Animate crashes on startup on Win

[leonardo_5016]

Hi, I’ve been trying for years to install and run the latest versions of Adobe Animate, but the last version that actually opens for me is Animate 2020. Any newer version crashes right at startup: it initializes fonts, then gets stuck on “Loading document templates…” before showing Sorry, an error occurred and closing. What’s strange is that every other Adobe app works perfectly on my system, including Premiere Pro and After Effects. I’ve already tried many different fixes but nothing has worked so far. I uploaded the crashreport.

[kglad]

you probably have corrupted preferences.

have you tried installing a whole number new version and not using older preferrences?

[leonardo_5016]

I did that not working

[kglad]

what exact steps did you use to do that?

[leonardo_5016]

I did this, but I did many different thinks, as openin it as admin, even tried to create a new user on my win10 not working, I tried in safe mode not working ... I tried really many things , reistalled the whole thing 
This is how I did
   remove Win:  C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Adobe\Animate CC <version>\ and

                                  C\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Animate\<version>\

I it possible to take a look on my crashreport?

[kglad]

i don't know who would check it with animate on its last legs.

[leonardo_5016 · Accepted solution]

Great news — after 4 years, the latest Adobe Animate finally works on my PC. The crash was happening right after “Initializing fonts,” at “Loading document templates,” and it turned out to be tied to the ZXPSignLib-minimal.dll module.

What worked:

• Copied ZXPSignLib-minimal.dll from a stable Animate 2020 install into the 2024 install folder : C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Animate <version>\ZXPSignLib-minimal.dll, then relaunched — success. It might also work the other way around: if a newer version runs but an older one crashes, try copying ZXPSignLib-minimal.dll from the working new install into the older install’s folder.

• This Reddit thread pointed in the right direction: https://www.reddit.com/r/Adobe/comments/12h6a9q/adobe_animate_and_zxpsignlibminimaldll/

Sharing in case it helps others stuck on the splash screen crash at “Loading document templates” caused by ZXPSignLib-minimal.dll because I know that is a common issue.

[kglad]

thanks for the share.

[GGRG_42]

I had to do a simiar fix for multiple versions of InDesign  - copying a previous version of "plugplugowl.dll" through 2 generations of InDesign (and re-copying after every minor update) until it finally got fixed.

Can someone post their working version of "ZXPSignLib-minimal.dll"? I have the same issue. I've never been able to run Animate on this machine... I'd love to try it out! 

[kglad]

@GGRG_42 

https://www.kglad.com/Files/forums/ZXPSignLib-minimal.dll

[GGRG_42]

Thanks kglad! Unfortunately no change - still crashes at the "loading templates" screen.

What version of Animate was your .dll file from? Maybe I need to go back to an old version from 2020 as Leonardo mentions? Anyone have an old install still kicking around? The farthest back Creative Cloud lets you go is 2023 and I already tried that.

[kglad]

that should have been the latest, but i'm afk so i can't check right now.

[kglad]

it's