Multiple adobe_licutil, each using 92-100% CPU

[peterynh]

I know this has been brought up before but I have been unable to use any previous discussion that I've found to come up with an effective solution so I'm trying again.

I fairly frequently have four CC applications running: InDesign, Muse, Acrobat and Photoshop. All are current versions.

I'm running on an iMac (2017, 27", 5K, retina display) running MacOS 10.13.4.

Generally I have one adobe_licutil for each app for a total of 4. At 92-100% CPU (most commonly around 98%), that accounts for 392% of CPU. Regardless of the mathematical meaningfulness of such a number, it means my fans are running constantly which is not healthy.

I've searched here and elsewhere and tried some of the suggestions. It's hard to remember exactly what because I've been dealing with it for a while and haven't kept good notes. But nothing has worked at all. I haven't tried anything involving massive deletion of files yet; it's hard to get motivated to do that unless I have reason to think it will work!

Force quitting adobe_licutils slows them down of course; but they don't stay away; I don't think deleting them accomplishes much more. Switching to the Guest User account seemed to solve the problem which suggests that there must be some way to deal with it. any help in finding it will be most appreciated!

Thanks in advance for any help,

Peter

[kglad]

uninstall everything cc including preferences, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-remove-app.html

then uninstall the cc desktop app, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-creative-cloud-desktop-app.html

clean your computer of cc files per http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

restart your computer (don't skip this)

reinstall the cc desktop app, https://creative.adobe.com/products/creative-cloud.

if you're unable to install the cc desktop app at this stage, use an administrator account (solution 4 here, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-missing-damaged.html)

use the desktop app to install your cc programs/trials

[peterynh]

I went through the whole process, being very careful to do everything correctly. I reinstalled a couple applications.

I opened Muse, and then opened Activity Monitor. Right at the top was adobe_licutil, 99.8% CPU.

I opened InDesign, and took another look at Activity Monitor: adobe_licutil, 99.8%.

They always seem to stick together: as one changes, the other does too. Occasionally there's a slight difference but not much.

So thank  you for your advice. It seems like it should work, but sadly the problem seems to be unchanged. Does adobe_licutil perhaps interact with some other application or something like that?

Any further advice will be much appreciated!

Peter

[peterynh]

I noticed after reinstalling that Muse still had at least the list of recent files. I don't think the other apps did. There were a couple other signs of stuff still being there.

So I repeated the whole process up to using the cleaner tool. There are still a number of signs of Adobe stuff that I wonder about. There are a number of folders although most are empty or contain empty subfolders. There are a few files though. Doing a search for "adobe" in /Users/peter/Library/Application Support, I found the following:

Adobe - many subfolders, some empty, some with files in them

Adobe Custom Dictionary - same, just a couple things

Adobe PDF - 1 empty folder

Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 same as first two

Adobe-Hub-App - empty folders

com.adobe.accmac.ACCFinderSync - empty

com.adobe.accmac.ACCFinderSync - same as first two

com.adobe.accmac.explinder - empty folders

com.adobe.ARMDCHelpe - empty

com.adobe.InDesign -  empty folders

com.adobe.Muse.application - empty folders

SaveAsAdobePDF DC 1 folder with 1 item in it

I'm no sure how concerned I should be about that.

OK, I'm installing InDesign from the CC app. I noticed that it said it was syncing something like 61 files. Is that a problem?

InDesign now loaded and running. There's one adobe_licutil running, for 99.9% of CPU. So, once again it didn't work I guess at this point I'll wait to see if anyone has any further advice for me.

Thanks,

Peter

[kglad]

quit your cc desktop app

delete your Adobe PCD folder and SLStore folders, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/configuration-error.html

start your cc desktop app

sign in

check your adobe_licutil activity

[peterynh]

Hmm - that didn't go too well.

I found those folders in /Library/Application Support/Adobe — hopefully that's what you were referring to. I quit cc desktop, deleted the folders and restarted the cc desktop app. I got the following error message:

So I restarted the computer, and it crashed on startup. I restarted it with the same results. In Activity Monitor I found that Adobe Desktop Service was not responding and within a minute or two had accumulated 49 hangs. I force quit it and it came back.

Then I restarted with a safe boot, ran Time Machine and restored the two folders.  I restarted and I'm back to where I was.

[kglad · Accepted solution]

uninstall everything cc including preferences, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-remove-app.html

then uninstall the cc desktop app, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-creative-cloud-desktop-app.html

clean your computer of cc files per http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html

delete the adobe pcd and slstore folders

restart your computer (don't skip this)

reinstall the cc desktop app, https://creative.adobe.com/products/creative-cloud.

if you're unable to install the cc desktop app at this stage, use an administrator account (solution 4 here, https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-missing-damaged.html)

use the desktop app to install your cc programs/trials

[peterynh]

It was looking hopeful this time. I got the cc desktop app installed and all was well. I installed InDesign and all was well. But then I opened InDesign and adobe_licutil appeared. It's been at 99.9% for a few minutes.

Thank you for all your suggestions so far. Do you have any further ideas? I realize that at some point you may decide it's been enough but as long as you have suggestions I'll be happy to try them.

Thanks,

Peter

[kglad]

contact adobe support.

[peterynh]

OK - Thanks for your many attempts to solve the problem. Too bad it didn't succeed, but it will probably cut out many steps with Adobe support.

Best,

Peter

[kglad]

you're welcome.  (i think they'll need to go through, at least some of, these steps on your computer.)

[bkgoodson2183]

I have the same problem. Contacted Adobe and let them control my mac remotely to try and resolve.  They have no clue what is causing this issue and have yet to find a solution.  They just closed my support ticket without any resolve.  For now, I open all my applications at the start of the day, go through Activity Monitor and force quit them all.  They stay closed as long as I don't open any additional Adobe applications.

[peterynh]

Interesting.So there's no consequence to force quitting them. I guess I'll start doing that. I'll probably call Adobe next week; I haven't had time to deal with it the past couple weeks. Thanks for the suggestion.

Peter

[bkgoodson2183]

None.  Killing the Adobe_licutil processes (which are between 4 and 5 depending on how many programs are open) just frees up the CPU load and allows my fan not to run ALL day long. I really wish Adobe would find a fix, this process becomes annoying after you've done it for several weeks.

[peterynh]

Good to know. I tried it, and reduced CPU usage from over 400% to 3% with no negative consequences. If I learn anything when I talk to someone at Adobe I'll certainly post it here.

Peter

[bkgoodson2183]

I hope you have much better results then I did. Hopefully they can resolve your issue and you can share with the rest of us experiencing the same thing!

[peterynh]

I'll do my best ...