HELP! Have lost ability to read epubs, not only with Calibre's viewer, but with Adobe

[lburg801]

The history: I hung onto my old pc running Win7 (and thus unable to update Calibre for a long time) until 2022/23 when I upgraded to Win10. I still did not bother to update Calibre as everything worked great ... until troubleshooting problems that were popping up as my computer failed.
I had downloaded several programs during troubleshooting that I ultimately deleted but problems with some of my old software, like Adobe Acrobat X, showed up. The "go back to an earlier date" function did not work and a MS support agent, via remote desktop, did a reinstall of Win10, keeping all my files, etc. taking me further down the rabbit hole.
I routinely read books via the View button in Calibre and so was surprised when I discovered that was no longer working. Since I had not done a Calibre update for eons because of running Win7, I may have just updated it before I lost this function. To my surprise, however, ADE4.5 would not open the epubs, either. Adobe 3.0, however, still worked and contained most of the epubs I had borrowed over a couple of decades from public libraries where I had lived.
My computer failed and I replaced it with a "new to me" PC running Win11. I had hoped this would resolve the issue with being unable to read epubs but it actually made it worse. I did not think to import the library that Adobe 3.0 had created and now Adobe 3.0 will not open epubs.
It does not matter what program I choose as the default to open epubs. None will. Essentially my entire Calibre library is toast (and as an 80 year old who spends more time reading than anything else, it is extensive).
The only way I am able to read epubs is via Calibre's book edit in the preview screen.
I read that an old plugin, DeDRM, might be the problem and found a newer version via github: DeDRM_tools_10.0.3. I've installed it and am still unable to read epubs. I don't know if there are additional settings that one should change to make it work. The library where I live now is tiny and does not offer ebooks so I don't know if that is how I got the Adobe readers to work years ago and why they don't now.
I apologize for this lengthy account, but I have no way of knowing, what, if any, of what I've described is pertinent and might be helpful. I do hope that someone can help me recover the ability to read epubs.

[Sirtel]

What do you mean by not opening epubs? Do you get an error message? How exactly have you tried to open them?

If they open in the calibre editor, deDRM is not the problem.

[Martinoptic]

A couple of questions:
1 are the epubs without drm?
2 if not, are you using the correct adobe ID - did you transfer it to your new computer?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Martinoptic

A couple of questions:
1 are the epubs without drm?

As the OP can open them in the editor, they must be.

[Martinoptic]

I think we need to see some error messages.
Can the OP run epubcheck in the editor and post the output? Is it possible to post a scrambled epub from the editor (I don’t know if that’s possible as I’ve never tried)?

[Sirtel]

I think the problem has something to do with messed-up default programs, rather than the epubs themselves. But yeah, we won't know until the OP explains exactly what they've been doing.

[lburg801]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

What do you mean by not opening epubs? Do you get an error message? How exactly have you tried to open them?

If they open in the calibre editor, deDRM is not the problem.

Calibre viewer
Both Adobe programs open fully but not book loads nor can be added from the program. I'll attach a screen shot of what happens with Calibre's viewer. It does not open fully. The icon can be seen on the task bar and if the mouse is held over it a tiny window will pop up. The title of the book shows but otherwise it is blank. Clicking on it does nothing. Right clicking brings up menu with message "Calibre worker progress". If I click on that there is a flash but it does not open.

[lburg801]

Originally Posted by Martinoptic

A couple of questions:
1 are the epubs without drm?
2 if not, are you using the correct adobe ID - did you transfer it to your new computer?

I set these programs up so VERY long ago. I see that I need to authorize the Adobe programs but don't have a key and self-authorizing, or whatever the option was called, did not help. Perhaps years ago when I set this up via my library a key or code was provided. I really don't recall.

I can see in my download folder that at some point I had added a DeDRM plugin to Calibre. My guess is that all the library books are drm.

I've been wondering, at least as regards Calibre, if I were to install an older version if I could recover the functionality I lost when I upgraded. Of course, I'm no longer using Win7.

[lburg801]

Originally Posted by Martinoptic

I think we need to see some error messages.
Can the OP run epubcheck in the editor and post the output? Is it possible to post a scrambled epub from the editor (I don’t know if that’s possible as I’ve never tried)?

Attached is screen shot of book check.

[lburg801]

@Sirtel & @Martinoptic, I took screen shots of preferences Input and Output.

[lburg801]

@Sirtel & @Martinoptic Just noticed Similar Threads and a post in 2019 with inability to view epubs in the viewer but the op was able to open the books in other programs. Moreover the problem was caused by a font.

[kovidgoyal]

First, reboot in safe mode and see if your files open there.

[lburg801]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

First, reboot in safe mode and see if your files open there.

Found debug option. Attached outcome in standard debug and in debug with plugins disabled.

[lburg801]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

First, reboot in safe mode and see if your files open there.

All the files were present. There was no difference in how the program responded when I selected View or epub edit.

[kovidgoyal]

The run the viewer in debug mode from a command prompt as

calibre-debug -w

post the output