"Open With -> PDF-XChange Editor" not working

[regress7663]

When I right-click on a PDF file icon, view the old context menu (not the new Windows 11 one), click "Open With", then choose PDF-XChange Editor, PDF-XChange Editor does not open, and instead a Windows Security window opens.

I found this thread - viewtopic.php?t=35768, and followed the instructions there.
I could make fields in "PDF-XChange Shell Extensions Setup" the same as the screenshot given in that thread,
but I cannot do that for the second screenshot under "When the system is loaded again, please go to this menu:". When I go to PDF-XChange Editor > Preferences > File Associations, there are 5 dropdown menus, and everything has the value "Do Not Change".
The 2nd screenshot in the above link tells me that I have to change these to "Make Default", "Yes", "Yes", "Yes", "Yes".
But apparently I can't do that: When I change the values to that, then hit the "Apply" button, the values of the fields gets automatically changed to the original values. When I click the "OK" button instead, the Preferences windows gets closed, but when I re-open it and navigate to "File Associations" tab, the values are not changed.

[magicpq]

Good Morning, seems you're not allowed do execute the changes. Are you working on your own PC, a company PC (domain added) or a terminal server? Terminal servers are far more restricted as 'normal' company computers are. In that case, only your admin can help. My way to change a file assoc is: right click on file, from context menu choose 'open with', don't pick PDFX editor from the list, instead click 'choose another app', then click PDFX Editor and check the checkbox 'always use this app'. This seems to be the most secure way. Could be PDFX Editor does not appear, in that case sth really went wrong on your PC. You have to browse to the app. Scroll down to 'more apps' the again scroll down to 'search for more apps' and browse to the path of the exe-file. Can be tricky for an everyday user. The file ist most probably located in 'C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Editor' and the exe file name 'PDFXEdit.exe'. Hope that helps. Peter

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello magicpq,

Thanks for your post and suggestions!

@regress7663 - yes - the behaviour in that dialogue window would indeed change the values to "Do not change" after the first press of the button, as a consecutive one will just not make any more changes. This is the same as "keep current" - no further changes will be done to the file associations where that value is present, and if you change it to "Yes" then the Editor will try to take all associations.

If you are still having some issues - please also have a look here and see if this helps:
I have a problem with File Associations and making PDF-XChange Editor/Viewer the default PDF Viewer

However your initial problem description seems to imply that the issue is not exactly with the file associations, but rather that the Editor does not want to start for you. Have you tried reinstalling/repairing the installation of the Editor and making sure to restart windows after the install?

Kind regards,
Stefan

[regress7663]

Although your explanation as why that form fields behavior is intended does not make sense, thank you.

Regarding the original problem, of course, I've done trying reinstalling the app. I tried downloading the executable from the homepage, and also installing from Microsoft store. But they all have the same issue. Of course, I often restart my computer (which is not domain or company-owned, by the way).

Apart from those trivial suggestions that apply to every software problem, is there any actual way to solve the problem?

This open with thing does not work with the "old" context menu only, it works fine with the "new" context menu of Windows 11.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, regress7663

Although your explanation as why that form fields behavior is intended does not make sense, thank you

Allo me to try again here. The options shown in the Editor's "preferences > file associations" window are unique internal settings in windows, which it does not report to third party apps, like ourselves in this instance. In turn, the Editor is unable to verify if the changes we make went into effect, or in any way see the status of those decisions. All we can do is "request" that windows make the changes in question, and hope that they have done so. Once we send that request, these options revert from "yes" (or whatever else was selected), to "do not change" indicating that we will not send a second follow-up request that Windows should make those changes. (Sending too many of such requests in quick succession could cause our app to eb blocked from making those changes on your device).
When you do this, Windows *Should* present you with a "UAC prompt" asking for permission to make the change. Do you see that, or does the option simply revert without any fanfare? If you are not seeing the prompt in question, it could indicate a permissions issue with your user account on this device, that you will need to investigate. Is you user account the primary/sole "administrator" account on your computer, or is there another, and this one is perhaps a standard user with limited permissions?

Such permissions issue could also tie into the issue you experience using the "open with" command. At this point however, I am theorizing what the issue could be, since we cannot seem to reproduce it in our environments at this time. If your current user account is not the primary administrator account on the device, please try switching to the admin account, and then perform these actions there, let me know if it helps.

Going beyond the possibility of an error in your Windows user profile/account, the next most likely possibility is a permissions error around our installation folder, blocking such actions at the root. Incase this is what has happened, please follow the steps below, to perform a more in depth reinstallation, which should clear out those issues, and allow the folders to be recreated with the proper permissions.

