Skip to main content
Participant
March 7, 2014
Question

Illustrator CC won't launch !

  • March 7, 2014
  • 10 replies
  • 28800 views

Hi,

I'm running the latest Illustrator CC version on my Mac OSX 10.8.5 and it won't launch !

Basically, once you click the icon, the Illustrator logo comes up in the dock for a split second, and then dissapears.

I have look at the Console Utilities and there are no Diagnostic Reports or System errors concerning Illustrator.

What could be wrong?

Thanks !

This topic has been closed for replies.

10 replies

Participant
February 7, 2019

same problem.. .

I had backup of my whole font folder..

Installed all of them again.. .

boom. . it worked. .

win10 64b

Participant
October 20, 2016

Having the same problem. Worked fine until I installed latest update and it will open, but only after I spend 30 minutes of my morning pressing the icon. Also, it won't place PNG files. WTF Adobe. Really. CC has been horrible enough, but each update keeps making the system more and more intolerable.

Inspiring
April 27, 2016

pls  read  the  following  two  or  three  times  before  commencing.

as  others  have  suggested … pls  check  font  verdana-family (mac).

there  are  three  places  fonts  normally  exist  in  mac-platform … system/library/fontsmain/library/fontsuser/library/fonts  directories.

system/library/fonts  folder:

first  of  all,  the  font  "verdana"  should  not  exist  in  this  folder … as  the  fonts  in  this  folder  are  only  for  the  os  to  run.  (i.e. fonts for applications are not to be placed in this folder.)  if  verdana-family  is  in  this  folder,  consider  moving  the  verdana-family  to  one  of  the  two  other  fonts  folders.

main/library/fonts  and  user/library/fonts  folder:

these  folders  are  where  non-os  fonts  reside … applications  such  as  adobe,  kodak  and  other  software  usually  install  fonts  within  one  of  these  two  locations … verdana-family  included.

both  these  folders  need  to  be  checked … there  should  be  only  one  complete  set (i.e. there should not be two "bold-faces") … if  there  is  one  bold-face  in  one  library  and  one  bold-face  in  the  other  library … consider  removing  one  to  trash-bin.

if  you  are  trying  to  decide  which  of  the  two  font-folders  to  move  verdana-family … i'd  suggest  the  main/library/fonts  folder  rather  than  user/library/fonts  folder.

now,  if  you  have  font-manager … scroll  down  and  make  sure  you  have  only  one  complete  set  of  font-face (regular, italic, bold, bold-idalic)  for  verdana … activate  this  complete  set.

notes:

  • at  the  time  you  are  restructuring  the  fonts  on  mac … make  sure  these  fonts  have  been  deactivated  in  font-manager  program … that  the  font-manager  is  closed … as  well  as  all  adobe  products  are  closed.  once  you  have  only  one  complete  set  of  verdana-family  in  the  font  folder … open  font-manager  and  activate  the  one  complete  set  of  verdana-font.  at  this  time,  again  try  to  initiate  adobe-illustrator.
  • it  should  be  noted,  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  throw  away  illustrator-prefs  file  as  well  as  font-manager-prefs  file … you  might  consider  doing  this  as  well.
Participant
December 30, 2015

I was reading and its open lol , but i can confirm ive installed many fonts and no plugin , maybe the problem  since i think Illustrator map fonts before start

maras53424001
Participating Frequently
October 16, 2015

I may have info that will help others who are frustrated by the behavior of Illustrator.

I went to my Apple Genius Bar for help with a slow system. They replaced the battery but that didn't really help. Cut to the chase:  I needed more memory, which I got and everything's working fine now.

The Apple "geniuses" told me that Creative Cloud is always on, running in the background, and is a huge memory hog. If you are having trouble launching Illustrator, it may be that you have inadvertently turned Creative Cloud off. Or maybe Creative Cloud is just eating your memory alive and you need to upgrade. That did the trick for me. Don't buy it from Apple though; they will tell you this themselves. I was advised to go to a a computer store fairly nearby that has an Apple section. I bought 16G sticks for $99 and change. Since they couldn't install them for me right away, I took them to a computer repair place in my town and they did it for me in about 15 minutes. For future reference, replacing your original hard drive with a solid state one is also a smart idea for graphics people. It's much, much faster. They said it also doesn't have to be installed by Apple if you want a better range of price options. That's on my wish list.

