Wrong version of Acrobat opens in Internet Explore (6)

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I have a Windows NT PC with IE6. Installed are the full versions of Acrobat 4 and Acrobat Reader 5. (Acrobat reader 5 is needed to view and print some pdf files that will not print with 4). When I open a pdf file in internet explorer the link opens with Acrobat 4. How do I make them open with Acrobat reader 5. I have associated pdf files to always open with 5 in file association but IE6 insists on using Acrobat 4. Is there a registry setting which tells IE which Acrobat to use?

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IE looks to the MIME Type to figure out how to handle a document. R2 has posted some tools to investigate these settings on the Web Development board, but if you’re interested in editing the Registry directly, you might want to simply check the following.

First, look under the MIME type application/pdf for the associated CLSID. Here’s an example from my Registry:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTMIMEDatabaseContent Typeapplication/pdf]
@=”Adobe Acrobat Document”
“CLSID”=”{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000}”
“Extension”=”.pdf”

Then check the corresponding CLSID to see what program it is:

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000}]
@=”Adobe Acrobat Control for ActiveX”

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000}InprocServer32]
@=”C:PROGRA~1AdobeACROBA~1.0ReaderActiveXpdf.ocx”
“ThreadingModel”=”Apartment”

In my case it’s the ActiveX control that displays PDFs in the browser window. You might be able to get the behavior you want by carefully changing the CLSID under application/pdf. But you might want to export that key as a backup in case something goes wrong. Hope this helps.

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Agree with above. However, I would first HIGHLY recommend you Remove Acrobat 4, the re-install Acrobat 5 (or 6). I don’t see why you need both — unless their is some speed or other compatibility issue.

The problem likely occurs because the MIME CLSID is pointing to the wrong version in the ProgID (Program Identifier) key. Look at this exact key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000}ProgID

Does it say “PDF.PdfCtrl.5” or PDF.PdfCtrl.4?

Also, check out this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTCLSID{CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000}Version

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I have the full version of Acrobat 4 to create pdf files. I need the Acrobat reader 5 to open some pdf files as they won’t print when opened with version 4. Will look at those registry keys to see what they are.

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ProgId = PDF.PdfCtrl.1
Version = 2.0
Should I change any of these to get this to work?
Thanks

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I really don’t think the “Version” key is actually used by IE — it may just be there as a “bookmark” — and clearly yours is quite wrong!

You need to look at this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTPDF.PdfCtrl.1CLSID

And see to where it points. Also, look to see if you have this key:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTPDF.PdfCtrl.5

If so, it should have a CLSID entry. Look at that key as well (HKCRCSLID…).
___________________

I suspect you need something like this:
_______________

.pdfContent Type = application/pdf
MIME Content Typeapplication/pdfCLSID = {CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000} *
HKCRCLSID{CA8A9780…}InprocServer32 = {path to the appropriate version of PDF.OCX)
HKCRCLSID{{CA8A9780…}ProgID = PDF.PdfCtrl.5
HKCRPDF.PdfCtrl.5CLSID = {CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000} *

* the CLSID for the “Adobe Acrobat Control for ActiveX”
________________

I think that should connect all the dots. Not sure, but it seems to work on my system. You might need to make sure you don’t have TWO pdf.ocx files on your computer. PERHAPS one is designed to use AR4 and the other users AR5. You need to make sure the correct one is indicated on the InprocServer32 line.

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Have tried all those things but it still opens up in Acrobat 4.0. There is another CLSID key CA8A9784-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000 that has an InocProc Server entry to use the Acrobat 4 pdf.ocx. I changed this as well but no go. I also searched the registry for any other pdf.ocx entries and found one other which was using Acrobat 4. Changed that pointer as well but again no go. Unless you have any other suggestions I think I will leave it as I can save the PDF file and then open it in Acrobat 5. Thanks for your help.

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Dang. There has to be an answer… But I am not sure I can figure it out from afar. Since I am not willing to purchase Acrobat, I don’t think I will be able to solve this…

If you feel so inclined, you could download RegMon from http://www.sysinternals.com and then try to “capture” the registry queries used by IE before opening the .pdf file. You could save the capture and paste it as a .txt file here.

I understand that using RegMon is not easy, but… if you really wanted to look at every option, you could think about it.

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> I understand that using RegMon is not easy,

The phrase “drinking water from a firehose” comes to mind.

The fewer programs operating at the time, the less voluminous will be the data captured. That’s about the only thing I can say for sure about how to trim down the background noise without risking filtering out something you didn’t even know you should be looking for.

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Hard to argue!

If you can get the filters to work right, you can just include IExplore and LIKELY that will give us all the information we need.

Either way, if the user can paste the raw log file (as a .txt file for the lounge), then I can manipulate it and easily get rid of the extraneous data. I realize you know this, but for others — simply open the file in Excel and you can easily sort and delete the data as you desire.

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Thanks. Will probably leave it as workaround mentioned previously is OK. Thanks for your help guys.

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Have changed the CLSID entry to point to Acrobat reader 5. But it still opens with Acrobat 4. Will look at R2’s solution as well. Thanks

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