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Creative Cloud Error 184 (again)

Enthusiast ,
Sep 29, 2019 Sep 29, 2019

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I have read several discussions on this error, but I'm still at a loss as to what to do.  I restarted my PC.  I made sure there were no Adobe processes running (I even ended all Adobe processes showing in Task Manager).  Then I launched the Creative Cloud desktop app.  It says "Creative Cloud Updates are available."  I click Proceed and it begins updating,.  It gets to 78% and then hangs for several minutes.  Then my desktop disappears for a few seconds, then reappears and Creative Cloud displays the red triangle and error 184.

 

The various threads on this topic say that some program has a file locked.  How can I tell what file it is?  Do you have any idea why my desktop disappeared?  

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Community Expert ,
Sep 29, 2019 Sep 29, 2019

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  1. First ensure your computer meets current system requirements to run CC Desktop App and other software. 
    https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/system-requirements.html

  2. Use the Adobe Cleaner Tools to wipe old versions off your system.
    https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

  3. Using a computer user profile with administrative level permissions, do a clean re-install of CC desktop app followed by other apps.

 

 

 

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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Enthusiast ,
Sep 29, 2019 Sep 29, 2019

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Sounds like a good plan. If I wipe out and re-install, will my program settings be preserved?

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Community Expert ,
Sep 29, 2019 Sep 29, 2019

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Did you sync your preferences to the cloud?  If yes, you can get them back.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator
Alt-Web Design & Publishing ~ Web : Print : Graphics : Media

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Advisor ,
Sep 30, 2019 Sep 30, 2019

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Hi,

Before applying the usual and most often useless and time consuming "uninstall/cleanup/reinstall" procedure, you should have a look at the end of this thread :

https://community.adobe.com/t5/Get-Started/Back-to-Adobe-CC-Desktop-App-hell/td-p/10580751

 

In order to determine which file is locked, you should run the Adobe Log Collector tool, unzip the ZXP file created by the Log Collector (this file is actually a Zip file - just change the extension from ZXP to ZIP), look for the Install.log file, open it in Notepad or any text editor,  and search the text for "184". You'll see which file is considered as locked. Uploading the ZXP file as suggested by the Collector tool is not necessary. Just hit Cancel when requested.

The Log Collector tool can be downloaded from https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-log-collector.html . Using this tool in order to determine which file is locked should be the first recommendation made by the support in case of error 184.

Good luck by taming the CC desktop beast.

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Enthusiast ,
Sep 30, 2019 Sep 30, 2019

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Hi Samoreen,
Thank you for suggesting the LogCollector.  I ran it and got the following details for error 184

 

FATAL: Error (Code = 184) executing in command 'MoveFileCommand' for package: 'CoreSyncExtensionInstaller', version:4.3.9.2

FATAL: Error occurred in install of package (Name: CoreSyncExtensionInstaller Version: 4.3.9.2). Error code: '184'

ERROR: CopyPrimitiveEx | GetAnyOperationsAborted failed with error: 0

ERROR: CopyPrimitiveEx | GetAnyOperationsAborted failed with error: 0

ERROR: CreateProcess failed! Error: 2

ERROR: CreateProcess failed! Error: 2

ERROR: Destination path:C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Sync\CoreSync does not exist

ERROR: Destination path:C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Sync\CoreSyncPlugins\DesignLibraryPlugin does not exist

ERROR: Destination path:C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Sync\CoreSyncPlugins\LiveType does not exist

ERROR: Destination path:C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Sync\CoreSyncPlugins\SynKit does not exist

ERROR: Failed to rollback folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CoreSyncExtension with error

Source: C:\adobeTemp\ETR6A2B.tmp;

Destination: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CoreSyncExtension;

ErrorString: Error 32 The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process..

 

Contrary to what the fifth ERROR message says, C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Sync\CoreSync DOES exist.  However the folders below it do not exist (see attachment).

Which file that's locked by another process?  Is it C:\adobeTemp\ETR6A2B.tmp  ?   The C:\adobeTemp folder is empty.

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Advisor ,
Sep 30, 2019 Sep 30, 2019

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Hi,

This seems to describe another kind of problem. The log can be rather big and I think that you should look for the last occurrences of "184" and "locked" in the log file.The log files are cumulative, so make sure that you are looking at the records corresponding to your latest operations.

 

If this doesn't help spot an actually locked file, then read on...

What you're describing reminds me of known issues I had (and still have regularly) that were resulting in error code 183 and also sometimes error code 184. See https://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/error-183-when-updating-cc-desktop-from-the-a... . The problem is that the update starts but then stops for some reason after it has started deleting files and folders from the previous version. This issue can take different forms but the result is that the existing version can be partially or totally wiped out. There's no reliable recovery mechanism in the updater/installer.

 

One of the first things that you should try is to run CC Desktop as an administrator. This sometimes fixes these issues (on my system, CC Desktop doesn't run at all if not launched as an administrator).