I hope my experience will be helpful to others who are frustrated with Illustrator.

maras53424001
Participating Frequently
October 9, 2015

Illustrator itself was apparently corrupt. As I completed a routine upgrade for InDesign and Photoshop earlier, Illustrator just started downloading without any prompt. Very odd. But it's working smoothly now. I wish I could advise other how to replicate that, but I can't. It just happened. I guess you could call Adobe and ask for them to talk you through it. Best of luck!

maras53424001
Participating Frequently
October 8, 2015

I an trying to launch Illustrator CC 2015 on my MacBook Pro (running Yosemite, 10.10.5) and it won't budge past saying it's initializing. I'm stuck looking at that ugly rendering of our beloved Botticelli Venus and I cannot get my work done. I'm also on deadline. I bought into CC because of a job I inherited that required this upgrade (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat) and I have been having nothing but trouble with it ever since. If I could save this work back to legacy I would do it in a heartbeat, but I can't even get Illustrator to launch. WTF, Adobe???

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
October 8, 2015

maras53424001 schrieb:

WTF

Do you want help or do you just want to blame someone?

In case you want help:

At which point in the initializing process does it stop?

Do you have third party plugins installed?

A printer?

Font management?

Corrupt fonts?

Have you already reset preferences?

Did it ever work?

A Wacom?

Is the software installed correctly or did you move it after installation?

Are you an Admin user?

Have you already tried and created a new user account and then launched from that one?

maras53424001
Participating Frequently
October 9, 2015

Do you want help or do you just want to blame someone?

Of course I want help. My frustration is understandable, I'm sure you'll agree. Absorbing your hostility on top of it is not helpful. But thanks for asking. Moving on....

In case you want help:

At which point in the initializing process does it stop?

It varies. Sometimes the icon in the dock won't even bounce. It seems to react to the click, but does nothing. Other times, it bounces for several minutes, then returns to its resting state (without the dot underneath). At still other times, it will eventually launch, but then gets stuck during the initialization process.

Do you have third party plugins installed?

No.

A printer?

No.

Font management?

Yes.

Corrupt fonts?

Not that I'm aware of. I have experimented with this by disabling all but system fonts and restarting. This doesn't make a difference.

Have you already reset preferences?

Yes, and also, with the help of a supervisory-level person at the Genius Bar of my nearest Apple store, I cleaned out all the caches. This seemed to help for a while, but the problem came back.

Did it ever work?

Yes, but frankly, not as smoothly as my old CS 5.1.

A Wacom?

Yes.

Is the software installed correctly or did you move it after installation?

It's right where Adobe and Mac put it.

Are you an Admin user?

Yes.

Have you already tried and created a new user account and then launched from that one?

I don't understand that. (User account for what?) Can you explain?

Thanks for jumping in!

Mara

lillianc55404338
Participant
September 7, 2015

I also have this problem with the latest CC version of illustrator. i just says program not responding. I have activated and deactivated verdana and nothing happens

Participant
March 17, 2014

I am having the same issue! It worked fine before I installed the update this morning. Now it crashes at startup and says to enable Verdana. I have been on the phone with tech support of almost 3 hours, yes, THREE hours and they can't get it to work either. They had me uninstall AI, then install TWICE and it still crashes. On hold now as they are putting me through to another department. This is killing me work-wise. Deadline this afternoon and can't get the damn software to even open.

Note in the future to hold off on installing updates until all work is completed for the day. I suggest you call Adobe support. The number is 800-833-6687. Good luck!

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
March 17, 2014

Now it crashes at startup and says to enable Verdana.

Well, is Verdana installed and activated?

It needs to be TTF, all 4 styles and no font management in-between

Known Participant
March 17, 2014

I am having the same problem and Verdana is installed. Adobe tech support had me uninstall everything on Friday and re install after creating a new identity. Illustrator works in the new idientity but still not on my main id. It is really not going to work to be going back and forth. BTW the rest of CC- Indesign, photoshop, lightroom and acrobat work on both identities. Also he had me repairing permissions on the program as well.

What a mess!

sanjaykr
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
March 14, 2014

Hi pelletis,

Can you please check if all four variants of verdana fonts ( regular, bold, italic and bold italic ) are present and enabled.

Sanjay.

pelletisAuthor
Participant
March 17, 2014

All 4 fonts are installed and enabled. Tried to disable them and re-enable them and nothing changed

sanjaykr
Adobe Employee
Adobe Employee
March 17, 2014

Are there any 3rd party plugins. Since you are not getting any crash log, it will be difficult to get to root cause of the issue.

There could be permission issue as well.

Sanjay.