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quirky_goal6dd1
Participant
September 23, 2026
Question

Creative Cloud causes PC to freeze

  • September 23, 2026
  • 10 replies
  • 72 views

Creative Cloud installed within a School on Domain PCs using Device Based Licensing.

When users log into the PC, the PC appears to freeze for about 60 seconds, then a black screen and then the desktop comes back.  Problem appeared to be the Creative Cloud App that was starting that was causing this.  I disabled this on start up as local admin initially on the Task Manager and the initialy freeze at logon didn’t happen.

However, start Photoshop (or any other CC App installed) and the freeze happens again when starting the app as the Sign In dialogue box appears.  After about a minute, screen goes black and then desktop comes back with the Sign In still there and the user can then sign in.  Photoshop or any other CC app seems fine after this point and subsequent logins and using CC seem fine, just the initialy login.

This installed in four ICT Suites used by multiple students throughout the day this is causing significant disruption.

Firstly, is there a registry hack to stop Creative Cloud App from starting automatically (or disable it) so I can at least do this centrally.

And secondly, more importantly, what is causing these lock ups to occur?

Thanks in advance

 

    10 replies

    quirky_goal6dd1Author
    Participant
    September 23, 2026

    Hi,

    I’ve managed to disable the Creative Cloud App from starting up at login by deleting a couple of registry keys, just so the PCs are useable by other students in the rooms.

    The black screen at login I don’t believe is the same here, as I’ve seen this before - the black screen appears AFTER the freeze/lock up….The creative cloud sign in window appears and the PC freezes for about a 60 seconds, no mouse movement is possible, no keyboard input is possible and then the black screen appears and after another couple of seconds the desktop is back and the PC let’s you continue.  Where you can sign in to Creative Cloud and then use Photoshop.  Subsequent logins are fine by the same user and photoshop (and others) launch with no issue.

    It’s only on ‘new’ profiles created on these PCs are signed in and only when they have signed in to Creative Cloud does it disappear…. for that user only.

    So, before they can actually login, the opm.db does not actually exist yet in their userprofile.

    Trying your trick of running Creative Cloud with Reduce Colour Mode just gives the same result…. Sign In window within Creative Cloud appear, PC freezes but no black screen this time.  After a minute, PC unfreezes and I can start typing my e-mail address, enter my password and it signs in and I can use the Apps no problem.

    At this point the opm.db file has obviously been created.  I sign out of CC and delete the .db file, and once again the Sign In window appears to freeze for a while before I can do anything.

    It’s obviously an issue with the Sign In System associated with Creative Cloud.

    Not sure what I can do at this point.

     

    Community Manager
    AnkitVermaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    September 24, 2026

    Hi ​@quirky_goal6dd1,

    Good testing. And fair point, opm.db and the colour-mode bit don't apply here, the file isn't even there on a fresh profile till after that first sign-in. So scratch that.

    The freeze itself is the interesting part. Whole machine locked at the sign-in window for a minute, then fine and never again for that user, that's a first-run thing, the sign-in and licensing call the first time a profile hits it. Not display. So I don't want to throw settings at you that won't touch it.

    Better to just see what the machine is doing during that minute. Grab one of the affected PCs, log in fresh, sit through the freeze, and once you're in, run the Log Collector Tool, it pulls the sign-in and licensing logs and gives you a reference number back:

    https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/apps/troubleshoot/diagnostics-repair-tools/run-log-collector-tool.html

    Post that number here when you've got it.

    Two things that'd help meanwhile: which CC desktop version these are on, roughly, and whether there's any web filtering or SSL inspection between the suites and Adobe at login. If that first licensing call is getting held up somewhere, it'd explain the freeze-once-then-fine bit nicely.

    Thanks,
    ^AV

    quirky_goal6dd1Author
    Participant
    September 24, 2026

    Ok - thanks for this so far.

    I’ve actually re-formated the PC, rebuilt with our latest OS image and also redeployed CC with a freshly created package on this PC.  Issue still persists.

    I’ve run the Log collector, although our PCs do stop certain things being run, bit I think I managed to get it to do its thing.

    No confirmation e-mail through, but the file name sent is: AdobeLobs_20260924_103322_520-win-GS.zip

    I was logged into the PC with the local administrator account for this to be able to run, but logged into Adobe Creative Cloud with my work e-mail after the freeze occurred.

    Version of Photoshop that I launced is 27.10.0 - it does not have Creative Cloud App installed at this time.  But, the freeze occurs with whatever CC App I launch if it hasn’t been signed into.

    Being a School, we do sit behind a Firewall, in this case a Sohpos XG device that obviously does filtering and stuff.  So, it could well be this.  I can if need be add certain domains on a TLS Exclusion list.  I may contact our ISP and co-managers of the Firewall  to see if they have an insight on this as well.  But, please look at the log files you should now have.

    Windows is Windows 11 64Bit, 25H2, OS Build 26200.9457 and is currently fully patched with the last September security updates.  Processor is AMD Ryzen 5 Pro 5650G with 16Gb of RAM.  Photoshop runs fine once you get it going.

    Pete

    Community Manager
    AnkitVermaCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    September 23, 2026

    Hi ​@quirky_goal6dd1,

    Thanks for the detailed writeup, really helps. A freeze hitting every student at logon across four suites is a genuine headache, so let us sort it out.

    Starting with the more important one, the cause. That black screen when the sign-in box appears matches a known black-screen-at-sign-in issue on Windows. Please try this on one machine first:

    1. Close the Creative Cloud desktop app, open File Explorer, go to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Adobe\OOBE and delete opm.db.

    2. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud\ACC\, right-click Creative Cloud.exe > Properties > Compatibility. Tick Reduce colour mode, pick 8-bit (256) colour, Apply, and open the app.

    3. Close it, untick Reduce colour mode, Apply, reopen. If it still goes black, boot into Safe Mode with Networking, sign in once, then restart normally.

    Full steps: https://adobe.ly/47d3041

    See if that clears both freezes before you touch the other machines. And to guide you properly on stopping the app at logon, a few quick things:

    1. Which Windows build, and were the machines set up via imaging or cloning?

    2. Is the freeze only on the first launch per user profile, or does it keep happening?

    3. Any firewall or content filtering between the machines and Adobe at logon?

    4. How were the packages built, and what licensing are they on? You mentioned Device Based Licensing, so confirming that tells us which startup options actually apply here.

    Share these and we will take it forward.

    Thanks,
    ^AV

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