Dreamweaver closes straight after opening

Submitted by Dan Murfitt on Wed, 10/09/2008 - 19:29

Tags:

This really is one of the strangest software bugs I've come across!

The Problem

Dreamweaver crashes and won't open again. When you try and open Dreamweaver it just closes straight away, with nothing more than a glimpse of the splash screen.

The Solution

One of the CSS files in the site you were working on has a file size which is a multiple of 8kb (mine was 24kb). You can try anything; rebooting, reinstalling, but Dreamweaver won't play ball if the file is still there. You need open the CSS file in another text editor and add a few dummy lines of comment text to increase the file size slightly; you should then find Dreamweaver will open again normally.

Thanks to David Powers for this. Please feel free to leave any comments below.

Comments

Mahesh (not verified)

Wed, 01/07/2009 - 13:02

hai Dan,

I tried doing same , by increasing the file size, but still DW is not opening.

cheers,
Mahesh

Kris (not verified)

Fri, 21/08/2009 - 09:51

Thanks for this - I just experienced the problem and found this post which help me resolve it.

However, my problem was not the size of the style, it was the fact that one of my lines was terminated with a single quote instead of a semi colon. See below:

background: url(../images/small-prod-arrow-orange.png) top left no-repeat'

Once I removed this line via a text editor, DW opened with no problems.

Jo (not verified)

Tue, 26/01/2010 - 12:00

Hey i had the exact same problem, mine was at 26kb when the styles.css kept crashing. Then i tried out your method and it works now (fingers crossed). I created a new html file and renamed it as a css file, then i copied and pasted the old 'crash' code into there, and added extra dummy text to make it to 28kb. I took out the old css file out of the folder.

Pete (not verified)

Thu, 01/04/2010 - 23:41

Wow, thanks so much for that, mine was 16k. Saved me a lot of trouble as I just inserted my Master Collection to reinstall. I owe you a pint! ;-)

Jo (not verified)

Sun, 04/04/2010 - 13:20

Hehe its cool, glad that it worked for you too. Is weird how it works but luckily there was an easy solution.

James (not verified)

Wed, 25/08/2010 - 11:34

I just had this problem too - my CSS file was 24kb, tried changing it to 25kb but still wouldn't open. Moved my entire CSS folder outside of the site root and then Dreamweaver opened ok. So then checked my last changes in Notepad and found that I too had a line ending with a single quote mark. Changed that to a semi colon and moved the CSS folder back - all opened fine.

Diptanshu (not verified)

Sun, 05/09/2010 - 09:29

My css file is 5.3k but DW still crashed.

The problem (which I haven't yet located) is in one of the JS files. I removed the links to the JS files and DW worked fine.

D.

clony (not verified)

Tue, 12/10/2010 - 17:30

I had CS4, pulled it all out and put CS5, have the same problem :/

I have no idea what CSS file is causing this and i'm not about to start changing them all....

Jo (not verified)

Thu, 14/10/2010 - 12:25

You should try and create a new html file and renamed it as a css file, then copy and paste the old 'crash' code into there, and add extra dummy text to make it to 28kb (or a higher file size to your current one). Take out the old css file out of the folder.

Hope this works for you. Good luck.

Diptanshu (not verified)

Thu, 18/11/2010 - 16:33

base64 encoded stylesheet will cause DW to crash. The site works fine-no errors. But DW has a problem opening any page if this type of css file is linked to it.

So, comment out the line and edit as usual. Restore once you have finished editing the page.

D.

David (not verified)

Tue, 07/12/2010 - 20:29

Amazing, I had the same problem and almost couldn't believe my eyes reading your fix, but sure enough, the CSS file I was last editing was 8KB!

I added the dummy text and POOF, dreamweaver is playing ball again :)

Thanks a million!

Alison (not verified)

Fri, 28/01/2011 - 05:23

I've been researching this issue for 2 hours. The Adobe support site didn't provide any insight. I read your blog and saw that my style sheet was 8kb. I added some text in Notepad which changed the size to 9kb and BAM, I could open Dreamweaver again. YOU ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I was panicking big time.

~Alison

Stannesi (not verified)

Mon, 14/03/2011 - 04:12

I used a use a opening quote (') without closing it... Like this

Background:url('/imgs/logo.png) no-repeat;

All I did was open the css in a text editor like notepad and remove the opening quote (') and poof it works like magic.

danwebman (not verified)

Wed, 30/03/2011 - 14:24

I also had the same problem with Dreamweaver CS4. I have a remote copy of the site, so I just deleted the local copy on my hard drive and boom! -> problem solved.

Kato (not verified)

Sat, 21/05/2011 - 14:08

Wish I would have found your solution sooner. Set me back on a project almost 2 days! Had the same problem - added a few comment to my CSS and it worked like a charm. Seems kinda unacceptable that such a big, so called "advanced" program has so many bugs. Think i may look for another editor....even though most aren't as robust, at least they work.

Thanks again!

Hitcliff J. (not verified)

Tue, 07/06/2011 - 09:26

whatever the problem was I was having (DW) crashing and not even getting started good before crashing again . it was a nightmare and I lost 2 days on this, cause no tutorials on DW helped! I unistalled the entire suite and still nothing – matter of fact, worse off than before bc it failed to install ANY program! Finally after an hour wait with Adobe Tech Support, they were able to atleast get my programs to install. yet DW was still crashing with this certain site – I followed this guys instructions and edited the CSS through notepad and BOOM – problem solved! what a joke.

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