IE10 + Windows 8 x64: unable to view pdf in browser

[a_beneventi]

Hello, I have the paid version of PDF-XChange Viewer used in Windows 8 x64. I just uninstalled it and reinstalled the latest version. After the reinstallation I cannot see PDF in IE 10 browser anymore. Before the update it all worked.

I checked the "Display PDF in Browser" a couple of times but nothing changed.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello a_beneventi,

Please open IE's options window and check whether our add-in has not been deactivated for some reason by IE.
Also have you tried to uninstall and reinstall the whole Viewer package, making sure that IE is stopped at the time?

Regards,
Stefan

[a_beneventi]

Hello, I've tried to uninstall the package, clean the registry and reinstall it without success.

The problem is that I cannot find the plugin in IE list of plugins.

It seems to be a problem connected with my user. If I create another user it works perflectly

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello a_beneventi,

In the "Manage Add-ons" window on the left side there's a "Show:" drop down menu. Make sure to select "All add-ons" there - as the default is "currently loaded" and if our add-on has been disabled it won't show in the currently loaded list of add-ons.

Regards,
Stefan

[a_beneventi]

I can confirm it does not how in the list.

I've tried to re-enable it in PDF-XChange Viewer preferences in File Association Setup tab by clicking "Display PDF in browser". What do I have to do?

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello a_beneventi,

Could you please try to register our Viewer AX manually as described here:
https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/ ... 30&p=37613

Cheers,
Stefan

[a_beneventi]

Hello, I tried to issue the following command

regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCviewAx.dll"

and I get the following error: "The module C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCviewAx.dll was loaded but the call to DllRegisterServer failed with error code 0x80070005".

Thanks.

[a_beneventi]

Sorry, I executed the commands with an elevated command prompt and the registration succeeded but I am still unable to see PDFs in IE.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi guys,

We'll need one of you to confirm that you have indeed selected "All Add-ons" from the drop down menu in IE, as shown in the attached file.

If not, please try that and see if the Add-on loads. If so, then please let us know!

IE Add-On.zip

[a_beneventi]

Hello, I've posted my All Add-Ons list.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi a_beneventi,

Thanks for that - could you try using another browser, i.e. Google Chrome, and see if you're able to View PDF's in browser there? I'd like to know if this is specific to IE, or all browsers.
You might find these KB articles helpful on getting things going in another browser:

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowled ... nge-Plugin
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowled ... la-Firefox
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowled ... eb-browser

Cheers, let me know how this goes!

[a_beneventi]

Inside Firefox everything is fine. I can see the PDF displayed with PDF-XChange Viewer.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

So it appears that the plugin is present on the system, just not in IE. Could you go to the Mozilla Plugins folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\plugins) and copy the npPDFXCviewNPPlugin.dll into the IE folder (C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer)?

Hopefully that does it for you!

[a_beneventi]

Sorry, nothing changed. And this would not explain that under another Windows user everything works fine.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Thanks for getting back to me - this is definitely odd. The next thing to check, is that you're definitely using the latest build and that the update went through fine. Could you go to Help --> About and send a screen-shot of the window that pops up?

this would not explain that under another Windows user everything works fine.

Even another Windows user, with what appears to be exactly the same system, could have some minor, fundamental difference in the Windows subsystem that would account something functioning slightly differently and, the chances are that because it's something that happening within the subsystem, you wouldn't necessarily notice the difference/fault unless you were specifically looking for it.

Cheers,
Will

[a_beneventi]

Hello, I'm using version 2.5 (Build 211.0) - June 17 2013.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello a_beneventi,

Please make sure you have full admin rights and then try to register all of the following:

"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCview.exe" /RegServer
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCviewAx.dll"
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Viewer\PDFXCviewIEPlugin.dll"

And then launch the Viewer with command line option: /makeassoc:web=true

Regards,
Stefan

[a_beneventi]

Sorry, still no PDF in browser.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello a_beneventi,

Please check the AX settings in your account:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... ie-activex

Regards,
Stefan

[VanguardLH]

PDFXchange Viewer 2.5 build 211.0 (*)
Windows 7 Home Premium x64

(*) When I have it check for updates, none are found. So this must the be latest public version.

