After Effects Unexpected Error - Permissions Issue (Tried Everything)

Hi everyone,

I'm facing a very frustrating problem with After Effects. Every time I try to launch it, I get this exact error:

"After Effects can't continue: An unexpected error occurred, and After Effects will now shut down. Check if you have proper permissions to access After Effects' preferences folder."

Here's everything I've tried so far, without success:

• Completely uninstalled After Effects and Creative Cloud multiple times.

• Deleted preferences manually from:

  • %AppData%\Adobe\After Effects

  • %LocalAppData%\Adobe\After Effects

  • %ProgramData%\Adobe

  • Documents folder caches and preferences

• Checked and corrected folder permissions in Windows (including enabling inheritance and setting correct ownership).

• Reset After Effects preferences using Ctrl + Alt + Shift.

• Disabled antivirus and firewall temporarily.

• Verified the Windows hosts file (no Adobe entries).

• Used Adobe's official Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to remove all Adobe software.

• Checked firewall rules (removed Adobe blocks).

• Installed and tested the After Effects Beta (same issue).

Other Adobe apps (Premiere, Photoshop) work perfectly. I've thoroughly cleaned all remnants from previous installations and ensured I have full administrative permissions.

My system:

• Windows 11

• Latest Creative Cloud and After Effects version (official subscription)

If anyone has encountered this and has a solution, please help! I'm completely stuck and have exhausted every possible option.

Thanks in advance!