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wallmg35
Participating Frequently
September 22, 2025
Question

CS5 apps, including InDesign, have stopped responding

  • September 22, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 233 views

Hi. The other day, all my CS5 apps were working fine. I had a project open in InDesign that was missing some fonts, so I installed the fonts and tried to restart InDesign to make the fonts register, and the app would no longer open. When I click on the app icons, I get a quick spinning wheel, then nothing happens. Task manager shows no trace of the app being open. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software, and at first, just attempting to uninstall gave me a Runtime Error. Today, I was able to reinstall the software, but the apps are still not responding. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

1 reply

BobLevine
Community Expert
BobLevineCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 22, 2025

I will point out the obvious...CS5 is 15 year old software. You've given us nothing in the way of system specifications but I'm going to guess you're running this software on an unsupported newer operating system

 

As for installing/uninstalling you're likely to run into an activation issue at some point here. Unfortunately, I can't offer you a whole lot of hope since you say nothing in the suite is working. That indicates some kind of very serious issue. Your time with this software may well be up.

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wallmg35Author
Participating Frequently
September 22, 2025

Hi. I understand it's old. I'm running it on Windows 11, and it has been working fine up until Friday, when I simply installed some fonts and tried reopening InDesign. I tried opening Photoshop and Illustrator as well, and they won't open. These same apps open fine on my laptop, also running Windows 11. There have been no Windows updates Friday that could have caused this, but I'm wondering if reinstalling Windows might help? Or if something simpler like deleting preferences might work. Just not sure how to do that without being able to open the apps.

BobLevine
Community Expert
BobLevineCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 22, 2025

Have you tried running the apps in compatibility mode? Navigate to the EXE file and right click. Choose properties and compatibility.

 

 

You could also try running it as an adminstrator.

 

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