Skip to main content
N
noah_6722
Participant
August 16, 2026
Question

Photoshop does not start, only the splash screen shows and then nothing happens.

  • August 16, 2026
  • 6 replies
  • 82 views

When trying to open Photoshop (any version) the splash screen opens as usual but when it goes away nothing happens, no background task or anthing, Photoshop completely crashes. The splash sceen always dissapears at the same mesage, roughly translated from german it says “calculating memory/storage”. The Logs look like this:

[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Warn] [general] Host should provide base paths for persistent and temporary storage for 1P plugins in uxp initialization!
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Instead of the WebView2 runtime in the system, UXP will use the WebView2 runtime in the folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Default] [general] UXP DevTools: Sending Notification that UXP is Dev Ready
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.timeline : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.timeline : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.pluginspanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.pluginspanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.stock.unified.content.panel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.stock.unified.content.panel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.substance-3d.viewer.ps : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-10][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.substance-3d.viewer.ps : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate HostInfo API soon, please use HostApi instead.
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][5628][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Upic version 2.6.0 is initialized
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Failed to read plugin info file: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP\PluginsInfo\v1\PS.json
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Failed to read plugin info file: C:\Users\Noah\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\UXP\PluginsInfo\v1\PS.json
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Loading plugins from system fallback plugins folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP\Plugins\External
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Loading plugins from user fallback plugins folder: C:\Users\Noah\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\UXP\Plugins\External
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Loading plugins from hybrid fallback plugins folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP\Plugins\Noah\External
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Number of plugins added from system's fallback: 0
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Number of plugins added from user's fallback: 0
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] upic::Number of plugins added from hybrid's fallback: 0
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][7588][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate UxpIsland::setAllowWebView (a.k.a., torq_uxp_island_alpaca_ref::set_allow_web_view) soon as WebView can be loaded in any container from UXP-6.4 onwards
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.timeline : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.timeline : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
[2026-08-16_14-21-11][4716][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species


Anyone had the same issue before and knows a fix?

Thank you in advance.

    6 replies

    N
    noah_6722Author
    Participant
    August 22, 2026

    Hello Anshul, so the problem got even weirder now. Photoshop opens now every now and then, other times its the same error (sometimes it works and doesn’t only a few minutes appart). I have no concistent way to make it work. Photoshop has then opend when the mentioned services were still set to manuel or disabled. 

    When trying the launch via CMD the log just says “Error in locale file:  Unknown escape sequence (\“) encountered”

    For the WinUtil Tweaks this is the list i usually do (i made sure there are no Adobe IPs blocked from previous times):

    Best,
    Noah

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    August 17, 2026

    Hi ​@noah_6722,

     

    Thank you for sharing those UXP logs. Based on what I can see, Photoshop's initialization sequence is completing the plugin-loading phase, which indicates the core application is starting. Still, something is preventing it from finishing the full launch after the "calculating memory/storage" stage.

     

    Since you've already tried resetting preferences and doing a full clean reinstall (with leftover folder removal), and you've confirmed this started after running ChrisTitusTech's WinUtil, here are some more targeted steps to investigate:

     

    1. Check and restore critical Windows services: WinUtil's "Set Services to Manual" tweak can disable services that Photoshop depends on during initialization. Open PowerShell as Admin and run:

    Get-Service RpcSs, Schedule, winmgmt, msiserver, StiSvc, WSearch, FontCache | Format-Table Name, DisplayName, Status, StartType -Auto

    • If any of these show Disabled or Stopped, that's likely your culprit. Specifically:

    • FontCache (Windows Font Cache Service): Photoshop queries this heavily during launch at the "calculating memory" stage when it enumerates fonts

    • winmgmt (WMI): required for hardware/memory detection

    • StiSvc (Windows Image Acquisition): used by Photoshop's imaging pipeline

       

    Set any disabled ones back to Automatic, then reboot.

     

    2. Check the Windows Font Cache specifically: Your logs show Photoshop halts around "calculating memory/storage," which also includes font enumeration. A corrupted or disabled font cache can hang Photoshop at exactly this point:

    • Open services.msc

    • Find Windows Font Cache Service

    • Ensure it's set to Automatic and Running

    • Additionally, delete the font cache files:

      • Navigate to C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\LocalService\AppData\Local\FontCache

      • Delete all .dat files inside

      • Reboot

     

    3. Your logs show UXP loading WebView2 from C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\. WinUtil can affect Edge/WebView2 components. Verify the folder still contains a complete runtime:

    • Navigate to that path and confirm there's a versioned subfolder with msedgewebview2.exe inside

    • If it's empty or missing, repair it by reinstalling the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime

     

    A few questions to help narrow it down further:

    • Do you remember which specific tweaks you applied in WinUtil? (e.g., "Essential Tweaks," "Set Services to Manual," or any of the Adobe-specific Advanced Tweaks?)

