After Effects 2020 stuck at "Initializing Mediacore" at launch, macOS

[Just Lemons]

Hi,

I was opening After Effects CC2020 for the first time, and it won't open because it hangs/gets stuck on 'Initializing Mediacore." I've uninstalled and reinstalled, as well as restarted multiple times. I have a Macbook Pro, and any help is appreciated. 🙂

Title edited by Mod.

[Vishu_Aggarwal]

Try resetting the preferences of After Effects CC 2019 as follow - 

1. Press Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) while the application is starting > 
2. A dialog box launches asking you if you want to delete your preferences file. Click OK.

[Just Lemons]

Thanks for the response,

I did it, and it continued to hang. Media Encoder works fine - It does take a while to open but after that its smooth.

[nealbridgens]

I'm having the same thing. All I get is the splash screen up to "Initializing MediaCore"... then it hangs for a couple minutes. And then just dissapears. No error message, no program running... just goes away.

I maunually removed all AF prefrences and have only two Apple Quicktime plugins (AppleIntermediateCodec.component & AppleMPEG2Codec.component). 

All very mysterious.

[HMPHYHMPHY]

Did you solve your problem? im having the exact same issue right now tried everything i can do been searching a solution all day yesterday please let me know how you solved

[bwaz]

i renamed my (media core plug-ins) and it ran normally. I had AE 2020 and 2019 also installed, after doing this to the same folder in each ap, it ran fine. Don't yet know what is offending the running...one file or multiple in there

[nishu_kush]

Hi all,

Thanks for reaching out. Third-party plug-ins, which are installed in the MediaCore folder can cause After Effects to stuck at "Initializing Mediacore" during launch. As suggested by @bwaz, try renaming or removing the plug-ins from the MediaCore folder and see if it brings any change. Location of the folder:

macOS - HD > Library > Application Support > Adobe > Common > Plugins > 7.0 > Media Core

Windows - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\7.0\MediaCore

Let us know if it helps.

Thanks,

Nishu

[bwaz]

I found that its the Common folder that is causing the problem. Adobe After Effects 2020/Support Files/(Media Core plug-ins)/Common   If I rename that, AE launches. I tried moving bunches of files out of that folder to try and isolate the problem file, but was unable to pin point it. Only by renaming the Common folder would it launch. Is there an issue in that folder or location of items of that folder?   

[nealbridgens]

Can you clarify that path, please? I do not have a folder "support files" in my After Effects (applications) folder. Is that in a library somewhere?

[https://yahoo.mydashboard.oath]

So im deleting my info and interest in the apps im just not smart enough
with computer sorry i bothered yoy

[Criizon5E39]

Thank you so much, it worked for me!

[nealbridgens]

I renamed and also removed that. Dosn't seem to make any difference. I still hang on loading Media Core, and then get "quit unexpectadly" a couple minutes later.

Note: I have no plug ins associated with after effects at all. I don't think I've even used the program in about 6 years. Really is my first attempt to launch 2020 version.

[nishu_kush]

Hi @nealbridgens,

Are you on macOS or Windows? Do you see any crash report? If not, here's how you can find it: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/faq-how-to-find-after-effects-crash-logs-on-your-comput...

Please share it for further investigation.

Thanks,

Nishu

[Patrick6000]

Hello, I encounter the same problem, the "initializing Mediacore" stage is very long. AE finally opens after a while but it sounds weird. I work on a iMac (Os 10.14.6) I tried to delete Mediacore folder, but the problem remains the same. Have you heard about another solution ? thanks

Martin.

[nishu_kush]

Hi Patrick,

That's not ideal. Have you tried resetting the preferences of After Effects?

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Nanwei5C3C]

This works for me on Bigsur v11.6. Thanks for saving my a**!

[Ali22831651iov9]

Спасибо тебе добрый человек!!! Перепробовала всевозможные варианты из интернета и только твой совет помог! Спасибо большое!!!

[Caio Breno]

Thank you, man. I tried everything and nothing, but I read your suggest and change name C:\Program Files\Adobe\Common\Plug-ins\7.0\MediaCore and did just fine.

[dominics65875959]

I'm experiencing the same problem, and have tried unsuccessfuly the various fixes suggested on this page

Windows i9 processor; 128G RAM; separate SSD drive for cache

After Effects + Premiere taking over 5 minutes to load

Premiere 2020 controls also so unresponsive, it's literally unusable 

Had several trouble shooting sessions with an Adobe expert online.

As a last resort he suggested reinstalling Windows.

My case file was closed prematurely, before discovering that reinstalling Windows didn't solve the problem.

He hasn't replied to my email about this.

Apart from all that, really happy with Adobe right now...

[JBCM Media Production]

Any updates? The only way I can get After Effects to run it to rename the MediaCore folder

[bwaz]

No, which is amazingly frustrating! Adobe did an update to my Premiere, and when I opened it to finish a taks, it re-loaded the ExportAVI.PRM file and I had to search around to find it, and remove it. ADOBE???

[JBCM Media Production]

Rediculous that we have to go through all this troubleshooting just to use software we're paying for which is supposed to be professional grade software.

I have to rename the Medicore folder back to its original name when running Premeire Pro or my plugins won't work.

I waste so much time trying to troubleshoot. I'm considering changing platforms, but I've spent so much money and time on this software and associated training.

[Criizon5E39]

So it helped me just renaming to 'Common' Folder in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects 2020\Support Files\(Media Core plug-ins)

I renamed it to Common1 and AE opened without hesitation!

[Razor2k9]

I feel the same way.

[dominics65875959]

Update: Solved this myself by working out the 5minute load time was due to a conflict with my anti-virus software. I'm using Sophos Endpoint and have to manually override this everytime I open an Adobe programme. Specifically 'peripheral control' seems to be the culprit.