 

Then you should check whether the updater has created a temporary folder for the new version. It should have the following form : C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud.<version_number>. If it exists, it contains the new version. In that case, just delete or rename the old version folder (which requires killing any Adobe process or service). Then rename C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud.<version_number> to C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Creative Cloud

 

>  The C:\adobeTemp folder is empty.

This folder is always empty after a CC Desktop update operation, be it successful or not.

 

That's all I can say for the moment. I can have a look at your install.log file if you want. Just make it available from Dropbox or whatever cloud location or attach it to a message if it's not that big.

 

CC Desktop is merely a failure. It's too complex, unreliable and extremely buggy. It is unable to give the user clear informations about what caused the failure and nobody at Adobe seems to be able to support it (beside always repeating the same magic spell : uninstall everything Adobe/cleanup/reinstall). I wish it could disappear and be replaced with a more simple way to update our Adobe applications.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 04, 2019 Oct 04, 2019

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I'm beginning to suspect that CreativeCloud is the source of other problems I've been having on my Windows 10 computer.   Here are two pieces of evidence for that theory.

 

(1) If I kill CreativeCloud and restart it, it tries to update itself, and it fails in about 4 minutes.  Just before it fails, my desktop "blinks" (briefly goes black) twice.  

 

(2) Before noticing the CreativeCloud update problem, I had been getting the double-blinking behavior about 3-4 minutes into startup every time I booted my PC. 

 

Since CreativeCloud runs at startup, I now suspect that Creative Cloud is the source of the double blink. 

 

But wait, it gets worse: After the double blink (the one that follows startup), there are problems with permissions.  For example, if I try to launch Device Manager, I get "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file.  You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item." I also lose access to my printer and other hardware devices (again, no permission to access). 

 

Could CC be causing this?

 

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Advisor ,
Oct 05, 2019 Oct 05, 2019

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> Could CC be causing this?

Yes, CC Desktop is the cause of a lot of trouble. You should be aware that under some circumstances, especially when updating itself, CC Desktop merely kills the explorer.exe process in order to avoid a reboot after replacing currently running modules (this has been proven by some tests I and another user have made). This is why your desktop "blinks". Explorer.exe is no longer running for a while, so you no longer have any desktop. This happened again to me this morning when CC Desktop updated itself.

 

This is absolutely insane and has already been discussed elsewhere. This an unacceptable and incredibly bad programming practice. Just because explorer.exe could be executing some important tasks when it was brutally killed. This is also why you lose access to some devices because explorer.exe is not relaunched correctly. Logging out and logging in again should fix the problem.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 06, 2019 Oct 06, 2019

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I wonder why more people aren't affected by this. Could there be something particular about our Windows setup?

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Advisor ,
Oct 06, 2019 Oct 06, 2019

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A lot of people have various problems with CC Desktop. I guess many of them have given up complaining. I don't think that these problems are related to the system configuration, just because these issues may or may not happen while the system configuration didn't change. This program is merely extremely buggy.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 09, 2019 Oct 09, 2019

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Samoreen, Last night I spent a half hour in a remote debugging session with four Adobe engineers from India. They clearly knew how to fix the problem. They had me rename two dll's in C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\CoreSyncExtension\ (CoreSync_x64.dll and CoreSync_x86.dll), then try updating CreativeCloud again. This time, update succeeded. Of course the screen still blinked (CC does kill explorer.exe) but it did not leave my system in a broken state.

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Advisor ,
Oct 09, 2019 Oct 09, 2019

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Hi J_Isner,

 

> They clearly knew how to fix the problem.

This is not "fixing the problem". It's working around a bug in the code. Next time, you'll have to rename other files or kill such or such process. The last time I got an error 184, I had to kill CCLibrary.exe. I didn't have to rename Coresync_xxx.dll. And the next time, this will be another problem. This program is totally out of control.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 09, 2019 Oct 09, 2019

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I also wonder if the next time CC wants to update itself, it will run into the same problem. If it does, I'll rename the same two dll's and hope for another temporary workaround. Who knows, maybe the next update will REALLY fix the bug. Adobe seems to have a handle on it.

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Advisor ,
Oct 10, 2019 Oct 10, 2019

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> Adobe seems to have a handle on it.

 

Very frankly, no. The first reports about these 183/184 error codes appeared 3-4 years ago. They have never admitted that there was a problem and most often, the only answer has always been uninstall everything Adobe/cleanup/reinstall. The problem is always on the user's side. Despite many suggestions, no effort has been made to make identifying the error cause easier. For example, error code 183 means that a file is currently in use and cannot be replaced. Is it difficult to indicate which file is in use and by which process ? No. Any skilled developer can do that. This would make solving the problem much easier. No way. Moreover, these errors may or may not appear depending on what other Adobe processes are currently running. Since there are a lot of Adobe processes that are totally out of user control, you can't do anything about it. Just undergo these time consuming issues.

