PnPDriverImportError - CS5.5 clean install on Win7/64

Question

Hello:
Pretty new here, so if this belongs somewhere else (Acrobat forum?), please feel free to move.
And, I am a self-taught, low-end, home user of mostly Acrobat and PS, so please keep any assistance relatively simple.
Problem:  "Adobe PDF Printer" in CS4 disappeared and issue not resolved after clean uninstall/cleanup/clean install of CS 5.5.  Adobe TS (up to Tier2) no help thus far, although they are still working on it.
History:
Had been running CS4 (fully patched) without issues for >1 year on my Win7(x64) desktop (everything was/is fine on my Win7(x86) laptop).
I noticed 1 day in 3/2011 that "PDF Printer" had mysteriously disappeared from installed printers, and I could not "print to PDF" from web browser or other apps.
NUMEROUS TS calls/remote assists with Adobe TS --> no resolution.  They tried all manner of multiple manual PDF printer reinstalls from Windows CP, copying dll files from other computer, running the MS printer install fixit tool, and even deleting OEM driver files from elevated command prompt (!), etc. Nothing worked.
Computer, physical printer, and the rest of entire CS4 (including Acrobat 9.4.x) worked fine, but I had no "PDF Printer". (The add-in for MS Office worked fine and I could "save as > adobe pdf".)
They said a clean reinstall of CS4 would resolve it, but since CS 5.5 was imminent, I opted to wait, getting by without PDF Printer.
Today, with Adobe TS assist, I performed a clean uninstall of CS4 > reboot > run Adobe CS cleanup tool > reboot > clean install of CS 5.5 from DVD > reboot > update > reboot.  NO errors, no problems.
BUT, of course, "PDF Printer" is still missing. The Office Add-In seems to be working, as before, as I can "save as > Adobe pdf".
EVERYTHING ELSE in CS 5.5 seems to be working fine, as does the computer and my physical printer.
NEW round of Adobe TS later today: same troubleshooting as last time > no joy.
So, although I now have CS 5.5 instead of CS 4, I have the SAME "PDF Printer" problem.
FINALLY: got someone on phone who found a relevant event in the Windows log - he took the entire txt file to research and escalated to next Tier.
I am awaiting an outbound call back from "Resolution Experts" sometime MONDAY (4 days from now)!!!
Deidentified (user name removed) info from that event is below -- please let me know if you need a more complete excerpt or the entire txt file.  I also have the 3 service ticket numbers from the March incident, today's install incident and today's Tech Support incident.
Log Name:      Application
Source:        Windows Error Reporting
Date:          9/22/2011 12:40:39 PM
Event ID:      1001
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      <username>-PC
Description:
Fault bucket 2348186669, type 5
Event Name: PnPDriverImportError
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0
Problem signature:
P1: x64
P2: 00000005
P3: adobepdfct.inf
P4: 34e7d4c8b56429c85e0c7f2d0bbb29c4697543e0
P5:
P6:
P7:
P8:
P9:
P10:
I hope you wise and kind folks have some suggestions for how to resolve this, please, please!
This is REALLY expensive software and it all used to work just fine.
Thanks so very much in advance!
daledoc1
Message was edited by: daledoc1

Answer 1

Hi, Mylenium:
Thanks for your reply.
Any security stuff running on the system?
KIS2012 (had been running KIS2011 for 6 months back in Mar when the problem first appeared using CS4).
KIS protection was completely paused during the CS5.5 install today & I immediately verified that all Adobe programs were "trusted".
There were no errors or other problems during the completely clean install today (which was done after running the CS cleanup tool).
No indication anywhere that KIS firewall or application control was/is blocking anything (FW is set to notify, rather than to take automatic action anyway..)
Also, had been running CS4 with KIS for many months without this issue (IOW Adobe PDF Printer had been working fine).
Is the Acrobat speed launcher active (AcroTray.exe)?
How would I know?
Do you have enough temporary disk space in both your user temp folder and the windows spool folder?
1.5 TB HDD (nearly empty), 8 GB RAM - very robust hardware.
Temp folder (I assume you mean Windows temp folder) is ~empty - I run Windows disk cleanup regularly.
But i don't know how to specifically check "windows spool folder".
Are the permissions okay on these folders?
How would I check this?
I am the only user, & my account has full privileges.
Never got any UAC prompts at all during CS 5.5 install (except perhaps at the very beginning, when the bootstrapper launched off the DVD).
Before manually installing the printer, did you clean out the Windows installer cache folder so it is not reverting to a wrong installer package possibly?
None of the Adobe techs tried this (either back in Mar when the problem began) or today.
I wouldn't know how to do so.
How would I do this?
Does your device manager list any disabled or defunct devices?
No.
My physical printer is an older HP All-In-One, but the drivers are fully updated and it works fine.
It is the same physical printer I had used with CS4 for > 1 year without problems.
There aren't many other devices.
All drivers are up-to-date.
Sorry to be so stupid answering your questions, but I am just a home user.
What is SO perplexing about all of this is that everything worked just fine for a year or so -- CS4 with Adobe PDF Printer -- on this same system.
CS4 had been installed once when computer was new (Feb 2010), and then again in August 2010 when I did a factory image from the recovery partition (thanks to McAfee).
Everything worked just fine.
Then, the PDF Printer literally disappeared without warning or other indication in March 2011.
After the many encounters with Tier1 and Tier2 TS from Mar-May, it was assumed (by them and me) that a clean install of CS 5.5 would resolve the issue.
I do have in my notes from back then that Adobe TS said this was a "known issue" (as that blog post in my earlier reply suggests) unique to Win7/64.
ATM, I am going in circles between Dell, MS and Adobe.
I await your further advice.
Thanks,
daledoc1