Photoshop CS6 installer failed to initialise problem

[David Riley]

Recently I was unable to start my Photoshop CS6 software. Adobe Bridge seems to be working fine, but not PS CS6. I tried downloading and reinstalling from my Adobe Licencing Website. For some reason the CS6 version does not appear on my Adobe Account management page, which seemed to stop at CS5). However, I got the following message when trying to install it:

“Installer failed to initialize. This could be due to a missing file. Please download Adobe Support Advisor to detect the problem. “

As related by others in the Community, this is a futile suggestion as the Advisor doesn’t seem to exist anymore. So, I contacted Adobe Support for help. To cut a long two day story of online chats and telephone calls short, despite valiant attempts to help they were unable to do so. In the end the very helpful lady that I was dealing with suggested that I post the issue here. She, quite rightly, advised that they no longer supported this product and said that someone here might be able to offer a work-around solution.

Before doing so, I tried a number of other approaches. I still had the original download file, and I found the PS CS6 backup disc that I had purchased with the upgrade in 2012. Both unfortunately gave the same result. My CS 5 version was on my Account Management page and I even tried downloading this version, but it also failed!

Also, before posting I scanned through the Community posts and found a lot of others had, in earlier times (upto about 2017), had the same issue. There was one post that had what appeared to be a promising link to an workaround, but when I clicked on it the file had been removed! Another solution with a link to an Adobe workaround for this specific problem unfortunately resulted in the same message.

In previous posts, most were asked to provide their Mac details, so here are mine:

Mid 2010 MacPro

MacOS High Sierra Version 10.13.6 (I cannot upgrade further on this spec)

2X2.66 GHz 6-core Intel Xeon processor

GB of GB 1333 MHz DDR3 memory

2 X ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB graphics cards

Running 2 X 30” Apple Cinema Screens

I would like to upgrade to the Cloud Version of PS, but it is not compatible with my Mac system and I can’t afford to upgrade yet. I am photographer and so the loss of my PS CS6 is quite catastrophic!

Does anyone had a current workaround to offer?

Many thanks for reading this.

[Ged_Traynor]

Hi

See if this helps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlcjeqaQ2ws

[David Riley]

Hi,

Thank you for responding so quickly. Unfortunately it doesn't work for me. Whichever source I use for the download I get as far as the final step, but it does not result in an options page. It merely brings up the "Installer failed to initialize" pop-up window. See attached image. I used the download from the Adobe Licencing Website for this attempt. The lady from the Support team took control of my desktop and she kept getting exactly the same result. It is all very very perplexing. Thanks again.

[Nancy OShea]

Legacy CS6 installers don't work on Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave without terminal workarounds.

See the help article below.
https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/install-creative-suite-mac-os-sierra.html

Creative Suite will never work Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey.  So don't upgrade your OS unless you buy all new software for it.

[David Riley]

Dear Nancy,

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately I have tried this with all three of the sources I have for the software and it doesn't work. I manage to get all the way up until I click on the Install button and I get exactly the same message"Installer failed to initialize". 

However, a big thank you for the warning about upgrading to Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey. Much appreciated.

Regards, David

[ProDesignTools]

It sounds like you may have also been through these suggestions?

https://community.adobe.com/t5/download-install-discussions/photoshop-cs6-installer-fails-to-initial...

[David Riley]

Hi, unfortunately, yes I have, and it failed at the last hurdle as mentioned above in my response to nancy. But thank you very much for the suggestion.

Regards,

David