Why does Reader say "Failed to initialize"?

[Guest]

Trying to install Reader 10 on a Windows XP SP3 system.  During installation, I'm getting an error message that reads "Installation encountered errors" and "Failed to initialize".

I tried uninstalling older versions of Reader still on my system, but no change.  I reinstalled Reader 8 from a CD, and that doesn't make any difference, either.  I tried doing a search on "Failed to initialize" on this site, but didn't come up with anything pertinent for Reader.

Any clues?  Thanks!

[kennfarr]

I would like to know the same thing!  I'm having the same problem, and it happens with Mozilla, Chrome, and Explorer!

[Guest]

I still don't know why Reader 10 wouldn't install, but I figured out a workaround.  Instead of downloading from Adobe's "preferred" or default site, I instead used this link as suggested in a thread for a different problem:

http://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/

Downloading from there, I was able to get it installed correctly and Reader 10 works fine.  The only thing I can figure is that whatever program Adobe's default download site uses has an incompatibility with either something on my computer or my browsers.  I'm using both Google Chrome and IE 8, and the same error message happened with both browsers while trying to use Adobe's default site.

[kennfarr]

Thanks so much!  It worked for me, too!

[sirjadedone]

Thank you I was searching all over for this!! The link posted by retropia2 works for me too it is:

http://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/  use it if the other doesn't work for you. Good luck!

[Guest]

I have a similar OS to retrotopia and was getting the same error message "failed to initialize" but retrotopias workaround link

http://get.adobe.com/reader/enterprise/

worked for me too.

The difference for me, downloading with Firefox, seems to be that the above link downloads the entire 50.2MB package rather than a little 747kB install manager. I can see the size of the downloads in Firefoxes download received window.The 50.2MB package unpacks itself and installs Adobe Reader with no trouble at all while the 747kB install manager seems to be failing to initiate the download from the Adobe site.

Please note that I'm not a computer pro or even very knowledgeable but this is what I observed.