Could not find Acrobat External Window Handler on Acrobat Reader 6 \ Citrix server

This is odd... it only took half of my first line...

The plug-ins are located in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\plug_ins

Let's try a different browser...

The plug-ins are located in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\plug_ins, and the "External Window Handler" is EWH32.api. All plug-ins are actually DLLs that are loaded at runtime. The permissions should allow to read and execute this file.

Why does deselecting "Open PDF in Browser" not work all the time? It's supposed to work... What this setting does is modifying a registry key. You may be able to just reset this registry key automatically for all users every night or so.

OK, they have full permissions to that directory...why can "admins" launch pdf's from IE but "users" get the error?  Might I have to regsvr32 something?

Can your "normal" users open PDF files on the local disk?

Whoops, didn't see the full post.

I'm "fine" with hard coding the registry.  I run a login script every time a user logs on so I can import something there.  Any suggestions?

I did set HKLM\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\5.0\AdobeViewer\BrowserIntegration=0  (My current environment is running 5.0 but I thought 6 might get rid of my problem...I get the External Window Handler error on 5.0 as well, even though this registry setting is set)

If they right click the web link, do a "save as" and save it to their "user drive" then, yes, they can double-click on the pdf and open in the full adobe client.

I don't know what's wrong today. I just lost another comment. This time nothing showed up...

The registry key for Acrobat 6 is HKCU\Software\ADOBE\Acrobat Reader\6.0\Originals\bBrowserIntegration

Are you familiar with this document? http://www.adobe.com/support/techdocs/32996.htm
They actually list accessing a PDF file in IE as acceptance criteria.

I was not familar with that doc.  Thanks.

So you're saying I should try making this setting:

HKCU\Software\ADOBE\Acrobat Reader\6.0\Originals\BrowserIntegration=0?     (was it really bBrowser Integration or was that a typo?)

Now, if so, how should I set it so user's can't change this setting?  Can't they just go to Edit \ Prefs and "check" display adobe in browser thus messing up my settings?  Would you suggest exporting that registry key and then scripting it to be loaded in the reg each time a user logs in?

It really was bBrowserIntegration (b for boolean). If you want to force this to false, you have to ways to do this: Either run a script at login time and write zero to this key, or use regedt32 and change the permissions for this key (after it is created) so that the user cannot modify it. However, I don't know how Acrobat (or Reader) will react if you force it to 0 by using permission settings.

I was considering the regedt32 and changing permissions solution but I have similar concerns about how Acrobat Reader will react to this.  

How do you suggest writing the zero to the key each login?  Previously, I had exported the key and put it in the Citrix login script to add to the reg every login as such:  regedit -s m:\scripts\adobe_noweb.reg


(There is no HKCU\Software\ADOBE\Acrobat Reader\6.0\Originals key by default.  I'll create this key)

You have to change the setting in Acrobat once in order to create the Originals key.

I would also use the regedit -s method to set this key.

Did the Adobe document shed any light on this problem? As I said, they even list this as one step in their testing suggestions, so it should work.

Ok, I've made that key, now I click on the .pdf link, the adobe splash screen comes up, it loads .api's and looks like it's going to work until it comes to initializing XFA.api, then the Adobe External Windows Handler error.

Can you verify that (in Reader's preferences dialog) that it actually finds the key (and disables "view in browser"). Start the Reader e.g. from the "Start" menu and select "Edit>Preferences>Internet>Display PDF in Browser".

And you should probably also set bBrowserCheck to false, so that Reader does not check if it's configured as browser helper application.

I have HKCU\Software\ADOBE\Acrobat Reader\6.0\Originals\bBrowserIntegration as a DWORD value set to "0".  From your last post it sounds like it's not supposed to be a DWORD value.  What is it supposed to be?

To clarify...

bBrowserIntegration is a DWORD set to 0
bBrowserCheck is also a DWORD set to 0

Is this correct?

With the current settings "as is" (both previous reg entries set to DWORD 0) I can log in as a user with admin rights and Adobe works.  With a normal user however, adobe starts to open, then fails when the splash screen hits XFA.api.  Users have full control of program files\adobe.

Anything under winnt\system32 that they'd need that might be preventing the external windows handler from opening?

You are right, these are DWORDs (it's just that the prefix "b" implies that these are used as boolean values, therefore I think "0", but my fingers type "false" :-)

I really have no idea what Adobe Reader needs from the WinNT directory.

