Photoshop and PS Beta Won't Open?

Taken from Google AI search results:

Common Fixes and Workarounds:

• Update Software: Upgrade to the latest version of Photoshop (2026) via the Adobe Creative Cloud application.
• Reset Preferences: Manually delete preferences by navigating to Macintosh HD/Users/UserName/Library/Preferences and removing the "Adobe Photoshop 2025 Settings" folder, "Adobe Photoshop 2025 Paths", and com.adobe.Photoshop.plist.
• Check Security Settings: If the application appears "damaged," go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and select "open anyway".
• Edit Info.plist: For older versions, right-click the app, choose "Show Package Contents," open Contents/Info.plist in a text editor, and change <string>14.5</string> to a higher version number.
• Downgrade macOS: If the above do not work, you may need to revert to an earlier macOS version. 

   

Does Photoshop has worked in the past?

If yes, what has been changed on your system before the issue occur?

Before you invest a lot of time to check for a solution I would try to do a clean reinstallation by following the steps below:

• Backup all personal data, like actions, workspaces, template, presets, catalogs  etc.
• Uninstall everything cc including preferences,    https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-remove-app.html
• Uninstall the cc desktop app,    https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/uninstall-creative-cloud-desktop-app.html
• Clean your computer of CC files per   http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cscleanertool.html
• Restart your computer (don't skip this)
• Reinstall the CC desktop app,    https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/desktop-app.html
• Use the desktop app to install your cc programs/trials
• Restore your personal data.

If you're unable to install the cc desktop app at this stage, use an administrator account (solution 4 here,    https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/creative-cloud-missing-damaged.html)

Hi ​@LauraMacky, thanks for reaching out! If you’re able to launch Photoshop by pressing and holding the Shift key, then that mean Photoshop is bypassing the optional and third-party plug-ins on launch. 

This would indicate an issue with the plug-ins installed on the machine that are preventing Photoshop and Photoshop Beta from launching. Try resetting the preferences of Photoshop manually as suggested by AxelMatt. If it helps, we can then try to re-install the plug-ins one at a time to see which plug-in is causing the issue. 

Let us know how it goes!

Thanks, 

Nikunj

Try a manual reset of the preferences:

Manually reset preferences

Close Photoshop completely.

Navigate to the Preferences folder:

• Windows: C:\Users<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop <version>\Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
• macOS: /Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop <version> Settings

Copy the Adobe Photoshop <version> Settings folder to another location.

Delete or rename the original Adobe Photoshop <version> Settings folder.

Launch Photoshop. New preference files will be created automatically with default settings.