How to Remove Acrobat DC Trial Prompt and Reinstall Acrobat XI
Question details
The user needs to remove persistent Acrobat DC trial messages and safely reinstall Acrobat XI after Adobe Creative Cloud conflicts.
- Product
- Adobe Acrobat
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Attempting to revert from an unwanted Acrobat DC trial back to a licensed, perpetual version of Acrobat XI.
- Observed behavior
- Acrobat DC trial prompts keep appearing. Uninstalling Acrobat DC causes Acrobat XI to be deleted as well, and Acrobat DC is missing from the system's standard uninstall list.
Ensure you have your Acrobat XI serial number or license information securely backed up, as you will need it to reactivate the software after reinstallation.
Perform a Clean Uninstallation and Reinstall Acrobat XI
Completely remove both versions of Acrobat and clear Adobe's licensing folders to prevent the trial prompt conflict from recurring.
Because Acrobat DC and Acrobat XI share certain licensing directories and system components, simply uninstalling one can break the other. To resolve the trial prompt loop, you must perform a clean removal of both applications and their shared licensing folders before reinstalling your perpetual license version.
Use Adobe's official uninstaller tools (such as the Acrobat Cleaner Tool) to completely remove both Acrobat DC and Acrobat XI from your system. Standard Windows or Mac uninstallers may leave conflicting files behind.
Navigate to your system's application data directories and delete the 'Adobe PCD' and 'SLStore' folders. This removes the corrupted or conflicting license cache causing the DC trial prompt.
Reboot your machine to clear any running background processes or Creative Cloud sync services.
Run the Acrobat XI installer using your original media or downloaded setup file. When prompted, enter the Acrobat XI serial number you backed up earlier to activate the product.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does uninstalling Acrobat DC also remove my Acrobat XI installation?
Adobe products often share core components and licensing directories across different versions. When you remove Acrobat DC, the shared registries and licensing folders are modified or deleted, which breaks the existing Acrobat XI installation.
Where can I find the Adobe PCD and SLStore folders?
On Windows, these folders are typically located in the hidden 'ProgramData\Adobe' directory. On a Mac, you can find them in '/Library/Application Support/Adobe/'. You may need to enable hidden files and folders in your OS settings to view and delete them.
How can I prevent the Creative Cloud app from updating Acrobat XI to DC?
Open the Creative Cloud desktop application, navigate to the Preferences menu, and disable the 'Auto-update' feature for all apps. This will stop the system from automatically replacing your perpetual Acrobat XI software with an Acrobat DC trial.
