FrameMaker 2020 (16.0.4) does not start

[yves.barbion]

FrameMaker 2020 (16.0.4) refused to start AGAIN this morning: no splash screen and no FrameMaker process running in the Task Manager. At first, I thought this was the same bug as in Frame 2015.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to fix the problem by renaming or deleting the Linguistics folder in:

C:\Users\Your.Name\AppData\LocalLow\Adobe

But now, this little trick does not seem to work. Any ideas, Adobe? 

Cheers

Yves

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

If it's not even launching at all, I would suspect something in your environment is killing the process. Just to check that it's not that issue with the licensing servers, try disconnecting from the Internet and then launching FM. What happens in that case?

[yves.barbion]

Thank you for your reply, Jeff. Indeed, it's not launching at all: no splash screen, no process to see in the Task Manager. I have already tried wat you suggested: disconnect from the Internet, restart my computer, deleted the Linguistics folder, sign out from the Creative Cloud... nothing helps.

I have the impression that this always happens when I'm working from home.

Cheers

Yves

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Pretty weird - you've checked your anti-virus & excluded the FM exe? Tried running FM as an Admin?

[yves.barbion]

Yes, I have checked all that too. Pretty weird, indeed.

I also teach FrameMaker classes, so now, I never know in advance whether FrameMaker will cooperate that given day or not. 😉

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Probably time to reach out to the FM folks - see https://helpx.adobe.com/contact/enterprise-support.other.html#framemaker for your Adobe Support options. I'd recommend using the tcssup@adobe.com e-mail address as it reaches a team dedicated to Technical Communication Suite products including FrameMaker.

[yves.barbion]

OK, problem solved (for now at least): FrameMaker (finally) starts when I'm working from home. This is what I did to fix the problem:

1.  While working from home, uninstall FrameMaker.
   Note: This in itself was not easy, because when I selected Uninstall/Change, I got a message saying that this action failed "because another install process was already running". Weird, because I had just restarted my computer and I hadn't started any installation process myself. When I checked the processes in my Task Manager, however, I could see that some 32-bit Adobe Installers were running. So I had to kill those first, but they kept coming back for some reason. The solution was to keep the Task Manager and the FrameMaker Uninstall window open, kill the Adobe Installer processes in the Task Manager and then quickly click the FrameMaker Uninstall button before the Adobe Installer processes reappeared.
2.  Download the latest version of FrameMaker.
   Note: When I searched for FrameMaker on the Adobe.com website, I found "the all-new 64-bit Adobe Framemaker (2019 release)... weird, because I thought there was already a 2020 release, no? But anyway, I would already be happy with ANY release, as long as it worked. Wondering now... is FrameMaker 8 (aka "the gold standard") still available? 😉
   
   
   
   
3.  I unzipped the file and... I saw a folder named "Adobe FrameMaker 2020", but oh well, what's another year (Johnny Logan's song popping up in my head now).
4.  I ran the installer and I clicked the "Launch" button when the installation process was completed, anxiously awaiting the splash screen, but... nothing happened!
5.  I tried again, but this time with the "Run as administrator" option and... hooray, lo and behold, FrameMaker finally started. Thank you for that tip, Jeff Coatsworth.
   Note: I also fixed this issue by right-clicking "Framemaker.exe" in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe FrameMaker 2020 and selecting Properties > Compatibility (tab) > Run this program as an administrator.

OK, so now I can finally get some work done. And hopefully, I will still be able to start FrameMaker tomorrow, when I'm back in the office, or next week, when I'll be teaching FrameMaker to some customers.

Fingers crossed.

[yves.barbion]

And so the story continues...

Much to my surprise, FrameMaker started when I was working at my office yesterday. Today, I'm working from home again and... nope, no FrameMaker today again.

I have tried all possible options again (at least the options I know):

• Sign out from all other Adobe applications
• Use my 4G network and then try to start FrameMaker (as admin)
• Turn off wifi and try to start FrameMaker (as admin)
• Delete the linguistics folder

My other Adobe applications (Acrobat, Illustrator, InDesign) all start, but FrameMaker won't. And my other editors (Oxygen XML Editor and Word) even start without an Internet connection, which seems obvious to me, but FrameMaker won't.

Nice!

Kind regards

Yves

[Winfried Reng]

Hi Yves,

Yes. Very annoying.

Did you contact Adobe via e-mail as Jeff had suggested?

Best regards

Winfried

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Try using the Adobe CC Cleaner tool and remove your ID credentials. Start Frame and log back in to your account.

[yves.barbion]

Adobe Support is unable to fix the problem too. This what I tried this morning:

1. Log out from all Adobe applications (Creative Suite, FrameMaker) and also from my Adobe account on Adobe.com.
2. Download the FrameMaker installer again (16.0.4).
3. Uninstall FrameMaker and remove the preferences.
4. Restart Windows.
5. Switch off wifi and unplug the Internet cable to be fully offline.
6. Run the FrameMaker installer.

Result: FrameMaker is installed successfully.

7. At the end of the installation process, click Launch to start FrameMaker.
Result: nothing happens.

8. Choose Start > FrameMaker > Run as admin.
Result: nothing happens.
Conclusion: FrameMaker cannot run “without a VPN or Internet connection.

9. Connect to the Internet again and choose Start > FrameMaker > Run as admin.
Result: nothing happens.

10. Connect to the office servers via VPN.
Result: FrameMaker starts!

So I'm still wondering why is it impossible to start and use FrameMaker offline whereas this is possible with all other applications, including the ones from the Creative Suite?

[yves.barbion]

Adobe Support tells me that "FrameMaker works fine without an internet or VPN connection". Well, it does work here on my end. So could someone else please to this quick test:

1. Disconnect from the Internet.
2. Try to start FrameMaker.
   Thanks
   Yves

[Almtuna]

This is what I got when starting FM after disconnecting the Wifi.

 

[yves.barbion]

Thank you for testing this and posting your feedback, Almtuna.

[K.Daube]

Both with FM-15 (2019) and with FM-16 (2020) I haven no problem to start it with no Internat Acess (WiFI off, checked with e-mail etc.) I do not get any message during start and further on. Maybe a message would show up after some  hours of work.

[Almtuna]

If I'm still signed in when I exit FM, it will keep working the next time I start FM - even without wifi/internet.

But if I sign out before I exit FM, it will give me the "can't verify your subscription status" message when I later try to start FM without having a wifi/internet connection.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

My first step when encountering a crash is to rename the 16 folder in your Roaming directory, and then restarting Fm.

Have you tried that yet?

[yves.barbion]

Hi Matt

Yes, I have tried that one too. That was also one of the suggestions from Adobe Support, but it didn't help. Also, FrameMaker does not crash; it doesn't even start.

[Wanda Jane]

Are you using Windows 11? FrameMaker is not compatible with Windows 11, at this time.

[Great_Attractor · Accepted solution]

Hi guys,

Just activated my account to post this, in case anyone else needs it.

In my case it was FM 2019 (version 15) with the same issue.

The fix:

Got to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ and rename the folder SLCache to SLCache_OLD.

Start FM As Admin for the first time and it should open and ask you for the license or your credentials again.

After this it should be fine. No longer needed to run as admin.

For some reason this license/credential cache remains there even after uninstall/reinstall.

Thanks Adobe!

Have a good one!