    • Does Photoshop appear in Task Manager after the splash screen disappears? If so, is it consuming CPU or just sitting idle?

    • Can you try launching Photoshop from the command line with logging? Open CMD and run:

      "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2026\Photoshop.exe" > "%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\ps_launch.log" 2>&1

     

    The WinUtil connection is almost certainly the root cause here. The key is identifying exactly which system component it disabled or removed. The steps above target the most likely candidates based on where your logs show Photoshop is stopping.

     

    Let us know what you find!

     

    Best,
    Anshul Saini

    A
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 17, 2026

    On a first step try a manually remove of the preferences files. This is the most complete method for restoring to the default state. The manual method ensures all preferences which may be causing a problem and prevents Photoshop form loading.

    Please follow the steps below:

    1. Quit Photoshop.
    2. Navigate to Photoshop's Preferences folder.
      MacOS: …Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
      Windows: …Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
       
      Note: The User Library folder is hidden by default. To access the content in the hidden folders see here:
      MacOS: Access hidden macOS library files
      Windows: Show hidden files, folders, and filename extensions in Windows
       
    3. Move the entire Adobe Photoshop [Version] Settings folder to a safe place to a backup your settings
    4. Open Photoshop.

     New preferences files with the default settings will be created automatically.

    If this doesn’t help I would reinstall Photoshop.

     

    What has been changed on your system before the issue occur?

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    N
    noah_6722Author
    Participant
    August 17, 2026

    I tried the peference method but it didn’t work. I tried to fully uninstall Photoshop and CC, making sure every leftover folder in ProgramFiles and Appdata is removed but even after a fresh reinstall same error.

    The only notable thing that changed is that i ran the Windows Utility by ChrisTitusTech to optimize my Windows 11 installation.

    The Log:
     

    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Warn] [general] Host should provide base paths for persistent and temporary storage for 1P plugins in uxp initialization!
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Instead of the WebView2 runtime in the system, UXP will use the WebView2 runtime in the folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Microsoft\EdgeWebView\
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate hostInfo access soon. Please use HostInfoController instead.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Default] [general] UXP DevTools: Sending Notification that UXP is Dev Ready
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.timeline : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.timeline : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.photoshop-material-filters : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.pluginspanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.pluginspanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.stock.unified.content.panel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.stock.unified.content.panel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-08][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-09][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-09][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-09][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-09][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-09][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.substance-3d.viewer.ps : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-09][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.substance-3d.viewer.ps : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate HostInfo API soon, please use HostApi instead.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][3672][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][15292][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] analyticsTracker_ is being accessed without setting
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Warn] [general] Please call HostInfoController::instance()->initialize() when the app is initializing.
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Upic version 2.6.0 is initialized
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Failed to read plugin info file: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP\PluginsInfo\v1\PS.json
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Failed to read plugin info file: C:\Users\Noah\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\UXP\PluginsInfo\v1\PS.json
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Loading plugins from system fallback plugins folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP\Plugins\External
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Loading plugins from user fallback plugins folder: C:\Users\Noah\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\UXP\Plugins\External
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Loading plugins from hybrid fallback plugins folder: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\UXP\Plugins\Noah\External
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Number of plugins added from system's fallback: 0
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Number of plugins added from user's fallback: 0
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] upic::Number of plugins added from hybrid's fallback: 0
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.cclibrariespanel : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Info] [general] Plugin com.adobe.ccx.comments-webview : [v4] Using Default Value for Icon species
    [2026-08-17_13-57-10][13956][Warn] [general] We are going to deprecate UxpIsland::setAllowWebView (a.k.a., torq_uxp_island_alpaca_ref::set_allow_web_view) soon as WebView can be loaded in any container from UXP-6.4 onwards

     

    A
    Community Expert
    AxelMattCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    August 17, 2026


    The only notable thing that changed is that i ran the Windows Utility by ChrisTitusTech to optimize my Windows 11 installation.
     

    Undo the changes of this tool if possible. Based on my many years of experience as a system administrator, I can say that most of these tuning tools do more harm than good. I strongly advise against using them.

     

    My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices