InDesign Freezes, Black Screens, and Forces Windows 11 Restart

Forum|Forum|1 day ago
May 20, 2026
4 replies
23 views

First of all: All apps and Windows 11 are updated. I checked RAM, Graphic Card and much more.
My problem: When I start working with InDesign it can work smoothly but suddenly InDesign doesn’t react anymore. I can’t close it. When I try to end the task with the Taskmanager it won’t close either. After maybe 5 - 10 seconds I get a “Blackscreen” and Windows shut down the PC and makes a restart.
I don’t use InDesign Plugins. I’ve already tried to uncheck the GPU-Box. I uninstalled and reinstalled InDesign already.

Has somebody the same problem or even better - the solution?

PS: I never ever get a Blackscreen when I don’t use InDesign.

Kind Regards, Oliver

Bill Silbert

Community Expert

In response to an earlier suggestion to clean preferences and start up in safe mode you responded that you’d tried that already. It wasn’t clear to me whether you meant the safe mode or resetting preferences. Just in case you only meant safe mode I would suggest totally resetting your preferences. This will restore the program to its defaults. Hopefully, this will help.

To reset preferences on Windows:

You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching InDesign and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

To do so:

The Windows preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\<Version #>\<Language>. Make sure that InDesign is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

Amberg ArtAuthor

Inspiring

Hi Abhishek
It happens with every document. It happens mostly when I copy/paste a graphic from Illustrator to InDesign. The system never crashes. I can work three day in a row with heavy usage of Reaper with huge sessions, many browsertabs open and YouTube running at the same time. Nothing happens. Everything is up and running until I start using InDesign. I already used the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool without success. Now I installed an older version of InDesign and look what happens.
Thank you for help.
Kind Regards, Oliver

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Amberg Art,

Thanks for sharing the additional details. Since you mentioned the issue mostly happens while copying and pasting graphics from Illustrator into InDesign, could you please try placing the Illustrator files using File > Place instead of copy/paste and check if the same freezing and black screen behavior occurs?

Also, please try reinstalling and updating your GPU drivers directly from the GPU manufacturer’s website (Intel / NVIDIA / AMD), even if Windows reports them as updated. Additionally, please disable Hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling from Windows Settings > System > Display > Graphics > Advanced Graphics Settings and test again afterward.

Could you also confirm whether GPU Performance is enabled in InDesign Preferences? If yes, please disable it and test again.

If possible, please share your GPU model and current driver version. You can do this by:
Press Windows + R > type dxdiag > press Enter > click “Save All Information” > share the generated .txt file.

Please also let me know how the older InDesign version behaves.

Thanks,
Abhishek

Abhishek Rao

Community Manager

Hi @Amberg Art,

I’m sorry to hear you’re experiencing this issue. Adding to the suggestions shared by the expert, could you please confirm whether this happens only with a particular document or even when working with a brand-new blank InDesign document as well? Also, does this happen only with InDesign, or do you notice similar behavior with other Creative Cloud apps like Illustrator or Photoshop? Additionally, please let me know if the system crashes or black screens with any non-Adobe applications too.

Could you also try completely removing InDesign using the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool and then reinstalling it again through the Creative Cloud Desktop app?

Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool:
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

Reinstall InDesign via Creative Cloud Desktop:
https://adobe.ly/43fQrCS

Please let me know how it goes after testing.

Looking forward to hearing back.
Abhishek

M

Manan Joshi

Community Expert

Did you cleanup the InDesign preferences? You could also try and boot the computer in safe mode and see if that helps.

-Manan