Adobe Acrobat 11 Protected View fails in Sandbox

[RedBonnet]

Protected View allows untrusted files to be opened in Adobe Acrobat (Adobe Reader as well) with limited functionality. To improve security, I have set all PDF files to open in protected view in options under "Edit >> Preferences >> Security (enhanced) >> Protected View"

When I try to open a PDF inside the sandbox, it fails. Acrobat opens a prompt with the following:

Adobe Acrobat Pro cannot open the file in Protected View due to a problem with your system configuration. Would you like to open the file with Protected View disabled?

The error in question can be seen if you scroll down to the Unsupported Configurations section of this page. Things work as expected outside the sandbox. This Adobe troubleshooting article might be of use.

Acrobat Pro 11.0.20
Sandboxie 5.0.20
Windows 7 x64

[bo.elam]

I believe historically PV as well as Protected mode in Adobe has conflicted with Sandboxie. You shouldn't enable those features if you want to run PDF files under Sandboxie.

Bo

[RedBonnet]

Thanks for responding. Sometimes a PDF needs to be opened outside the sandbox, so your advice would leave me exposed in that situation. So this is a WONTFIX?

[Barb@Invincea]

Hello RedBonnet,

I tested the behavior using Adobe Reader and I saw the same message, however, I was able to choose to disable protected view for that file and open it Sandboxed. This does not change the settings on the host, only in the Sandbox.

You can also change the same settings to turn Protected View Off inside the Sandboxed Adobe, thus avoiding receiving the message when launching pdf files Sandboxed (without changing your host's settings). This setting will be effective until you delete the contents of your Sandbox, in which case, you will have to re-set it.

Usually programs with their own sandboxes/protected view do not get along with Sandboxie.
I will talk to the devs and update this thread if new information comes up.

Regards,
Barb.-