Change the Extentsion on Multiple Files

I was sent 40 attachments the other day. When I tried to open them I would get an error that said, “Adobe Reader could not open ‘filename.pdf’ because it is either not a supported file type or because the file has been damaged (for example, it was sent as an email attachment and wasn’t correctly decoded).”

Thinking maybe its not really a PDF I open the file in Notepad & see this:

JFIF…well that’s the JPEG File Interchange Format; i.e. it’s a JPEG not a PDF.

I change the extension from .pdf to .jpg & it opens right up. Of cource I’ve got 40 of these & really don’t feel like manually changing each one. So, to change the extension on multiple files, copy all of them to an empty folder (e.g. C:\Rename). Open a command prompt and browse to that folder. Type ren *.pdf *.jpg then press enter.

Now all the files will have the correct extension.

Surprised by Adobe Reader

I cannot stand Adobe, especially Adobe Reader…man that is one horrible piece of software. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised that Adobe Reader was actually able to open a PDF file that had 44,206 pages.

Adobe Reader Error Opening a PDF

I recently installed version 10.1.0 of Adobe Reader X on my Terminal Servers. The next day I start getting reports from users that they are unable to open some PDF files. They get an error that says, “Before proceeding you must first launch Adobe Acrobat and accept the End User License Agreement.”

Strange seeing as how the Terminal Servers don’t have Adobe Acrobat. I hop on the same server as one of the users & can open several PDFs just fine. I have them send me the file they are having trouble with & sure enough I get the same error. I log back in using a Domain Admin account & once again get the error.

So as Mark Russinovich always says…when in doubt, run Process Monitor. I run ProcMon & capture the error. The first thing I always search for is “Denied”. None are in the capture. To make it a little easier to analyze I filter to include only the AcroRd32.exe process. Then to clean it up a little more I exclude all “SUCCESS” results.

Now that the number of events is a little more manageable. I scroll through them & notice one that says HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe\Adobe
Acrobat\10.0\AdobeViewer\EULAAcceptedForBrowser NAME NOT FOUND. Hmmm…interesting.

I open Regedit & browse to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Adobe. Since it doesn’t exist I create the “Adobe Acrobat\10.0\AdobeViewer” key structure. Then I create a DWORD called “EULAAcceptedForBrowser” & set the Value Data to 1. I try the file again & it opens right up.

If you prefer, use the link below to download the fix in a reg file.

32bit version – https://www.box.com/s/fc81f4cfb55740fb723c

64bit version – https://www.box.com/s/5bc9cd5e536e498df533

<sarcasm>Nice work Adobe. Great product.</sarcasm>

UPDATE: In searching around a little more I came across this post on an Adobe Forum. Apparently if a PDF file has CR (that’s capital C capital R) anywhere in the filename (e.g. 123CR456.pdf or just CR.pdf) it will cause the EULA error to pop up. I went back & can confirm that all the PDF files that my users reported issues with all had CR somewhere in the filename. Nice find to GiaKzter for noticing the filename connection. That would explain why it is only for some files.

UPDATE: Thanks to Loren Amelang. The CR issue is related to the entire path not just the filename. See her comment below for an example. Thank you Adobe, can I have another. Thank you Adobe, can I have another…