Dreamweaver crashes apparently caused by corrupted cache file
October 29th, 2007
It seems as though the cause of the European clock change crashes on Dreamweaver CS3 is a corrupted file called WinFileCache-[random_numbers].dat. On Windows XP, it’s located at C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Adobe\Dreamweaver 9\Configuration. On Vista, it’s at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Dreamweaver 9\Configuration. Simply delete the file and restart Dreamweaver. This still hasn’t been confirmed as the definitive solution, but it seems to work on most systems. It certainly fixed the problem for me.
[Update]: This has now been confirmed as the solution. Dreamweaver creates a new version of the file as soon as you relaunch the program.
Entry Filed under: Books, Dreamweaver
23 Comments Add your own
1. Musings of a code slave &&hellip | November 1st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
[...] The solution is to delete WinFileCache-********.dat, which was apparently corrupted by the clock [...]
2. Doc | November 7th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I experienced the problem when the clocks changed here in the US. Deleting the above mentioned dat file resolved the issue.
Thanks tons…sad that I had to get this info from a user and not from Adobe…
- Doc
3. Neil Eisenberg | November 7th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
I had the same problem and spent hours trying to find out the issue. Its amazing that Adobe hasnt been more proactive about this but THANK YOU so much!
4. Rob Milne | November 9th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I also lost hours on this issue. Between endless automatic updates from MS and recent bloatware from Dell, I was ready to revert to an old backup of the entire system to try to get some stability back.
I hate to think how much time it took to isolate something as bizzare as this. Thanks a TON is an understatement.
5. Craig B | November 13th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Just wanted to add my thanks for sharing this tip which I was fortunate enough to find straight away with a quick Google search for ‘dreamweaver cs3 crash’. This info has saved me loads of time and frustration — cheers!
6. Chad A | November 13th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I’ve lost faith in the software companies to fix their own wares. It’s much easier to see what the masses have come up with and implement the solution.
Just started happing this morning, and within 2 mins, it’s fixed. Didn’t even bother hitting Adobe’s site.
7. David | November 13th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Chad A, don’t be too quick to condemn software companies. The fix for this particular problem came directly from Adobe. I reported it to the Dreamweaver team before anyone realized that it was triggered by the clock change. Within less than 36 hours, an Adobe engineer suggested deleting WinFileCache-********.dat as a possible solution. Over the following few days, an Adobe quality engineer (David Alcala) did further tests to confirm the findings. My only role after reporting the problem was to blog about the solution. I’m glad you found it here, but Adobe played a big part in getting to the bottom of the matter.
8. robert | November 21st, 2007 at 12:38 am
Delete the Caps folder if you are unable to delete the Adobe Creative Suite 3 product or they are not listed.
On Windows:
Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\caps\caps.db
Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\backup\caps.db
On Mac OS:
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/caps
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/backup
9. Hans Grimm | December 24th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
thanks for this fix! i already started using DW8 again because of the crashes.. now I can fire up DW CS3 without a hitch! thanks again.
10. Gary | January 13th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
This worked for me. Thanks.
11. Mark | January 18th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Brilliant - this has been driving me mad for weeks.
Thanks
12. kevin | March 1st, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Hi
I have deleted the site cash files, the cab files, and it still crashing. I removed my site from dream weaver and the program will open, when I relink the site back ind it goes to update the site cache dream weaver crashes 1/2 way through it
any ideas ( could it be a bad file on my site causing this)
13. Eric | March 27th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Hi,
I experienced the same problem as everyone here. However, when I navigate using the path suggestion for Vista I cannot find the folder beyond (e.g., AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Dreamweaver 9\Configuration). I’m hoping you could provide me with another route. Doing a search for the folder and file turned up nothing. Help…please.
Thanks,
Eric
14. Eric | March 27th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Last post may be confusing. I can’t find the folder beyond . For me there is no AppData folder. There must be a way to get to this file. Thanks for your help.
Eric
15. Jacob | April 8th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Eric,
It may be that you need to show hidden files? In Windows Explorer, click on Tools -> Folder Options, then click on the View tab, and make sure Show hidden files and folders is selected.
