Error "could not initialize photoshop"

[Sillymare98]

Hi, I just updated my photoshop CC 2017 to the photoshop CC 2018 and it gives me the "Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full" error. I have it on my IMac  and had no problems with it before. I have a lot of space on my computer for the program. I've always do art work with it and just now I am having problems. I really need help.

Thank you.

[Trevor.Dennis]

Have a look at item #13 here

http://blogs.adobe.com/crawlspace/2012/07/photoshop-basic-troubleshooting-steps-to-fix-most-issues.h...

[cosmikel2]

Hi Trevor,

Could you please be a little more specific? Not sure what you were referring to when you said "Have a look at item #13...".

There is a menu of sorts on the page you linked to with 18 items in the 'Table of Contents' with number 13 being: - 'Troubleshoot User Permissions' being a link to another page:

Solve Adobe Photoshop problems and issues by keeping it up-to-date

And that page has nothing at all on 'Could not initialize Photoshop because ....'

Also on the page you linked to are 1359 comments and the 13th one having also nothing to do with; 'Could not initialize Photoshop because ....' 

I also did a search of all the 1359 comments for "" 'Could not initialize' and got these 2 threads:

The first was:

"I had just downloaded a free trial pluggin (Filter Forge) but that wasn’t working, so I tried to close photoshop to re open it and it wasn’t responding so I had to force quit it, and when I went to reopen it this box pops up….. “Could not initialize photoshop because the preferences file was invalid (it has been deleted)” ..."

And the reply was:

"Did you remove the plug-in?"

The second was:

Hello, I have tried several times to load CS5 and even tried to open it through light room 3 and all I get is this:

“Could not initialize photoshop because the file has been damaged by disc error”

And that reply was:

"It sounds like you’re experiencing a hardware failure and a bad hard disk."

Neither was helpful in my case and as stated before were nothing to do with:

"Could not initialize Photoshop because the scratch disks are full". 

Would be really grateful if you could help me out and point us to what the actual solution you were referring to is?

[cosmikel2 · Accepted solution]

Finally found a solution Yeah!

Here:

Scratch disk full and cannot open photoshop to fix it...

The relevant part is this:

"... Hello, welcome to the forum!

Since you cannot start Photoshop, you cannot change the scratch disk allocation in its preferences.

Luckily for you, the engineers have devised a shortcut to fix that: Hold down CTRL+ALT(PC) / CMD+OPTION(Mac) as soon as Photoshop starts to get this menu:

Select another disk with more room but do not forget the clean the files clogging up your hard drive, as described in the other messages. ..."

[Stefan Gruenwedel]

Also, this article explains how to free up space on your Mac hard drive: The Mac “Startup Disk Almost Full” Message and How to Fix It

(For example, you might have years-old iOS backups taking up multiple gigabytes.)

[abjit0D44]

For Windows 10 version 1903 and later, you can add the Media Feature Pack by going to Start > Settings > Apps > Apps and features > Optional features > Add a feature, and then locate Media Feature Pack in the list of available optional features.

[Basaking]

i did this but its still not working