Resolving the “Agreement Not Accepted” Loop for AI Tools

The “Agreement Not Accepted” loop occurs when Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator repeatedly presents the Generative AI User Guidelines agreement every time you attempt to use an AI tool, despite clicking “Accept” or “Agree.” Instead of unlocking features like Generative Fill or Text to Vector, the dialogue reappears immediately on the next click, locking you out of the tools. This failure happens when your desktop application cannot write the acceptance token to your local disk storage or when network firewalls block the confirmation message sent to Adobe’s authentication servers.

Fast Fix

Log into firefly.adobe.com in a web browser using your Adobe ID, run a basic generation prompt, and click Accept on the terms of service prompt that appears online. Once accepted through the browser, restart Photoshop. The desktop client will sync with Adobe’s servers and clear the local prompt loop.

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Why the Terms Agreement Gets Trapped in a Loop

When you accept Adobe’s generative guidelines inside a desktop application, two events must succeed simultaneously:

Agreement Acceptance Process
 ├── 1. Cloud Gateway Update  ──► HTTPS ping to auth.services.adobe.com marks profile as "Agreed".
 └── 2. Local Token Write     ──► Desktop writes an authorization key to local OOBE/CEF storage.

If either leg of this process fails, the software enters an infinite loop:

1. Local Disk Permission Locks: If your operating system sets the OOBE or Adobe CEF Helper application folders to read-only, Photoshop cannot save the file confirming you clicked “Accept.” Every time you click the button, the action is lost as soon as the dialog closes.
2. Network Interception: Ad-blocking software, corporate network filters, or third-party firewalls can silently block the outbound HTTPS call that reports your acceptance back to Adobe’s licensing servers.
3. Session Token Desynchronization: If your Creative Cloud session expires while Photoshop is open, the client displays the agreement dialog repeatedly because it cannot attach the acceptance to a validated login token.

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Diagnostic Flow: Finding Where the Acceptance Fails

"Agreement Not Accepted" Loop
 │
 ├── Step 1: Open firefly.adobe.com in your browser. Log in and test a prompt.
 │    │
 │    ├── Does the web portal allow you to accept and generate?
 │    │    └── YES ──► Root cause: Local desktop write failure or corrupted cache.
 │    │                 Fix: Clear local OOBE and CEF cache folders.
 │    │
 │    └── NO  ──► Root cause: Account-level or network-level block.
 │                 Proceed to Step 2.
 │
 └── Step 2: Are you on a managed corporate, school, or VPN network?
      └── YES ──► Network is blocking Adobe authentication endpoints.
                   Fix: Temporarily disconnect VPN or whitelist licensing domains.

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Resolution Procedures

1. The Web Portal Authentication Bypass (Primary Fix)

Because desktop clients often struggle with cached browser states, accepting the agreement directly on Adobe’s primary cloud servers bypasses local software communication bugs entirely.

1. Save your open work and exit Photoshop.
2. Open your web browser and navigate to firefly.adobe.com.
3. Click Sign In in the upper-right corner and enter the exact email address and password associated with your Creative Cloud desktop app.
4. On the Firefly homepage, click into the text prompt field at the bottom, type "test", and press Enter.
5. The system will display the User Guidelines & Generative AI Additional Terms agreement modal.
6. Click Agree or Accept.
7. Ensure the generation completes and returns image variations in your browser window.
8. Reopen Photoshop on your computer. The application will pull your updated profile credentials from the cloud, and the agreement pop-up will no longer appear.

2. Clearing Corrupted Local OOBE and CEF Storage

If accepting the terms via your browser does not clear the desktop prompt, Photoshop is reading a corrupt local cache file that prevents the updated token from being recognized.

Cache Directory Paths:
Windows: %localappdata%\Adobe\OOBE
macOS:   ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE

1. Quit Photoshop and completely exit the Creative Cloud Desktop application (right-click the taskbar/menu bar icon and select Quit).
2. Open your operating system file browser:
   • Windows: Press Win+R, paste %localappdata%\Adobe\OOBE, and press Enter.
   • macOS: Open Finder, press Cmd+Shift+G, paste ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE, and press Enter.
3. Delete the contents inside the OOBE folder. This clears stored session tokens without deleting your documents or preferences.
4. For deeper system cleanup steps, consult How to Reset the OOBE Cache to Fix UI Glitches.
5. Relaunch Creative Cloud Desktop, sign in with your credentials, and open Photoshop.

3. Fixing Folder Permissions on Adobe Application Support

If your operating system prevents applications from writing to the system configuration directory, acceptance tokens cannot be saved:

• Windows Permissions Check:
  1. Navigate to C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Local\Adobe.
  2. Right-click the Adobe folder and select Properties.
  3. Ensure Read-only is unchecked.
  4. Switch to the Security tab, click your user account, and confirm you have Full control. Click Apply.
• macOS Terminal Permission Reset:
  1. Open Terminal.
  2. Enter the following command and press Enter: sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/Library/Application\ Support/Adobe
  3. Enter your macOS administrator password when prompted. This restores ownership of Adobe configuration folders to your active user account.

4. Whitelisting Authentication Endpoints

If you are operating behind a hardware firewall, commercial router protection, or an enterprise security gateway, confirm that the following domains are not blocked by SSL inspection:

• auth.services.adobe.com
• ims-na1.adobelogin.com
• firefly.adobe.com
• cc-api-storage.adobe.io

If your connection fails to verify these domains, review Fixing “Connection Error” While Authenticating AI Tools.

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Enterprise Account Complications

If your Creative Cloud account is assigned through an enterprise agreement or school domain, administrative policies may prevent individual users from accepting generative terms.

In enterprise environments with strict governance rules, an Adobe Admin Console System Administrator must accept the master terms of use on behalf of the organization before users can access generative tools.

If you are an enterprise subscriber and the web portal bypass also fails, your IT administrator needs to follow the configuration steps in Troubleshooting the “Safety Filter” on Enterprise-Managed Firefly.