 

Again, do no expect any permanent fix for these issues. Many users are not hit, many are. The bugs are there for everyone but they may or may not appear depending on how you are using the software. I insist, the design of this tool is flawed and it should be replaced. Actually, I'd prefer to be able to live without it.

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Advisor ,
Oct 10, 2019 Oct 10, 2019

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> Very frankly, no I'll try to explain this statement...

 

By using some debugging tools and by looking at the log files, one can determine which files are causing the installer failure. In your case (and this time), the CoreSync_xxx DLLs were involved, probably because they were loaded while the installer was trying to replace them. As I mentioned above, I had the same problem lately, but this time it was CCLibrary.exe that I had to kill before the update could succeed. There's no need to open a remote debugging session with 4 engineers to obtain this information if you have some development or system knowledge. This is not the problem anyway.

 

Fixing the problem is understanding why we are regularly encountering such situations : files or code modules that have to be replaced by the installer and that are opened or loaded by CC Desktop itself or by a related Adobe service. This is not an uncommon issue for installers but usually there are 2 ways this problem can be worked around :

 

1. The installer detects that the files/code modules that have to be replaced are currently opened/loaded or running and it asks the user to close such or such program or tries to do this itself (and politely informs the user about what it is about to do).

 

2. If this can't be done, the new files are registered for a boot time move and the replacement will be made at the next reboot before any program has a chance to use these files.

 

The CC Desktop installer obviously excludes option #2. But it is unable to handle correctly a situation where a file needs to be replaced while it is in use. Instead of giving information to the user about that, it merely fails, displays an error code and that's it. Fend for yourself. Moreover, when the files that have to be replaced are used by the explore.exe process (probably because they are extensions of the Windows Explorer), the installer merely kills explorer.exe without any warning instead of registering the necessary boot time move. Which is absolutely unacceptable and dangerous for many reasons.

 

Since an update is not supposed to always replace the same files, the probability for the "fix" they suggested to you this time to work again is low. I have seen reports where the replaced files had nothing to do with those mentioned above. So the problem is repeating again and again. Until they decide to properly handle these replacement issues, the problem will last.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 10, 2019 Oct 10, 2019

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I see that Adobe is "rolling out" a redesigned CC for Mac and Windows with "streamlined interface." I wonder if it includes a fix for the issue discussed here.

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Advisor ,
Oct 10, 2019 Oct 10, 2019

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Where did you get this information ? Thanks.
...
Never mind. Got it!

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 10, 2019 Oct 10, 2019

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Let us know what you think. Is there hope?

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Advisor ,
Oct 10, 2019 Oct 10, 2019

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Should be rolled out in France today but I'm unable to download the new app.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 26, 2019 Oct 26, 2019

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It's Baaaaack!

Today the new Creative Cloud Desktop app installed itself on my Windows 10 PC.   The new app has the same problem as the old one: It tries to update itself and fails with Error 184, leaving my system in a broken state (permissions problems).  The workaround given to me by the Adobe engineers less than three weeks ago only held until the next update.  I was hoping that the new app would fix this bug.  Sadly, it appears to only "streamline" the user interface.  

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Advisor ,
Oct 26, 2019 Oct 26, 2019

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Hi,

The new app is actually a tiny web browser showing the contents of this page : https://creativecloud.adobe.com/apps/all/desktop . It's exactly the same thing and you can manage and update your apps from this web page. So, updating the CC Desktop app itself is not absolutely necessary.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 26, 2019 Oct 26, 2019

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Hi Samoreen,

I don't see that they're "exactly the same."  The desktop app is currently telling me that an update for PS is available (which is true).  However the web page is inviting me to "get" PS.  So the two don't seem to be in sync.

 

But suppose they were in sync.  Then running the desktop app should be optional, and you should be able to uninstall it. However Adobe prevents you from uninstalling it:

 

creative cloud desktop uninstaller.jpg

As long as you can't uninstall it, it will continue to try to update itself at every startup.  And fail, with consequences.

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Advisor ,
Oct 26, 2019 Oct 26, 2019

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To uninstall the current version of CC Desktop, you could try this tool :
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-creative-cloud-desktop-app.html

I also had this sync problem between the app and the web page. After running the current version of CC Desktop, you could try to refresh the web page. This usually cures the update/open vs. get issue.

Anyway, they have obviously replaced a buggy app with another bug nest.

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Enthusiast ,
Oct 26, 2019 Oct 26, 2019

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In the desktop app, I did Help -> Check for updates.  This once again notifies me that an update to PS is available (I get a popup notification in the notification area).  When I referesh the web page, it still says "get the desktop app" for Photoshop.

 

Uninstalling the desktop app may be possible, but then you won't be able to run any of your Adobe apps.  You can't even quit the desktop app.  If you try, you get this:

 

you can't quit creative cloud.jpg

The desktop app apparently plays some role in making sure your Adobe subscription is paid up.  So you are FORCED to run it.  And you are FORCED to accept whatever damage it does to your system.  A bug nest indeed.

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