Thsi has nit been happening for a few weeks. PDF files opening nornally from Outlook and Explorer. The this stops and nothing happens until I restart the machien which usually resolves the issue.
I ahev been unable to find any information about this. Does anyone have any ideas?
All replies gratefully received.
What are you using as a PDF viewer?
When you do this are you getting an error message.
Right after a failure what is Reliability History report?
Click start, type reliability history, click on app.
Have you run sfc /scannow?
Ken
Probably broken association with PDF files. You can right-click on a PDF file, select Open With and then Choose another app. This will list all the applications that can handle PDF files, but there will also be a checkbox to make the chosen application default. Select the application you want from the list and check the box to associate PDF files with that application. You can also install Adobe Reader which I think is best for PDFs and associate PDF files with that.
Thanks all. Suddenly stopped with no intervention from me. How mysterious!
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Spoke too soon. It's back. I had already checked file association which looked fine.
Have run scannow which fixed just a onedrive lnk file. Nothing else as far as I can see.
Have just run DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /RestoreHealth from command prompt. Thsi says 100% completeed not othe message. pdf's still not opening from file explorer. Disk activity has also subsided - no other message. Is restart needed?
Note that Windows default pdf readers (e.g. Edge, and others) are not dedicated pdf viewers and can frequently cause problems.
Best to get a proper pdf reader (Adobe PDF Reader or Foxit Reader - both freeware). Just watch for unwanted extras when installing.
PDF files not opening from windows explorer
DISM.exe had finished I think. Was at 100% so restarted. Now got the preparing to configure windows, do not turn off dialogue and nothing appears to be happening apart from disk activity can be heard.
:Update: prior to restart: end update: also noticed the slow loading of websites again as per this thread: Windows 10 bug?
Other file types not affected this time as far as I can tell.
Last edited by kevvyb; 07 Apr 2020 at 05:16.
FI’ve got adobe pdf reader! I have always preferred that to viewing in browser.
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Please see updated post before last
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Sorry, this got a bit unclear to recap:
- Noticed return of issue that pdf files not opening from WINDOWS explorer. Nothing happens no response
- pdf file association with adobe pdf reader in place but refreshed
- still no go
- ran scannow, fixed a one drive link according to log
- Ran DISM.exe with RestoreHealth switch, this got to 100% and just appeared to have finished. Now realise I should have waited for the ‘Completed successfully’ message before rebooting
- Machine now stuck on blue screen ‘Preparing to configure windows. Don’t turn off your computer’ message. Lots of disk activity which keeps subsiding but then restarting, still on same message.
- BEFORE rebooting this morning had established that MS excel files were still opening as when I had this issue previously, at one point pdfs, Xls and doc files were all affected but usually only pdfs. As per Windows 10 bug? in which I noted a reboot usually resolved the issue before it recurred at some point but that alongside this issue I had also noted the slow webpage loading issue. Also previously resolved temporarily by a reboot.
I think I may just reinstall windows. Have copy of data up to a day or two ago on an external drive. Can’t remember if windows installer requires completely clean disk or if it will respect existing partitions (my data is on same disk as windows but in separate partition.
What happens when you right-click on a pdf file > open with > adobe acrobat ?
Just try re-installing AdAc Reader, that may reset the defaults.
Re-set the default program ...
(pdf file) > right-click > Open with > Choose another app > choose Adobe Acrobat Reader from the list (one click) > tick the box Always use this app etc > OK
I am not sure is relevant, but I had Adobe Acrobat 11 Pro installed and every time I started it there was some incompatibility and the default PDF viewer was reverted to Microsoft Edge. The workaround was to set Windows 7 compatibility mode for all users and run it as Administrator. Could you have a similar issue? Change compatibility to Windows 7 and see.
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