Error 1402 or 1406 when Installing Adobe Reader 6, 7, or 8
09/15/2007
Sometimes you can experience one of these errors when installing Adobe Reader, which terminates the installation:
“Error 1402: Could not open key [key name] .”
“Error 1406: Could not write value Folders to key [key name] .”
Your best bet here is to do a complete uninstall of all previous versions of reader before you try installation again.
- Choose Start > Control Panel (Windows XP), or Start > Settings > Control Panel (Windows 2000).
- Double-click Add Or Remove Programs.
- Select Adobe Acrobat [version] and click Remove.
- When prompted, confirm that you want to remove Reader.
- Repeat the above procedure for all installed versions of Reader.
- Restart the computer, and then reinstall Adobe Reader.
There are some other solutions to this problem, as well as a video on how to do uninstallations here. That link also includes instructions on how to set permissions to their defaults in the registry. This is really complicated and it’s much easier just to follow the steps above instead. Do not attempt their solution #1 at all, it doesn’t work!
Acrobat Tutorials 
06/23/2008 at 8:40 pm
I have Adobe Acrobat 6 STANDARD currently installed, and, for the time-being, wish to keep it accessible in order to be able to CREATE pdf documents. But I also wish to install the latest reader, vers. 8. While attempting to install the reader, I receive Error 1402, stating that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareClassesPDF.PdfCtrl.6CLSID could not be opened.
Can you tell me, is it possible to have BOTH Acrobat 6 STANDARD and Acrobat 8 READER installed concurrently on the same machine? If so, what do I need to do? (The Operating system is Windows XP/Pro.)
Thank you. /Tom
06/24/2008 at 12:51 am
Tom,
You should be able to have both versions on your system at the same time. The 1402 message means that some registry entries will need to be changed before you can install Reader. Solution 3 tells you how to do this:
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=329137&sliceId=1
–
If you have never worked in the registry before, I would not recommend doing this as it can be dangerous for your computer.
–
Mitch
10/16/2009 at 5:11 pm
Dear Sir Madam (Acrobat Support):
Can’t unistall adobe acrobat 8.1.2
Ger messages:
Fatal error during installation
Error 1402 could not open key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoft|WindowsCurrentVersionRunOptionalComponentsMSFS
What can I do?
Thanks for your help.
Paul Finn
23Leaver Ave
Ottawa, ON,
K2E5P5 (Canada)
03/19/2010 at 1:25 am
I too have error 1402, but in my case, the address to the key starts with UNKNOWNcomponents#numbers##numbers#
in registry, under what these components possibly be? Ive tried many locations but none worked.