Zotero opening PDFs with wrong app

mpietrek
I have both Adobe Acrobat and PDF-XChange on my Windows system. Acrobat is the system default for opening PDFs. (Verified by dbl-clicking on PDFs in Windows Explorer).

In Zotero, Setttings | General | "Open PDFs using" is set to "System Default. However, it opens PDFs using PDF-XChange.

I've tried toggling the "open with" settings to something else, and then back, but nothing changes. It's still using PDF-XChange.

Known issue? Any data I can provide?
  • ge9
    I have same issue now. I'm using Acrobat Reader as system default but Zotero still opens PDFs with Microsoft Edge.
    I think this issue comes from recent "UserChoiceLatest" registry keys.
    Windows Explorer previously used
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoice
    as a default application (and it's set as Edge in my Windows 11)
    but it now uses
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.pdf\UserChoiceLatest
    instead.
    Since UserChoice keys (and UserChoiceLatest keys) are protected by strong security, we can't change it.
    I think Zotero should use high-level ShellExecute API instead of low-level registry value.
  • ge9
    I found the UserChoice can be removed after temporarily disabling UCPD.

    Run this command in admin PowerShell:
    ```
    New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UCPD" -Name "Start" -Value 4 -PropertyType DWORD -Force
    ```
    Then reboot and delete the key.
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