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R
Raz Naz
Inspiring
February 24, 2026
Answered

Illustrator 2026 in Windows 11 does not quit, freezes / hangs (Not Responding)

  • February 24, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 10 views

Fresh Windows 11 Pro 25H2 installation (26200.7840), fresh Adobe CC installation, fresh everything. Illustrator (30.2.1.1) hangs whenever I try to quit the application. Can only force quit / kill the process. This also happens when I click the (NEW) Templates link on the Illustrator Home Screen. The home screen area hangs and becomes unresponsive. You can still use the application’s main pulldown menus and even create a new document and do things but the homescreen layer remains hung.

Things usually seem to be less responsive with interactions that try to reach some server in that bloody bloated inline browser, for all the bloatware the new UI is drowning in. I don’t even use them, I noticed when I was trying to troubleshoot. I would completely remove those slapped on features if I could but there doesn’t seem to be an option to debloat it.

The core application does function and do all the rest it is supposed to do. All the generative bloatware, those panels that request a connection to the internet the moment you get near them, make it unresponsive. It stutters, hangs and eventually it just does not quit unless you force it / kill the process.

I’m guessing it’s trying to save something to the cloud and can’t and gets stuck. This did not happen in the previous versions. It was bad, but not this bad. I resisted updating with the latest 2026 worrying about this possibility and now what I worried about has come true. Has anyone else suffered from something similar recently?


Yes, I’ve got oodles of RAM. Yes, I’ve reset the prefs. Yes, I’ve started in troubleshoot mode. Yes, I’ve restarted the computer. Yes, I’ve updated and reinstalled the graphics card drivers. Yes, I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled Illustrator… etc…. etc… This is a fresh OS and a fresh CC installation I remind you. Great work as usual Adobe.


Anyone suffering the same? Any ideas? Help?

    Correct answer Raz Naz

    Ok I think I found out what the issue was: I always always use a VPN and block most of the trackers at the domain level. Never been a problem before even when Adobe programs got a bit grumpy at times. They all worked in the end as most bloatware was stuck behind the filters and the core licensing always worked. With these latest updates their “traffic” seems to have become more sensitive to VPN filters. I played around to see which broke the app and the moment I turned off ‘block trackers’ everything was “fine”. Hope this helps live another day to fight.

    1 reply

    R
    Raz NazAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    February 24, 2026

    Ok I think I found out what the issue was: I always always use a VPN and block most of the trackers at the domain level. Never been a problem before even when Adobe programs got a bit grumpy at times. They all worked in the end as most bloatware was stuck behind the filters and the core licensing always worked. With these latest updates their “traffic” seems to have become more sensitive to VPN filters. I played around to see which broke the app and the moment I turned off ‘block trackers’ everything was “fine”. Hope this helps live another day to fight.

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