Indesign v21 not starting after update | Win 11

[Nicola - Print House]

I installed the latest update to version 21, and InDesign won't launch. It doesn't give any errors, but it won't start. It doesn't do anything at all. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it, but that didn't work. Version 20 works perfectly, even the beta version 20.6. I tried reinstalling it by deleting the preferences, but that didn't work. I tried reinstalling the Creative app and reinstalling InDesign, but that didn't work.
Bridge does the same thing, but it gives me error OXC0000142. InDesign, on the other hand, doesn't have any errors. Old Bridge works, but the beta version doesn't

I have windows 11 last updated
What can I do?
Thanks a lot
Nicola

[Eugene Tyson]

Try resetting your preferences:

InDesign 19.3 and newer go to Preferences > General > and click on "Reset Preferences on Quit" and then quit and restart.

Or
Windows: Start InDesign, and then press Shift+Ctrl+Alt. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
macOS: While pressing Shift+Option+Command+Control, start InDesign. Click Yes when asked if you want to delete preference files.
A dialog will appear asking to delete the InDesign Preferences, select 'Yes' on this dialog.



More in-depth cleanse of preferences

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/indesign/kb/indesign-preferences-support-file-locations.html

--------------

Reinstalling rarely fixes everything - you can do a complete reinstall using the
Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Nicola - Print House,

Thank you for reaching out, and I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I hope Eugene's suggestions helped resolve the problem. If not, please try the suggestions shared in this help article (https://adobe.ly/4nIqyE1) and let us know if they help.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Nicola - Print House]

Thanks a lot, 
I've already tried all these steps, only the clean up is missing, but I didn't want to lose the settings of the previous version that works and have to reset printers, printing preferences, etc., which are not saved when exporting the settings. Do you have any other ideas?

[Anubhav M]

Hello @Nicola - Print House,

Thanks for confirming. When using the Cleaner Tool, your preferences are not automatically removed. You can manually back up the settings by following the below steps:

- Close all Adobe applications.

- Go to Location C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Adobe
- Copy the Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Illustrator 29 Settings folders to your desktop.

After backing up your preferences, you can remove or rename the folders in the original location to check if a corrupt preference might be causing InDesign to fail to launch.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[Peter Spier]

You don't need to remove any part of the working previous version using the Cleaner tool, so you can safely use it on the new version. It will clean out the registry as well as program folders to give you a clean slate to try again.

[Peter Spier]

I suggest that you don't migrate any settings from the previous version during the install -- that's a common cause of trouble.

[Nicola - Print House · Accepted solution]

I solved the problem with the help of technical support. It took me two hours to chat with a chatbot, and the operator knew as much as I did. Finally, they put me in touch with real technical support.
The solution was this:

Repair the C++ Redistributables:
1. Open the Control Panel
2. Go to Programs and Features
3. Find Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributables
Scroll through the list to find entries such as:
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012/2013/2015-2022 Redistributable
(There may be multiple versions installed.)
4. Repair Each Version
Select a version.
Click "Change" at the top.
In the installation window, choose "Repair."
Follow the instructions to complete the repair.
Repeat this for each version you want to repair.
Reboot your system after repairing all files.
This fixes everything.

[toddt43397558]

This fixed it for me also! Thank you!!!

[lazarol52732430]

I had same exact problem with Indesign and Bridge, after updating would come up with same error. Repairing ALL the Microsoft Visual C Redistributables fixed the issue for me as well.

Thanks a bunch.

[toddt43397558]

only one issue, something happened overnight that it had to do it again the next morning. I sure hope this isn't a daily occurence. 

[Tesa0D45]

I was having the same problem and this solved it! Thank you so much for these detailed instructions!

[Benjamin27364638pi2o]

Had the same problem for me, solved it! Thanks a lot.

[natalies20688782]

You are a hero and a legend

[rett999]

I have this error (0xc0000142) with both with Premiere Pro 25.0 and now Indesign 21.0. The new Photoshop and Illustrator versions that updated yesterday are working. I have restarted. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the software. Does know why these two would have this error? Other forums seem to say just use old versions but I have team members who update and need the latest version. 

[Peter Spier]

Have you tried repairing the C++ redistributables as suggested?

[Anubhav M]

Hello @rett999,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Would you mind trying the following steps to reinstall the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable and checking if it helps:

- Close all Adobe apps

- Uninstall all currently installed Microsoft Visual C Redistributable packages

- Install the latest Microsoft Visual C Redistributable package from here: (https://adobe.ly/3LhgHar)

- Relaunch InDesign

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Anubhav

[DKC-KasperHV]

Hey Anubhav,

I also have some users in the company where I work that have problems with the same thing.

It turns out that reparing the Microsoft Visual C++ packages works. The thing is, there's no reason for this to suddenly not work.

I have a few colleagues that told me that everything was working, and then from one second to another, the different Adobe programs closed down and then they were shown the error code "0xc0000142".

So is there any chance that you or your colleagues can make a hotfix that sorts this out?

If our users don't repair the files as listed above and instead install 20.5 version (Adobe InDesign), then there's no problems. So the problem lies within the 21.0 version.

I look forward for any replies regarding this problem.

[Earthling v42.0]

Having this problem again with InDesign v21.0.1 update.  

[Nicola - Print House]

This update is for fixing a bug that I find with tabulators, in the v21.0 if you move a tab, the other tabs on the right are deleted.

I had a session with a technical support, than I send a video and they resolved it with this update. 

[Earthling v42.0]

Adobe must have a new QA/QC leader. I am also having problems with Illustrator. I can't copy/paste. Been that way since July. Both old and new versions. 

[DKC-KasperHV]

Hey there,

We have roughly 250 users and about 25% of them have problems.

It seems that if you use the version that says "Long time support" then everything works.

So it's an update that Adobe made to their version 21 that's bugging.