542543 - Adobe Reader Plugin won't disable manually to allow alternate reader plugin unless Adobe reader is uninstalled

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Chris Attrell]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0; WOW64; Trident/4.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; Media Center PC 5.0; .NET CLR 3.0.30618; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)
Build Identifier: 3.6

Hi,

We have a PDF-Reader plugin that works great with Firefox 3.6 and have successfully supplied this to our clients for multiple years. We have been receiving many support emails and calls lately and I can confirm the following behaviour. If Adobe Reader and our PDF Viewer plugin are both installed the Adobe Reader plugin disable button doesn't work. Many of our users install both programs but unless Adobe Reader is completely uninstalled from the computer it will override user preferences and ignore the disable and infact if firefox is restarted and you go back into the Addin->Plugins menu the Adobe Reader plugin shows as still enabled. So obviously this is a bug that needs to be resolved and I am wondering when such a fix could be available?

Many thanks,
Chris Attrell
Sales & Support
Tracker Software Products
http://www.docu-track.com

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Install Adobe Reader
2.Install PDF-XChange Viewer: http://www.docu-track.com/download/PDFXVwer.zip
3.During installation accept PDF-XChange Viewer as default PDF Viewer and Dispaly in Browser options 
3.5 Open an online PDF. (Adobe Reader plugin opens document)
4.Goto Tools->ManageAdd-ins->plugins and disable the Adobe Reader and accept; and Restart Firefox
5.First return to Tools->ManageAdd-ins->plugins and you'll see the Adobe Reader is still enabled. Close Firefox
6.In the Adobe Reader preferences uncheck the display in browser option and close reader
7. Again Open Firefox, Tools->ManageAdd-ins->plugins and you'll see the Adobe Reader is still enabled
8.Uninstall Adobe Reader and start firefox 3.6 and open online PDF (PDF-XChange plugin will finally be initiated)

Actual Results:  
After Step 4. Adobe Reader has not been disabled.
After Step 6. Adobe Reader has not been disabled.
Only after uninstalling Adobe Reader completely can Firefox initiate the PDF-XChange Viewer plugin. Which works great

Expected Results:  
After Step 4. Firefox 3.6 should show the Adobe Reader Plugin as disabled and initate the PDF-XChange Viewer Plugin for online viewing of PDF files 

After Step 6. Firefox 3.6 should show the Adobe Reader Plugin as disabled and initate the PDF-XChange Viewer Plugin for online viewing of PDF files 

Self explanatory.

Comment 1

[yeren]

I'm having a similar problem. I deactivated the acrobat plugin/ addon (and even removed it from the plugin directory), but it keeps coming back. A mayor annoyance, because every display of a pdf inside the browser or even only initiated through it crashes firefox.

Comment 2

[yeren]

for some reason disabling the plugin worked today. Maybe it requires just a few reboots of the system to really get rid of it, the plugin seems to be re-installed by acrobat/reader unless "show pdf in browser" is unchecked in _both_  adobe reader and adobe acrobat. Then, (at least one reboot later) it seems to be possible to toggle the add-in. 
- suggested solution: Make Firefox User Preference take priority over the installs from third party programs. (Or, better: fix the underlying problem which is at least in bugs 400326 and 524642). [Unfortunately I guess the problem is caused by Adobe software or it's interaction with browsers, as internet explorer shows the same crashes when loading .pdf]
<all the latest versions of Acrobat and Mozilla installed..>

Comment 3

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

What version of reader is this with? 10?

Comment 4

[yeren]

this was of course with version 9. 
Before switching to Chrome (due to the .pdf issues!) I found out that the acrobat plugin can only be deactivated from within the reader or acrobat (and it has to be deactivated in both if you have both!). (somewhere in the internet options of the adobe reader). Otherwise at every start of Acrobtat or the Reader the plugin comes back.. Unfortunately the settings are overwritten at every reader update...
I gave up on this, uninstalled the Adobe Reader (but kept Acrobat 9 which is too expensive to update) and moved over to Chrome. Problems solved.

Comment 5

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

The "show pdf in browser" option is something inside Acrobat and I don't know why it fails to work.
We have tools/addon-ons/plugins and the helper application setting in options/applications.

Disabling a plugin via tools/addons/plugins works as expected in my current trunk build.

Comment 6

[sjw]

Plugins are no longer supported https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/npapi-plugins