Known Participant

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

Forum|Forum|1 month ago
August 18, 2026
131 replies
1480 views

Simply went to open Photoshop. Intro screen came up and little blue wheel was spinning but then it just stopped, no messages, etc. Went through various potential solutions on Adobe and on the internet. Nothing worked. Finally uninstalled and reinstalled through Creative Cloud. Had put it in “Run as Administrator” in trying to solve the problem. Changed that and Photoshop ran once. When attempting to reopen it again, it would not run. Lightroom works. The Beta version of PS works.

Pinned Reply By Sameer K

Hi everyone! This thread is now designated as the main thread for tracking and consolidating similar and related reports. I have shared this with the team for their review.

Based on detailed investigations and feedback from affected contributors, we understand that the issue may be stemming from external sources (non-Adobe).

Here are two of the user-reported workarounds you can try:

Uninstall the Microsoft OpenCL/OpenGL Compatibility Pack: Go to Windows Settings > Apps > Installed Apps > search for "OpenCL, OpenGL and Vulkan Compatibility Pack" > Uninstall. This removes the broken OpenCLOn12.dll translation layer entirely, forcing Photoshop to use NVIDIA's native OpenCL driver instead.
Uninstall Windows Update KB5121003: Go to Windows Settings > Windows Update > Update History > Uninstall updates > remove KB5121003. This rolls back the Aug 12 update that introduced the NVIDIA driver conflict and triggered the D3DMappingLayers auto-update.

Will circle back to update, or post new notes from the team soon.

Thanks!
Sameer K

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E

elainea49760014

Participant

My Photoshop shuts down the second I open it.

D Fosse

Community Expert

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Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @Clark S.,

Thanks for reaching out. Being completely unable to launch Photoshop is frustrating. Since the crash reporter is appearing consistently right after launch, here are some targeted steps to narrow down the cause:

1. Hold Shift immediately after clicking the Photoshop icon. When prompted, click Yes to "Skip loading optional and third-party plug-ins?" If Photoshop stays open and a plug-in is the culprit, you can then re-enable them one by one to isolate which one it is.

2. Corrupt preferences are a common cause of immediate-on-launch crashes. Hold Ctrl + Alt + Shift while launching Photoshop and confirm that you want to delete the settings file. This resets Photoshop to defaults (your documents are untouched).

3. Update your graphics driver directly from the manufacturer. We've seen recent reports of crashes on Windows 11 tied to outdated Intel (and sometimes NVIDIA) display drivers. Go directly to Intel's or NVIDIA's website (not Windows Update) and install the latest available driver for your GPU.

4. If the crash started after a recent Photoshop update, roll back one version. In the Creative Cloud desktop app, go to Photoshop > ⋯ (three dots) > Other versions, and install the previous version to see if the issue is specific to the latest build.

A couple of quick questions that would help us narrow this further:

Do you know what GPU (graphics card) your system has, Intel integrated, NVIDIA, AMD, or a combination?

Did this start happening after a specific Photoshop or Windows update, or did it begin seemingly out of nowhere?

How long does Photoshop stay open before crashing? Does it get past the splash/loading screen, or does it crash during the splash?

Let us know how it goes with the steps above, and we can dig deeper from there.

Best,

Anshul Saini

C

Clark S.

Participant

Hi Anshul,

thank you for your suggestions- I tried all of these things, then finally reached out to Adobe support (see my comment to another poster above).

M

MrFreeze33

Participant

Same issue here.

RG631971Author

Known Participant

First, I want to say thanks for all the people who attempted to suggest a solution. I think I have eventually found the culprit in my case and it looks to be as if the same or something similar impacts a number of people. It does relate to the video driver. As noted elsewhere, my event viewer error related to OpenCL…dll. My video card and drivers are NVidea. RTX 4060 Ti and latest studio version. In continuing to try and solve the problem, I stumbled across the fact my computer had an additional video driver from Intel. Thinking it was redundant/not used I deleted it. Windows reinstalled on boot and PS began working again. I am assuming the driver was being used and somehow got corrupted. I have no idea as to why or how since I did not have any specifically related error messages. I hope this might be something else to check that will resolve this issue for others as well.

From all the comments it seems it takes a relatively ill defined trial and error approach to identify this type of problem. I maintain that Adobe could facilitate identifying potential solutions for PS users by better error checking and reporting. A general overview of the process and/or how PS differs from PS beta as an application would also help. Obviously, there is a significant difference since PS beta continued to run throughout. And even though some users have developed a troubleshooting process and shared it (again thanks), starting with more definitive input would be monumental. Especially if people are facing professional work deadlines dependent upon viable software.

I have had various problems with Adobe software over the last couple of years or so. I have been critical but do not think it has been unwarranted. Considering much of the feedback on these forums and many others, seems a decent portion of the customer base is frustrated with the Adobe approach of late. Many of the software’s capabilities are impressive and have been for years. However, out of the blue failures that take hours to figure out for those without a highly detailed understanding of the intricacies of computer hardware and similar “developer” expertise has come to potentially outweigh the benefits. The indifference Adobe shows to how so many of their users work is also disconcerting.

M

MrFreeze33

Participant

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.

C

Clark S.

Participant

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.

E

eworkflow9

Participant

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

S

Sights Creative

Participating Frequently

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.

E

eworkflow9

Participant

My Photoshop 27.9.1 and PS Beta 27.11 were working earlier but refused to start today past Measuring Memory step. I tried all the remedies I found here (except reinstalling OpenCL) and nothing worked. What finally worked was downgrading my Nvida driver to the previous studio version (from 610.88 to 610.62).

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

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

P

paiser01

Participating Frequently

Thanks Anshul

Ik gebruik Windows 11 Home

Ja na de regel controleren van geheugen verschijnt de volgende (gaat te snel om het te lezen) en dan is het scherm weg

Ik heb met shift opgestart, krijg de vraag of ik zonder derde partij plugins wil opstarten, maar dan kan ik niet op ja klikken en verdwijnt alles weer.

Ook opstarten met alt+shift+ctrl geeft een popup en na op ja geklikt te hebben verdwijnt alles.

D Fosse

Community Expert

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.

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