The Chatterbox

x64 and Acrobat

Just a quick little addition I've been meaning to get posted for the better part of a month now. This harks back to the Getting Windows XP x64 to work post of a few months ago.

One particularly maddening thing with my switch to XP x64 was that while Acrobat (version 7 in my case) installed and worked for the most part, it did so as a WoW enabled 32 bit application. This means it doesn't work as a browser plug in for the 64 bit version of IE7, which isn't a huge deal. It just opens PDF's in an Acrobat window instead, which is fine by me. Better in most cases actually.

The thing that was maddening is that the ability to pen something in Word or any other application then save it as a PDF failed to work on an x64 system. The issue is the print drivers (and a PDF Port) being unable to be installed by Acrobat on an x64 system. This situation still continues today, though there is a rumor that Adobe might finally be fixing the problem by making Acrobat 9 x64 capable. I have no clue on that one since I'm not about to pay that much to upgrade just for something this silly. I'd sooner dump Acrobat and use CutePDF, PDF Creator or a host of other options out there that are either completely free or very low cost. Which is why it makes no sense to me that Adobe allowed this to go on so long.

There is something of a workaround I've set up for now on my system, though I personally think it's silly to have to make it a two-step process. This works okay for me since I really don't need to convert that many documents myself. In case you're in the same boat I am, here's how I did it and got it to work.

First, you'll need to install a Postscript printer driver. Note that this doesn't have to actually be a printer you have attached to your computer since it's going to be a virtual printer for our purposes. To do this go into your Control Panel (Start > Settings > Control Panel if you're using the Classic Windows start menu like me, or Start > Control Panel if you're using the newer start menu) and select the Printers and Faxes icon.

There select the Add Printer icon.

In the Add Printer Wizard select Local printer attached to this computer and make sure the Automatically detect option is NOT selected.

In the next window choose FILE: (Print to File) form the Use the following port dropdown list. We're doing this here so that we don't have to remember to choose Print To File each time we go to save a document.

In the Printer Software window select HP from the Manufacturer box and HP Color LaserJet 8500 PS from the Printers box. The PS is important, since we want it to use Postscript.

It would be wise for you to select No to the Default Printer question. This is just a virtual printer after all.

That's it, you're done with the driver set up. Well I did go back into the Printers and Faxes window, right clicked on the new 8500 PS printer listed there and renamed it to be Adobe PDF so that I'd know what it was.

Now when you're in Word or whatever and want to convert the document to PDF format instead of clicking on the Acrobat stuff up to, select File > Print and select your Adobe PDF printer. If you didn't set the Port to FILE: you'll need to make sure to select Print to file before clicking OK. If you set it up as above you shouldn't have to remember to do this each time.

This will open a Print To File window. Change the .prn to All Files if it's automatically selected and name your file with whatever file name you want along with a .ps extension.

Lastly back in Acrobat choose Create PDF, then From File and select your .ps file. Now it should be converted to pdf format, ready to be saved.

Like I said above, the two-step process would be a pain if you had to do this often. If that is the case you should probably check out some of the x64 enabled options for PDF creation I mentioned earlier. But for those like me who do this rarely, it works at least.

You can ping this entry by using http://www.randycullom.com/chatterbox/mt-tb.cgi/42 .

See if this solution works for you, and if so, update the article with the solution:
from: http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?14@@.3c0556aa.3bc2c8ad/20
"Shigeru Go - 5:49pm Mar 2, 08 PST (#22 of 30)

The following worked for me to get acrobat print in vista x64 browser.

go into C:\windows\inf\

1. delete the adobe printer in your printer folder
2. find INFCACHE.1, give yourself "full control" permission to the file.
3. delete INFCACHE.1
4. reboot
5. launch acrobat 8.1.2, go to help and launch repair

this will re-create your adobe printer.
It seems it's possible that there might be some permission issue with the old INFCACHE.1 file which get in the way of printing. After patching up to 8.1.2 and run the repair which recreate the file (call it the INFCACHE.1 acrobate 8.1.2 version) seems to have fix my printing problem.

and I still have UAC turned on

hope the above helped."

Randy,
Acrobat 7 does not support 64-bit operating systems. Acrobat 8.1 and higher do support 64-bit operating systems, including creating PDF using the Adobe PDF Printer. However, you may need to have an MS Hotfix installed due to some issues that Windows has with 64-bit drivers. See more info here re: Acrobat 8.1:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb401730
and here for Acrobat 9:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb403523

Acrobat currently does not support viewing PDFs in 64-bit Internet Explorer, only 32-bit Internet Explorer, as you noted.

Thanks.

Dave, Adobe

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=333360