Fix error "Adobe Creative Cloud is missing or damaged"

Find solution to the error message, "Adobe Creative Cloud, needed to resolve this problem, is missing or damaged", that might occur while installing the Creative Cloud desktop app.

Why did I get an error message while installing the Creative Cloud desktop app?

When installing the Creative Cloud desktop app, you might sometimes receive the following error:

Adobe Creative Cloud, needed to resolve the problem, is missing or damaged. You can try to repair to fix the issue. If the problem persists, download and install the new copy from http://www.adobe.com/go/adobecreativecloudapp.

You might be getting the error message due to the following reasons:

  • Your Creative Cloud desktop app or one of its background processes keeps crashing.
  • The communication between your Creative Cloud desktop app and its background processes is slow. See Learn more about Adobe background processes.
  • You might not have the latest version of the Creative Cloud desktop app installed on your new computer after migrating from a previous computer.
  • Some files of the Creative Cloud desktop app fail to load as they might have been removed by a third-party application.

How can I fix this error?

Select Repair in the error message to fix the issue.

  1. Run the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to remove the current installation of the Creative Cloud desktop app. See Run the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to know more.

  2. In the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool, select option 3: CC Apps, Creative Cloud & CS6 Products. Then, select option 6: Creative Cloud only.

  3. Rename the following OOBE folders to OOBE.old:

    • Windows: \Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\OOBE
    • macOS: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE
    Note:

    If you get This folder is currently in use error while trying to rename the folder, do the following:

    • Close all the Adobe applications running on your system.
    • Check if any of the following background processes are running and close them:

    Creative Cloud, Creative Cloud Core Service, Creative Cloud Content Manager, Creative Cloud Libraries Synchronizer, Adobe Content Synchronizer, Adobe Content Synchronizer Helper, Creative Cloud Interprocess Service, armsvc, AGS Service

  4. Download and reinstall the Creative Cloud desktop app.  

  1. Create a new local user account with administrator privileges, and sign in using that account. Select the instructions for your operating system below:

  2. Download and reinstall the Creative Cloud desktop app.

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