When you launch Adobe After Effects, most menu items are dimmed, and the only open panel is the Render Queue, which is full screen.

Solution: Launch the main After Effects application

You have launched After Effects in the After Effects Render Engine mode by doing one of the following:

Send projects right from After Effects interface. GarageFarm.NET render farm software allows you to send an AE project directly from the interface. Once you have an account created, which is a breeze, and our app installed, all you need to do is prepare your project for rendering on the farm. You have launched After Effects in the After Effects Render Engine mode by doing one of the following: You clicked the After Effects Render Engine icon instead of the normal After Effects application icon. There is a file named aerenderonlynode.txt in your documents folder, as described here. The industry-standard animation and creative compositing app lets you design and deliver professional motion graphics and visual effects for film, TV, video, and web. Create editable 3D elements right inside After Effects with the new 3D rendering engine that uses Cinema 4D technology.

You clicked the After Effects Render Engine icon instead of the normal After Effects application icon.
There is a file named ae_render_only_node.txt in your documents folder, as described here:
After Effects Help | Automated rendering and network rendering

To resolve the problem, either launch After Effects using the normal application icon (for example, Adobe After Effects CC 2014), or remove instances of the ae_render_only_node.txt file.

Adobe After Effects Render Engine App Macromedia

The ae_render_only_node.txt file can be in one of the following locations:

Adobe After Effects Render Engine

Mac locations:
/Users/[user name]/Documents/
/Users/Shared/Adobe/

Adobe After Effects Render Engine App Machine

Windows locations:
C:Users[user name]Documents
C:UsersPublicDocumentsAdobe