ADE stuck at authorization

Report · Dec 30, 2020

I'm running MacOS Catalina with ADE4.5 and ADE is unable to authorize. I enter the details for my adobe ID and hit the authorize button, and then it sits on the "authorizing your computer" screen indefinitely. It never progresses- I have literally left it sitting for hours to test and nothing ever happens. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling ADE, I have tried deliberately using the wrong password to see if I could at least get an error code, but nothing. It just goes to "authorizing your computer" and sits there until I force-quit the app. After much googling I did find the following that suggested I remove the activation.dat file

https://helpx.adobe.com/digital-editions/kb/activation-errors-adobe-digital-editions.html

However, after investigating it appears that ADE doesn't even appear to be in the relevant folder- all the other adobe stuff is there but not ADE. I'm at my wits end, all the trouble-shooting advice presumes that you're at least getting some kind of response to the credentials you're using but I'm not even getting that far. It's just stuck.

Report · Jun 19, 2023

Same here and I'm having this problem, too and the year is 2023.

Upon days and days of attempting to fix this according to Adobe support pages (same way you described), I still cannot initiate complete authorization. It's just stuck.

I reached out to Adobe via chat and got the run around, with one person telling me they no longer offer support for ADE. (Really? I think my library and ereader device mfr would like to hear about that.) Then I got transferred to tech. For a different product. One person said I should buy Acrobat Pro 7 or something. (I dont think so, buddy.)

I don't know what the big secret is at Adobe. You would think they have a vested interest in selling their DRM conversion app to libraries, schools, etc.

I ended up downloading 4.0 to an older laptop that I had sitting around. Older ADE version, older OS, go figure, but yeah, search for days on end for answers that don't exist.

What I can say, is that updating my OS and browers doesnt work. I have absolutely no reason to believe that anything I can do will fix it, as I believe it is something in the actual code that is looping. Since I have no way to fix that, I am out of luck on borrowing books from my library or using my old laptop. So much for "seamless" downloading.

Beyond frustrating. Beyond disappointing. Beyond reasonable to assume users have to "find" an answer in a Q&A forum for a highly technical solution. Next stop, the library to let them know ADE isn't doing what theyve promised for their clients. Same with my ereader. Gonna have to buy a kindle I guess.

Report · Jun 20, 2023

Thanks very much for the response. Glad I'm not the only one. I'll try a
few more tricks and report back if anything pans out.