Windows Cryptographic Service Error 1400 In Adobe Reader DC When Using Signing Certificate

[joshbilsky]

Hi

Our organization utilizes smart cards for authentication.  The smart cards contain SHA256 certificates that can be used for digital signing with Adobe Acrobat/Reader.  We have encountered a number of instances recently where users receive the following error when attempting to use a certificate on the smart card to digitally sign a PDF document.

Windows Cryptographic Service Provider reported an error: Invalid Window Handle.  Error Code: 1400

While we are still in the process of investigating the issue, we have not been able to identify any underlying cause or commonality such as a particular document exhibiting the issue.  It does seems like the issue is resolved by restarting the workstation, but we're not 100% on that yet as we have not tried restarting in every case.  Any insight on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Josh

[Adorobat]

Hi joshbilsky,

Could you please confirm the version of Acrobat/Reader installed on the machine?

Which Windows Operating System running on the machine-7/8/10?

[joshbilsky]

Hi, we're using Reader DC Classic 2015.006.30279 on Windows 10 Anniversary 10.0.14393.  The problem happens intermittently so it's difficult to isolate the cause.  When the problem occurs, the user is prompted to enter the smart card PIN as normal but the 1400 error is returned and the document is not signed.  Also, we're not using any 3rd party smart card middleware like ActivClient, just the built-in Windows middleware.

Thanks

Josh

[Adorobat]

Hi joshbilsky,

Could you please try installing the update from the following link and see if that works?

15.006.30280 Optional update— Acrobat and Adobe Reader Release Notes

[domagoj1]

Hello, I work as a test engineer for a company where our clients use Acrobat Reader DC for signing PDF documents using Gemalto IDPrime MD USB. I've encountered the same problem and have investigated further into detail so this is my report:

Environment details:

Internet Explorer: 11.00.15063.0 (WinBuild.160101.0800)

Adobe Acrobat Reader: 19.10.20069.311970

Windows version: 10.0.15063

Installed hotfix: [01]: KB4022405 [02]: KB4049011 [03]: KB4073543 [04]: KB4134660 [05]: KB4477029 [06]: KB4486458 [07]: KB4462937

Problem information and reproduction:

Excerpt: Problem persists in IE11 after multiple restarts, settings resets and other activities which clear temporary files. It is easily reproduced in the environment described above which consists of combination Windows 10 + Latest Adobe Reader available on Croatian language.

Reproduction:

1. Open PDF document directly through Internet Explorer 11.

2. Start the signing procedure by clicking the corresponding signature field through Adobe Plugin for Internet Explorer 11

3. After the signing process has been completed open another document in the same Tab (either a copy of a current document or a different document)

4. Start the signing procedure by clicking the corresponding signature field through Adobe Plugin for Internet Explorer 11

5. Adobe Acrobat Reader returns error message:

Invalid window handle (Error code: 1400)

That is the exact same error as described in the first post.

Possible cause and workaround:

The cause is yet to be completely clarified by manufacturer but it is very noticeable that every time the error has been returned the signing process has been started twice in the same process (same PID) by two (child) AcroRd32.exe processes that were started by Internet Explorer. That happens because because of working in the same Tab in IE and the process(es) AcroRd32.exe is (are) not terminated. They are instead "recycled" for another PDF document.

The error can be avoided in two ways:

1. Opening another PDF document in another Tab starts two different instances of AcroRd32.exe process and the error message is not returned and signing procedure works without any problems.

2. Opening any HTML document in the same Tab, that has no embedded PDF, terminates active instances of AcroRd32.exe process and another PDF document can be opened and signed without any problems.

Feel free to contact me for any further details on this issue.

Regards,

Domagoj