Preferences and then select General. At the bottom of the page you will see 'Select Default PDF handler'. Click on this and select Acrobat instead of Acrobat Reader. You will require a system reboot, but after that everything will be as you require.

This is the way to solve the problem -- it turns out that some distributed PDF forms REQUIRE using the free Reader DC and will not work with the paid-for Acrobat Pro. When both are installed it was a real pain to have everything open in reader, and this post solves the question. Thanks.

I have been having the same problem for weeks and have tried every remedy listed in TenForums. ADOBE inserts its Reader DC into the registry in a way that is hard for user to change (so you will subscribed to their monthly pdf service!). I tried everything including trying to change the resgistry and eventually gave up and unistalled Adobe Reader DC.

I realize this thread it several years old, however, the problem is still occurring and google searches still find questions on several forums. But as far as I can tell, no one has ever before posted a real solution.

As I understand it, Adobe decided to have Acrobat Reader DC automatically make itself the default PDF viewer if a user selects Acrobat X as their default PDF viewer apparently because Acrobat X is no longer supported or receiving even important security patches. This decision should not be taken lightly, but if you clearly understand and accept the risks and implications of this, it is very easy to make Acrobat X (and probably other affected versions) stick as your default PDF viewer:

Acrobat Reader DC checks for Acrobat by filename. So go to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat" or wherever you have Acrobat X installed and make a copy of Acrobat.exe with a different name to use as your default PDF viewer. I used "Acrobat - Copy.exe".

Then use whatever method you may be familiar with for associating an app with a file extension.
Here is one well-known method: Right-click on a PDF file, choose "Open With...", then "Choose another app", then scroll down and click "More Apps", then scroll down and click "Look for another app on your PC...", browse to and select the *NEW* "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat\Acrobat -Copy.exe", press "Open" and finally check "Always use this app to open .pdf files" and press OK.

Hope this helps someone.

Swail said:

I realize this thread it several years old, however, the problem is still occurring and google searches still find questions on several forums. But as far as I can tell, no one has ever before posted a real solution.

As I understand it, Adobe decided to have Acrobat Reader DC automatically make itself the default PDF viewer if a user selects Acrobat X as their default PDF viewer apparently because Acrobat X is no longer supported or receiving even important security patches. This decision should not be taken lightly, but if you clearly understand and accept the risks and implications of this, it is very easy to make Acrobat X (and probably other affected versions) stick as your default PDF viewer:

Acrobat Reader DC checks for Acrobat by filename. So go to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat" or wherever you have Acrobat X installed and make a copy of Acrobat.exe with a different name to use as your default PDF viewer. I used "Acrobat - Copy.exe".

Then use whatever method you may be familiar with for associating an app with a file extension.
Here is one well-known method: Right-click on a PDF file, choose "Open With...", then "Choose another app", then scroll down and click "More Apps", then scroll down and click "Look for another app on your PC...", browse to and select the *NEW* "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat 10.0\Acrobat\Acrobat -Copy.exe", press "Open" and finally check "Always use this app to open .pdf files" and press OK.

Hope this helps someone.

You saved my life

I've tried every solutions but it isn't help until your solution it worked

Your solution is very important to me because I started a new IT supprt job in this week and my first ticket is came from CEO

My CEO still using Acrobat pro 10 and facing this issue I stuck with this issue many days until I found Your solution.

That's why I signed up this forum to say Thank you to you