I have a similar problem. When I go to Manage Add-ons in IE10 and select to view all add-ons, there is no entry for PDFxchange. The "PDF in browser" option in PDFXchange Viewer is enabled. I have tried toggling it (disable and reenable) but there is still no entry in IE10 for a PDFXchange add-on.

Some sites want to detect if a PDF add-on is available in the browser. They don't find one so they offer a link to download the file (so I can view it locally using a PDF viewer client rather than within the web browser). Some sites work okay and the PDF appears within IE10 (despite no PDF add-on is listed in Manage Add-ons and show all add-ons); e.g., when I Google search on "pdf download", one of the matches that points to a .pdf file (versus the link pointing to HTML that then locates the file up on the server) is:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... 6542,d.aWc

which, once you get rid of Google's desperate need to track, points at:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/i-9.pdf

When I click on Google's redirection link, that .pdf file does open in IE10. Warning: That particular PDF uses JavaScript. I have it disabled in PDFXchange Viewer so I get a prompt this PDF uses JavaScript. The point is that the PDF will load inside the web browser.

So:
- PDFXchange Viewer's AX control does NOT appear in the all add-ons list in IE10.
- The "PDF in browser" option is enabled in PDFXchange Viewer.
- Sites that test for the presence of a PDF handler in the web browser will fail.
- Sites that whose hyperlink simply points at the .pdf file work to show the PDF inside the web browser.

So PDFs can be seen inside IE10 if the site points directly to the .pdf file with a hyperlink in their web page. If a site tests for the presence of a PDF handler, the response they get back from IE10 indicates there is no such handler. While PDFs (direct file links) will show up inside IE10, PDFXchange is missing from the add-on list.

I'm sure this was all working back in IE9. It seems however PDXchange Viewer registers its add-on to get listed in Manage Add-ons and consequently how sites detect the presence of a PDF handler in the web browser is broken when using IE10.

Unlike prior versions of IE where there was both a 32- and 64-bit of iexplore.exe on 64-bit versions of Windows, this is NOT true for IE10. The iexplore.exe that is under C:\Programs Files\Internet Explorer and also under C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer both start the same instance of IE10. Both will load an 64-bit iexplore.exe (for the chrome) and a 32-bit iexplore.exe*32 (for the tabs) as can be seen in Task Manager. IE10 loads as a 64-bit process so it has access to more than 2GB for its user-level process; however, the tabs run under the 32-bit process for backward compatibility with add-ons which do not yet have 64-bit versions. So IE10 is a mixed beast: both 64-bit (chrome) and 32-bit (tabs). I suspect PDFXchange Viewer is not correctly registering itself so it gets listed in IE10's add-ons. Because it is not visible, a query by a web site will result in the site thinking the web browser connected to it does not have a handler for PDFs.

The default for IE10 is for it to load in mixed mode: 64-bit for chrome, 32-bit for tabs. To also load tabs as a 64-bit thread requires enabled Enhanced Protected Mode: Internet Option -> Advanced, Security section,
enable the "Enable Enhanced Protected Mode" option. I suspect once tabs load as a 64-bit thread that PDFXchange Viewer may not work. Is PDFXchange Viewer's AX control usable as a 64-bit handler?
IE10 was released back in Feb 2013 for non-Windows 8 versions of Windows. It was available for Windows 8 back in Oct-Nov 2012 before it became available for download to Windows 7 SP1 in Feb 2013. So, at a minimum, IE10 has been out for 6 months but PDFXchange Viewer doesn't fully support it.