Well that can't be it....I just tried "Everyone" to Full Control and it still fails.  

Any other ideas?  IE settings?  I'm thinking that there is something "permissions based" that is preventing the user sessions from creating or initializing the acrobat window handler but I've no idea where to go from here.

How about an older version of Adobe?  I'm willing to put on an older version (one without IE integration if there is such a thing) on if that will solve the problem.

Ok, may be getting close here....

I have my server drives "hidden" so user's can't mess up the server.

On a published desktop for the user, I did:

regsvr32 "m:\program files\adobe\acrobat 6.0\reader\plug_ins\ewh32.api" and got the following:

"m:\program files\adobe\acrobat 6.0\reader\plug_ins\ewh32.api" was loaded, but the DllRegisterServer entry point was not found.

"m:\program files\adobe\acrobat 6.0\reader\plug_ins\ewh32.api" does not appear to be a .DLL or .OCX file.

If it's not seeing the EWH, I think I can get around it by manually registering it upon logins.  Thoughts?

I've no problem awarding you the points....you've been 100% more helpful than Adobe's tech support.  One final question...do you know of legacy versions of Adobe that don't have the integrated web functionality?

I've used Acrobat since 4.0, and it always had the option of displaying PDFs in the browser.

You could try Netscape (or Mozilla) as browser, just to see if it's more likely to be an Acrobat Reader problem, or a IE problem. You may have to reinstall Reader after you install Netscape.

Might have something here:

Install Adobe 6.0 as admin
Launch Adobe to register additional components, edit preferences to disable IE functionality
Launch Adobe as a user, the user is prompted with something like...adobe is set up to not use IE.  Would you like to enable this feature?  Yes \ NO and a checkbox for "Always check this setting"
Uncheck the box and answer NO.

Subsequent user logins opened .pdf's with full Adobe, not IE Adobe plug in.

I'm going to try locking down these settings through regedt32.  What keys should I set this at?  HKCU\software adobe and HKLM\software\adobe?

You should go through the user setup once and then check the "Originals" key from above. I would change the two keys we've already talked about: bBrowserIntegration and bBrowserCheck

And I should create the keys if not already present.

It's hard to say what Reader will do if it only finds two of the keys, but not the other ones. Give it a try and see if you get the modified settings. THe save thing to do would be to copy the complete tree you find at HKCU\Software\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\6.0 for a user who started Reader for the first time, made these two changes and quite Reader again and restore that if the Acrobat Reader\6.0 entry does not exist. If it does exist, I would just replace the two values.

Does this help?

Yes, thank you very much again.  I'm good now.

*  uninstalled all adobe
* ran regclean
*  logged in as local admin (not domain account, admin)
* Installed adobe 6 from .msi file
* Launched Adobe from admin desktop, accepted license agreement to finish install
*  Edit \ Preferences and UNchecked display in browser
*  Launched Citrix session on that server AS A NORMAL USER WITH NORMAL RIGHTS and brought up adobe.  It prompted that adobe was not set up to display in IE, did I want to enable it?  I unchecked "always check" and answered NO.

*No more problems or prompts.....although I did have to recreate the PDF association on a few of my servers.

Hopefully we're good to go now.  Thanks for your help on this.

Hey mate!
Can you tell me 2 things?

a) what did you do with "regclean" after having uninstalled Adobe Acrobat Reader 6?
b) I don't have the .msi file, just the whole .exe installer, would this make a difference? If yes, where could I get the .msi one?

Thank you very much!

I ran regclean just to be safe, let regclean "fix errors"

The .msi I used is from this link:

http://www.sanx.org/tipShow.asp?articleRef=86

Ive got the solution, took me awhile to work it out but its a common coding problem.

Give all users groups you what Acrobat Reader 6 to integrate with IE, Full Access via Regedt32 to the Key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Cryptography\RNG

The code should have referenced the Current User Version of the Key.

Cheers.

Andrew H. (West.Australia)

I had the same problem on a fresh installed laptop.
Registry monitor gave the answer: access denied on HKCR\Software\Adobe\Acrobat\Reader\EXE
Security rights in the Adobe key are a bit f*cked up (and the subkeys)
I restored the rights as the are set in the Software key and problem solved.
I have to say that i already gave the users group the Full Controll option, so keep this in mind.

Cheers,
Tuur