How best to set Adobe Reader as Default PDF Viewer

[talksr]

Hi there,

I am trying to set Adobe Reader as our default PDF viewer. Can anyone tell me how to do it?

 

I have a Default App Associations XML file.

I am not able to attach it, so have added a screenshot.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

[foofighterjim]

I found this particularly useful: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/AdminGuide/pdfviewer.html

 

I ended up using the sample association file for our version provided in solution 2 and merged it into our DefaultAppAssociations file via GPO.

[Mujja]

Apply the .xml using Group Policy or using DISM is a script

 

Administrative Templates, Windows Components/File Explorer, Set a default associations configuration file

 

or

 

dism.exe /online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:DefaultAssociations_Staff.xml

[talksr]

Apply the .xml using Group Policy or using DISM is a script

 

Administrative Templates, Windows Components/File Explorer, Set a default associations configuration file

 

or

 

dism.exe /online /Import-DefaultAppAssociations:DefaultAssociations_Staff.xml

 

Thanks, I already have it all set up on Group Policy, just wondering exactly what I need to do to get it to set Adobe Reader as the default as this is not happening with my current config xml file.

[Mujja]

Change this line in your config file from Edge to Reader

 

 

Also read this TechNet Blog for the correct procedure.

 

For Student Computers we apply a partial config using group policy only for the filetypes we're interested in, Chrome, Acrobat and Windows Photo Viewer (disabled by default).

 

For Staff Computers we set Chrome on using the same method as above but some users wanted to use another browser so we moved the partial config to an SCCM task sequence and applied using DISM. A few weeks in to the change users started reporting the app reset notifications. Still trying to work out why not straight away but a few weeks later, we put it down to a security update or application update, Reader DC updated this week.

 

Found the blog the other day and made the change yesterday afternoon using a FULL config file applied through the task sequence. Not app reset notification so far but it's too early to be sure.

 

The app reset notifications are only shown once, as Staff users mostly use the same device I think we'll leave the existing computers as they are for now. If we push another config file to existing computers we'll change any defaults users have set, not worth the hassle.

[talksr]

Change this line in your config file from Edge to Reader

 

 

Also read this TechNet Blog for the correct procedure.

 

For Student Computers we apply a partial config using group policy only for the filetypes we're interested in, Chrome, Acrobat and Windows Photo Viewer (disabled by default).

 

For Staff Computers we set Chrome on using the same method as above but some users wanted to use another browser so we moved the partial config to an SCCM task sequence and applied using DISM. A few weeks in to the change users started reporting the app reset notifications. Still trying to work out why not straight away but a few weeks later, we put it down to a security update or application update, Reader DC updated this week.

 

Found the blog the other day and made the change yesterday afternoon using a FULL config file applied through the task sequence. Not app reset notification so far but it's too early to be sure.

 

The app reset notifications are only shown once, as Staff users mostly use the same device I think we'll leave the existing computers as they are for now. If we push another config file to existing computers we'll change any defaults users have set, not worth the hassle.

 

Thank you for this and thanks everyone else.

I took a detailed look and it seems I already had that line in my xml:

 

But what I found was that in another GPO, I had another default file associations XML being linked. It was for Google Chrome so only listed HTML files.

I merged this into my main one and it all seems to be behaving its self now. It seems that the two separate GPOs both with differing default file associations must have been causing an issue.

 

Thanks for the help everyone.