This method has a few extra steps beyond uninstalling, so please follow them closely, and be sure to Restart the computer at every point it is detailed, this is crucial to the process working.

1. Please go to: Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features in your system and uninstall everything that is published by Tracker Software Products
2. Once this is complete, please restart your computer.
3. Once restarted, please go to regedit.exe built into every windows computer. Find it by typing "regedit.exe" in search bar of your start menu.
4. Please delete the following registry entries. Only the "Tracker Software" folders and their sub-folders. *Be extremely careful with this step*, and ensure you are only removing the specified "keys".
   - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Tracker Software
   - HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software
5. You can now close Regedit.
6. Please make sure there are no "Tracker Software" folders here: C:\Program Files.
7. If so, please delete them.
8. Restart your computer once again. (This is important to ensure that windows releases any handles/remnants that may be in place and could cause the permissions issues you see.)
9. Now install the software:

1. Please run the appropriate installer from your account page, if available: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/login
2. When asked by the installer, please choose "Licensed version", then, copy/paste your serial key into the field provided. Be sure to use CTRL+V to paste the key.
3. Now complete the installation and restart your PC.

Kind regards,

[regress7663]

It looks like the dropdown menu items are not "states", but more like "actions". What a confusing UI. Anyway, I do see a UAC prompt when I hit the Apply button. I select "Yes", then the 5 dropdown menu items gets reverted to five "Do Not Change"s. I am not sure if this is an intended behavior, but it seems that I do not have some sort of permission issues?

I also followed the extra steps you've provided after uninstalling the app. Deleted the designated registry keys, restarted computer as indicated. Installed the app using .msi file downloaded from the homepage. Tried to open a .pdf file via right click -> Show More Options (cuz it shows "new" context menu first) -> Open With -> PDF-XChange Editor. Puff! A Windows Security window opens.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, regress7663

I do see a UAC prompt when I hit the Apply button. I select "Yes", then the 5 dropdown menu items gets reverted to five "Do Not Change"s. I am not sure if this is an intended behavior

Yes, that sounds like it is working as expected. We know this can be confusing, and our dev team is looking at alternative options, but your analogy of these dropdowns being "actions" is correct. We made them into a group of dropdown options in order to offer multiple options at once, and to minimize the number of requests sent to windows. If they were buttons instead, and you wanted to change all of them, we would be sending 5 requests, and you would get 5 UAC prompts in a row, instead of doing it all in a single action.

Tried to open a .pdf file via right click -> Show More Options (cuz it shows "new" context menu first) -> Open With -> PDF-XChange Editor. Puff! A Windows Security window opens.

To clarify, do you experience issues with simply double clicking on PDF files, or do you have another PDF app set as your primary, and that is why you need to use the open with menu?
Windows should not have any reason to prompt for admin permission unless you are checking the "always use this option" box. Even in that case, it should only do so if your user account does not have admin rights to change a default app to begin with (since windows itself is making the change, not us, it should pass without user interaction under the correct circumstances).

Could I ask for a screenshot of the prompt you are seeing when you perform this action?

Kind regards,

[regress7663]

It seems that you misunderstood my words. By "Windows Security" window, I did not mean the UAC prompt dialog.

Here are some screenshots as requested. I have another application as a default PDF handler, but the issue persists even if I change it to PDF-XChange Editor.

Screenshot (185).png

If I click on the PDF-XChange Editor in the above context menu, the below window pops up instead of the PDF-XChange Editor.

Screenshot (186).png

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, regress7663

My apologies for the misunderstanding, I did indeed have the wrong image in mind previously. In any case, this is very strange... I know that windows defender opening instead of a targeted app can mean some security policy in place is preventing the app from running, but I have never seen a case like this were it opens normally from one action (the win11 "new" menu), and is blocked in another (the "more options" menu).

Normally in these cases though, the whole application would be blocked and this outcome would occur in most scenarios. Generally the only way around it is to run the application as Admin. So I will admit to be extremely confused by your report as I have head it.

This almost seems like somehow windows has somehow flagged the older shellmenu itself as a blocked action, but I would be very surprised if that is even possible. Both shell menu's, as far as I can tell, pull their list from the same area and should be handled in exactly the same way.

I have passed this along to the Dev team to see if they have any other ideas what could cause this difference, or this reaction to opening our software from that second menu, but at the moment I am out of ideas.