I just thank my lucky stars that people DO blog about things like this, as I’ve been getting pretty worried about my CS3 installation too. It’s just been crashing completely, and just have to close it down. I’ve just done what the post said, and given it a quick test and it already seems to be working - fingers crossed it has fixed it for good.
My issue was brought on by Daylight Saving being switched off for winter down here in Tasmania. Who on earth would have thought that ending daylight saving would crash my Dreamweaver/??!!!
16. Luke | May 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 am
This fix does NOT work for me!
I use Dreamweaver CS3 on XP.
The error I received said the following file was corrupt.
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\backup\caps.db
I ran chkdsk and it “truncated” the file to fix the “corruption”.
Dreamweaver still wouldn’t start.
Next I found the file mentioned here and deleted it.
ie. WinFileCache-********.dat
The splash screen stayed up for a bit longer but then it still all just closed.
Next I deleted both the /backup and /caps folders (thus deleting the two versions of caps.db).
Still nothing. The folders and files get recreated and Dreamweaver just shows the splash screen then doesn’t open.
Next I tried deleting those files again AND deleting the SiteCache files in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Adobe\Dreamweaver 9\Configuration.
Still nothing, except a little progress bar window pops up for a split second.
???
I will try uninstalling and reinstalling next.
Grrr…
Also, I only had the problem with a corrupt caps.db file today. I live in Australia and there is no daylight saving change today (May 2).
17. David Powers | May 2nd, 2008 at 7:06 am
Luke, if reinstalling doesn’t work, you need to get in touch with Adobe support. The caps.db file has something to do with licensing. When things go wrong with that, life can get very frustrating with Adobe programs. The clock change affected a huge number of people in the northern hemisphere last October/November, but the problem didn’t reoccur when the clocks changed again in March.
18. Luke | May 6th, 2008 at 8:12 am
I ended up having to reinstal Windows XP for another reason. I haven’t reinstalled Dreamweaver but hopefully there won’t be any more problems.
I have a legal copy of Dreamweaver CS3 but a while ago installed a not legal copy of Photoshop CS2. They both worked fine together for quite a while but maybe Adobe was smart enough to discover it and punish me for having a not legal Adobe product installed.
19. Claudia | June 27th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Thanks for the fix, it solved half of my problem with Dreamweaver CS3 crashing on Vista.
After reinstalling DW,deleting the “Configuration” file and renaming the last site I was working on I can now start DW flawlessly…
but I am unable to work on that last site in DW.
As soon as I create the site cache DW crashes.
My guess is that this issue is related to spry, as the crashes started when I removed spry data from the last page I was working on.
Do you have any idea on fixing this?
Thanks
20. David Powers | June 29th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Claudia, if one site is causing the crash, it almost certainly means that you are affected by a little known bug. Any file that is an exact multiple of 8,192 bytes causes Dreamweaver to crash. Examine the file sizes in Windows Explorer. Open any suspect file in a text editor, add a few blank spaces, and save the file. If it’s an image, move it outside the site folder. You should then be able to restart Dreamweaver without crashing.
21. Carol | June 30th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Wow. That is unbelievable.
I’ve been struggling with this for about 7 hours; been on the phone with Adobe; uninstalled and reinstalled Dreamweaver.
Adobe’s solution was to create a new user account and use Dreamweaver with that account, which would have caused all kinds of overhead with other apps installed & configured for main user account. This appeared to work because I had created a new site with a slightly larger .css and hadn’t yet opened the 8192 file. I am assuming that user account would have had the same problem eventually.
Nothing worked until I read David’s post above and put some whitespace into my .css file, which was exactly 8,192 bytes before.
THANK YOU, David - you just saved me from a nightmare!
Carol
22. Anthony | August 16th, 2008 at 1:29 am
You just saved my bacon! thank you so much! its 2.27 am here in the UK and ive been working flat out on a site to deadline. I too was hit by the 8192bytes css bug! thats so random i would have never found that file so thanks a million. If i could buy you a drink right now i would!
Ant
23. Victor | August 18th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I just started getting crazy when I found your post.
Thanks a lot,
Victor
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