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yves.barbion
Inspiring
May 18, 2022
Answered

FrameMaker 2020 (16.0.4) does not start

  • May 18, 2022
  • 7 replies
  • 2820 views
FrameMaker 2020 (16.0.4) refused to start AGAIN this morning: no splash screen and no FrameMaker process running in the Task Manager. At first, I thought this was the same bug as in Frame 2015.
 
A couple of weeks ago, I was able to fix the problem by renaming or deleting the Linguistics folder in:
 
C:\Users\Your.Name\AppData\LocalLow\Adobe
 
But now, this little trick does not seem to work. Any ideas, Adobe? 
 
Cheers

 

Yves

 
    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Great_Attractor

    Hi guys,

    Just activated my account to post this, in case anyone else needs it.

    In my case it was FM 2019 (version 15) with the same issue.

    The fix:

    Got to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ and rename the folder SLCache to SLCache_OLD.

    Start FM As Admin for the first time and it should open and ask you for the license or your credentials again.

    After this it should be fine. No longer needed to run as admin.

    For some reason this license/credential cache remains there even after uninstall/reinstall.

    Thanks Adobe!

    Have a good one!

    7 replies

    G
    Great_AttractorCorrect answer
    Participant
    September 16, 2022

    Hi guys,

    Just activated my account to post this, in case anyone else needs it.

    In my case it was FM 2019 (version 15) with the same issue.

    The fix:

    Got to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ and rename the folder SLCache to SLCache_OLD.

    Start FM As Admin for the first time and it should open and ask you for the license or your credentials again.

    After this it should be fine. No longer needed to run as admin.

    For some reason this license/credential cache remains there even after uninstall/reinstall.

    Thanks Adobe!

    Have a good one!

      Wanda Jane
      Wanda Jane
      Inspiring
      June 23, 2022

      Are you using Windows 11? FrameMaker is not compatible with Windows 11, at this time.

      Matt-Tech Comm Tools
      Community Expert
      Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 22, 2022

      My first step when encountering a crash is to rename the 16 folder in your Roaming directory, and then restarting Fm.

      Have you tried that yet?

      -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
      Y
      yves.barbionAuthor
      Inspiring
      June 23, 2022

      Hi Matt

       

      Yes, I have tried that one too. That was also one of the suggestions from Adobe Support, but it didn't help. Also, FrameMaker does not crash; it doesn't even start.

       

      Y
      yves.barbionAuthor
      Inspiring
      June 21, 2022

      Adobe Support tells me that "FrameMaker works fine without an internet or VPN connection". Well, it does work here on my end. So could someone else please to this quick test:

      1. Disconnect from the Internet.
      2. Try to start FrameMaker.
        Thanks
        Yves
      Almtuna
      Almtuna
      Inspiring
      June 21, 2022

      This is what I got when starting FM after disconnecting the Wifi.

       

      Y
      yves.barbionAuthor
      Inspiring
      June 21, 2022

      Thank you for testing this and posting your feedback, Almtuna.

       

       

      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Community Expert
      Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 18, 2022

      Probably time to reach out to the FM folks - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#framemaker for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including FrameMaker.

      Y
      yves.barbionAuthor
      Inspiring
      June 1, 2022

      OK, problem solved (for now at least): FrameMaker (finally) starts when I'm working from home. This is what I did to fix the problem:

      1.  While working from home, uninstall FrameMaker.
        Note: This in itself was not easy, because when I selected Uninstall/Change, I got a message saying that this action failed "because another install process was already running". Weird, because I had just restarted my computer and I hadn't started any installation process myself. When I checked the processes in my Task Manager, however, I could see that some 32-bit Adobe Installers were running. So I had to kill those first, but they kept coming back for some reason. The solution was to keep the Task Manager and the FrameMaker Uninstall window open, kill the Adobe Installer processes in the Task Manager and then quickly click the FrameMaker Uninstall button before the Adobe Installer processes reappeared.
      2.  Download the latest version of FrameMaker.
        Note: When I searched for FrameMaker on the Adobe.com website, I found "the all-new 64-bit Adobe Framemaker (2019 release)... weird, because I thought there was already a 2020 release, no? But anyway, I would already be happy with ANY release, as long as it worked. Wondering now... is FrameMaker 8 (aka "the gold standard") still available? 😉



      3.  I unzipped the file and... I saw a folder named "Adobe FrameMaker 2020", but oh well, what's another year (Johnny Logan's song popping up in my head now).
      4.  I ran the installer and I clicked the "Launch" button when the installation process was completed, anxiously awaiting the splash screen, but... nothing happened!
      5.  I tried again, but this time with the "Run as administrator" option and... hooray, lo and behold, FrameMaker finally started. Thank you for that tip, Jeff Coatsworth.
        Note: I also fixed this issue by right-clicking "Framemaker.exe" in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2020 and selecting Properties > Compatibility (tab) > Run this program as an administrator.

       

      OK, so now I can finally get some work done. And hopefully, I will still be able to start FrameMaker tomorrow, when I'm back in the office, or next week, when I'll be teaching FrameMaker to some customers.

      Fingers crossed.

      Y
      yves.barbionAuthor
      Inspiring
      June 3, 2022

      And so the story continues...

       

      Much to my surprise, FrameMaker started when I was working at my office yesterday. Today, I'm working from home again and... nope, no FrameMaker today again.

       

      I have tried all possible options again (at least the options I know):

      • Sign out from all other Adobe applications
      • Use my 4G network and then try to start FrameMaker (as admin)
      • Turn off wifi and try to start FrameMaker (as admin)
      • Delete the linguistics folder

       

      My other Adobe applications (Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign) all start, but FrameMaker won't. And my other editors (Oxygen XML Editor and Word) even start without an Internet connection, which seems obvious to me, but FrameMaker won't.

       

      Nice!

       

      Kind regards

       

      Yves

       

       

      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Community Expert
      Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 18, 2022

      Pretty weird - you've checked your anti-virus & excluded the FM exe? Tried running FM as an Admin?

      Y
      yves.barbionAuthor
      Inspiring
      May 18, 2022

      Yes, I have checked all that too. Pretty weird, indeed.

      I also teach FrameMaker classes, so now, I never know in advance whether FrameMaker will cooperate that given day or not. 😉

      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Community Expert
      Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 18, 2022

      If it's not even launching at all, I would suspect something in your environment is killing the process. Just to check that it's not that issue with the licensing servers, try disconnecting from the Internet and then launching FM. What happens in that case?

      Y
      yves.barbionAuthor
      Inspiring
      May 18, 2022

      Thank you for your reply, Jeff. Indeed, it's not launching at all: no splash screen, no process to see in the Task Manager. I have already tried wat you suggested: disconnect from the Internet, restart my computer, deleted the Linguistics folder, sign out from the Creative Cloud... nothing helps.

       

      I have the impression that this always happens when I'm working from home.

       

      Cheers

       

      Yves

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