Windows 10 and Adobe Digital Editions ver 4.5.xx and earlier

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This may be old hat by now but after a long absence from downloading ePUB books from my local public library I downloaded and fired up the latest ver of Adobe Digital Editions which right now is 4.5.11. on my desktop machine currently running Windows 10 Ver 1903 Build 18362.720.

As has been widely noted on Adobe and Windows forums, ADE does not play nice with Windows 10, or is it the other way around?  Adobe refuses to comment or get involved in this major break as to why attempting to download and activate those little .ascm files (which look a whole like XML) to complete the ‘Fulfillment’ process in getting an ePUB book either throws several different errors, freezes ADE or causes other abends in the app.

Has anyone here got some hints, cause I tried all the tricks posted on the forums and none work for me including finding and installing ADE 3.0 as well as trying all the Windows retro compatibility switches (Win XP, Vista, 7, 8 etc.), creating a new Win 10 account to run in, different HD install location etc. etc.  I definitely know its something incompatible between ADE and Windows 10 because I can download the run the exact same version of ADE on my trusty old Lenovo Win 7 SP2 laptop and download ePUB books with NO problems.

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[Kirsty]

WSmapperboy wrote:

I definitely know its something incompatible between ADE and Windows 10 because I can download the run the exact same version of ADE on my trusty old Lenovo Win 7 SP2 laptop and download ePUB books with NO problems.

Why not dump ADE for ePUB and use Portable Calibre  or  the free, portable SumatraPDF ?

https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/download-free-pdf-viewer.html

https://calibre-ebook.com/download_portable

Or, you can run ADE in compatibility mode

https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/how-to-install-or-run-a-program-in-compatibility-mode-in-windows-10-windows-8-1-windows-8/

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Kirsty.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Kirsty.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Alex5723.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by PKCano.

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While I am a happy Calibre user, I should note that many ebooks these days ship with DRM that only ADE can process. So you’d still need ADE in order to authorize the ebooks before Calibre can open them.

Calibre can, of course, handle DRM-free ebooks with no trouble at all.

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To Alex5723, Thanks but no, Win 10 compatibility mode switches didn’t work for me. I tried them all after reinstalling ADE multiple times on difference HD paths and using different Win 10 accounts.  My public library tell me that they do successfully use Win 10 and ADE themselves, but they are using a custom tweaked version of Win 10 which their sys admins have implemented tight control around Win 10 updates.  Perhaps its some wonderful Win 10 update I’ve automagically obtained that’s killing it for me.  I’m going to try running MS sysmon as ADE runs when trying to ‘Fulfill’ a book request to see if I can isolate the error.

To anonymous: Thanks, yes I use Calibre as well but as you noted in order to decrypt the DRM carried in my public library’s collection of ebooks I am forced to use ADE.  Hmm, just another digital publishing world totally owned and locked down by our friendly neighbourhood ADOBEman ;(

 

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FWIW, I have no problem running both Calibre (v.4.13.0.0 64-bit) with Apprentice Alf’s plugins, as well as ADE v.4.5.11.o. My Windows 10 install is 64-bit build 18363.720.

?When you say ADE doesn’t work, exactly what do you mean?? Every now and then I have to Erase Authorization, then re-authorize, but that’s no biggie.

Zig

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[WSmapperboy]

My Win 10 version is 18263.720.

My ADE version is 4.5.11.187212.  My computer is properly authorized within ADE with my Adobe ID.  I have tried Erase Authorization and re-Authorize several times with different versions of ADE as well as fresh new installations of ADE

My library provides a ‘borrow/checkout’ function for ebooks which pops up a screen showing two buttons: ‘Download ePUB ebook’ or ‘Read now in browser’  When I click on Download ePUB book I get a <name-of-book>.ascm file which is an Adobe DRM encrypted file.

When I click on this file ADE tries to process the file and attached is a screenshot of the error and a .txt file of the .ascm. I get error every time consistently.

Many people experience this as well as other server related errors.

 

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by WSmapperboy.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by WSmapperboy.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by WSmapperboy.

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[Zig]

Sounds like you do not have ADE designated as the default app for opening .ascm files. This should be set when you install ADE. ?Maybe can be changed in Windows??

Zig

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Zig.

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Hello again Zig,

Nope, in my ‘Settings->Choose default apps by file type’ window it definitely shows .acsm (Adobe Content Server Message) is associated with Adobe Digital Editions.

-Mike

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