P: Photoshop 25.11 & Beta 25.12 stuck at launch while adding Halide Bottlenecks extension

[will_in_KC]

This issue just started happening to me yesterday on my M1 Macbook 13". It seems like it happened right after the 25.11 update. I have completely reinstalled Photoshop after using the cleaner tool. I have deleted all of my preferences. I have tried reinstalling older versions of Photoshop. It gets stuck at the "Adding extensions...Halide Bottlenecks" message. Eventually I get a pop-up saying my Ram is running out, and it says Photoshop is not responding and taking around 90 GB of memory. All I can do is force quit. 

{Thread branched out by moderator from old thread to track similar reports.}

[will_in_KC]

So far I've worked with 3 different Adobe help agents and none could get Photoshop to open.

[Mohit Goyal]

Hi there, we're sorry for the trouble. Let us know which MacOS version you are using right now. Have you checked and tried the following steps here: https://adobe.ly/4c3OQlT ? If you are on the latest version of MacOS and already tried the above steps, please roll back Photoshop to its previous version via the Adobe Creative Cloud Desktop app and check if that works fine on your machine.

Thanks. ^MG

[BrianBehm]

I've been experiencing this same issue since yesterday as well. I'm on a Nov23 Macbook Pro M3 Max with 128 gigs of ram and about 4 1/2 TB of drive open. I've gone through the recommended tasks, have made sure my OS is up to date, and have uninstalled and re-installed both the regular version and the beta version. I tried rolling regular photoshop back and that didn't seem to fix anything either. Noticed that for whatever reason Adobe Illustrator has the same behavior. After Effects, for whatever reason, opens fine. 

[will_in_KC]

Yeah, I've done that and more already. I tried the steps at the article, and then the Adobe help agent tried it again. I've rolled Photoshop back to the version before this week's update, and I've tried rolling it back all the way to the 2023 version, without success. I even worked over the phone with someone who was an expert at Adobe, and after an hour I think he gave up. He even had me log in as root user and that didn't work. He told me he would email me some instructions on what to try next, but I haven't seen an email and that was 5 hours ago.

[will_in_KC]

Yeah, my other Creative Cloud apps work fine. I use Adobe Audition and Premiere Pro and those have no issue. I don't use Illustrator though. I did find someone on Threads (@btouch) that had the same issue and he said, "Spent most of the day working on it, but what the tech eventually found worked for me was using the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool to fully remove all of my CC installs, and then add them back one by one. I had preferences and Actions (I’ve dozens) backed up for re-import."

I've already tried using the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool on just Photoshop, but maybe I'll just uninstall everything with it and install everything fresh to see if that works. It just makes me nervous with my preferences!

[will_in_KC]

The Adobe expert even tried renaming the Halide Bottlenecks extension to ~Halide Bottlenecks, but then the launcher just got stuck on a different extension.

[will_in_KC]

I am on MacOS Sonoma 14.5. 

[BrianBehm]

That seems to have done the trick. Tried just uninstalling Photoshop and Illustrator with the cleaner but then cleared out everything and it's back open again. Glad it worked for you too. 

[metaphorikelly]

I'm trying to open Photoshop 2024 on my MacBook Pro (macOS Sonoma 14.5 -- current as of this posting). I get the opening splash screen then the spinning wheel of death. My system suggests that I force quit. When I don't force quit and give Photoshop more time to open, it still won't open. So, I end up force quitting myself.

I have done the following to fix the problem. Nothing has worked so far:

- Restarted my Mac

- Unstalled and re-installed Photoshop

- Reset Photoshop preference (shift+option+command when opening)

- Repaired disk permissions

- Disabled plugins and extensions

- Opened in Safe Mode

- Reset the System Management Controller

Has anyone else encountered this problem and come up with a fix?

Side note: I have been using Photoshop as an amateur for more than 20 years. So, this is not a new installation. The software has been on my computer for as long as I've had the computer. And Photoshop was working 6 days ago.

Thank you!

