P: Photoshop can't open, freezes on splash image, uses all of ram trying to open then crashes.

[Bella5CE6]

I have googled every possible variation of this problem and tried every fix for this problem, none of them worked. I have tried reinstalling photoshop, deleting everything even remotely related to photohop in the appdata, deleting custom fonts, restarting the computer, updating graphics and computer, and holding every possible combination of alt, ctrl and shift while trying to launch in administrator mode. The result is always the same. It opens the splash image, gets to loading preferences or brushes, spikes RAM usage to every last byte of RAM I have, freezes the computer, then crashes.

And no i'm not running it on a potato i'm running it on an Alienware Aurora 4090, it should have more than enough power to handle this and Photoshop ran perfectly fine for months. Then just today it crashed and has never started up again.

Photoshop version 25.11

Help.

[Colin Southern]

Per post heading. PC has 10700K CPU - 64GB RAM - Fast 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD - 3080 Graphics Card driving 3 screens.

Have tried resetting preferences file -> no change.

[nikunj.m]

Hi,

We're sorry about the trouble with Photoshop. Would you mind checking if launching Photoshop as administrator makes a difference? Did you reset the Preferences by moving the setting folder manually? If not, you can try resetting the Preferences manually using the steps mentioned here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually

Please backup your settings prior to resetting the preferences. You can check: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#BackupPhotoshoppreferences

Let us know how it goes!

Regards,

Nikunj

[Colin Southern]

Yes - everything runs from an account with administrator privilages.

I reset the preferences file by holding down ctrl+alt+shift when launching Ps and acknowledging the dialog box.

When I reset the preferences using the instructions in the link provided it initially hung on "Reading Brushes" the first time it started (for about 30 seconds) (presumably whilst it created the new preferences file(s)) but then reverted to taking 30 seconds to get past "reading preferences" every time - so in essence "no change".

[Colin Southern]

Looks like this issue has finally been addressed in the latest update.

[alanb976665]

No it hasn't. I'm running the latest cc2022 version on w11 and it's just started for me.

[alanb976665]

It's related to graphics engine. If I uncheck use graphics in performance tab the issue disappears. I've not updated my graphics drivers that are the latest from dell.

[anonymous37448753quca]

Some time i face same issue.

[Brittany37813349u0g5]

I tried all of the above, including this and it is still not launching the app. 

[Shelley26929857z5m1]

Has anyone found a fix for this issue? I am now having it and have tried everything suggested and still can't get it to open.

Any suggestions welcome.

[Balaji5FC8]

Same problem here...it was working fine all these days. I have NOT installed any new apps also. All of a sudden, this problem has started. 

[Celestial_self0D44]

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.}

[Aun Moeid341475485jf0]

Hi Greetings, I cannot open my photoshop and illustrator the opening screen start till preferences and is hanged up and does not proceed further. It is stuck up at loading only

[Celestial_self0D44]

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. 

[Celestial_self0D44]

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.

[Celestial_self0D44]

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!

[Celestial_self0D44]

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

[Celestial_self0D44]

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...