Creative cloud won't launch, repair, install or uninstall

[Craig5C33]

Hi,

Today Creative Cloud suddenly stopped launching. The dialog that shows up says "Adobe Creative Cloud, needed to resolve the problem, is missing or damaged. You can try to repair to fix the issue. If the problem persists, download and install the new copy from http://www.adobe.com/go/adobecreativecloudapp."

I tried following the instructions at https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-missing-damaged.html but they do not work for me.

If I try to uninstall creative cloud using add/remove programs it has an error and says:

C:\Users\craig\AppData\Local\Temp\Creative Cloud Unintaller.exe

Class not registered

When I try to run the cloud cleaner tool from the help page link above it says:

AdobeCreativeCloudCleanerTool.exe
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "<string>", line 275, in <module>
File "C:/builds/CleanerTool/CC18/source\CleanerTool\win\source\out\build\pyi.win32\ACToolMain\outPYZ1.pyz/win32com.client", line 95, in Dispatch
File "C:/builds/CleanerTool/CC18/source\CleanerTool\win\source\out\build\pyi.win32\ACToolMain\outPYZ1.pyz/win32com.client.dynamic", line 104, in _GetGoodDispatchAndUserName
File "C:/builds/CleanerTool/CC18/source\CleanerTool\win\source\out\build\pyi.win32\ACToolMain\outPYZ1.pyz/win32com.client.dynamic", line 84, in _GetGoodDispatch
pywintypes.com_error: (-2147221164, 'Class not registered', None, None)"

I'm not sure how to proceed from here except to reinstall Windows 10 and I don't really want to do that.

[Craig5C33]

Additional information:

Windows 10 Pro Version 10.0.19042 Build 19042

[Jeff A Wright]

Craig, how are you receiving the text from the CC Cleaner Tool?  Can you please post a screenshot of the experience?

[Craig5C33]

Hi Jeff,

I was getting the text by running the cleaner tool in an elevated command prompt. I was using the command prompt because right-clicking the cleaner tool and selecting run as administrator (as per the instructions) simply popped open a black window for less than 1 second and then closed -- too fast to get a screenshot. Because that was happening I copy pasted the text straight from the cmd prompt run as administrator.

Unfortunately there's nothing else to take a screenshot of. If I run the cleaner from Windows explorer it goes away too quickly and running creative cloud setup gives no error at all, it just doesn't seem do anything, so no screenshot available there either

[Craig5C33]

I've ended up restoring Windows 10 from an image because I had work to do. I'd still like to know what caused this in case it happens again in future, but understand that that might be difficult now that I've re-installed Win10 (which was my last resort option).

Just one other piece of information might be applicable. The only thing that changed on my computer just before Adobe Creative Cloud stopped working was that "Featsure update to Windows 10, version 20H2" was installed. I don't know if that's related but I checked event logs etc just before reinstalling and that's the only change. Before the Windows update CC was working fine... maybe a coincendence, I don't know

[Jeff A Wright]

Craig, thanks for the additional information. Unfortunately, I have never seen the behavior you discussed when running the CC Cleaner tool.

If you find that the Creative Cloud desktop app becomes damaged again, I recommend reviewing any installed security or computer recovery software.  Anything that has the ability to remove or change files on the computer could be a suspect.  Please do bookmark https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-missing-damaged.html in case you reencounter the error.

[tezargh]

same here half the studio cant work thanks adobe.

[Jeff A Wright]

Tezargh, please work with your Creative Cloud for Team administrator if you encounter problems. The solutions discussed in the Download and Install forum are typically applicable to people who have unrestricted access to their computers and network.  If an organization manages the computer and/or network, then the solutions are not applicable.