Known Participant

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

Forum|Forum|29 days ago
August 18, 2026
125 replies
1211 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

Show previous replies

Peru Bob

Community Expert

Try resetting the preferences.

To restore preferences quickly using a keyboard shortcut:

Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (Mac OS) as you start Photoshop. You are prompted to delete the current settings. The new preferences files are created the next time you start Photoshop.

Note: Using the keyboard shortcut, preference files for custom shortcuts, workspaces, and color settings will also be reset to default.

P

paiser01

Participating Frequently

Ik heb dit ook geprobeerd, geen effect.

M

Manan Joshi

Community Expert

What error do you get?

-Manan

P

paiser01

Participating Frequently

Geen error, tijdens het inlezen van het programma stopt photoshop gewoon!

P

paiser01

Participating Frequently

Ik gebruik CCD de nieuwste versie van Photoshop is geïnstalleerd, Illustrator, Lightroom InDesign geen problemen.
Iemand een idee?

Joanna33240651ucg4

Participant

I feel your pain and I’m equally irritated. Nothing works. Drivers? Nope. Running as an administrator? Nope. Firewall? Nope. Settings? Nope. And now there is no error reporting either. It suggested OpenCLOn12.dll problem earlier but after reinstalling it’s just pure magic. And it worked perfectly yesterday.

A

adaptable_Glitter5b08

Participant

Try resetting Photoshop’s preferences and make sure your GPU drivers are up to date. If it still won’t open, launching Photoshop while holding Ctrl + Alt + Shift can help reset the settings.

Design That Speaks, Creativity That Connects.

RG631971Author

Known Participant

Not exactly certain where you get the Ctrl + Alt + Shift approach. All that does is bring up the PS properties panel for a shortcut.

S

Sights Creative

Participating Frequently

I just tried this and while it didn’t work for me it did come up with a window “ Do You want to allow this app to make change to your device. Adobe Photoshop 2023….” umm I have PS 2026 don’t I or is newest version still 2023?

S

Sights Creative

Participating Frequently

Photoshop auto updated on me 1 day ago and now does not open. I use it daily and need it for work…. Unistalled and reinstalled and same issue. ADOBE???? V27.9.1 was working yesterday.

Update, rolled back a version and still not opening. Restarted system and have not installed anything new other than the creative cloud suite that updated yeaterday.

I’m now currently unistalling evereything Adobe. Then I’m going to only install the previous version of Photoshop that was working yesterday.

I’m desperate Have work for client due now.

Unfortunetly that didn’t work. I’m out of options. 😓

RG631971Author

Known Participant

Feel your pain. In my view, you can thank Adobe. The idea that no error reporting takes place in cases like this is ridiculous.

G

Gary31918347nsew

Participant

Same problem

J

JimL89

Participant

Same issue, same version.

I did the shift key and alt-ctrl-shift option, still hung non responsive on launch.

Last successful thing I did was launch PS from Lightroom Classic. I did my edits, saved, back to LRC. and closed PS. When I tried to launch PS from LRC again to edit another photo, it hung. Now, even after reboots, I can’t get back in to PS even from regular (not LRC) launch.

I don’t currently have the beta b/c last time I did that, it messed up the LR and LRC flows.

J

JimL89

Participant

I did an uninstall and reinstall, so far that is working.

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

If more than one person is getting around the issue by starting Photoshop without plugins and extensions, then there is a good chance they both/all have the same errant plugin installed. At least one of you needs to post a screen shot of your installed plugins so the others can confirm commonality. When you find it, there’s a good chance the author will be aware of the issue and has information on the plugin’s web page.

It might take a bit of back and forth because the plugins can be in groups and can’t all be twirled open at the same time, but you’ll get there.

There is a Plugin troubleshooting guide

Photoshop plug-ins troubleshooting | Photoshop

The help page suggests disabling GPU acceleration, but I am not so sure how relevant that would be as the plugin will likely not get its settings from Photoshop Preferences.

Trevor.Dennis

Community Expert

You also need to state the Photoshop version. v27.9.1 is the current Release version as I type this, but might not be by the time some people read the thread.

Also state your OS platform and version.

RG631971Author

Known Participant

Thanks for the response. It is PS v27.9.1 that has failed. The OS is Win 11 Pro with latest updates running on an i9 with 128Gb memory. A couple of problems with the approach however. First, PS was working (for me) two days ago with all the same plugins. Second, yesterday PS magically started. I did some editing, opened and closed it a few times. Thought the issue was resolved. Got up this morning and attempted to start it to the same issue. Splash screen displays until “measuring memory” scrolls and then disappears. Also, I attempted starting PS without plugins by pressing “shift”. Same problem exists with no plugins. I will look at the link but based on the aforementioned seems likely it is not a plug in problem.

M

Mystical_strategist8140

Participant

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: My PS v279.1 quit while trying to load brushes. I re-started PS loading a blank document with no plug-ins, add-ons, etc. After that I closed PS and opened like normal and it’s been working. Process is this:

Hold Shift (Windows) or Option (Mac) while launching to open a new, empty preferences file.

RG631971Author

Known Participant

Thanks for the suggestion but tried that early on. Clearly, based on your comment and others found on Adobe and other sites, the current rendition of PS is not exactly what I would call stable. Compounding the problem is Adobe’s determination not to provide any insight for users when a major error occurs. This concept of reinstalling and guessing/working through a myriad of potential problems is absolutely ridiculous. I can’t think of a single piece of software in recent memory (last 10 years or so, have been working with desktop technology since mid ‘80s) that consistently has these types of problems. And this is not a first. Have faced similar failures with PS numerous times over the last 3 years.

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