Troubleshoot Adobe Application Manager download and installation issues

Fix issues that arise when using Adobe Application Manager to download and install Creative Cloud apps.

About Adobe Application Manager

Adobe Application Manager (AAM) is a helper application used to manage the installation of many Adobe products.

If you have a Creative Cloud membership, the Adobe Application Manager will automatically update to the Creative Cloud desktop app, as long as you are running macOS 10.7 or later, or Windows 7 or later. If you are running older operating systems, such as Windows XP or macOS 10.6, you'll use the Adobe Application Manager (AAM) to manage your Creative Cloud downloads and installations.

You can launch AAM manually from the Applications folder (macOS), or the Start  > All Programs menu (Windows). 

Note:

If you have a valid Creative Cloud membership and the Adobe Application Manager does not auto-update to the Creative Cloud desktop app, see Adobe Application Manager does not update to Creative Cloud desktop app.

Having trouble signing in to adobe.com or AAM? See Adobe ID, sign-in, and account help.

Can't sign in to Creative Cloud or AAM

Use your Adobe ID to sign in to your Adobe ID account, your Creative Cloud membership, or the Adobe Application Manager. Your Adobe ID is usually the email address you used to create your account.

If you are having trouble signing in to your Adobe ID account or Creative Cloud, follow these troubleshooting steps:

Sign in with your Adobe ID

  1. Go to https://account.adobe.com and sign in with your Adobe ID and password.

    Having trouble signing in to adobe.com or AAM? See Adobe ID, sign-in, and account help.

  2. Review your plan details under My Plans.

    If you do not see your Creative Cloud membership listed under My Plans, you may need to reset your account. Launch any Creative Cloud application, such as Photoshop, choose Help > Sign Out, and confirm with your Adobe IDThen choose Help > Sign In

    If you do not yet have a Creative Cloud trial or membership, click here to choose a plan.

  3. Go to the Creative Cloud apps catalog and choose an app to download.

    For detailed instructions, see Download your Creative Cloud apps.

AAM doesn’t start after selecting Download or Try

AAM is installed the first time you download a Creative Cloud app or trial from the Creative Cloud apps catalog. If the AAM’s download and installation process does not begin automatically, try these troubleshooting steps.

  1. Manually launch AAM by double-clicking the AAM installation utility:

    • Windows: AdobeApplicationManager.exe
    • macOS: AdobeApplicationManager.dmg
  2. Follow the onscreen instructions.

Important: During the download and installation process, accept security dialogs presented, or provide administrator credentials requested.

Selecting Download or Try initiates a download of AAM even though it’s already installed

Adobe Application Manager installs the AdobeAAMDetect plug-in to your web browser. To function properly, this plug-in requires that you restart the web browser. If you do not restart the web browser, the plug-in is not detected, prompting you to download AAM again.

AAM freezes while initializing or downloading

During AAM download and installation, your computer could appear to freeze while waiting for the download process to complete. For information on the amount of time required to download products, see Estimated download times.

Upon launch, AAM verifies your Adobe ID and obtains a list of products to download. During this process, a waiting dialog appears. This process takes no more than a few minutes.

Products freeze while downloading from AAM

During download or installation of a Creative Cloud app, your computer could appear to freeze while the process completes. The speed of your computer and Internet connection determines how long this process takes. For information on the amount of time required to download products, see Estimated download times.

If the download or install process actually freezes, try these solutions in order.

Solution 1: Restart the download

You can cancel the download and start a new download using AAM.

  1. To cancel the current process, select the X next to the app’s download status. 

  2. Select Install next to the app name.

Solution 2: Relaunch AAM

  1. Close AAM and then launch it again.

  2. Select Install next to the app name.

Solution 3: License the trial version

Try downloading a trial version of the app. See Download and install a Creative Cloud trial.

Note:

In AAM, you cannot pause and resume an app download using AAM. If you must stop a download or installation process, you must cancel and restart.

“Installation failed” appears in AAM

If AAM encounters an error that prevents the installation of a Creative Cloud app, you may see an “Installation Failed” message.

  1. Select the arrow to the right of "Installation Failed" message. An error appears.

  2. Try to resolve the error by using the installation log files. For information on searching these files, see Troubleshoot using install logs.

Change install location in AAM

You can change the default location for installing the apps you download.

Here’s how.

  1. Launch and sign in to Adobe Application Manager.

  2. Select the arrow to the right of your name, in the upper-left corner.

  3. Select Preferences.

  4. Select the folder and navigate to your desired installation location.

  5. Select Save.

  6. Start the install process.

Remove or uninstall Adobe Application Manager

Adobe Application Manager is required on your computer, as long as you have Creative Cloud applications installed. Adobe Application Manager performs multiple functions within all of the Creative Cloud products. Adobe Application Manager is automatically removed when you uninstall all Adobe Creative Cloud products. Upon removal of the last product, the Adobe Application Manager is uninstalled.

Remove Creative Cloud on macOS

  1. Double-click your hard drive.

  2. Go to Applications > Utilities > Adobe Installers.

  3. To remove all the Adobe Creative Cloud applications, run all the Adobe uninstallers.

Remove Creative Cloud on Windows

Important: Adobe offers a Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool, which removes the database entries but not the physical files associated with the installation. To remove all components, run the program uninstallers.

  1. Select Start > Control Panel.

  2. Select Programs and Features.

  3. Select a Creative Cloud application and select Uninstall.

  4. Repeat step 3 for all Creative Cloud applications.

Change download location in Adobe Application Manager

Adobe Application Manager does not currently support changing the download location. Files are downloaded to your temporary folder:

  • Windows: %temp%
  • macOS: /tmp

 Adobe

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Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online

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The Creativity Conference

Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online