Microsoft Edge keeps making itself the default PDF viewer instead of acrobat

How do I get my computer to open in pdf instead of windows photo viewer?

Force Resetting UCPD Value on Windows

If the direct approach of resetting the default PDF viewer on Windows doesn’t work, it could be the UserChoice Protection Driver (UCPD) service updated on your device. This service blocks users from changing the default PDF program, and not even with the registry.

And here are the steps to disable UCPD:

Step 1. Open Notepad, and copy and paste the following code into it:

@echo off

NET SESSION >nul 2>&1

if %errorLevel% neq 0 (

    echo You need to run this script as an administrator.

    goto EXITLABEL

)

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UCPD" /v Start /t REG_DWORD /d 4 /f >nul 2>&1

if %errorLevel% equ 0 (

    echo Registry value updated successfully.

) else (

    echo Failed to update registry value.

    goto EXITLABEL

)

schtasks /Change /Disable /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\AppxDeploymentClient\UCPD velocity" >nul 2>&1

if %errorLevel% equ 0 (

    echo Disable scheduled task successfully.

    echo Please restart to apply the settings.

) else (

    echo Failed to disable scheduled task.

)

:EXITLABEL

echo Press any key to exit...

pause >nul

exit

2. Go to File > Save as. Change the Save as type to All files and save the Notepad to a file named ‘disable-ucpd.bat’.

Save as BAT

Save as BAT

3. Right-click the .bat file and select ‘Run as administrator’.

4. After the console says ‘Please restart to apply the settings’, reboot your computer.

5. Once the computer reboots, you can reset the default PDF viewer again as usual.

"Setting the PDF handler, exporting the associations using DISM, and reimporting them with my admin account seemed to fix it for all users on subsequent logins. Edge no longer takes over the association on each login."

Is this still working for you?

Edge continues to set itself as the default pdf viewer. In my case, we are using BlueBeam, not Adobe. Regardless, it switches itself back daily, if not more often, not just during major updates.

I agree. Insufferable.

Come on, @Microsoft, do you need to be so petty? If you want me to use Edge as the default, please provide a tool as robust as BlueBeam's Revu. Thank you.