Adobe Digital Editions 4.5 will not open any more

[strix37]

Since some time my ADE 4.5 will not open. It appears on the taskbar, and putting my cursor on it I get a picture of it as it it should look if fully opened, but when clicking on it nothing happens; the program does not come up on the screen. Since several months back I am running Windows 10 and have installed all offered updates, but I don't think that is what is causing the problem, which has only started recently. Or could it perhaps have been caused by a recent Windows 10 update?

[andkarena]

 I got that also as one of the errors I have experienced over about a week.I finally uninstalled averything and renamed the "My digital Editions" foldersearched the registryand deleted everything ADE, searched the hard drive and deleted any other pieces of the programs, then reinstalled on a usb flash drive. That worked. I had a little trouble finding the "mydigital editions" ile again but did find it and was able to convert the ADEs to Kindle and regular acrobat and save them. It is sad when we are forced to use a free ptrogram and then the very rich and successful owncompany refuses to support the program because it is free, though compulsory. That experience has just decreased the chances of my ever paying for the new programs. I still have a working CS6, Acrobat X and XI, and lots of Corel and other products tht are as good as Adobe.

[Naga23624479ghxs]

I struggled with this issue for a while.  Then I spoke to a librarian, who tried ADE on her home computer and found it worked.  I am guessing it doesn't work on my computer because I have a work subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud which somehow must interfere with my copy of ADE.  So I downloaded ADE on to my partner's computer (he doesn't have a subscription to Creative Cloud) and lo and behold! it worked!

This may be why it sometimes works when you run ADE as Administrator!

[Harry24092046v8ta]

I have had this problem for ages, I read the suggestion of downloading to the "D" drive and I went through this process and saw it gave the option to browse where you wanted to download to, I noticed then that previously it was downloading the file to the cloud, so I selected the "C" drive on my pc insteaed, now it is working.

[alexanderd16984059]

Had similar issue, all I could do was find a random old link to edition 4.0 and install that. Seems to work so far, touch wood. Follow these instructions: https://helpx.adobe.com/au/digital-editions/kb/cant-install-digital-editions.html

[Kobo24095505rqdu]

Can anybody believe the internet is full of people having the same problem since 2015?  A quick search for any ADE DRM issue returns 800k+ responses.   I'm sooo tired of trying to get this piece of sh..ware to work.   Not mentionning the broken link to to download he seamingly better V3.0.   Grow up a spine Adobe and fix your products.

[Ayanda24301199ehcp]

You can try uninstalling the software with 10bit uninstaller and make sure to remove any leftovers. Delete the folder in C:\Users\Current User\Documents\My digital editions. Then reinstall into a new directory under a new user profile or the public one- C:\Users\New user\New folder or C:\Users\Public\New folder. I used the public one and the software works again.

[rduarte64]

One solution described in the thread:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/digital-editions-discussions/digital-editions-wont-launch-microsoft-s...

The error is caused by some file corruption, the solution is to uninstall and reinstall to a different directory.
You also have to rename/delete the "My Digital Editions" folder.

[rduarte64]

The error is caused by some file corruption, the solution is to uninstall and reinstall to a different directory.
You also have to rename/delete the "My Digital Editions" folder.

See also:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/digital-editions-discussions/digital-editions-wont-launch-microsoft-s...

[Jacques26227529dfq6]

Had the exact same issue. Just stopped working today. Step 3 "Changing the directory" of the following article fixed the problem for me:
Adobe Digital Editions Not Responding: How to Solve (fixthephoto.com)

Instead of letting the program install in the default "Program Files (x86)" folder, I changed the install location to the "Program Files" folder. Hope this helps other lost souls struggling with this garbage software.

[Lars-Eirik26782278efhy]

I got this issue today with the 4.5.11 version. What solved it for me was this:

1) Uninstall the program.

2) Install it again from https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions/download.html

3) When the installer asks you where to place the program, change it to a different folder than the default. I selected Programfiles (x86). I'm guessing it would work also in the regular Programfiles folder.

That was it. I ran the program and it worked perfectly.

[Just want to read]

Just wondering if this should be still applicable in 2022? Nothing ever
seems to work easily for me. Even now when I am paying KOBO for their KOBO
Plus, some of those books don't download for me.

