Unable to install and run Adobe Creative Cloud and apps after migrating to an M3 machine

Hello. You're probably not looking for a solution to this anymore, however I will leave such so those looking for one can find.

The problem is due to migration. You need to remove all the Adobe applications, including Creative Cloud.

First, uninstall the applications. This will not remove everything, sadly.

Once complete, then run Adobe's Creative Cloud Uninstaller that can be found on this page: Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool to solve installation problems (adobe.com). Use the all function and then restart upon completion.

Now you've used all uninstallers available, you need to remove all the files leftover that are still there. This includes empty folders. Look for Adobe and Creative Cloud.

The folders you need to look in are as follows:

/Library/Application Support/

/Library/Preferences/

/Library/LaunchDaemons/

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/

/Library/Logs/

Now restart your laptop and try installing Adobe Creative Cloud. This time it should finish installing.

Assuming you have a Creative Cloud subscription, uninstall all the CC apps including the Creative Cloud app from your new M3. Then reboot your Mac. Then do a fresh install of the CC apps. I don't think there's a need to do an entire wipe & reinstall of your entire system.

Sometimes migrating apps from one Mac to another doesn't work, especially if you are jumping major macOS versions & especially when jumping from Intel to Apple Silicon. This is usually an app problem not a macOS problem.

There's actually three more locations to clear, sorry for the confusion.

Please also check:

~/Library/Application Support/

~/Library/Preferences/

~/Library/Caches/

I'm not sure why they were missing from my first post on this, but it's important to check these too.

Rosetta is very small and only runs when needed by an app; it will not add bloat to your Mac. Uninstalling it is not recommended; you would be taking some risks with your system; it's best to let it be. Here is more info about Rosetta -> If you need to install Rosetta on your Mac - Apple Support

Rosetta is a compiler developed by Apple to "translate" apps written for Intel Macs to code that can be understood by the newer Apple Silicon Macs. It's benign, and doesn't take up much space on your internal storage. It only runs when needed, so it shouldn't cause any issues. Adobe does have current versions of their CC apps that are updated to run on Apple Silicon Macs without the need for Rosetta. So, yes...I'd uninstall your CC apps, reboot...then download/reinstall them.

If you have migrated from a previous Adobe CC installation on an Intel-based Mac using the Migration Assistant, you might overcome your issue by installing Rosetta 2 either via the auto-install that's invoked by launching a legacy app or, more predictably, by using the Terminal command line:-

softwareupdate --install-rosetta

When I did this, some daemon or doodad spontaneously leapt into action and my friend's Lightroom Classic catalog was migrated/upgraded in about 5 minutes.

From the deepest part of my being, thank you. I have been troubleshooting this for over 3 hours and your method was the ONLY method out of about 8 that I tried. I was about to give up until I came across your comment and thought, “One last shot. If it doesn’t work, I’m wiping my entire computer.” Thank you for saving me so much time and headache!