Permissions problems with AE 16.1.1 and Windows 10

[StephenInWA]

In trying to start AE, "After Effects can’t continue: Standard 3D module is missing." appears after "Cleaning Up" disappears from the splash screen.  After clicking Ok on the error, the splash screen goes away and I get this dialog box: "After Effects can't continue: unexpected failure during application startup”.

This happens when merely trying to open the program without trying to open an existing project. Also, no crash log is generated.

The problem appears to be permissions.  If I sign into Windows 10 on an Administrator account, AE opens and works.  If I sign into Windows 10 on my user account, I get the error every single time... even if I try to run AE as an administrator while under my user account.  I've Googled permissions issues with Adobe products and Windows, but so far none of the "fixes" have worked for me.

Are there any permissions experts that can help?

[Peru Bob]

Have you tried creating a new user account with administer privileges?

[StephenInWA]

Yes... and using that local Administrator account works.  However, I do all my work under my Microsoft account (which is also an Administrator account... I hadn't realized that before) and it does not work.

[StephenInWA]

Help please.

[Peru Bob]

You may need to reinstall Windows.

[StephenInWA]

That seems like an extreme step to take.  Is there any evidence that a total reinstall would fix it?

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

Have you tried re-installing After Effects? If you installed it from the User account instead of the Admin, that would be your best bet at getting it to work. If it is a permissions issues, you can reset the permissions folders and apply those preferences to the enclosed items. I'm guessing it's either the After Effects Program Files folder or the AppData Adobe folder.

[StephenInWA]

Prior to the OP, the first thing I did was trash my preferences.  Once that didn't work, I re-installed AE.

Currently, I'm reading up on fixing permissions.  However, I did notice what could be a discrepancy between my user account (my Microsoft account, an Administrator account... the account that I use to install anything on my laptop) and my test account (a local Administrator account... where AE2019 works).

The thing is I don't know if this is something that should be fixed, and if so, how to fix it.

Here's my AE program folder...

So far I haven't made any changes to these screens since I am not fully comprehending how or if to make changes.

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

Here's what my permissions look like this for Users and System:

I'd try giving full control to the account you're using just to see if that fixes it. If not, you can switch it back. Make sure when you change permissions you apply those changes to the child folders.

[StephenInWA]

Thanks, but I've tried that before.  I'm starting to wonder if it is some weird bug with Windows 10's Controlled Folder Access (which I have tried turning off, but still won't work).

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

Hmm, could be some corrupted user settings somewhere. Have you tried creating a new user account?

[StephenInWA]

Yes, every account I've set up works, whether it's an admin account or not.  My Microsoft user account is the only one that won't.  It won't even work in Safe Mode.

I'm hoping someone will come along that understands how to work with the Advanced Security Settings screenshots that I posted... since there is a discrepancy... it says Inherited from "Parent Object" in the first one, but not in the second.  And in the third, there's 2 entries each for Administrators and Users... maybe those are causing a conflict.

I'm having a hard time finding documentation that explains how to work with these settings that are easy to follow for someone who never works with these settings.

[StephenInWA]

Or could it have something to do with where my Adobe Documents folder is saved? My Microsoft user account is the only account on my laptop that saves that folder to OneDrive (whose files also are located on my laptop).

[Peru Bob]

OneDive has been known to cause issues with Adobe applications.

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

Oh yea, try using folders that aren't in OneDrive, lots of issues can happen with that.

[StephenInWA]

I'm not finding info on how to force the Adobe folder to be saved where I choose.

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

I don't think there is a way, pretty sure Adobe has to go to your Documents/Adobe folder. How did you set it up to go to OneDrive/Documents instead of Documents in the first place? Does OneDrive Documents somehow override your system Documents folder? If so, see if there's a OneDrive setting to disable that.

[StephenInWA]

I have no idea how OneDrive was set up to do that since my laptop is probably about 4 years old at this point.  However, there is no setting in OneDrive that will force move that Adobe folder to a different location.

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

I haven't used OneDrive in years, but it would not be an Adobe-specific setting, it would be some sort of user folders/documents setting that is somehow moving your system user folders into the OneDrive folder. I've heard of people solving this issue with symlinks (pointing to the actual User/[username]/Documents folder), but that's just a workaround. A better solution would be to just backup your folders, instead of having them live in the OneDrive folder which tends to have issues like this

[StephenInWA]

Well, it's a bug that Adobe needs to fix.  Everything else works with OneDrive except AE 16.1.1

I even did a repair install of Windows 10 today, but that didn't work.

[StephenInWA · Accepted solution]

It turns out my Microsoft user profile must have been corrupt.  I never knew that was a thing that could happen.  So, to fix it, I signed in on the Administrator account, deleted my Microsoft account only on the laptop, created it again under a new account, and made it an administrator account.

Everything is running as it should so far.

[Justin T - Hyper Brew]

Glad you got it working!

[Peru Bob]

StephenInWA  wrote

That seems like an extreme step to take.

This is why I suggested it:

I've Googled permissions issues with Adobe products and Windows, but so far none of the "fixes" have worked for me.

StephenInWA  wrote

Is there any evidence that a total reinstall would fix it?

No.  I could not think of any other solution if you tried all of the suggestions on Google.