Illustrator v27.3.1 continuously crashing on Windows 11 and displays white rectangle on screen

[George Alexander5FE8]

Hi all,

I use Adobe Illustrator v.27.3.1 for my university work, and recently it has been consistently crashing with seemingly random causes. Each time it crashes, it displays a white rectangle on the screen. This is causing me a lot of issues due to it being vital for my university course, and I'm getting a bit sick of it now. Any possible solutions? Thankyou

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @George Alexander5FE8,

We're sorry to hear that you're experiencing crashes with Illustrator. Several users have reported crashes while using Wacom tablets. If you're using a Wacom tablet, we recommend trying to install an older version of the Wacom driver (6.3.46-2) to see if it resolves the issue, as it has helped many users.

If that doesn't work, please follow the steps in this help article (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/fix-crash-on-launch-issues.html) and let us know if that helps.

Also, please submit the crash report using the steps in this article (https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/crash-next-steps.html) and use the same email account as your community account while submitting the crash report for quick tracking of it.

We appreciate your time and efforts in resolving this issue.

Best,

Anshul Saini

[ambitious_penguin3501]

As of Friday, March 10, 2023, Illustrator was working for me just fine. I had updated from 27.2 to 27.3.1 earlier in the week and was working on a file, not issues. I saved the file and shut down. This morning after starting up Windows 10 my file failed to open and Illustrator opened but just did not respond. I closed Illustrator down and tried again by using File > Open with the same result. I shut it down again and reopened Illustrator and tried to create a new file. The dialogue window opened and I entered my dimensions, hit the create button and again, non-responsive. I rolled it back to v27.2, tried to create a new file and now as soon as Illustrator opens it goes non-responsive. Reboot Windows. Still non-responsive once launched. I uninstall Illustrator complete, software and all my settings too, reboot again then install the latest version once more. I reboot just for the sake of it then start Illustrator. Still getting the non-responsive program as soon as it finishes fully launching, I don't even need to click on the application any longer.

[ambitious_penguin3501]

I'm wondering if this is related to this post from someone on a Mac? https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/illustrator-2023-crashing/td-p/13621587

I responde to this post yesterday about having a similar problem and I'm running on Windows 10. After doing the reinstall as I outlined below I ended up uninstalling Illustrator completely then going into my \Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\ and renaming the Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Illustrator 26 Settings, and Adobe Illustrator 27 Settings folders to something different (I added .old to the end of each). Then I rebooted and installed v26.5.2. This worked and the file it reported as corrupt opened up fine minus a couple changes I made just moments before Illustrator crashed yesterday morning. My plan is to try to update to v27.x when the next update comes out to see if the problem has been resolved. I may work to go to 27.2 now, I'm on a corporate environment so I can never rule out changes IT imposes to our work environment. I hope this helps you out.

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @ambitious_penguin3501,

Thank you for sharing your experience and solution for the Illustrator crashing issue. It's good to know that reinstalling Illustrator and renaming the Adobe Illustrator settings folders in AppData (hidden folder) helped resolve the issue.

As you mentioned, the next update to Illustrator might resolve the issue you encountered. However, if you would like to try a prerelease version of the software that is equivalent to the next release, you can do so without replacing your existing installation of Illustrator (version 26.5.2). This might give you an idea of whether the issue has been resolved in the upcoming release.

To try the prerelease version, you will need to sign up for the Adobe Illustrator Prerelease Program. This program provides access to prerelease builds of Illustrator, which can help you test and provide feedback on upcoming features and fixes. The prerelease versions are separate installations and won't interfere with your current version of Illustrator.

Steps to enroll in the Prerelease program and install the prerelease build on your machine are as follows:
Please click this link (www.adobeprerelease.com/) and go to the “Available Program” section to join the Illustrator prerelease.
Then accept the Prerelease agreement and do the following steps to install the Prerelease v27.4-669:
- Close Illustrator
- Go to the Creative Cloud Desktop app > Prerelease section under apps.
- Click on install. (This will not replace the existing installation of the Release build of Illustrator).

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best,

Anshul

[ambitious_penguin3501]

Hi Anshul,

Due to time constrains and deadlines I didn't get a chance to run the prerelease version to test. What I did do is upgrade to Illustrator 27.4 when it came out. This appeared to resolve the file open / crash issues I was seeing with 27.3.1. Then I went on vacation for a week. I returned this past Monday and didn't use Illustrator until Thursday when I double-clicked on an AI file to open it. Illustrator opened but then appeared to hang. I let it sit for what seemed like too long and then I forced AI to close. I tried this again with another file, both which I had been working before vacation, and got the same non response with AI. I closed it again and opened AI via the application icon, File > Open and selected the file to open that way. Same thing again. I noticed the CC update to 27.4.1. Ran that and rebooted my laptop for good measure. Opened AI, opened the same file again (it's a simple vector less an 1 MB) and it still appeared to hang. Rather than force close it down I left it. After more than 60 seconds the file finally opened. Like I said, this file is less than 1 MB, a simple vector file with a few lines in it. The same file I opened in seconds when I rolled back to 26.5.2. This happens regardless of how I open the file— double-clicking an AI file, File|Open, or clicking on a thumbnail in the AI home screen Recent Files section. The weird thing is, once the file opens all subsequent file opens happen within seconds, just as one would expect. The moment I close Illustrator it appears to reset whatever happens there. The next time I start up AI and open a file I get the same 60+ second delay on that first file only.

For what it's worth I'll list my system specs below but where these same specs work fine with version 23 and subsequent file opens in 27.4.x my money is one some startup/initialization change. If there is some option known that I can switch off I would willing do that.

Windows 10 Enterprise 21H2 OS build 19044.2846

48 GB of RAM

303 GB free on my primary drive

The partition has 1.22 TB free on my secondary drive which I run as the AI primary scratch drive

NVidia RTX A3000 Laptop GPU video

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @ambitious_penguin3501,

Thank you for providing detailed information on the issue you're facing with Illustrator 27.4.1. Would you mind confirming where are your files are stored (Network Drive/ System HDD/ Shared Folder on System/ External HDD)?

Also, does turning off the internet make any difference in loading the file for the first time?

Additionally, we rolled out a v27.5 update which will be available publically to all in the coming days. Stay tuned for that.

Best,
Anshul Saini

[ambitious_penguin3501]

The files are stored on my local system hard drive, and interestingly enough when I disable my internet connection the delay is reduced to within expected file load times. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look for a v17.5 notification in my CC app in the next little while..

[Anshul_Saini]

Thank you for providing us with additional information, @ambitious_penguin3501.

We appreciate the detailed system specs and the confirmation that the files are stored on your local system hard drive. It's also interesting to note that turning off your internet connection reduces the delay in file loading.

v27.5 is set to fully roll out publically today by EOD. Once you update, let us know how it goes.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We are here to help.

Best,

Anshul Saini