After Effects crashing any time it tries to use File Explorer on Windows 11

[kinkersnick127]

Literally any time I try to do anything in After Effects which requires bringing up a file explorer window, it crashes - it just freezes completely and eventually has to be closed using the Task Manager.

I am using AE 2024, but have tried AE 2023 and getting the same issue. I have tried opening in safe mode. Have tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling three times now. Have tried purging the media caches, removing plugins, everything I can think of.

No matter what, it crashes. Means I cannot import anything into a project, and cannot choose a place to render a composition to, so essentially I cannot use AE currently.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to fix this?!

[nishu_kush]

Looks like a permission-related issue. Here's what you can try: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/x-productkb/multi/preferences-folder-read-only-error.html

If it doesn't help, create a new admin user account and see if After Effects works fine in it. It'll help us to narrow down the issue.

Let us know the outcome.

Note: Moving this thread from Bugs to Discussions for troubleshooting.

Thanks,

Nishu

[kinkersnick127]

Hey, thanks for the response.
So I tried the permissions thing on that help page, but there was nothing set to 'deny', so I didn't need to change anything.

However, I did try creating a new admin user account, and the running AE and it works...
What else could I try to get it working on my normal user account?

[Peru Bob]

Try setting to Deny and then change it back to Allow.

[kinkersnick127]

I just tried that, still didn't work.

So I uninstalled all the Adobe CC apps, uninstalled Adobe CC desktop app, ran the Adobe CC Cleaner Tool, deleted all the folders listed in that help article above, then restarted the computer and tried installing from scratch. Same problem!
I'm pulling my hair out here, basically can't use After Effects at the moment.

[nishu_kush]

Is it a personal computer or a work computer? If your existing user account is not an admin account, change that to an admin account and try to run After Effects. Here's how.

If that does help, here's a trick that works in some cases. Sign in to the newly created user account and change the permissions of your existing user account for all the folders mentioned in the article.

Let us know the results.

Thanks,

Nishu

[kinkersnick127]

Hey, my user account was already an admin, but I tried what you suggested - went into another admin account and tried setting all the permissions correctly on those folders on the original account. Still crashing immediately.