Kelly

[defaultq99gbn5w7v9f]

Welcome to the problem. It happens to me on a Mac mini. For 4 days it has
been crashing just like you. I have already contacted Adobe first, and
after three agents, I am still waiting for a solution. I contacted Apple
and after several attempts it seems that the problem comes (must come) from
Adobe.
I also have to point out that, however, on my Macbook (for now) Photoshop
works fine for now!
Tomorrow I will insist with Adobe again

[AlphaJB4]

I am on a MacBook Pro with an M1 MAX.  I was running on latest version of Ventura, I upgraded to the latest version of Photoshop, and suddenly both the Beta and 2024 versions locked up during the loading of the dreaded "Halide Bottlenecks."  I tried every listed remedy (removing the preset files, uninstalling and reinstalling, loading older versions) and nothing was working.  I then upgraded my OS to SONOMA, and I had exactly the same problem trying the exact same solutions.  I'm out of ideas.

HELP!!!

[NgKung]

I have same issues. At first, both versions beta and the latest photoshop stop responding at reading preferences. I tried to reset the preference by holding shift-opt-cmd. Then both stop responding at adding extension ... Halide Bottlenecks .................. oh really a bottleneck now!!!!

[defaultq99gbn5w7v9f]

We are the same, I use my Mac mini and yet on my Macbook it opens without
any problem...

[AlphaJB4]

I'm jelous.  Is it an M1 laptop?

[badpix]

Same here. For past two days PS will not open. I also tried resetting prefs, uninstalling, reinstall.  Same problem on PS Beta. Other Adobe products like Premeir Pro seem OK. Glad (but sorry) you are having same problem. I was worried I have a corrupt disk. Hours wasted!, let's hope Apple or Adobe fixes this 

[Sameer K]

The team is investigating this. Thanks for adding the details.

Sameer K

[metaphorikelly]

Thank y'all for your replies and for confirming that it's not just me. This is really frustrating. Fortunately, for me, earning a living does not currently depend on my use of Photoshop. But the weekly podcast I co-host does rely on my use of Photoshop. Crossing fingers this get resolved for all of us quickly!

[will_in_KC]

I finally resolved this by using the "Clean All" option on the Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool.  This completely erased all my Adobe apps and their folders (except for Adobe Acrobat), so first I backed up all the settings/prefs/presets from them that I wanted to keep. I had to reinstall everything. But now Photoshop opens again!

So maybe it is a corrupt file that multiple apps rely on that is causing this, even though it only seems to impact Photoshop and Illustrator?

[metaphorikelly]

@will_in_KC Just did what you suggested re Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool. It worked!!! I can now open Photoshop. Thank you thank you thank you!

[kevaf3d]

My apps started running slow while I was working today, so I updated, and now neither will load.

Illustrator—the dock icon shows the app is open, but it won't get past the initializing screen, and then freezes completely on "initializing Plug-ins," of which there should be none.

Photoshop—the dock icon either contiuously bounces or displays like the app is closed, and it displays the initializing screen, which freezes on "Done Sorting Font List."

What I've tried:

- I've uninstalled and reinstalled both apps numerous times

- I've restarted my computer numerous times

- I've deleted/restored largest preset files

- I've deleted all third-party font files in my Font Book

- I've reinstalled all Adobe fonts

So far, it's been about 4 hours of troubleshooting with no progress whatsoever.

Any advice?

I have Photoshop (Beta) v.25.12, Photoshop v.25.11, Illustrator (Beta) and Illustrator 28.6, and my system is using Mac OS Sonoma 14.5.

[defaultvd2k1h6c5zmy]

I'm having the same issue with Photoshop, Illustrator, & Indesign. Lightroom, Premiere, and Audition all load without incident. I tried using the cleaner tool on all 3 apps, installed previous versions of these apps, safe mode, countless restarts, etc. @adobe, we could really use a fix ASAP.

[kevaf3d]

In addition:

I've also tried…

- Uninstalling/reinstalling Adobe CC

- Reverting to recent versions—PS(b) v25.10 & IL(b) v28.7

More system details

Mac 16-inch (2021) w/ Apple M1 Chip; 10-Core GPU; 32GB Memory; 500GB SSD (93GB available)

[Sandra388843664gvg]

Запуск длится несколько минут - что за асбурд. Кто занет в чем может проблема?

[El-Branden259070575w4k]

Shame issue. I start Photoshop up, and then it freezes at Halide Bottlenecks. I have followed all the online advice, but nothing works. It's so odd, because Photoshop was fine just a few days ago. Really frustrating, as I have some important work to do.

[El-Branden259070575w4k]

Same problem. I have done all the recommendations online, including the one suggested here. Nothing works and it is frustrating!