Premiere Pro keeps running in the background using RAM, not able to shut down

Report · Feb 05, 2023

When I drag the playhead along the timeline, after some time the player stops working. Then I can't preview new frames nor play the timeline. Then a) the program crashes while trying to close it to fix the issue or b) it closes regularly.

Then I have to open the task manager, select premiere pro as a background process. After pressing "end task" I can reopen the program and everything works fine. BUT: The Background process keeps running using the same amount of ram as if the project was still open. After crashing premiere 3 times, I have to restart my computer to be able to free the RAM and work properly again.

This is in general when I close the program, not just when I drag the playhead along the timeline. Just after sometime (haven't recognized a pattern yet) premiere pro just crashes and then the problem occures that I just described (and after closing premiere pro the windows 11 gui takes 30 seconds to work again).

Premiere Pro V23.1

Effects applied: Lumetri color

Project info: Started in V23.1 today, I'm editing reels, having to add a -90° rotation to all the footage.

My System:

HP ENVY x360 Convertible 15-ed0xxx, running Windows 11 Home version 22H2

16 GB RAM, normal usage 24% after starting up the laptop.

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.30GHz 1.50 GHz

64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Let me know if any more information is needed.

Thank you in advance!

Report · Feb 08, 2023

Hi,

Same issue here, I can't seem to find a fix : when working on Premiere, the program monitor will suddenly freeze and although I'll still be able to modify the sequence, I won't be able to visualize the clip (closing & reopening the panel doesn't help). Closing Premiere works fine, no crash on my side, but the program continues working in the background. Going to Task manager to End Task in the processes or in details doesn't work, it should be noted that trying to end task from the Details tab returns a "Access denied" error message. I can't reopen the program either as long as this background task is running.

I've tried a bunch of soft to hard ways of shutting down the task :
- wmic process where name="Adobe Premiere Pro.exe" call terminate which returns the following :
Executing (\\LAPTOP-8C7CSM8M\ROOT\CIMV2:Win32_Process.Handle="22960")->terminate()
Method execution successful.
Out Parameters:
instance of __PARAMETERS
{
ReturnValue = 2;
};

But doesn't kill Premiere's background process.

- taskkill /f /im "Adobe Premiere Pro.exe" which returns :

ERROR: The process "Adobe Premiere Pro.exe" with PID 23164 could not be terminated.
Reason: There is no running instance of the task.

And doesn't kill the task.

- I've tried running the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool following the official tutorial (https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html)
Using this tool, I've unistalled Premiere then re-installed it. It solved the problem temporarily, as the first time I relaunched the program it worked, but shortly after the issue occured again and I was stuck with the same unkillable task.

I've tried all forums and threads about this issue, some dating back to 2011 but no solution that was offered helped. The only solution that I haven't explored are interferences from my anti-virus (McAfee) but since I'm working from a company computer, I don't have administrator access to tweak the settings and test this out.

Possibly using the above commands OR by just giving the computer a lot of time, I've been able to reduce the RAM taken up by the background process to around 1/1000th and relaunch Premiere, but when the bug inevitably occurs and I need to exit the program, it creates a second background process that has to be dealt with anew.

The only reliable solution is to shut down the computer using the power button, as simply restarting it simply stays blocked at the "Restarting" blue screen.

Setup :
11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz 2.80 GHz
16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable)

Windows 10

Asus Expertbook, 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Project :

5 mp4, 1 mp3

1 shape with keyframed animation

text with keyframed animation

Lumetri color is applied

Report · May 11, 2023

I'm experiencing exactly the same issue to the point where I have given up and do all base edits on DaVinci Resolve, only after do I bring it to Premiere to use AE on projects.

Right now I've wasted the whole morning trying to finish a 30 second video - it's infuriating!

Hope that by comenting here I'll be notified of any solution!

Report · May 11, 2023

Might be a good idea to reset your preferences and delete your caches. Rendering your sequence might help. I find the "render and replace" command very useful as it "burns in" the render (although it's simple to "unrender it).

