Dreamweaver 2021 won’t launch anymore on my Mac user account

[jimj1988872]

Dreamweaver 2021 won’t launch anymore, it always hangs on launch with ‘updating site cache’ message displaying, but the stop button is unresponsive. It’s always been fine previous to today.

I’m using Mac OS 10.15.1 

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019)

3.7 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5

32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

No 3rd party antivirus software.

I have restarted Mac, multiple times.

I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled Dreamweaver 2021.

I've tried restoring prefs, using the instructions here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/kb/restore-preferences-dreamweaver.html

(both manually and with the startup screen method).

All my other Adobe CC apps are running fine, computer is behaving normally and all non Adobe apps behaving normally.

On a second uninstall/reinstall it launched fine when I was logged out of CC and then when I logged into CC it was fine until I quit and relaunched and the problem came back again...

But when I try swiching to another user account on the Mac it opens fine.

Any suggestions would be amazing, thanks!

[Nancy OShea]

Some things to try:

1. Restore Preferences

2. Restart computer.

3. Create a new Mac user profile with administrative level permissions.

Hope that helps, let us know how you make out.

[jimj1988872]

Thanks for the advice Nancy,

I already did points 1 and 2 and have retried them but it didn't help, I have now created a new Mac user profile and DW starts up fine, as it does in the other user account I already tried (this one with no admin permissions), but DW still won't launch on my user.

[Nancy OShea]

At least you can use your software with another user profile.  I'm afraid there's nothing we can do about your bad Mac user account.  That's something you'll have to ask Apple about.

[jimj1988872]

Hi Nancy, Everything on my Mac user account works perfectly except Dreamweaver, so surely it's problem with DW, not a 'bad Mac user account'?  DW is not much use to me if I have to to change users everytime I need to use it. Are there any 'hidden files' I could try removing?

[Nancy OShea]

Don't tamper with hidden files.   Use the Adobe Cleaner tool to wipe DW from your system.

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

But I still say you have a user account permissions problem that only Apple support can help you with.

Good luck!

[jimj1988872]

Thanks Nancy, I tried the Adobe Cleaner Tool but it didn't fix the issue so I updated my Mac to OS 10.15.7 and DW is now working! I think you were correct that it was a problem with my user account which the update fixed, although it does seems strange that it only impacted DW... so many thanks for your advice. 

James

[Ben M]

When user account corruption happens it can be random at times and only affect certain apps and depending on what was affected.  Sometimes you could have also used the Disk Utility to repair permissions on your computer if you run into that type of issue again.  Additionally, if you ever needed to migrate your user account it does  happen from time to time through upgrades.  Personally I have rebuilt my own user account with Mac about 3-4  times that I can recall through various OS updates, so it's definitely not uncommon. Usually it's as simple as creating a new user and just migrating the Docs/Pictures/etc. folders behind the scenes. Sometimes you have to move a few preferences folders. After that you can delete the old user and use the new account.  If you have an IT department it might be a little more involved, but usually not too painful.

[Nancy OShea]

@jimj1988872,

You're welcome.  Glad to know it's working after the Mac update 🙂