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KrisKhunachak
KrisKhunachak
Participant
November 4, 2019
Question

Unable to launch Illustrator 2020 on macOS Catalina

  • November 4, 2019
  • 6 replies
  • 23812 views

Since updating to Adobe Illustrator 2020, the app will no longer start up successfully, either opening it cold or trying to open a specific file. I get the splash window and then it changes to the dark gray pre-workspace window but there is no text, no images, and then I get the spinning beach ball. Have not tried waiting longer than 5 minutes for it, but that's not the point I suppose. App will not respond and I have to Force Quit it. 

 

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    6 replies

    wen_vdDrift
    wen_vdDrift
    Participant
    February 16, 2020

    This does not work.  I have tried EVERYTHING POSSIBLE. To even resorting to reinstalling Catalina.  I have deleted and reinstalled all of Illustrator ... to latest version 24.1. Nothing works.  This is a disaster.  I am weeks behind doing jobs for clients and cannot use Illustrator, my no 1 software that I use for clients jobs.  This is an ADOBE DISASTER!~!!!!!!

    Monika Gause
    Community Expert
    Monika GauseCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 16, 2020

    Please contact Customer Care: http://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

    They can login to your system to search for the cause of the issue.

    k00tsuka
    k00tsuka
    Participant
    January 4, 2020

    Check "Run Diagnosis" at first. Remove custom Plugins in "Plug-In" folder.

    Here is the details,

    https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator/illustrator-24-0-1-crashing-on-macos-catalina-10-15-1/m-p/10834552#M160222

    Srishti Bali
    Community Manager
    Srishti BaliCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    November 6, 2019

    Hi there,

     

    Thanks for sharing the details. I would request that if you can share the crash report by following these steps: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/kb/crash-next-steps.html (Please submit the crash report with the email address with which you are logged in on this community, this will help us find the crash log and help you further).

     

    Also, please try resetting preferences for Illustrator by following the steps shared by Rishabh. If the issue is resolved by resetting preferences, please upload all the .old folders to creative cloud and share the download link with us. 

     

    All this information will help us investigating this issue at our end and troubleshoot accordingly.

     

    Regards,

    Srishti

     

    P
    PondTownMan
    Participant
    December 10, 2019

    You act like we know how to upload all the .old folders to creative cloud and share the download link with us. 

     

    Don't know how to do that. 

    I have done all the things they said to do above and nothing works. NOTHING.

     

    sortmike
    sortmike
    Participant
    November 6, 2019

    Same, 2020 illustrator doesn't load.  The previous one did launch on catalina fine I believe.

      Srishti Bali
      Community Manager
      Srishti BaliCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      November 4, 2019

      Hi Kris,

       

      Thanks for reaching out. I am hopeful that the issue is resolved by the steps shared above. If not, please reply on the DM I just sent you.

       

      We’re here to help!

       

      Regards,

      Srishti

      B
      bvoisin
      Participating Frequently
      November 5, 2019

      Since updating to Illustrator 2020 yesterday I am experiencing the same crash as the original poster, except that the crash happens immediately after showing the splash screen, before seeing the pre-workspace window. The crash happens whether Illustrator is launched by itself, or opening an Illustrator file, or from the Creative Cloud app. This on macOS Catalina 10.15.1. To be more specific, Illustrator 2019 (23.1.1) was working fine, a Creative Cloud notification popped up saying an Illustrator update was available, I applied it, Illustrator 2020 (24.0.0) was installed; since that point on it's been impossible to launch Illustrator 2020, the app crashes on launch. In case that matters: Illustrator 2020 was installed alongside Illustrator 2019, instead of replacing it (the setting was to replace the previous version); I had to uninstall Illustrator 2019 from the Creative Cloud app.

       

      I tried all the things advised in this thread, namely erasing the mentioned folders from ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe, ~/Library/Caches and ~/Library/Preferences: no effect at all, the crash is still there. I shared the crash log as suggested.

       

      What's odd is that at the same time as Illustrator, Photoshop was updated from 2019 (20.0.7) to 2020 (21.0.0) and this went perfectly: the new Photoshop replaced the previous one, and Photoshop 2020 launches without any problem. 

      B
      bvoisin
      Participating Frequently
      November 22, 2019

      For what is worth: for reasons not connected with Illustrator, I just reinstalled my setup entirely (boot into the recovery partition, erase the disk, reinstall macOS, reinstall the apps one by one, then put back all documents into place). For Illustrator, this meant installing Creative Cloud, then installing Illustrator from within it. After doing that, Illustrator 2020 (24.0.1) boots and works just fine.

       

      I'm not recommending this procedure, as it is error-prone and requires careful planning so as not to lose documents, mail messages, etc. But this seems to mean that there is no incompatibility of Illustrator 2020 with Catalina per se, and that it is instead some faulty preference or configuration file somewhere, or maybe some leftover component from successive macOS updates, that is causing the problem.

      Rishabh_Tiwari
      Rishabh_Tiwari
      Legend
      November 4, 2019

      Hi there,

       

      Sorry to hear about the trouble you are facing with Illustrator. Please try resetting preferences for Illustrator by following below mentioned steps:

       

      • Close Illustrator.
      • Click on the Finder icon on the dock, choose Go on the top> Go To Folder.
      • In the Go To Folder dialog box, type "~/Library". Click Go.
      • Open the Preferences Folder > rename the Illustrator  24 Settings folder to Illustrator  24 Settings folder.old
      • Under Preferences, Open Adobe folder and rename Adobe Illustrator folder to Adobe Illustrator.old
      • Go back to library->open caches->rename  com.adobe.illustrator to com.adobe.illustrator.old
      • Go back to library->open application support-> open adobe->rename the Illustrator  24 folder to Illustrator  24 folder.old

       

      Disclaimer: Please note that resetting preferences will remove all the custom settings and Illustrator will launch with default settings. This way all your old settings will be saved in .old folders and Illustrator will recreate new folders with default settings. 

       

      Also, please do share the crash logs by following these steps: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/illustrator/kb/crash-next-steps.html 

       

       

      Regards,

      Rishabh

        A
        Anonymous
        November 26, 2019

        So, if I do this, how do I get my custom workspace back?

         

        Its such a pain and time drain to place all the windows and panels and on and on.

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