Bug Report: Photoshop 27.6 – WinTab still broken / Photoshop freezes when adjusting the brush size slider

Hi everyone,

I would like to report this explicitly as a bug report, and I kindly ask that it not be converted into a question. The behavior is reproducible in my setup and, from my point of view, affects WinTab support in Photoshop 27.6.

After updating to Photoshop 27.6, WinTab still no longer works reliably. I need WinTab because pen input is much smoother and more precise with it, especially when working with sliders, numeric input fields, and Photoshop UI controls in general.

Reproducible behavior

With WinTab enabled, Photoshop 27.6 freezes as soon as I move the brush size slider.

Important detail:

The freeze happens even when I move the slider with the mouse, not with the Wacom pen.

To me, this strongly suggests that this is not simply a Wacom pen issue, but a problem in Photoshop’s WinTab handling itself.

Test results in Photoshop 27.6

WinTab enabled

• opened a new test document
• selected the Brush tool
• moved the brush size slider using only the mouse
• Photoshop freezes immediately
• after switching between desktop and Photoshop, the application eventually becomes partially responsive again
• saving and closing is possible, but productive work is not

WinTab disabled / Windows Ink enabled

• same action with the mouse: no freeze
• same action with the pen: no freeze
• brush size slider basically works
• Photoshop remains responsive

Comparison with Photoshop 27.3.1

On the exact same system, Photoshop 27.3.1 works perfectly with WinTab:

• no freeze
• brush size slider works normally
• numeric fields and sliders can be controlled properly with the pen
• pen input feels much smoother and more precise overall
• productive work is possible without these issues

In my setup, the problem starts with Photoshop 27.4 and is still present in 27.5 and 27.6.

Already tested

I have tested this extensively since Photoshop 27.4:

• fresh Photoshop preferences / started without old settings
• tested Photoshop 27.4, 27.5, and 27.6
• disabled GPU support for testing
• GPU compatibility check: no issues
• enough RAM / VRAM / scratch disk space available
• current NVIDIA Studio Driver
• current Wacom driver 6.4.12-3
• older Wacom driver 6.4.10-3 tested
• older and newer Wacom devices tested
• Windows Ink and WinTab tested in different combinations

Current setup

• Photoshop 27.6
• Windows 11 25H2
• NVIDIA RTX 4090, current Studio Driver
• 96 GB RAM
• Wacom Intuos Pro PTK-670 / PTK-870
• Wacom Pro Pen 3
• Wacom driver 6.4.12-3

Conclusion

Since Photoshop 27.3.1 works reliably with WinTab on the exact same system, but Photoshop 27.6 freezes with WinTab enabled even when the brush size slider is moved with the mouse, this looks very much like a regression bug in Photoshop’s WinTab support starting with version 27.4.

Windows Ink is currently usable as a workaround in 27.6, but it does not fully replace WinTab for me, because slider handling, numeric fields, and some UI interactions are less precise.

Please treat this as a bug report regarding WinTab support in Photoshop 27.6 and forward it to the appropriate development team.

Thx a lot! 🦆🦆🦜🦆