First, Lukas, what are your source properties and sequence settings? if you're working with heavily compressed formats such as mp4, or other mpeg variants, particularly anything higher than 1080, 16gigs of RAM may not sufficient. The workaround is to use Premiere's proxy workflow. If you need me to go in to greater detail, post back/

Jiaqi5E91, what are the pixel dimensions of your sources and sequence? Again, 16gigs may not be sufficient so a proxy workflow may be the solution.

and Tiago23782195yo1i, Please tell us your system specs: OS version, Premiere version, amount of RAM, Hardware specs including graphics card and your source properties and sequence settings.

Report · May 11, 2023

@Michael Grenadier sure thing!

System:

AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3.30 GHz
RAM 32,0 GB (31,4 GB)

Windows 11

Asus VivoBook, 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Sequence setting differ - it's a 45 minute base project with several different things, but all the media is h264 mp4, 4k 10bit

Also have animated AE sequences

My setup really isn't the issue, as I can work much more complex projects in AE and Davinci Resolve. But ever since updating to 2023 Premiere this happens, even with older versions. Everything is up to date now, including graphic drivers.

Report · May 11, 2023

Tiago23782195yo1i, unfortunately AE and Resolve are very different beasts than Premiere. What version of Premiere are you running? Try installing a previous version of Premiere 23 and see if that makes a difference. If you have an earlier version of 23 installed, try updating. You might also try installing the beta version. If you need help with figuring out the exact version you're running and how to install alternate versions post back. Not dissing your expertise, just never easy to judge this from a brief post... You might also try resetting preferences and caches and creating a new premiere project and importing the problematic project into the new project...

Report · May 11, 2023

@Michael Grenadier I totally get you, they really are different.

Unfortunatly I've tried all the solutions you've suggested to no avail...

It would be great if this only happened with one project, but it has been happening with all my projects.

Thanks anyways for all the suggestions, I hope they help someone out there!

Report · May 11, 2023

Tiago23782195yo1i, there are lots of things to try and I'm happy to suggest some other things, but it's necessary to approach this in a systematic fashion. Have you tried the proxy workflow? Working with heavily compressed media as you are can be problematic. First thing I'd try is to create a new windows user with administrator privileges and log in to the new account and see if the problem is still occuring. Do you have anything connected to your computer except for mouse keyboard and external drive? If so, try disconnecting them. Try disconnecting from network/internet by either turning wifi of or pulling the ethernet cable. If you'd like to explain my thinking on any of these suggestions, let me know. Crazed with work thru the weekend, but will get back to you as soon as possible.

Report · May 11, 2023

Thanks for reaching out Micheal!
I'm only using .mov files at 1920x1088 (don't ask me it's an older Camera, Canon 60d to be exact) and 23.98 fps.

And the sequence settings I'm using are the following. I am editing for IG Reels (in portrait obviously), but I have to rotate the footage by -90°. I'm also using speed-ramps / time remapping or however you call that.

It's in german, sorry..😅

Can you tell me more about that proxy workflow (if the issue isn't related with the above information)?
Text back if you need anything more 🙂

Report · May 11, 2023

It might be helpful if you did some googling on mpeg video to understand why this material may be difficult to work with in Premiere as opposed to a format like prores where each frame is discreet. Proxy workflow allows you to transcode to a format that's easier for premiere to work with. It's a fantastic way of working with material that Premiere might have problems with. However, in this situation, it might be simpler to simply convert all your source material to vertical 1080x1920 with the prores 422 codec so that your source material matches your delivery/output specs. Maybe someone can post the correct workflow for this. If not, if you can send me a short clip of the camera original, I'll see if I can figure out the correct workflow to do this conversion... you can send me a direct message by clicking on my username at the top of the post. Any excuse not to do the work I should be doing.

Report · May 11, 2023

I am definitely going to try this, thanks for the explanation!

I think I actually found the cause of the problem with premiere crashing, when I drag the playhead over the timeline! As I said I use .mov footage and it fixed the crashing issues when I removed/deleted the lumetri color effect entirely from the .mov itself. An adjustment layer works just fine with lumetri color! Glad I got rid of that issue..

Report · May 12, 2023

Lukas, glad you found a workaround, but you should not be having this problem and it might be worthwhile digging into your setup to see if we can figure out what's going on... post back if you want to dig into the issue.