InDesign CS4 launches with missing workspaces, keyboard shortcut sets, etc

[MatthewLaun]

Due to the mixture of multiple issues in this thread:
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b6c639/
I'm starting this as a new topic to focus on the cases where InDesign CS4 users are able to launch and use the product, but are missing resources such as the following types of presets: Workspaces, Keyboard Shortcut Sets, and Swatch Libraries.

All reports of this issue appear to be related to user permissions. For these resources to to be accessed you must be running InDesign CS4 with an account that has read/write access to the following folder, including it's subfolders and all of their content:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CS4\Presets

If you have a setup where you are running into problems getting resources from this folder to appear in InDesign CS4, and you believe your user account has read/write permissions to all of it's contents, please let me know as I'd like to work with you to find a solution.

[Jeje87]

Hi All,

After searching through the web to find out how to solve this problem, finally, today I got a simple solution from this thread int this forum.

It was writen by 4pgorinich on Jan 05 2009, which suggested to change a property of 'InDesign.exe':

Win XP

"C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CS4" --> right click 'Indesign.exe' --> Properties

Win XP-64

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe InDesign CS4" --> right click 'Indesign.exe' --> Properties

choose 'Compatibily' tab, tick "Run this program in compatibility mode for:"

and choose "Windows NT 4.0"

So far, this solution working well in 2 of our computer. Now I have no hesitation to upgrade all of our CS-3 to CS-4.

If you find any weakness of this solution, please share with us.

Thank you everybody for your sharing in this thread - especially Gorinich, and I hope my reminder for what Gorinich wrote, could help you.

Jonathan

[PhotoGraphicGirl]

Any help for Mac users? lol

[Peter Spier]

Have you alread tried replacing the prefs?

Presumably if that doesn't work, and the problem is analogous to the permissions issue on Windows, you ought to be able to navigate to the Presets folder in the finder, then do a Get Info and change the permissions to give rights to everyone.

[toadilykate]

I bought Indesign as part of the creative suite student edition.  Some things in it don't work, for example when I press the enter key when in a text box nothing happens.  Also when I want to delete something I can't just click on it and hit the delete button, I have to cut it.  Help!  I was hoping someone could tell me how to fix it.  I've tried reinstalling Indesign but nothing seems to work.

[Peter Spier]

Kate, your problem is different from the one in this thread (which happens also to be quite old). Please start a new discussion of your own, and include details about your computer and operating system.  This sounds very much like the problem that is common on some PC laptops where the enter key on the number pad and the enter key on the alpha keyboard are mapped together, but from the information you provided it's impossible to tell.

[SWE_tech]

I have had problems with swedish (sv_SE) installations of InDesign CS4 that will start in english with missing shortcuts and workspaces. The only work around have been to grant the user with Local Admin rights. After spending an evening at work I found a new way to fix the problem.  

Set "Everyone" to have full control over the registry key: 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Adobe\InDesign 

I have tested this on two different computers in the domain and logged in with a normal user account and it started InDesign in swedish with the workspaces in place. 

I still have to test this with the en_GB (international english) installations that have missing workspaces but hopfully it will work on them to. 

Regards   

Mikael

[MatthewLaun]

Brilliant! I'll update the doc. Send me your email and boss's email. I

want to praise you for your tenacity and investigative skills

--

Matthew Laun

Adobe Systems, Technical Response Team

Sent from iPhone

[SWE_tech]

Hi Matthew,

I am really pleased that this solution worked and was able to help other users.

Regards

Mikael Grip

Maintenance Manager for Adobe applications at Swedbank

SWEDBANK IT

www.swedbank.com

[Email removed by forum host]

[Peter Spier]

Mikael,

I'm going to remove your contact info from your post to thwart the spam bots. Please send it to Matthew directly by clciking on his avatar and sending him a Private Message.

And thanks from me, too.

[Harbs.]

Chances are that Matthew subscribed by email. If yes, he already got it...

Harbs

[MatthewLaun]

Got it, and updated the following doc with it:

http://go.adobe.com/kb/ts_kb408055_en-us

Also found the same solution in this similar doc:

http://go.adobe.com/kb/ts_cpsid_49953_en-us

Again, thank you very much!

