P: Photoshop 27.6 & later – WinTab still broken / Photoshop freezes when adjusting the brush size slider

Hi everyone,

I’m merging this thread into the existing bug report covering the same Photoshop/WinTab brush-control issue so that we can keep the reproduction details, testing results, and user reports together in one place for investigation.

The existing thread contains additional findings around PSUserConfig.txt / WinTab, the Brush and Brush Settings panels, and the difference between Photoshop 27.3.1 and newer releases.

Please continue any further updates or testing in the merged thread so we can keep all the information consolidated for the product team.

Thanks for all the detailed testing and reports.

A work-around to set the Hardness slider and also Size slider for Windows is to use the Keyboard shortcut of ALT+CTRL+right click on mouse and drag left or right for size and up and down for Hardness. Time-consuming but works. Also as someone else suggested, I found that if the Brush and Brush Settings Panels are turned off using the Toggle button in the Options Bar, the Brush Preset Picker in the Options bar will let you adjust the Hardness and Size. If you open the panels, the picker quits working. I also noticed after painting with a brush for a while, it quits working but says it is in the History panel. And it is not just the regular brush, it can be the Eraser, Smudge Tool or Pattern Stamp Tool. I too have been using PS2025 for painting as it does not seem to have as many problems. Hope they fix this soon. 

I’m experiencing the same problem, I tried everything mentioned in this thread but nothing worked. For my work I’m constantly fiddling with the brushes parameters. I’m forced to us ps 2025 in the meantime

I keep having the same problem, updated to 27.9.1 but the problem represents, I had to revert photoshop back cause It’s impossible for me to work. I tried every solution proposed in the thread but none seems to solve it.

Reference to the previous thread:

https://community.adobe.com/bug-reports-711/bug-report-photoshop-27-6-wintab-still-broken-photoshop-freezes-when-adjusting-the-brush-size-slider-1559478

After Wacom Support officially confirmed to me that this bug could be reproduced in Photoshop and had already been reported to Adobe, I would like to open a new bug report referring to the previous report, which was subsequently converted into a question.

At the same time, I found a workaround that allows affected users to continue working with current Photoshop versions, Wacom tablets and WinTab instead of Windows Ink.

Why WinTab is important to me

Using WinTab with Wacom tablets eliminates a number of serious usability problems that I experience with Windows Ink.

These include, among other things:

• lagging or jerky sliders
• difficult input in numerical fields
• intermittent loss of pen pressure, especially when switching between applications
• additional input problems in Adobe applications and partly at Windows system level

These problems do not occur for me when using WinTab. From discussions in the Wacom and Adobe forums, I know that many other users have similar experiences. This is why maintaining reliable WinTab support remains very important.

Bug description

The problem has existed since Photoshop 27.4. It definitely did not occur in Photoshop 27.3.1.

When WinTab is enabled via the Adobe workaround and the brush-size slider in the Brush Settings panel is adjusted, Photoshop freezes.

Switching repeatedly between Photoshop and the Windows desktop can sometimes make Photoshop respond again temporarily. The document can then usually be saved and Photoshop closed, but normal editing is no longer possible. As soon as the brush-size slider is used again, the program freezes once more.

Wacom Support has confirmed to me in writing that this behaviour is known, can be reproduced and still occurs in Photoshop 27.8.

Additional finding and workaround

I have now found that the freeze occurs when both of the following panels are visible at the same time:

• Brushes
• Brush Settings

Both panels contain a control for the brush size. When the brush size is changed in one panel, the corresponding value apparently also has to be updated in the other panel.

As long as only one of these two panels is visible, Photoshop works normally for me. When both panels are visible at the same time, Photoshop freezes after several brush strokes or brush-size adjustments.

Workaround

Place the Brushes and Brush Settings panels in the same panel group as separate tabs, so that only one of them is visible at a time.

This allows me to continue using Photoshop 27.8 with Wacom and WinTab without the freeze.

However, this is still only a workaround. It is particularly inconvenient for users working with two monitors specifically so that important panels can remain permanently visible and immediately accessible.

Based on the behaviour, the problem appears to be related to the synchronization of the brush-size controls in the two panels when WinTab is active. This is only an observation from my tests; the exact technical cause would of course need to be determined by Adobe.

Request

Please keep this thread categorized as a bug report.

The problem is reproducible, has been confirmed by Wacom Support and has existed since Photoshop 27.4. It would be greatly appreciated if Adobe could investigate and fix it so that reliable operation with WinTab and Wacom tablets remains supported.

This is particularly important because Wacom tablets are officially supported and widely used by professional Photoshop users.

System information

• Photoshop 27.8
• Windows 11 25H2
• ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
• AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D
• ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 4090
• 96 GB DDR5 RAM, 2 × 48 GB, 5200 MHz
• Wacom Intuos Pro PTK-670 and PTK-870
• Current Wacom driver
• WinTab enabled using PSUserConfig.txt with UseSystemStylus 0

All relevant system and device drivers are up to date.

Further details about the previous troubleshooting and tests can be found in the original thread linked above.

Thx  a lot!  🛸

​@CMass 

Hello again! 🤓

Small update regarding Photoshop Beta (27.8):

I just tested Wintab in it.

Setup:

• PSUserConfig.txt with UseSystemStylus 0
• Windows Ink disabled for Photoshop in Wacom Center
• Brush tool selected
• brush size slider tested

Result:

The brush size slider works a few times, but then Photoshop freezes again. After switching to the desktop and back to Photoshop, the slider becomes temporarily usable again, until the next freeze occurs.

So unfortunately, the WinTab / brush size slider freeze still seems to be present in Photoshop Beta as well.

🚧🫎

Hey @HubertusausBerlin,

Thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed bug report, it’s really helpful. I’ve passed this along to the team so we can try to reproduce it on our end.

If we’re not able to reproduce the issue, we may need to move it to Questions while we gather a bit more detail. In the meantime, any videos or screenshots you can share would definitely help us in our investigation.

We’ll keep you posted as we continue working to reproduce this.

^CM

@Mileon17 wrote: “I think it’s not about the smoothing”

Can you tell us what happens when you change your Smoothing from 0% to 100%?

Jane

Hi ​@Mileon17 ,

Ensure smoothing is enabled.
Steps:

1.     Select the Brush Tool (B)
2.     Look at the top toolbar
3.     Find Smoothing and inscrease the value.

Let us know if this helps

mj

​@Mileon17 try manually resetting your Photoshop preferences