Acrobat Printers Missing in Printer Folders after Windows XP Upgrade from Windows Me

[David_Dubroff@adobeforums.com]

I just upgraded one of my computers from Windows Me to Windows XP Home. The computer had Adobe Acrobat 5.0.5 installed within the Windows Me. Now that I have Windows XP Home running on the machine, I no longer have my Adobe Acrobat Printers in the printers folder. How would I go about getting the Adobe printers back into the printers folder?

I am able to start the Acrobat program just fine. I am just missing the Distiller and PDF Writer (or Adobe PDF) in the printers folder.

One thing to note in my situation: I initially owned a full version of Adobe Acrobat version 3. Then, I acquired version 5 as an upgrade. If I will need to do any sort of re-install within XP Home, is there any way I can directly repair or fix the version 5.0.5 without involving the version 3 disc?

At this point, I am not sure how to get Acrobat 5.0.5 to work in the Windows XP Home that just got upgraded from Windows Me.

Please advise...
Dave

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Did you do a clean install of Windows XP? If you didn't (if you tried
to keep your existing applications) you probably have a system that
will cause trouble of all kinds.

The only recommended path is a clean install, followed by reinstalling
ALL software from the original disk. You will certainly have to
reinstall Acrobat to get its drivers back; they couldn't survive an OS
update.

Aandi Inston

[William_Freimark@adobeforums.com]

Your whole problem is the part where you upgraded from windows ME, Reformat and install

[David_Dubroff@adobeforums.com]

Thanks to everyone who responded.

I have some comments / questions for Aandi. According to Aandi's comments, it appears as though Aandi is not in support of the "upgrade" process to install Windows XP from an existing Windows Me installation.

In my particular case, I had recently purchased a new hard drive and the Windows Me installation had been performed not too long ago. The upgrade to Windows XP went rather smoothly for me. I had performed the system compatibility check before starting the upgradee process. I removed several applications before starting the Windows XP upgrade in order to have a better chance of achieving a smooth upgrade.

As part of the upgrade, I noriced that most of my printers had been removed from the printers folder. I had a high-end color laser printer by Tektronix (Phaser 560) that was removed. This printer used a TCP/IP port created by an additional installation since Windows Me was not capable of printing over TCP/IP on its own. Also, I had my Adobe Acrobat printers removed, a fax printer removed, and an HP Laserjet 4M printer removed.

With regard to the printers that are no longer in my printers folder, did the Windows XP upgrade process remove them fully and properly, or do I have some of these printers lingering behind the scenes? I have since removed and re-installed the Adobe Acrobat and eFax applications just fine. I was just wondering about the color laser printer and the HP laserjet 4M -- are these printes lingering somewhere behind the scenes? I plan to re-install both of these laser printers in the near future, but I would like to know what my system thinks of them as of the upgrade before I re-install these printers.

Any feedback you can share with me as to what lingers around after the Windows XP upgrade process would be greatly appreciated.

Bye for now...
Dave

[W_T_Allen@adobeforums.com]

Any OS upgrade, particularly one where Windows ME is involved is best performed with a complete wipe and new install.

[Aandi_Inston@adobeforums.com]

Windows Me and XP may look similar, but "under the hood" they are
completely different. A printer driver written for one is a
completely different beast to a printer driver written for the other.

So upgrading will destroy all your printer drivers. The upgrade will
then (I think) check the Windows XP disk for drivers by the same name
and install them, which is why you still have some left.

I can only repeat the advice that you may have lurking instability as
a result of doing an OS upgrade; this is not specific to printer
drivers.

Aandi Inston