Adobe Reader X updates fails reverts installation of the software

[Elias Blackman]

I am a computer engineer and I just provided one of my clients with Adobe Reader X. I installed it in his PC. After sometime he called me back to tell that he can’t find Adobe Reader X on his computer. After long chat on phone I realized that something has went wrong. So I went back to his office and installed again. After a reboot of system, I noticed that the installed Adobe Reader X had disappeared from his system. After many futile attempts, I realized that Adobe Reader is trying to update itself and during this process some error occurs which uninstall it from the system. Can somebody help me find solution on this issue? For now I have turned off the updates off.

[DanielaA]

I too had to face this problem by update process of Adobe Reader X. This error is actually caused due to denied access by Windows to modify its default file structure. This is the location c:\program files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0 where the Adobe Reader X wants to create its files. This location is meant for storage of Windows core files and any change can lead to major upset in functioning of Windows. So Windows, doesn’t allow privileges to make any modification at this location giving rise to the error.

[Essien]

To solve this problem, I changed the rules set by Windows using icacls command lines. I changed the rules to allow any software to modify the files at this location c:\program files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0. I know it is bit dangerous as some malicious software can disrupt the working of my system, but I had to try. But again I tried, which eventually failed. So I uninstalled Adobe Reader X. Then I edited Registry Keys under HKCU, HKLM > Software > Adobe. Then again I installed Adobe Reader X. It installed properly, but again when the update started and again same error appeared.

[GALIENA]

I think the problem is with Adobe Reader/ARM updater. Because from all the suggestions being posted and whatever I tried and observed, Adobe Reader/ARM updater is creating multiple instances at ARM\1.0 folder with wrong permissions.

[Hollyn]

I have been studying this issue for a long time now and can tell you that no updater, be it Adobe Reader/ARM updater sets or resets the permission for access or modification of file or folder in Windows. The permission settings are just applied over the new files and folders that are set by OS. To tackle the error, I can suggest you to do,
1] Save all data from the ARM\1.0 folder in some another folder.
2] Check if all the files and folder have normal permission settings, valid Adobe digital signature and all are version 1.5.5.0.
3] Exit the updater if running in background and delete the ARM\1.0 folder.
4] Now create the folder manually and paste the data again.
5] Now try updating again.

[-Deven-]

I had this problem while working on installation of Adobe Reader X using an image of the disk. I work as technician in corporate firm. Here the people use Dell e6410 laptops. On these laptops, the Adobe Reader X installed without any error. It also updated without any problems. These laptops have Windows 7. They were in out-of-box condition when I installed Adobe Reader X. Till now no problem was seen. But recently the employees of the company who were using, it started to complain of Windows crashing. After analysis, I found out that Adobe Reader X had modified c:\program files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0 folder. And now when Windows wanted to updated itself, it couldn’t modify this folder resulting in crash.

[Go!pee]

I too had a strange experience when working with Adobe Reader X. I have a PC at my home which has Windows XP running in it. I was using Adobe Reader 8.2 till now. Recently I updated it to Adobe Reader X. It didn’t have any problem for weeks. But then I bought a new nVidia Graphic Card. My PC didn’t have any external GPU before. So now I connected this Graphic card and then installed the graphic drivers. After some days, Adobe Reader X tried to update itself and the error occurred and it uninstalled itself from my system. So I think the updates are conflicting with the graphic drivers.

[Bontu]

I am using Windows 7 64-bit on my PC. I also have Adobe Reader X on my system which updates itself automatically. I still haven’t found any error regarding Windows update. So I think it is the matter of stability that Adobe Reader suffers.

[Abhiroopa]

I had the same problem in my laptop with Windows 7 32-bit running on it. Same problem of Adobe reader uninstalling itself was seen. So I installed Windows hotfix KB947821 and turned off the Windows Firewall. Now everything runs fine in my system, I don’t know what solved the problem, installation of Windows hotfix KB947821 or disabling Firewall. But let me tell you, I had installed Windows hotfixes in past, no hot fix ever took such long time as this one. The hotfix will halt at 70% for very long time, but don’t kill the process. It has solved my problem.