P: (Windows) Photoshop v27.9.1 Crashes at launch: OpenCLOn12.dll exception 0xc0000409 (possible Windows/NVIDIA driver conflict)

Same issues here … have tried all the steps I am familiar with.  Splash screen comes up, it gets to memory and then disappears.  Nothing in my task window to stop, either.

Whenever I try to open Photoshop, it opens, then immediately closes. Just before closing, I get the prompt to either send or don’t send a report (I typically do send it). This happens EVERY time I try using Photoshop, so I’m dead in the water now. Nothing else on my system (Windows 11) has changed, and I have no issues with other applications.

Same problem here. 27.9.1 worked earlier but now does not go pass Measuring Memory step. This is a critical issue.

Completely sorted. It was not the Nvidia driver as Adobe said. It was the Windows OpenCL,OpenGL and Vulkan Compatibility Pack that was installed on the last windows update. I simply uninstalled it and turned my NVidia drivers back on and it works perfect. 

Hi ​@paiser01,

I understand you've already tried reinstalling and resetting preferences without success. Let's go a bit deeper.

Troubleshooting steps to try:

• Whitelist Photoshop in your antivirus/security software: Don't just temporarily disable your antivirus; instead, add Photoshop.exe (and the entire Adobe Photoshop installation folder) as an exception/exclusion in your security software. 
• Disable GPU acceleration before launch. While Photoshop is closed, rename the file:
  - C:\Users\[YourName]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2026\Adobe Photoshop 2025 Prefs.psp (add .bak to the end [Adobe Photoshop 2025 Prefs.psp.bak])
  - Then create a text file in the same folder named PSUserConfig.txt containing this single line: DisableGPU 1
  This forces Photoshop to skip GPU initialization at startup. If it launches successfully, the issue is GPU-related. Could you update your graphics driver or check GPU settings inside Photoshop once it opens?
• Launch Photoshop without third-party plugins. Hold Shift immediately after double-clicking Photoshop to skip loading optional/third-party plugins. If Photoshop starts normally, one of your third-party plugins is causing the hang. Re-enable them one by one to find the culprit.
• A corrupt font on your system can freeze Photoshop during startup. Try temporarily moving all non-system fonts out of your Fonts folder (or use a font manager to deactivate all custom fonts), then launch Photoshop.
• Open the Windows Start menu and select Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners.

  

  Select the Adobe PDF printer, then click OK to save your changes. If you can't find the Adobe PDF printer, choose any printer, such as Microsoft XPS, or send it to OneNote. Select Set as default and ensure that Allow Windows to manage My default printer option is deselected.

A few questions that may help narrow it down:

• Are you on Windows or Mac, and which version of the OS?
• Does the splash screen always stop at the same point (e.g., always at "Loading plugins..." or "Initializing..."), or does it vary?
• Do you have any third-party plugins installed (e.g., Nik Collection, Topaz, DxO)?

These answers will help us pinpoint where exactly the startup process is hanging.

Best,
Anshul Saini

Do you have an integrated Intel GPU in addition to the RTX 4060? The most common problem with laptops is conflicting dual GPUs. Typical symptoms are crashing and freezing. The standard advice is to disable the Intel GPU in Windows device manager.

There is no way for Photoshop to control which GPU is being called. That depends entirely on how the laptop manufacturer has configured the operating system and the two GPU drivers - and this is something that can change in an update.

Dual GPUs are fine for simple applications that just send data one way downstream. But Photoshop uses the GPU in a much more complex way, as an integral part of the processing pipeline.

As for the Nvidia driver, what you can do is uninstall it, and when you reinstall, check “clean install”. This will remove all traces of the old driver(s).

All that said, some people have had issues with the 610 drivers from Nvidia. I’m one of them - nothing major, but a couple of annoyances - and I rolled back to 596.36, which has proved very stable and reliable.

See here: Photoshop will not open | Adobe DME

PRODUCT & VERSION
- Photoshop 2026, version 27.9.1.1
- Photoshop (Beta), version 27.11.0.3640 (auto-updated 8/19/2026, same day the crash started)

OPERATING SYSTEM
Windows 11, version 25H2 (build 26200.9168, after KB5121003 installed 8/12/2026)

HARDWARE
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, Studio driver 610.88 (installed 7/28/2026 via NVIDIA app, currently the latest available version)

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. Double-click the Photoshop (or Photoshop Beta) icon.
2. The splash screen appears and reaches the "Measuring Memory" stage.
3. The application crashes/closes within 1-2 seconds, before the workspace loads.

