Illustrator 2018 & 17 crash on startup Mac

[AlexSkennerton]

Dear Adobe,

Illustrator 2018 and 2017 crash immediately after opening.  The only version I can get to work is 2015.3.  I am currently running Mac OS High Sierra with the latest version of Wacoms drivers available installed and no other plugins.  I had the same problem with 2017 when I was running the previous OS Sierra.  How can I make it work?  I've tried uninstalling and re-installing with no change to the outcome.  All other CC programs work with no issues.

Kind Regards,

Alex

[Bill Silbert]

If during the install of CC 2018 you checked "Import previous settings and preferences" in the Advanced Options (see screen shot) that were offered then that could be the source of your problems.

I would suggest deleting all preference files for CC 2017 and CC 2018 and then making sure that CC 2018 has run and even saved a new file and then quitting it and restarting the computer and then running it again just to confirm. This should establish a new set of preferences for it to run on without it trying to run off of the CC 2017 preferences. At that point you could try running CC 2017 if you absolutely need to so that it can establish its own preferences. Hopefully, then both versions can coexist.

To delete preferences:

With Illustrator closed launch a Finder Window in column view and click on your home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the following two files and delete them: “Adobe Illustrator <Version #> Settings” (earlier versions of Illustrator might just say “Adobe Illustrator”) and “com.adobe.Illustrator.plist”. When Illustrator is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

After you’ve reset up the program to your liking, it is a really good idea to create copies of your personalized “mint” preference files (make sure that you quit the program before copying them—that finalizes your customization) and use them in the future to replace any corrupt versions you may need to delete.

[AlexSkennerton]

Hi Bill,

thanks for the detailed reply to my problem.  I've had a look in the preference folder as you suggested but neither of the files seem to exist in the first place for me to then delete them.  There are preference files for After Effects, acrobat, Premier Pro, Speed Grade etc... but non for illustrator.

Alex

[Bill Silbert]

Are you saying that there is no preference folder even for CC 2015 which you are running? There has to be a folder called Adobe Illustrator within preferences. CC 2015 would be called version 20, CC 2017 version 21 and CC 2018 version 22.

Are you working on a company machine that perhaps your IT department has set up so that you can't get to your preferences? If so then they would have to be the ones to help you with this.

[AshutoshChaturvedi · Accepted solution]

Please email us on sharewithai@adobe.com with the crash logs.

Please refer to steps here: Share information about a crash

[AlexSkennerton]

After doing a little digging myself Illustrator only seems to crash when I'm connected to my work wifi which has various security attached to it.  Illustrator does not appear to crash when connected to my home wifi or when the wifi is disabled.

[AlexSkennerton]

Recently downloaded the latest version of Illustrator in the hope that it has fixed the problem.  What I have found is that it still crashes but now no longer generates a crash report to send to apple or adobe.

[Monika Gause]

Contact Customer Care

Contact Customer Care

[jamesbjerkholt]

+1 on this. Illustrator CC 2018 with clean prefs crashes on startup when I'm connected to work wifi (with numerous security limitations), works fine when accessing the internet using personal hotspot through my phone (ie "normal" wifi-setup) or from my home wifi. Perhaps Illustrator is trying to "phone home" on blocked ports and not getting what it expects on the work wifi? I have a current Adobe CC Subscription

[Monika Gause]

  schrieb

+1 on this. Illustrator CC 2018 with clean prefs crashes on startup when I'm connected to work wifi (with numerous security limitations), works fine when accessing the internet using personal hotspot through my phone (ie "normal" wifi-setup) or from my home wifi. Perhaps Illustrator is trying to "phone home" on blocked ports and not getting what it expects on the work wifi? I have a current Adobe CC Subscription

Please contact Customer Care. Link is in post #7