Unable to Open an Adobe Acrobat PDF File

This article applies to:

• Kurzweil 1000, version 6 and later
• Kurzweil 3000 for Windows, version 6 and later

Symptoms

When opening an Adobe Acrobat file, an error message appears. The error messages include:

• Error 101: There is no virtual printer installed.
• Error 102: Another application is using the virtual printer.
• Error 103: The attempt to print to the virtual printer failed.
• Error 104: Print job timed out.

Cause

Acrobat files are opened using a mechanism known as the KESI Virtual Printer. Instead of directly opening an Acrobat file, the Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000 send the file to Adobe's Acrobat Reader program, and tell it to print the file to the KESI Virtual Printer. The KESI Virtual Printer behaves like a real printer, but instead of printing on paper, it makes an image file. That image file is then sent to the Kurzweil 1000 or Kurzweil 3000 to be recognized.

A failure in any step in this procedure can cause one of the errors mentioned above.

Solution

Depending on the error, different solutions are likely to work:

Error 101: There is no virtual printer installed.

This error indicates that the KESI Virtual Printer was not properly installed, or was removed at some time after it was installed. The KESI Virtual Printer is always installed by Kurzweil 1000 and versions of the Kurzweil 3000 that support scanning, but it is possible that something went wrong during the installation.

You may try reinstalling your Kurzweil product, or you can install just the KESI Virtual Printer. To install just the Virtual Printer, run Windows Explorer and go to Kurzweil's Common Files directory (typically C:\Program Files\Kurzweil Educational Systems\Common Files). Run the program KESIPrntInstall in that directory. A dialog box will appear. To ensure that there are no fragments of a failed installation still on your system, click the Uninstall button. A few error messages may appear (such as "DeletePrinterDriver failed" and "DeleteMonitor failed") but these can safely be ignored. They simply mean that portions of the KESI Virtual Printer had been previously uninstalled. Click the OK button in these error message dialogs. Finally, a dialog will appear saying that the Uninstall is done. Exit KESIPrntInstall and reboot your computer.

When your computer has restarted, run KESIPrntInstall again. Put the Kurzweil 1000 or Kurzweil 3000 CD in your CD-ROM drive. If the setup program starts up, exit it. In the KESIPrntInstall dialog, click the Browse button for the Source directory. Browse to your CD drive and select the KESIPrnt directory on the CD. Then, click the Install button in the KESIPrntInstall dialog. After a few moments, a dialog should appear saying that the install is done. If any error messages appear, contact our technical support department. Otherwise, you may then try opening a PDF file from your Kurzweil application.

Error 102: Another application is using the virtual printer.

This error indicates that another application is running and using the KESI Virtual Printer. Check that there is only one Kurzweil application currently running on your system. It is possible that an application crashed while using the KESI Virtual Printer, and somehow locked up the Virtual Printer. Rebooting your system should remove any such lock.

Error 103: The attempt to print to the virtual printer failed.

The most likely cause of this problem is that Adobe Acrobat Reader is not installed on your system. As mentioned in the Cause section, above, Acrobat Reader is needed to open a PDF file. You can obtain the latest version of Acrobat Reader here. An older version of Acrobat Reader is also available on your Kurzweil 1000 or Kurzweil 3000 CD, in the Extras directory.

Error 104: Print job timed out.

There a few possible causes of this error:

• You have version 5.0 of Adobe Acrobat Reader: This version of Acrobat Reader had a bug that caused it to keep running after printing a PDF file. The result was that Kurzweil applications could open one PDF file, but since Acrobat Reader was left running, the Kurzweil application could not open subsequent PDF files. One solution is that, after opening any PDF file, you can use Alt+Tab to switch to the running version of Acrobat Reader and exit it. A better solution is to get the latest version of Acrobat Reader. Version 5.1 and later versions have fixed this problem. It is very important, however, that you uninstall the old version of Acrobat before installing the new one. If you do not uninstall first, the problem will not be fixed. You can download Acrobat Reader here. 

• You have version 5.05 of Adobe Acrobat Reader: This version can be even worse than version 5.0. Some users have reported that the Kurzweil application can not even open a PDF file the first time they try. As described above, you should get version 5.1 or later of Acrobat Reader, and uninstall version 5.05 before installing the new one.
  

• You have version 6 or later of Adobe Acrobat Reader: These versions do not always put the right information in the registry for the KESI Virtual Printer to work. Another symptom of this problem might be that, if you use Windows Explorer to find a PDF file and try to open it, Acrobat does not run and the file does not get opened. The solution is to run Kurzweil's diagnostic program FileAssociate.exe. In new releases of the Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000, FileAssociate can be found in \Program Files\Kurzweil Educational Systems\Diags. If you have an older version of Kurzweil software, you can get a copy of FileAssociate e-mailed to you by contacting our technical support department.

  Run FileAssociate.exe. In the File Extension field, enter pdf. For the Application field, browse to the Acrobat program (typically in a subdirectory of C:\Program Files\Adobe). Finally, click the Associate button.
  

• Acrobat Reader is waiting for you to give it some information: The first time a user runs Acrobat Reader, it displays its license agreement and waits for the user to accept or decline it. If you have not run Acrobat Reader before, it is likely that, when the Kurzweil application started it, it displayed the license agreement and waited for a response, instead of printing to the KESI Virtual Printer. If Acrobat Reader is still running on your computer, use Alt+Tab to switch to it and accept the license agreement. If Acrobat Reader is not running, run it by clicking the Windows Start button, choosing Programs, then Acrobat. When the license agreement appears, accept it.

• The PDF file is protected: Some PDF files can not be printed to the KESI Virtual Printer. The creator of the PDF file has intentionally prohibited printing to prevent unauthorized copying. To confirm that this is the problem, run Acrobat Reader, open the PDF file, and try printing it to a real printer or the KESI Virtual Printer. If it does not print, you will need to contact the creator of the PDF file and ask for a printable version.

• The virtual printer needs to be attached to a different port: The virtual printer is usually associated with the LPT1 port. That works most of the time, but occasionally it does not. Go to the Printers control panel, select KESI Virtual Printer, and display the Properties dialog. Go to the Ports tab. Click the Add Port button, and a Printer Ports dialog will appear.  Select Local Port from the list, then click the New Port button. It will ask you for a name for the new port. Any name will do; we recommend "DummyPort". Click OK to close the Port Name dialog, then Close to close the Printer Ports dialog.

  Now you're back in the Properties dialog. Go to the Advanced tab. It's possible that the option "Spool print documents" is selected. That setting can cause other problems. Switch to the option called "Print directly to the printer". Then close the properties dialog. Re-boot your computer, run Kurzweil, and try opening a PDF file again.

If, after trying the above remedies, you are still unable to open a PDF file, please contact our technical support department.

History

Creation Date: January 23, 2003

Last Modified: December 27, 2004