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Dacico
Participating Frequently
November 6, 2025
Answered

Illustrator freezes and won’t open after updating macOS to Tahoe 26.1

  • November 6, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 1133 views

Hi, I’ve just updated my Mac operating system (MacBook Pro M3 Pro) to macOS Tahoe 26.1, and right after doing so, I noticed that I can’t launch Adobe Illustrator. When I try to open the app, it slows down, freezes, and becomes completely unresponsive (I have to force quit it every time).

 

I’ve read online that this issue might be caused by a conflict with Wacom tablet drivers, so I completely removed them (including all files located in the user library). I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling Illustrator, but nothing changed and the problem persists. Interestingly, this issue only occurs with Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign seem to work correctly.

 

I really need help with this. I have a project deadline and need to get Illustrator running again.

    Correct answer jay fresno

    Have you tried using the Adobe Cleaner tool? It has a BAT file that can sometimes fix problems that a regular uninstall/reinstall won't fix.

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

     

    1 reply

    J
    jay fresnoCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    November 6, 2025

    Have you tried using the Adobe Cleaner tool? It has a BAT file that can sometimes fix problems that a regular uninstall/reinstall won't fix.

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

     

      D
      DacicoAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      November 6, 2025

      Update, Problem Solved

      Just wanted to post a quick update in case anyone else runs into the same issue.

       

      After looking deeper into the crash report, I discovered (with the help of ChatGPT) that Illustrator was freezing because the macOS font management service (fontd) got stuck after the update to macOS Tahoe 26.1.

      Basically, Illustrator couldn’t initialize its text engine because the system’s font process wasn’t responding.

       

      Here’s what I did to fix it:

      1. Opened Terminal and ran the following commands:
        sudo killall fontd
        sudo atsutil databases -remove
        atsutil server -shutdown
        atsutil server -ping

       

      2. Then I restarted the Mac, and Illustrator launched normally again!

       

      So if anyone else is having this same issue after updating macOS, this quick reset of the font cache and the fontd process might solve it.

        K
        KZephyrus
        Participant
        November 14, 2025

        I get a series of errors when trying to run this:

         

        kristenzephyrus@Kristens-Mac-Studio ~ % sudo killall fontd

        Password:

        kristenzephyrus@Kristens-Mac-Studio ~ % sudo atsutil databases -remove

        Removing: /var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000c4000031/C/com.apple.FontRegistry

        2025-11-14 13:42:30.214 atsutil[23481:1989117] Error: Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=4 "“com.apple.FontRegistry” couldn’t be removed." UserInfo={NSUserStringVariant=(

            Remove

        ), NSFilePath=/var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000c4000031/C/com.apple.FontRegistry, NSURL=file:///var/folders/zz/zyxvpxvq6csfxvn_n00000c4000031/C/com.apple.FontRegistry, NSUnderlyingError=0x10136adb0 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=2 "No such file or directory"}}

        Removing: /var/folders/dg/nfr3327n01d5ws99gmdfkz5w0000gn/C/com.apple.FontRegistry

        kristenzephyrus@Kristens-Mac-Studio ~ % atsutil server -shutdown

        ATS is not supported starting macOS 14.

        kristenzephyrus@Kristens-Mac-Studio ~ % atsutil server -ping

        ATS is not supported starting macOS 14.

        kristenzephyrus@Kristens-Mac-Studio ~ % 

         

        None of the commands seem like they're supported. Am I doing something wrong?

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