After Effects 2026 26.2.1 crashes on startup in microsoft.ai.machinelearning.dl
After Effects 2026 crashes during startup while scanning/loading common Adobe plug-ins.
Steps to reproduce:
1. Launch Adobe After Effects 2026.
2. Wait for the startup/splash screen plug-in scan.
3. After Effects closes/crashes before reaching the main UI.
Observed result:
After Effects crashes on startup.
Expected result:
After Effects should finish launching normally.
Windows Event Viewer crash details:
Faulting application name: AfterFX.exe
Faulting application version: 26.2.1.2
Faulting application path:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects 2026\Support Files\AfterFX.exe
Faulting module name:
microsoft.ai.machinelearning.dll
Faulting module version:
1.23.0.0
Faulting module path:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Plug-Ins\CC\File Formats\microsoft.ai.machinelearning.dll
Exception code:
0xc0000409
Fault offset:
0x00000000000e0827
Additional notes:
The file exists in the shared Adobe File Formats plug-in folder alongside Camera Raw and ONNX/ML runtime files.
Local versions checked:
Camera Raw.8bi: 18.3.2
Microsoft.AI.MachineLearning.dll: 1.23.0
onnxruntime.dll: 1.23.0
DirectML.dll: 1.15.4
I also checked the Windows registry value:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\DevOverrideEnable
It is set to 0, so this does not appear to be caused by DevOverrideEnable being enabled.
Temporary workaround:
I renamed `microsoft.ai.machinelearning.dll` to `microsoft.ai.machinelearning.bak`. After doing this, After Effects launches successfully and I can continue working, but any functionality depending on this AI/ML component may be unavailable.
Environment notes:
This is a brand new Windows installation. Windows is fully updated as of 05 June 2026, with all available Windows Updates applied.
All required/still-supported .NET runtime environments and frameworks are installed through the relevant SDKs. Visual C++ redistributable prerequisites are also installed.
All hardware drivers are installed, up to date, and stable. The issue occurs on this clean, fully updated environment and appears isolated to After Effects loading `microsoft.ai.machinelearning.dll` from the shared Adobe File Formats plug-in folder.
Workstation Details:
Machine: AUX-DESIGN
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro for Workstations, 64-bit
Windows version/build: 10.0.19045 / Build 19045
Windows install date: 03 June 2026
CPU: Intel Core i9-7900X @ 3.30 GHz
CPU cores/threads: 10 cores / 20 logical processors
RAM: 80 GB installed
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
GPU VRAM: 24 GB
GPU driver: NVIDIA 610.47 / Windows driver version 32.0.16.1047
GPU driver date: 19 May 2026
Primary system drive: Acer SSD FA100 2TB
Primary drive type: NVMe SSD
Primary drive filesystem: NTFS
Primary drive capacity/free space: 2.0 TB total / 1.42 TB free
Additional NVMe SSD: Vi3000 Internal PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD 2TB
Drive health reported by Windows: Healthy
After Effects version affected: After Effects 2026, AfterFX.exe 26.2.1.2
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