So, for now, the deficiency of using PDFXchange Viewer is:
- If site's hyperlink points directly to .pdf file, it will load inside IE10.
- If the site first detects if the web browser has a PDF handler, that test fails.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello VanguardLH,

This is the reply I got from one of my colleagues from the dev team:

PDFXchange Viewer's AX control should not be listed in IE addons list.
It uses MIME types which as not displayed in IE options.
Some sites want Acrobat ActiveX and they give its GUID, in such cases we certainly will not open such pdfs.
Viewer's AX should work normally even in x64 mode.

Regards,
Stefan

[VanguardLH]

I realize the MIME handler will call the server program (PDF client) when a document gets loaded (downloaded) that matches on the MIME type. That's why a site with a direct link to a .pdf file will work okay. The problem is when sites check if the web browser has the required add-on before delivering the file. For example:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5640 ... -installed

describes how the javascript can ask the web browser if it has an enabled add-on by its name. I suspect the function actually looks for a substring match since the add-on name for Adobe's Flash Player is listed as "Shockwave Flash Object" but "hasPlugin('Flash');" works to find that add-on is installed and enabled in the web browser. No GUID from the registry is used. I'm not any site can use javascript to peek into the registry.

For IE, that code site notes the javascript function to determine if the web browser (IE) has the Flash AX add-on is:

hasPlugin('ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash');

Again, no GUID is used. The name of the add-on is used to see if it is available. Since IE10 doesn't have PDFXchange listed (and PDFXchange is instead relying on MIME handlers for doc types) means any site testing if the web browser has a PDF add-on available will fail.

Below is another site mentions how to detect add-ons (handlers) in the web browser connected to a site:

http://webdevwonders.com/detecting-browser-plugins/

That one shows the script is looking for an handler in the web browser named "'AcroPDF.PDF". So even if PDFXchange exposed its presence inside of IE (any version), that site would still fail the test looking for a PDF handler in the web browser. I don't know what might be PDFXchange Viewer's add-on name but I doubt sites include it when they test for a PDF handler in the web browser.

So it seems the user must install Adobe Reader so its presence is exposed by a javascript call so sites see the web browser has a PDF handler. The user can still install PDFXchange Viewer if they want its other features, like commenting, and even have it associated to the PDF MIME type. The result is that sites that have direct links to .pdf files will have PDFXChange Viewer show those files while sites that test if the web browser has a PDF handler are only testing on whether or not Adobe's handler is installed. So sites that test the web browser with a PDF handler will end up using Adobe Reader. The user will see PDFXchange Viewer used sometimes and Adobe Reader at other times. This adds confusion and nuisance, plus if the user has to install Adobe Reader to get full coverage for handling PDF files then there exists little impulse for them to install yet another PDF handler, like PDFxchange Viewer.

Even Adobe Reader doesn't show up as an add-on in IE8 yet the sites see the web browser has a PDF handler (versus relying on a MIME type association in the registry that javascript probably can't inspect). Something about PDFxchange Viewer is lacking with its integration with IE10 that makes sites think the web browser cannot handle PDFs.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello VanguardLH,

Thanks - here are some further comments from my colleagues from the dev team:

"AcroPDF.PDF" is the name of the acrobat ActiveX. So if the site wants and checks only for Acrobat's ActiveX (by asking for its name or GUID) our ActiveX would not be loaded. That is the normal behaviour for ActiveX objects.

To Determine that IE has the PDFXchange ActiveX plugin installed you can check for it's name "PDFXCviewAx.CoPDFXCview"

Regards,
Stefan

[VanguardLH]

Thanks for the info. When I hit more sites that issue the rather bogus error that I need to install a PDF handler (usually they say "Adobe Reader") then I'll check their code to see if they are specifically checking for only the AcroPDF.PDF handler. If so, and if I have the time on my visit there, I'll send them feedback that either they need to test for ALL of the top 5 PDF handlers or not test at all and let the web browser use whatever PDF handler it has available, rely on the MIME type, or result in querying the user if they want to download the PDF file. Sometimes designers get way too enamored with javascript and over-code their pages.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Glad we could help VanguardLH!

Cheers,
Stefan