Illustrator crashes when saving (Windows)

[Isaiahs Perspective]

I started using adobe illustrator on my laptop (Acer aspire e15) yesterday. It worked fine to begin with, but when I went to save my file last night it crashed and I lost all of my progress. Now everytime I try to save anything it crashes and closes without saving. I am unable to save projects or settings because it will crash and close.

[Mylenium]

Start by checking your windows event viewer for the actual crash info. For anything beyond that exact info is required - save locations, type of documents etc.. Also of course employ the usual steps liek trashing the preferences file to create a new one with default settings, checking hardware acceleration and color management.

Mylenium

[Isaiahs Perspective]

Hi mylenium,

how would I go about changing save locations and trashing preference settings? I am currently saving as .ai files straight to my desktop, would that be causing the crash? Also now when I try to save my project it just closes illustrator, and no longer gives me a crash report.

[Monika Gause]

Is a printer connected, set up as the default printer and turned on?

[Isaiahs Perspective]

No, no printer was connected, just an external keyboard and mouse through usb ports.

[Monika Gause · Accepted solution]

Then try and connect a printer. Illustrator looks for a printer every time when opening or saving a file.

If you don't have a printer, set up a PDF printer.