Participant

Answered

InDesign CC Start-up Error: "...lack sufficient permissions to access the preferences folders"

Forum|Forum|12 years ago
October 13, 2013
22 replies
51786 views

InDesign CC

Having successfully installed many CC apps on my Mac Pro Desktop, I proceeded to do the same on my laptop. However, after two attempts at uninstalling and re-downloading both InDesign CC and the Creative Cloud Desktop. When starting up InDesign, I repeatedly get this error message: "Error: Unable to launch Adobe InDesign as you lack sufficient permissions to access the preferences folders. Ensure that you have appropriate permissions and then restart Adobe InDesign." and can go no further.

I can find no instruction on how to do this, or reference to anyone else getting this error.

MacBook Pro

17-inch, Late 2011

Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory 8 GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6770M 1024 MB

Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5

Correct answer creatorii

I've seen this stock suggestion posted on many discussions. I've solved the problem with LiveChat with Adobe Support:

Mohammed: As I understand you are not able to launch CC apps since it is giving error "Unable to launch Adobe InDesign as you lack sufficient permissions to access the preferences folders". Is that correct?

Paul: Yes

Mohammed: Please open a Finder window. Choose Go > Go To Folder. Type ~/library and you will get Preferences folder.

Paul: In Library now

Mohammed: Are you able to find preferences folder?

Paul: yes

Mohammed: Control-click the folder and choose Get Info.

Mohammed: Expand the Sharing & Permissions section.

Mohammed: Click the lock icon in the lower-right corner. Enter your administrator user name and password when prompted, and then click OK.

Paul: done

Mohammed: Please click on + icon and add the Admin and all users showing.

Paul: done

Mohammed: Set permission for all users and admin as read/write

Mohammed: Click the Gear icon, and select Apply to Enclosed Item

Paul: to each of the individual users and groups?

Paul: one at a time?

Paul: I've done it.

Mohammed: Please open a Finder window. Choose Go > Go To Folder. Type ~/library/Application support and give full permission to Adobe folder.

Paul: That's completed... I've added all the users and groups, given each 'Read and Write" and extended the permissions to all enclosed items.

Mohammed: Now please open a Finder window. Choose Go > Go To Folder. Type /library/Application support and give full permission to Adobe folder.

Paul: OK, I understand... I am proceeding with your instruction.

Mohammed: Thank you.

Paul: I'm finished.

Mohammed: Please close all Adobe Applications and then launch InDesign CC and let me know the result.

Paul: OK... looking good so far Mohammed... fingers crossed!

Paul: Thanks Mohammed... it's launched!

Mohammed: Excellent, I am so happy to hear this from you.

Mohammed: I certainly appreciate your patience in this process.

Paul: And I yours.

noah 43

Participating Frequently

Thanks for sharing this detailed fix. Permission issues in macOS often come down to Library/Application Support access, so resetting Read/Write permissions like this is really helpful. Glad it worked!

P

paKOBRA

Participant

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/preferences-folder-read-only-issue.html

The above link sorted me out - windows based. The trick is to create the folders even if they don't exist. Or if you unwittingly deleted them by following other's advice. I replaced the lowest folder first and it worked immediately after that. For language I just used "english" and it worked.

I hope you find this out sooner than I did. Spent a good afternoon uninstalling and reinstalling Indesign.

Warren Heaton

Community Expert

Thank you for having shared this! The error came up after changing Creative Cloud accounts and the "Answered" instructions changed what could have been a very long delay into a 15 minutes delay.

-Warren

bethanyp60707146

Participant

It was only the Apple Support fixes that worked for me. Found the rest time consuming and useless. Glad they worked for some, though. I find it appalling that Adobe hasn't fixed this bug yet, though.

Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder - Apple Support

toddk_nexon

Participant

Came here looking for a solution and conclusion did not work for me. After more investigation it seems my computer was not applying the correct preferences to enclosing folders. When I applied the changes and viewed the enclosed folder it didn't have the correct permissions. I then tried this: Resolve issues caused by changing the permissions of items in your home folder - Apple Support and it seems to have resolved my issues. YMMV

G

gary_london

Participant

Nothing above worked for me until I tried the Apple Support thing mentioned here by toddk_nexon. Now it works. Thanks a million!!!

(iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch 2017, 3.4GHz Intel Core i5, 16GB 2400MHz DDR4, OS 10.13.2 High Sierra)

C

colinl61324947

Participant

Helped a lot thank you!

K

k8slotover

Participating Frequently

Thanks so much for posting that. I followed the instructions and it worked

L

lizs91478452

Participant

Thank you!!!!

djulius92

Participant

Try holding CTRL + SHIFT + ALT while simultaneously opening the program. This will reset all of your permissions and put everything back to default. Note: It may erase all previous preferences and settings.

P

paulocarneirodg

Participant

Problem solved, thank you a lot = )

K

kaylynnk

Participant

This is kind of ridiculous Adobe, users should not have to go through all of that just to have an app work. Please fix asap. Thanks Creatorii for the post!

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