CS6 breaks CS5.5 (Mac)

Report · May 11, 2012

Hello,

I recently downloaded InDesign CS6 through my Adobe Membership (I have a CS5.5 Suite subscription).

InDesign CS6 downloaded, installed and launched fine BUT now the CS5.5 programs (InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop) won't run at all. They launch, all of the toolbars etc come up and then the program closes immediatly. No error message.

Can anything be done about this? I still want to use the 5.5 programs during the transition phase while my collegues upgrade to CS6 and not have to downsave all the time.

Has anyone come across this as well? I am running Snow Leopard.

Please help!

Thank you.

Report · May 11, 2012

Can you please confirm that the CS6 products are activated? This can happen if the CS6 products are not yet activated on the desktop.

To determine if the CS6 applications are activated, launch a product and look in the Help menu. If the product is activated you'll see and be able to select the "Deactivate" menu item.

If the CS6 products are already activated then this may be some other problem. I'll then pull in the appropriate engineering team to take a look.

Report · May 11, 2012

I'm having the same problem and my CS6 products are indeed activated. The CS6 apps works fine, but the CS5.5 apps crash after launch.

Report · May 12, 2012

Here is how I solved this.

Had the same issue -- CS5.5 subscription, upgraded to a CreativeCloud subscription -- and the 5.5 apps wouldn't launch after CS6 install. Came to the forums and noticed this topic yesterday afternoon.

I restarted my Mac, went to "Utilities" and Repaired Disk Permissions in "Disk Utility." Didn't notice anything Adobe specific. I rebooted the computer.

After restart, both the CS6 and CS5.5 apps launched. Don't know if it was the permissions repair that did it, or something on Adobe's end, but I thought I'd share. Hope it helps.

Report · May 12, 2012

Just checking in with matthewdfarrar to see if the 5.5 launch problems have resolved, and if not whether he has yet tried the resolutions mentioned here (reboot, repair disk permissions, reboot, then relaunch). If there are still problems, please let us know with a post; I am one of several engineers who can provide more direct assistance.

Report · May 12, 2012

Yes I can confirm that all of the CS6 apps are activated.

I currently have InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator CS6 installed. The problem extends to all of the CS5.5 apps I have installed (also InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop).

As an update on what I said yesterday:

- I restarted my computer then tried to launch InDesign CS5.5, same problem happened (the app launches, shows toolbars and then closes, no error message).

BUT

- When I launched InDesign CS5.5 while InDesign CS6 was running, the CS5.5 version opened and worked perfectly.

I then tested to see if InDesign CS5.5 would run if InDesign CS6 was closed. I then closed both apps and launched the CS5.5 version and hey presto it worked fine.

So, it seems that the CS5.5 versions only work if the CS6 versions were launched first. What a weird glitch. It must have something to do with shared files that the two apps use I assume?

Something for the engineers to think about?

In any event, my colleagues are nearly all migrated to CS6 (already!) so this will not be much of a problem shortly. Furthermore, the fact that I can downsave to CS4 from CS6 natively means that sharing files across different versions will not really be an issue.

I am currently holding InDesign CS3 to CS6 because of the issue with legacy versions and people like printers who refuse to update their software (I worked with one who was still on CS2 the other day! What a nightmare that was).

As an aside, with the launch of Creative Cloud there is no excuse not to have the latest version anymore. I must applaud Adobe for launching such a fantastic and resonably priced service. No longer do I have to shell out thousands of dollars upfront for this essential software but can instead pay a monthly subscription fee which is very kind to my pocket. I am going to go out on a limb here and suggest that this will put a stop to a lot of piracy as well and hopefully spur a lot of people to finally get the latest versions so that we can all work on one and not have to downsave the whole time.

Bravo Adobe!

Report · May 12, 2012

this is something new and wierd issue..

I have not seen any such issue apart from yours but will definitely see what can be done in this.

As mentioned ove here, you may try repairing the disk permissions and et us know whether it was resolved or not..

will update you if in case i see more issues like this .