EXPECTED RESULT
Photoshop opens normally to the workspace.

ACTUAL RESULT
The application crashes silently every single time, in both the stable and Beta builds, with an identical crash signature.

CRASH DETAILS (from Windows Event Viewer, Event ID 1000, Application Error)
- Faulting module: OpenCLOn12.dll (version 0.0.0.0)
- Module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.D3DMappingLayers_1.2608.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\x64\OpenCLOn12.dll
- Exception code: 0xc0000409 (stack buffer overrun)
- Fault offset: 0x00000000000eb625 (identical in both stable and Beta crash logs)
- Stable Photoshop.exe crash logged: 8/19/2026 10:06:49 AM
- Photoshop (Beta).exe crash logged: 8/19/2026 9:57:30 AM

TROUBLESHOOTING ALREADY PERFORMED
- Confirmed no custom ICC color profile is assigned to the display (rules out a wide-gamut/Display P3 OpenCL initialization issue).
- Confirmed the Microsoft "OpenCL, OpenGL and Vulkan Compatibility Pack" (which contains the faulting DLL) is fully up to date (v1.2608.1.0, last updated 8/17/2026) — no pending Microsoft Store updates.
- Confirmed the NVIDIA Studio driver is the latest available (610.88). "Roll Back Driver" is available in Device Manager, but this same driver was working without issue as recently as a few days ago.
- Found in Windows Update's driver history that a separate NVIDIA display driver package (version 31.0.15.2892, dated 8/12/2026) was installed automatically by Windows Update, alongside the manually-installed NVIDIA Studio driver — this may have left the graphics driver stack in a mixed/inconsistent state.
- Windows 11 update KB5121003 (installed 8/12/2026) is independently and widely reported by other users/outlets to cause graphics-driver-related instability (black screens, HDR issues, refresh rate problems) in unrelated apps and games, suggesting a possible system-level regression rather than an Adobe-specific bug.
- Both the stable and Beta builds crash with the exact same fault offset, which suggests the issue lies in the shared OpenCL-on-DirectX12 system component rather than in Photoshop's own code.

Attaching Event Viewer screenshots for both crashes below.

I had same issues different versions of photoshop, none of them working, window opened and started to load an then nothing…. tried first all the reset, reinstalling and other stuff, and finally it was simply my nvidia driver that needed to be updated, installed the latest driver of nvidia studio driver and now it works fine again.

I dont really understand why a driver, a stable version of phoshop, with no changes at all stopped working, why did my graphic card or photoshop needed a new driver to make it work while it was working fine yesterday...but anyway update nvidia studio driver worked for me.

I can confirm that this issue is still present in Photoshop 27.9.1.

Photoshop 2026 (27.9.1) closes immediately after displaying the splash screen and cannot be launched.

Windows Event Viewer records the same crash on every attempt:

Faulting application: Photoshop.exe
Application version: 27.9.1.1
Faulting module: OpenCLOn12.dll
Module path: C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.D3DMappingLayers_1.2608.1.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\x64\OpenCLOn12.dll
Exception code: 0xc0000409
Fault offset: 0x00000000000eb625

System information:

• Windows 11
• Hybrid GPU system with an NVIDIA RTX Laptop GPU and Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• Intel driver updated to the latest official Intel release (Microsoft-signed, device status OK)
• Microsoft.D3DMappingLayers: 1.2608.1.0
• Active display color profile: sRGB Color Space Profile.icm

Troubleshooting already completed:

• Reset Photoshop preferences
• Launched while holding Shift to skip optional and third-party plug-ins
• Restarted Windows
• Checked and updated both NVIDIA and Intel GPU drivers
• Ran the sniffer.exe included with Photoshop

sniffer.exe enumerates the native NVIDIA and Intel OpenCL implementations as well as Microsoft OpenCLOn12. The Intel device exposed by Microsoft OpenCLOn12 is marked as "Preferred." Both sniffer.exe and Photoshop.exe then terminate with exception 0xc0000409.

Photoshop launches normally when I add GPUDeny 1 to PSUserConfig.txt using Adobe's documented option. However, this completely disables the GPU and is not an acceptable permanent solution. This result strongly indicates that GPU/OpenCL enumeration during startup triggers the crash.

The DLL name, exception code, and fault offset exactly match the Photoshop 27.7 report in this thread. The problem is still present in Photoshop 27.9.1.

Please update Photoshop so that it does not crash when a faulty OpenCL implementation is detected and can fall back to the native NVIDIA or Intel implementation. Please also add this issue to the official Known Issues page and provide a fix status or supported workaround.