How to change default PDF reader from Adobe Reader 9 to XPDF? Adobe9 is uninstalled.
I installed Adobe Reader 9 (on Scientific Linux 5.x) in order to be able to read some forms. I did not want the plugin, but Adobe Reader 9 package installed everything and in the preferences->applications Adobe9 keeps insisting that it is the default reader though I never use it.
In a recentlys Firefox-12.0 with its own NEW user the same happens. When a PDF file is requested from a website, Firefox keeps insisting that Adobe9 is the "default".
I have scanned /usr/lib , grep -ril adobe /usr/lib and also /etc, I looked at mime files - but I cannot see where the *binary* Adobe installer puts its footprint. I also tried search on modified files after I installed Adobe9 and tried to remove it again.
I have tried to find config files where Adobe9 installs itself.
Can you help? Is there a way to get Firefox to behave as a pristine Firefox?
All Replies (6)
I'm a Windows user, but see whether this works the same way. Under
Edit > Preferences > Applications
In the search box on that tab, type pdf and pause while Firefox filters the list.
Is your preferred plugin or application available on the drop-down on the right side? If so, does selecting it work?
Thanks but no it does not help. I am sorry that my explanation can be misunderstood. I have tried everything in the preferences->app. Selecting xpdf or docreader does not remove Adobe9(default) from the app-list nor from barging in when I want to open a PDF file with a reader. Adobe9 seems to write its startup information into some hidden file, I don't know where; and it is global, because new installations of Firefox get the same (wrong) information about PDF handling.
Solution so far: I removed all plugins (physically deleted Adobe plugin-shared objects), I moved physically all files from the Adobe9 installation and then tried to open a PDF with Adobe9 (which still claimed to be default!) - and of course I got: "An error occurred, try to save and open". Then looking at edit->prefs->app Adobe9 is still listed as default.
The Adobe Installer does not have an uninstaller. The next step is to use a generic install-watcher and see whereto the installer writes its "registry" information.
As said it is a minor annoyance, but a systems admin must be able to track all changes on a system. Thanks anyway.
In your Firefox profile folder, there is a file named mimeTypes.rdf that gets augmented when new programs are registered to handle various content types. If you close Firefox and rename that file to mimeTypes.old, and if the Adobe software is no longer installed, then the list in the Applications tab should return to default.
I am sorry, jscher2000, you are plain wrong. After renaming the mimeTypes.rdf a new one was generated, but Firefox still came up with Adobe Reader 9 (default).
It must be some system file which has been changed by Adobe-installer.
But anyway, now it seems that the magnitude of the annoyance is finally out in the open air. Adobe Installer must have meddled with some mime-file somewhere, probably using a filename indirection or something, - and I have not yet found out where it meddles with the system.
Regards/-Donald-
donaude modificouno o
Maybe check the MIME database key in the registry to see if you can locate the related MIME type.
MIME Database : HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Content Type
I am afraid I can not find the equivalent of Microsoft Registry in Linux. It could be /etc/gconf which contains 73MB of configuration XML but a scan through all files (grep -r -i adobe /etc/gconf) gives no hits.
Now it seems this is more of a Linux configuration-system question, but anyway, thanks!