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Adobe Reader updater not working on 32-bit windows 7 and 10

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First post, by Robbbert

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I have a bunch of computers with windows 7 or 10. The 64-bit computers all update correctly. The 32-bit computers fail to update with some nonsense about a file having been "updated by other means", even when the file doesn't exist.

It's been a slow process. Firstly the windows 10 computers failed, then slowly over the next months and years, the windows 7 computers failed one by one, so now there's only one left on the current release.

So, while the installed version does what I want, it would be good if it was the latest version, without having to reinstall the whole thing.

My questions are
- Has anyone else struck this problem?
- Is there something that can be done to make the updater more reliable?

I don't want to know about alternative readers, switching to linux, or any other OT things.

Reply 1 of 7, by dr_st

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Is it not possible to just download the full installer of the current version? Or does that one also fail?

https://cloakedthargoid.wordpress.com/ - Random content on hardware, software, games and toys

Reply 2 of 7, by WolverineDK

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If you want an alternative to Adobe Reader Sumatra PDF reader has a version for Win XP, Win 7 , Win 8, Win 10 and Win 11.

Reply 3 of 7, by Robbbert

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Just tried downloading a new file from Adobe's site, but that failed to install.

The download site doesn't even offer the latest version, it's the one before.

And lastly, if you go through the automatic upgrade process, you can get a screen when you click Install to do that, but it also has a Details link, which is a 404.

They have a lot of bugs to sort out.

Reply 5 of 7, by Robbbert

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Ah... I was completely unaware that they had stopped support. I knew they had stopped supporting windows 7 long ago, even though the updates still keep coming - but I assumed that windows 10 would be supported in all its forms.

The Acrobat (32-bit) installers are available for download but will not be tested or supported on 32-bit operating systems.

The fact that it isn't tested is now painfully obvious. The failures are quite random though - the machines are largely the same in what hardware is used, what software is installed, what updates they have, etc - so why it works on a few and not the rest is a mystery.

Reply 6 of 7, by Norton Commander

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It's been a while since I have had Adobe Reader on any of my machines, there were always better alternatives such as early versions of Foxit and Sumatra. PDF-XChange viewer is what I have been using for decades on all my Windows computers. The main advantage PDF-XChange has over Sumatra is the ability to fill in and save PDF forms.

Reply 7 of 7, by UCyborg

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I know OP said no off-topic remarks, but, I've also given up on Adobe a while ago. I figured I like PDF-XChange Editor, still comes in 32-bit. Unsure about current OS support, but they kept XP support until about 2019 (up-to version 7).

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgebase/399 … -for-Windows-XP

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