Machine I'm currently working on
Windows 7 Enterprise x64 with company image
HP EliteOne 800 G2 AIO
The user has a corporate webapp that is supposed to display reports in PDF form using Adobe Reader through an HTML frame. The version of Reader included in the image is Adobe Reader X. After testing on the users machine and my own, I found I could launch the report on my machine (with Adobe Reader DC) but not on the fresh build with Reader X.
My first thought of course was to simply update X to DC. I downloaded and ran the installer from the Adobe website and got a message that said "The Installation process failed. A newer version is already installed".
The is was confusing enough since I was definitely updating from X (an older version) to DC (a newer version). What I then found was that the original installation of Reader X disappeared entirely and I couldn't reinstall any version! No listing for Adobe Reader X to be found in Programs and Features.
The only remaining information I could find was a few reg entries and an empty folder in /Program Files called "Adobe Reader DC" which was devoid of any files.
It almost appears that the installer started the update process overwriting the old program, failed the installation somewhere but did not roll back the installation and reinstall the previous version.
I did also try to run Adobe's Cleaner tool to remove any lingering files but that didn't help at all.
In case someone asks, I did perform all the above tasks in a user account with Administrator rights.
Has anyone seen this problem before? As it stands, the only way I know to get Reader X back is to do a full re-image of the machine.
Best Answer
What most likely happened is that you did download a (IMHO horrendously crappy) install manager instead of the actual installer. Adobe believes that this is better for individuals…
However, it is possible to get the actual installer from the Enterprise section of the Adobe website.
And you can get all older versions of Reader from the Adobe FTP server.