Adobe Photoshop 7 and Windows 11

[paradisetunes]

Has anyone successfully installed Photoshop 7 on a laptop running Windows 11? When I try, I get the message, "could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ben M]

You don't have enough space on your drive. You need to free up space to use Photoshop. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-scratch-disk-is-full.html

[paradisetunes]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your reply but this is a brand new HP laptop with 1.76 TB available on the C: drive.

[kglad]

you probably needt to reinstall using compatibility mode.  or you may be able to start ps 7 using compatibility mode.

[paradisetunes]

Hello,

Thanks for the suggestion but that was already tried with unfortunately the same end result.

There is an option to press Ctrl/Alt while launching the application which then displays selectable options for scratch disk. I may try changing the default scratch disk to an NTFS formatted external drive and try launching application. Thoughts and comments?

[kglad]

photoshop 7 is so old it may expect fat32

[paradisetunes]

I'll try NTFS and FAT32.

[Jeff Arola]

The reason for the scratch disk error is photoshop 7 and older versions of photoshop as well can't see free

disk space over 1 TB and thus think the disk is full and generate the scratch disk full message.

Yes that sounds bizarre, but Photoshop versions before Photoshop CS couldn't deal with huge drives with lots of free space.

That was fixed starting with Photoshop CS (photoshop ver 8).

So the 1.76 TB is how much free space your drive has?

If so, that's way too much free space for Photoshop 7 to deal with.

The Photoshop 7 scratch disk preference needs to be set to a drive or partition that has just under 1 TB of free space.

[paradisetunes]

Hi Jeff,

I'll try creating a partition smaller than 1TB or find an old external drive under 1TB and format to either NTFS or FAT32.

I'm still hoping to hear from someone who has successfully installed this version of Photoshop on Windows 11 but I appreciate all the suggestions!

[Jeff Arola]

Photoshop 7 runs fine on Windows 11, but the problem is you have too much free space on your C drive.

I would try experimenting with an external drive before you go messing with your

brand new computer's internal drive.

You might check and see if you can add a second internal drive to your laptop so that could be the smaller drive to use as the Photoshop 7 scratch disk.

[paradisetunes]

I'll definitely be trying an external drive first. Luckily, having over 30 years of being an IT Analyst and Cyber Security Analyst has been helpful in most cases.

Thanks again!

[kglad]

keep us updated.  this discussion will help others.

[paradisetunes]

I appreciate all the feedback! I'll post the results. Thanks!

[kglad]

good luck...

[Nancy OShea]

Obsolete 22-year-old software doesn't recognize your computer's entire memory capacity.  I think PS7's limit was about 2500 MB.  Your shiny new 1.76 TB hard drive is way beyond its capability. It would be like dropping a high performance Ferrari engine into a Volkswagen Beetle. They're too far apart. 

SOLUTION:  Get modern software that's compatible with newer equipment and operating systems.

Photoshop Elements (no subscription needed). 
https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-elements.html

Creative Cloud Photography Plan (approx $10/month for 12 months). Includes the following:

• Photoshop CC and Photoshop on iPad
• Camera Raw
• Lightroom on desktop, mobile and the web
• Lightroom Classic
• Portfolio website + hosting
• Adobe Express (free starter plan)
• Bridge
• 20 GB cloud storage (upgradable to 1 TB).
• Free upgrades for paid subscribers

https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography.html

Creative Cloud bundles and Single App plans for mobile, web & desktops
https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html

Hope that helps.