Stop Edge from taking control of PDF's permanently!!!

@Lester - is this a possibility? If you open Windows Settings > Apps > Default apps > Choose default applications by file type and click on the current entry for .pdf, is there any other option than Adobe Acrobat DC?

Just to be crystal-clear about my (previous) situation:

1. In "Windows Settings » Apps » Default apps » Choose default applications by file type" it always showed "Foxit Reader" (respective "Adobe Reader" or "sumatra pdf" when I tried those) after I had declared this application as default, using either this window or any of the other possibilities (e.g. "random pdf file » context menu » Open With » Always use..." or manually changing it in the registry)
2. But after minutes to days it went back to Edge.
3. Absolutely no signs of ACDSee interfering in "Windows Settings » Apps » Default apps » Choose default applications by file type". Also nothing in in Administrative » Event Viewer.

So, in my case, the playing around with "Windows Settings » Apps » Default apps » Choose default applications by file type" was not helpful (because Windows itself was not the cause of the issue).

The vector ACDSee used to (re-)set itself as default pdf reader is the following (screenshot from Process Monitor):

It looks to me as if a safety feature in Windows detects this change as unauthorized and therefore resets to Edge moments later.

I unchecked the PDF file association in ACDSee and that fixed it.

Thank you very much for posting this. I must admit that the possibility of some program other than Adobe asserting itself as the default in defiance of User Choice hadn't occurred to me.

@Lester - is this a possibility? If you open Windows Settings > Apps > Default apps > Choose default applications by file type and click on the current entry for .pdf, is there any other option than Adobe Acrobat DC?

I had the same issue; starting in 2017 and happening until now, Feb 2021 on W10 v2004. Although configuring either Foxit Reader or Adobe Reader as my standard PDF reader, it got reverted to Edge after a period of sometimes only minutes and up to like 3 days.

I tested everything, GPO rules, regedit changes, removing Edge etc.

In the end I discovered that my ACDSee image viewer actually caused this behavior - it was configured to be associated to PDF files. When skipping through a folder that had a pdf file between images it would skip over the pdf, but made Windows revert the pdf association back to Edge after closing ACDSee. I could reproduce on a second computer.

I unchecked the PDF file association in ACDSee and that fixed it.

Maybe this helps a few users reading along.

Thank you for the links.  I tried to uninstall Edge with Powershell but no luck there. So, I then tried the second method via the command prompt.  This worked!

So, now I don't have Edge, and so my Adobe doesn't get switched multiple times a day to Edge.  Now what happens is that multiple times a day Windows removes Adobe as the default for PDFs and i am left with files that have no associations.

Problem is still not solved.  Microsoft just won't let me use the program that I paid good money for, and is far superior to anything that Microsoft has offered.

There are supposedly unintended consequences with (at least) WIndows Search if you remove Edge. But you can create a System Restore point first and then Uninstall it using the method in this article: https://www.cloudwards.net/how-to-uninstall-mic...

There is also the script created by this TechNet Uninstaller tool which creates scripts to uninstall apps that don't have an Uninstall button:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcen...

System Restore point to go back if needed:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-system-r...