[Lars-Eirik26782278efhy]

The error occurred for me yesterday, Oct 25th, 2022. I was able to fix the issue by completing the steps mentioned.

[Pam1.riley]

It has struck me that with all the difficulties with ADE, is it really essential?  If you download a book to say your laptop without ADE installed, unless you have another epub reading app on it you will not be able to open and read on the laptop but, then if you connect your reader to the laptop, and copy the file to the reader, I think it might open ok on there.  Also if you want to put it on your phone, would it work if you emailed the unopeneable file from your laptop to your phone with an epub reading app installed, wouldn't that work?  And of course many libraries will download books straight to your reader, with overdrive or borrowbox.

Sorry if I am talking rubbish, but it might be worth a try for those having problems.  For quite a while now I have had no problems 

and if ADE is slow to open or populate with my (many) books, I found switching my laptop off and on again usually works.

Good luck

[Xola26696969f2p6]

Your windows is not the problem, Adobe is fully aware of the problem with both ADE versions and don't wanna fix it. I'm waiting on the publisher to tell me what other ebook reader i can use so i can get rid of ADE 

coz it's trash and a lame excuse for software :litter_in_bin_sign:

[Lars-Eirik26782278efhy]

That's really strange. Why would they not want to fix the bugs?

I solved the problem this way:

1) Uninstall the program.

2) Install it again from https://www.adobe.com/solutions/ebook/digital-editions/download.html

3) When the installer asks you where to place the program, change it to a different folder than the default. I selected Programfiles (x86).

[Giannandrea]

The software is free and evidently they are simply not interested in developing it.

otherwise there would have been no people for so many years

making same complaints  and having same problems.

Unfortunately it is needed to handle DRMed books, although Calibre is an excellent alternative (to eliminate DRM)

I don't quite understand why many people buy books from the Kobo store, when it's much better to buy them from the various online bookstores.

[Konsta27698447b238]

I know this is old and has a correct answer already, but I had this same problem. I'm on my work computer and hence I'm locked to version 4.5 and do not have the admin rights to run it, so I had to find another solution. I didn't need to install the older version to get it to work.

Here's my setup: Windows 10 Enterprice, and ADE4.5.11. I had the problem that ADE was launched outside the screen.

I had probably used it on an external monitor the last time and it was not connected now. However, ADE had stored the last location into "user.config" file, which is stored in the location where ADE is installed in my case the folder was named DigitalEditions.exe. I got the window back on screen by opening the config file in text editor and changing the coordinates in the row having the "MainWindowLocation" by removing the first number on the line and rebooting the software. I hope anyone else having this problem sees this and can avoid the frustrating process I had to go through to find the solution.

This is a clear oversight by the developers, and if any of you see this I would hope that you reconfigure the software so that the MainWindowLocation is not stored to the user.config file.

[Suliman33092016s9af]

For me i thought maybe it was still registering my monitor even though it was disconnected tried all the usual win+arrow key, changing to pc only, changing to duplicate and moving to new desktop. The preview-window shows when i hover over it on the taskbar but clicking it didnt open rebooting laptop / ADE didnt work either. I just right clicked the preview window and chose 'Maximise'. every few months i forget this happens so i just search for it and keep coming to this thread. So hopefully this helps you and will help future me if if forget again. i am running win11 with ade4.5

[maxcatz]

I could never get 4.5 to function on either of my computers, much less have it not open "any more."  ADE 3.0 worked for me for many years, then it was made obsolete.  Haven't been able to borrow a book using Overdrive on-line library since then (3-4 years?).  Even Geek Squad couldn't help me, and I have a contract with them.
😞

[Naga23624479ghxs]

When this happened to me, nothing worked until I got myself a totally new
email address ID and downloaded Digital Editions.
(Downside: I totally forgot to update my e-reader Kobo, which still was
okay until I actually purchased an ebook from Kobo. It can only be opened
from that email address and I can only read that book from my computer!!
Senility is not fun!)

[manuel34785707n019]

I encountered the same problem and I tried a lot. Because the application showed in the task bar, I had the idea was opened, but on another screen. The thing was that I only had my laptop screen, no second screen. I connected my laptop to another screen with HDMI and the application appeared on the second screen. Hope this helps!