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Participant
October 20, 2022
Answered

Illustrator 2023 crashing | Sorry, illustrator has encountered an error and needs to close error 205

  • October 20, 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 12264 views

Hello, 

I recently udated my illustrator app, and not it keeps crashing and I can not work on it. I need help please i dony know what else to do. The message "sorry, illustrator has encountered an error and needs to close keeps appearing

 

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Correct answer Anshul_Saini

Hi @Gabriela26709312q96f,

 

We are sorry for the trouble. Would you mind confirming the Illustrator version in which you are facing the issue?

To troubleshoot this issue, please try the steps suggested in this helpx article (https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/fix-licensing-error-205.html).


If this doesn't help, try updating Illustrator and Creative Cloud desktop app and see if that helps!


Let us know how it goes!

 

I will be looking forward to your response.

 

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

5 replies

Participant
October 18, 2023

i'm having the same issue, crashed numerous times, so i started over with a new file, tried to draw some simple lines and the file is completely locked. I will look at the linked article.

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Community Manager
October 18, 2023

Hi @donp2020974,

 

I'm sorry to hear that you're facing a similar issue with Adobe Illustrator. It's indeed frustrating when the application crashes or freezes. Here are some additional steps you can take to address the problem:

 

  • Note down the specific actions or tools that trigger the crashes or lock the file. This information can help pinpoint the issue.
  • If your document contains linked files, make sure they are accessible. Broken links can lead to crashes or locking issues.
  • try the steps suggested in this help article: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/fix-crash-on-launch-issues.html

 

I hope these additional steps help you diagnose and resolve the problem you're facing with Adobe Illustrator.

If it doesn't, please share your system details, including the OS version. Also, confirm the illustrator version you are using and any relevant info or screenshots related to the issue you are facing.

 

Kindly update the discussion if you still need assistance with it. We'd be happy to help.

 

Thanks,
Anshul Saini

Participant
March 1, 2023

I have been having this same problem.  I have done everything on the support page as well as uninstalled and reinstalled Illustrator 2023 multiple times as well as deleted the preferences.  None of this has stopped the error 205 messege I get when I start the program.  This is getting extremely frustrating, especially since this is a subscription based program now.  Does anyone have any fixes that I havent already tried?

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 1, 2023

You might want to contact Customer Care https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html  They can login to your system and check it out.

hazelt38318335
Participant
January 12, 2023

I've got the same issue after updating last night. Just hopeless! I'm guessing it hasn't been tested properly before release... 

Kempison
Participating Frequently
January 13, 2023

Same here. After updating it was pretty much unuseable after updating to 27.1.1. Crashed saving and doing everything in general was painfuly slow.

 

I found this:

 

And run CMD with administrator privileges and copy and pasted: 

  • for /F "tokens=1,* delims= " %G in ('cmdkey /list ^| findstr /c:"Adobe App "') do cmdkey /delete %H

 

It does seems to have stabilised so far. If this cahnges I'll add to this here.

Kempison
Participating Frequently
January 13, 2023

No lasting fix. Illustrator is crashing on something as basic as drawing a straight line. This really shouldn't happen any more. It has been an Adobe feature through the years to release without thorough testing. How about a subsrciption discount for every time this happens? Might focus attention...

 

I suspect this version hasn't gone through full testing prior to relaease. Illustrator 27 was stable before. I have an RTX 3090 (driver version 528.02) with 256GB RAM on Windows 11 64-bit so capability is not an issue. 

Bill Silbert
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 21, 2022

If when you updated the program you used the option to import previous settings and preferences then that could be the issue. Try deleting your Illustrator preferences and see if this process—which returns the program to its defaults—helps solve the problem.

To do so:

For Macintosh Users: The User Library folder in which Illustrator’s preferences are stored is hidden by default on most Macintoshes. To access it make sure that Illustrator is closed and click on the desktop to launch a Finder Window (Command-N).With this window in column view follow the path User>Home folder (it’s the folder with an icon that looks like a house—it may have the user’s name rather than “Home”) and click on the Home folder. With the Option Key pressed choose Library from the Finder Go Menu. “Library” will now appear within the Home folder. Within the Library folder find the folder called Preferences and within it find the folder called “Adobe Illustrator <Version #> Settings” (earlier versions of Illustrator might just say “Adobe Illustrator”) and the file called “com.adobe.Illustrator.plist” and delete both that folder and that file. When Illustrator is next launched it will create new preference files and the program will be restored to its defaults.

For Windows Users: You can try the quick way of resetting on a PC which is to hold down Ctrl + Alt + Shift when launching Illustrator and respond affirmatively when asked if you want to reset. There have been some recent reports that the window asking if you want to reset is not popping up but that the prefs are being reset anyway. If this works great but if it doesn’t you may have to manually delete them.

To do so: On Windows 7 and above the preference files are hidden. To find them go to the Control Panel and open Folder Options and then click the View tab. Then select “Show hidden files and folders” or “Show hidden files, folders or drive options” in Advanced Settings. Then delete (or rename) the folder at the end of this path: C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator [version number]\ Settings\<Language>. Make sure that Illustrator is closed when you do this. When you relaunch the program it will create new preference files and the program will be at its default settings.

The advantage of manually deleting preference files is that after you’ve reset up the program (make sure that no document window is open) to your liking, you can 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.

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Anshul_SainiCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
October 20, 2022

Hi @Gabriela26709312q96f,

 

We are sorry for the trouble. Would you mind confirming the Illustrator version in which you are facing the issue?

To troubleshoot this issue, please try the steps suggested in this helpx article (https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/fix-licensing-error-205.html).


If this doesn't help, try updating Illustrator and Creative Cloud desktop app and see if that helps!


Let us know how it goes!

 

I will be looking forward to your response.

 

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

Participant
November 29, 2022

Anshul_Saini

Thank you so much for your help. After a month of trying, I finally got it to work

Anshul_Saini
Community Manager
Community Manager
December 8, 2022

Glad to hear you're back on track. Please feel free to reach out if you run into any other questions or issues in the future. We'd be happy to help.

 

Thanks,

Anshul Saini