Matthew

[Peter Spier]

I figured you probably did, but I just wanted to extra sure.

[Phases Design]

I am having this issue on a new Windows 7 Machine.

Does anyone know how to impliment the fix in http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/408/kb408055.html on Windows 7?

The Tech Note only addresses XP and Vista.

[BobLevine]

Follow the directions for Vista.

Bob

[Peter Spier]

Bob,

The directions on the page for editing the registry say XP only (but should work, I think on Vista and Windows 7 as well, thought the exact location of the key may be slightly different).

How do you get to the "Run" dialog on Windows 7? The few times I've needed it on client machines I've don a search for "run" to get to it.

Peter

[BobLevine]

Windows key+R

Bob

[Peter Spier]

Thanks.

I'll try to remember that -- I basically never touch that key.

[Zebsto]

Same problem (no workspaces, shortcuts) for me (UK user) but with Indesign CS5. Searched and found this thread and surprised that the problem is persisting almost two years on and not even fixed on the new version. I think I have fixed it for me having read through - thanks for helping! I right-clicked indesign.exe and clicked "run as administrator" and now it seems to be OK.

[MatthewLaun]

This isn't a problem that Adobe can fix on our side. The software is designed with the assumption that standard (non-administrators) users can read data at certain paths. In the cases that are being reported here, this is proving to be untrue based on some non-standard system configuration. Elevating the application to run as administrator is working around the unexpected permissions issues. But permissions are a security control, so our software would be wrongly designed if it attempted to correct unexpected permission settings. Sometimes, the non-standard configuration is due to OEM configurations of Windows, or IT controls if you are in a Domain. A way to test such possibilites is to re-install Windows from a non-OEM disk (for the former) or try running with a local user account, not logged into the domain (for the later).

Sincerely,

Matthew

[Guest]

Just copy "InDesign Defaults" file (C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\InDesign\Version 6.0\en_US) from InDesign with working shortcuts.

[cft100]

Hi,

I am running ID CS4 on Windows with Windows 7 Ultimate English version. I have just had this exact same problem: no toolbars, no shortcuts, nothing except a blank new document when launching ID. I have tried resetting user permissions, reinstalling, basically all on the thread to no avail. (I do not have a registry key as described in the thread btw).

I have another machine on which the program runs fine, can't see any difference between the settings.

As far as I know I have done nothing to alter the config of the non-working version since it worked fine a couple of months ago (last time I used it), except possibly execute Adobe updates. When I try the access any of the menu items I get either geryed out options or nothing at all (in the case of the window menu):

If I try to place an image I get a 'cannot open resource file' error.

Is there any new info you can provide to fix this? Is this a registry issue?

Help please!

Thanks

[Peter Spier]

Long shot, but have you tried InDesign tools and panels don't respond to mouse clicks (Windows 7/Vista)

[cft100]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the quick response - but I'm afraid neither of these two fixes worked. I'm stumped. I am running ID successfully on another machine, not the same video card of course but same OS W7 64 bit. Tried copying presets and plug-ins over from the working PC but no effect. All I have is a splendidly empty workspace as shown below:

Could it be a registry issue, I have no InDesign registry settings for the creative suite as you can see:

[Peter Spier]

No registry entries at all seems a bit out of the ordinary, to say the least.I presume things never worked correctly on this system?

What happens if you create a brand new user with full admin rights (or if you can figure out how, log in from the actual Administrator account)? Does ID work in that account? If it does, will it work after switching back to your regual account? Does your regular account have admin rights?

If it doesn't work at all, and I suspect it won't, I would uninstall again, then reboot and run the Clean Tool (Resolve installation problems with CS5 Cleaner Tool) and then run msConfig to turn off any non-essential startup programs and processes on the next boot, especially firewalls, virus scanners, browser toolbars and helpers, messengers and iTunes, then reboot and reinstall (from the Administrator account if possible). Reset to normal startup after the install.

[Zebsto]

Thanks. I had to reinstall but all good now. Best wishes zs

Sent from my iPhone