I need to be able to use Adobe Reader independently from Adobe Acrobat.

UNBELIEVEABLE!!!! You can no longer choose which version of reader to use when you have a paid pro subscription. Tried uninstalling pro and downloading and installing acrobat reader but if won't let me. WTF? Really?? When I'm already paying for a service you should allow users to choose which version they want to use to open a PDF

There are literally hundreds of queries about this exact same problem posted online over the last TWO YEARS, with no less than a dozen workarounds offered by various contributors that only worked for a handful of people. It is BEYOND ABSURD that Adobe has not fixed this yet. It is also ridiculous that both of these apps supposedly must be installed in order for PDFs to show up in the Windows File Explorer preview pane again like they used to. This should be enabled for ANY version of Acrobat, whether it is the Reader or Acrobat Pro. The entire Adobe user community would like to have Adobe's explanation for why this has not been fixed, and I shall be giving it a 1-star review everywhere until it is fixed.

Government forms will not open with full paid version of Adobe Acrobat, yet I need the full version of Adobe acrobat to design forms! This is absurd.

This is affecting our remote desktop environment for our clients. Only some users have an Adobe Pro license which means other users still need to use Adobe Reader. We found a workaround to have both installed, however if a user has an issue with the software then you can't run a repair or reinstall easily as it errors out due to the duplicate installation. This is causing a real headache for us as IT admins!

It's unacceptable that it's not possible to use both parallel. f.ex. on a family computer one person may have a paid license while the others don't.

Shall all others not be able to use Acrobat Reader and instead have to use a browser plugin??? It's really a shame that all others are 'punished' because one person has a licence.

This is killing for shared workspaces like VDI

Brett's suggestion from April 21 below to make a couple of registry changes does work, but only if you have also installed the current administrative version of Adobe Acrobat DC mentioned on that webpage. Adding those registry keys does nothing if you're using an up-to-date, non-administrative version.

However, the non-logged in version of Adobe Acrobat has a different appearance than the current version of Adobe Reader: The menus are mostly on the right side of the window and are not configurable as the Reader menus across the top of the window. Some functions, such as screen snapshot (camera icon), are unavailable in Reader mode while not logged in.

It's better than before, but it would be even better if non-logged in mode mimiced Adobe Reader exactly.

I want to keep a separate profile on my computer for Work and Personal. My choices, because of this ridiculous problem created by Adobe are: Use my work profile to read and fill personal (medical) documents, buy an Adobe membership, or use a third-party application. As long as Adobe keeps playing this game, I'm not paying their ridiculous subscription fees...

We use Adobe InDesign to create fillable forms. We open with Acrobat Pro to save as Reader enabled but we need to be able to test that the form can be filled in with Reader by our customers. We now cannot do this!!
Not good enough Adobe!!

Bretts answer was indeed what we needed to solve the issue , thnx

We use Acrobat Pro for print production, but we also need the free Reader for testing and in order to know what can be done there and what can't, se we can help our customers who do not have the Pro version. We also need it in Danish, which is another problem.
I just spent three hours trying all sorts of solutions, and nothing worked.
Brett's answer may be quite simple, but being an ordinary user ... :-)

RESOLVED:
I reached out to Enterprise support and the answer is quite simple. The new 64-bit unified App installer, allows for a couple of registry entries which defaults to reader with the Pro features enabled via login with adobe account.

https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/DesktopDeployment/singleinstaller.html

Scroll to bottom of document for reg keys or how to use customization wizard.

As a large organization (40000 users) we need for all users acrobat reader to read pdf documents and fill in forms, and a selected group of users and developers need Acrobat DC pro next to the reader. as some web applications are giving problems and errors when opening pdf with pro instead of the reader, reader is a necessity next to pro.

Don't switch to the sluggish Foxit ****. Use the best PDF software in the world: PDF-Xchange Editor.

I may have found a solution: stop subscribing to Adobe for my 30 users and buy Foxit licenses, cheaper?
How soon will we have a solution?

It is important to have both versions simultaneously for VMWare VDI gold image where there are users who have a PRO licence and other users who need to use only Reader

This functionality is mission critical for my clients.

Acrobat Reader and Pro are both necessary on shared workstations on which one user has a license and the other(s) user does not.
Either that, or Adobe needs to allow Acrobat Pro to "act" like reader if the user does not log into their Adobe account.

The reader used to be a separate install / app. Having it linked all to Pro now is infuriating. I regularly have to use multiple machines for work and keep having to switch license logins for basic adobe reader functions.