Why can I not change my default .pdf app to anything other than Microsoft Edge?

Anonymous
2024-04-29T11:48:46+00:00

I follow the steps (via Settings) and no change. I try to open Adobe Reader and it will not open on my PC. I see from a search that this is not a new issue and it's frustrating. This feels predatory and proprietary - forcing us to use Microsoft products. I'm thinking of stopping my personal subscription and moving to another option.

Microsoft Edge | Read PDFs | Windows 11

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-05-02T20:15:36+00:00

    I had to kill all msEdge.exe instances from the Task Manager, and it finally let me. Using Edge 124.02478.67 64-bit.

    This worked, thank you!

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-05-02T20:34:00+00:00

    This worked! Same issue with default browser too, and this fixed that, too.

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-05-02T20:46:29+00:00

    I did what Paolo suggested and it didn't work, BUT after I followed his steps I was able to at least set the default program to Google Chrome THEN it let me switch to Adobe and it worked. I just couldn't go straight from Microsoft Edge to Adobe. Highly predatory practices of Microsoft strikes again!

    Took me a couple times, but finally got there. Thanks for this!

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-05-02T20:50:11+00:00

    This should be marked as the solution.

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-05-02T21:13:46+00:00

    This worked for me.

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