Report · May 12, 2012

BuddyBoy2001 wrote:
Yes I can confirm that all of the CS6 apps are activated.
I currently have InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator CS6 installed. The problem extends to all of the CS5.5 apps I have installed (also InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop).
As an update on what I said yesterday:
- I restarted my computer then tried to launch InDesign CS5.5, same problem happened (the app launches, shows toolbars and then closes, no error message).
BUT
- When I launched InDesign CS5.5 while InDesign CS6 was running, the CS5.5 version opened and worked perfectly.
I then tested to see if InDesign CS5.5 would run if InDesign CS6 was closed. I then closed both apps and launched the CS5.5 version and hey presto it worked fine.
So, it seems that the CS5.5 versions only work if the CS6 versions were launched first. What a weird glitch. It must have something to do with shared files that the two apps use I assume?

I was running into similar problems as BuddyBoy. I would launch Illustrator CS5.1 and it would crash almost immediately after presenting the UI. Same thing happened to Fireworks, Photoshop and InDesign.

I did a Repair Permissions, restarted, then downloaded the CS6 equivalents and launched each successfully. While the CS6 version was open, I launched the CS5.x version and had both up and running simultaneously. After that, like BuddyBoy, I am now able to launch either CS version independently. So thanks to BuddyBoy for the solution!

Report · May 12, 2012

Thanks, Michael!

It is a weird glitch and I am glad that I am not the only one out there to experience this.

As I said before, I think this probably has something to do with permissions and common/shared files between the programs. I am just glad that I still have the option to run CS5.x programs side-by-side with CS6.

Cheers all!

Report · May 12, 2012

BuddyBoy2001, you are almost exactly right about the cause of this problem. It has to do with a file that's shared between CS 6 and earlier versions. Installing CS 6 will replace the shared file with a CS 6-specific version, which (unfortunately!) causes the CS 5.0/5.5 versions to fail after launch exactly as you have seen. Launching a CS 6 app *twice* (while online) will restore the file to a state that works for both versions. We are very sorry for the inconvenience, and I'm glad you found the magic recipe for getting yourself back into a working condition.

Report · May 12, 2012

Thanks Dan. After trying the double-launch solution, my CS 5.5 apps work again! Thanks for the help and quick responses!

Best,

Matt

Report · May 13, 2012

Glad you're now up and running again, Matt! Thanks for letting us know, and glad we could help. Once again, we're sorry for this glitch!

Report · May 14, 2012

I've had exactly the same problem - it's so reassuring to know it hasn't just been me. After hours of trying to solve this to no avail (Adobe Customer Support were unable to help me - very frustrating) thanks SO MUCH to you guys - running CS6 then launching CS5.5 works! I was getting worried because I have a deadline tomorrow for a project in CS5.5.

Interestingly, I had NOT dowloaded S6 when encountering this problem on Sunday. Although I had just received an email saying that my subscription had just been upgraded to Cloud Reader and the new downloads were now available. I was worried that my subscription to CS5.5. had been automatically terminated by the availability of CS6 (as a Customer Support technician told me last month that I would no longer has access to CS5.5 once CS6 had been launched - glad to see he was seemingly wrong as all my clients use CS5 and have no plans to upgrade in the near future).

Report · May 14, 2012

I'm moving this thread over to our download/installation forum.

For general Creative Cloud Membership questions, here is the FAQ link:

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud/faq.html

-Dave

Report · May 21, 2012

David__B,

I can't seem to find this thread on the FAQ link you provided - can you give a specific URL for where it went?

Thanks.

-Bob

Report · May 21, 2012

Bob (aka Deep Yogurt),

You're right, the FAQ David mentioned doesn't point at this thread. The first part of his message was just an indicator that this thread itself had been relocaed to a different user forum (because it was a download/install issue that was posted on the "general" forum).

Report · May 21, 2012

Dan Brotsky,

Do you know if this same problem happens with other versions than 5.5 or other apps as well? I have CS3 and am getting ready to take the CS6 plunge and am trying to learn about the issues before I do.

Thanks very much...

-Bob

Report · May 21, 2012

Bob (aka Deep Yogurt),

This problem only occurs with CS 5.x *subscription-licensed* applications. No perpetually-licensed applications of any version should be affected in any way by the Creative Cloud application installation process.