Reader won't start, reinstall doesn't help

[RonnyAdsetts]

Hi,

Having trouble with a couple of computers where Adobe Reader won't start up. This is only hapenning on two of our workstations. All are Windows 7 64 bit fully patched. Anti-virus is ESET. Reader is latest 11.0.6.

Upon log in you are presented with an error dialogue titled "reader_sl.exe - application error" with the text "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000022). Click OK to close the application."

When you try to start Reader, you get the "Adobe Reader Protected Mode" dialogue. Attempting to open without protected mode results in a "Fatal Error" dialogue stating "Acrobat failed to load its Core DLL".

What I've tried so far includes removing then reinstalling Reader,  using the Reader cleanup app and then reinstalling, running a full virus scan, disabling AV, using the TDSSKiller app from Kaspersky.

Anyone have any clues on how to get Reader working or what I should be debugging next?

Thanks.

Ronny

[C_F_McBlob]

You're still infected: http://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/reader-core-dll-error.html

[RonnyAdsetts]

I don't think so. TDSSKiller found nothing. Neither did ESET. Nor F-Prot.

Edit: As far as I can tell, this machine was never infected with anything.

The answer seems to lie elsewhere.

Ronny

Message was edited by: RonnyAdsetts

[Claudio_González1]

From the Karspesky site:

Rootkit: these are utilities used to conceal malicious activity. They disguise Malware, to prevent from being detected by the antivirus applications. Rootkits can also modify operating system on the computer and substitute its main functions to disguise its presence and actions that violator makes on the infected computer.

(My emphasis).

[RonnyAdsetts]

Thanks for your comment.

I'm 90-95% certain that there's no rootkit on this computer. There's zero suspicious activity on the network. Snort logs on the gateway show nothing from that host. It's possible there's something dormant there hence the lack of 100% certainty.

I'll try and get a trace of Reader later to see if I can get to the bottom of why it's failing.

Ronny

[RonnyAdsetts]

The problem was permissions on c:\windows\SysWOW64\msvcr100.dll. Changing them so users have read/execute access resolves the problem.

Of course, no idea what messed up the permissions in the first place.

Message was edited by: RonnyAdsetts - typo corrections.

[RonnyAdsetts]

To follow up on this issue, I've just had it occur on another workstation in our environment. Still no idea of the initial cause.

Ronny

[Guest]

How nice to have a simple solution that solved this issue right after a major windows 10 software upgrade   (64-bit system)

[Guest]

How nice to have a simple solution that solved this issue right after a major windows 10 software upgrade   (64-bit system)

[AngryIT]

Same problem here, have done the following to try and resolve.

Ran 3 different Rootkit Detectors including Kapersky.

Ran Sophos Scan

Ran sfc /scannow

have reinstalled twice, including a full uninstall and also using the Adobe Clean tool.

Getting very upset and frustrated with this issue, its not malware related in this instance and Adobe need to get their act together.

Have worked in IT support for years now and I have seen more issues with Reader in the last month than ever.

Its become a horrible buggy piece of software.

EDIT: Not to mention the error code is ridiculous, what DLL are we even talking about here?

So frustrated... FML

[jonstanto]

I am having this issue now. I have done everything advised to sort the problem to no avail. Have you had any luck since?

[CyberianTech]

I just ran in to this myself, I ended up disabling the Adobe Update Service in Services and was able to work around the problem that way.

Sorry I'm late to the party.