Out of curiosity, if the "new" open with menu works as expected, why not use that one instead of taking the extra steps to get to the old one?

Kind regards,

[regress7663]

I can look up registries to check whether they have the right values, if appropriate pointers are provided.

My use-case is with some registry tweaks that disables the new context menu entirely, and with some custom file explorers which directly opens the old context menus.

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, regress7663

There isn't really much to check in the registry itself. Specifically, "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf" which has a series of application ID's in its subkeys.
If the keys are set properly, than the application will appear in the open with list; If the keys are not set properly, than the application will not appear in the open with list.
That fact that the option appears indicates those keys are set properly, so there would be nothing else to investigate in the registry directly, unless a third party tool is interfering, which it seems may be the case.

Can you perhaps check through your Windows Defender history/quarantine and see if there is anything present there at all? There may be a record either pointing to one of our own files, or some other service (possibly the custom file explorers you are using), which is intercepting this call, and causing Defender to open in this case.

Generally speaking, in cases like this, we will need to ask that you ensure everything you are using is a "Default Windows" feature, not a custom/third party app or modification. This includes tools like XYplorer, and other such UI replacements, which frequently handle various Shell interactions.
If you are only able to reproduce the issue when using a third party tool, you will need to ask for support from that tools provider. If the issue also happens in the fully default windows explorer, than I may be able to get the Dev team to try some remote debugging with you.

Kind regards,

[regress7663]

It is really tiring when I have to keep say things again and again: I have clearly stated that this problem occurs with vanila Windows 11 file explorer. So forget about anything about third-party file explorers. Nothing specific to PDF-XChange Editor in Windows Defender quarantine.

What next?

[Roman - Tracker Supp]

Hello regress7663,
Please provide the output of the following command:

Code: Select all

assoc .pdf & reg query HKCR\.pdf & reg query HKCR\PDFXEdit.PDF

Thanks.

[regress7663]

Here it is:

Code: Select all

.pdf=Acrobat.Document.DC

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf
    (Default)    REG_SZ    PDFXEdit.PDF
    Content Type    REG_SZ    application/pdf
    PerceivedType    REG_SZ    document

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\OpenWithList
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\OpenWithProgids
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\PDFXEdit.PDF
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\PersistentHandler
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pdf\shellex

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFXEdit.PDF
    (Default)    REG_SZ    PDF Document
    EditFlags    REG_DWORD    0x10000
    FullDetails    REG_SZ    prop:Tracker.PDF.PropGroup.Securitry;Tracker.PDF.IsEncrypted;*Tracker.PDF.EncryptionLevel;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Printing;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Changing;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Copying;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Commenting;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.FormFilling;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Accessibility;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Assembly;System.PropGroup.Description;System.Title;System.Subject;System.Author;System.Keywords;Tracker.PDF.Producer;Tracker.PDF.Creator;Tracker.PDF.SpecVersion;System.Document.PageCount;System.PropGroup.FileSystem;System.ItemNameDisplay;System.ItemType;System.ItemFolderPathDisplay;System.Size;System.DateCreated;System.DateModified;System.DateAccessed;System.FileAttributes;System.OfflineAvailability;System.OfflineStatus;System.SharedWith;System.FileOwner;System.ComputerName
    InfoTip    REG_SZ    prop:System.ItemType;System.Author;System.Title;System.Subject;System.Document.PageCount;System.Size;System.DateChanged
    PreviewDetails    REG_SZ    prop:System.Author;System.Title;System.Keywords;System.Subject;Tracker.PDF.Producer;Tracker.PDF.Creator;Tracker.PDF.SpecVersion;System.Document.PageCount;System.Size;System.ItemFolderPathDisplay;System.DateCreated;System.DateChanged;Tracker.PDF.PropGroup.Securitry;Tracker.PDF.IsEncrypted;*Tracker.PDF.EncryptionLevel;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Printing;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Changing;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Copying;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Commenting;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.FormFilling;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Accessibility;*Tracker.PDF.Perm.Assembly;
    PreviewTitle    REG_SZ    prop:System.ItemNameDisplay;System.ItemType

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFXEdit.PDF\DefaultIcon
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFXEdit.PDF\shell
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PDFXEdit.PDF\Shellex

[Roman - Tracker Supp]

Thank you. The same for this command please:

Code: Select all

reg query HKCR\.pdf /s & reg query HKCU\Software\Classes\.pdf /s

For your convenience you can redirect the output to the clipboard:

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(reg query HKCR\.pdf /s & reg query HKCU\Software\Classes\.pdf /s) | clip