Microsoft Edge WebView2

Got the same issue here. Photoshop just stops responding and I have to close it via the task manager. In the task manager are a bunch of instances of webview2. Adobe, please get your head out or your wallet and instead of giving us features that crash your software and make working with it unbearable, just fix it and make it a good program again. Ever since the CC model has been launched your software gets more and more bug ridden.

the fix is very simple

open Photoshop then, the open windows task manager, expand Photoshop 2024, then select "Microsoft Edge WebView2" right click "view file location" then in new window rename the exe file to tmp or anything. then restart photoshop. Microsoft Edge WebView2 is gone forever

This just started for me today. Have to End Task on PS, then reopen the program to save a few .tif files to .jpg. I get maybe two or three done before the program freezes again. At first I thought I'd hit the wrong keyboard shortcut, but the problem persists when I use the mouse for everything.

So, not sure if this helps, but currently the endless loading/freeze issue I was experiencing with all the webview windows is occuring for me in this manner? https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-bugs/freeze-endless-loading-after-trying-to-drag-layers/idi-p/13055689"

And I do have someone trying to help me figure it out! It no longer pops up all the webview windows when it happens though, so it might be unrelated...however it's the exact same stall I was experiencing with the webview duplicates when I originally posted in this thread.

Sorry I'm late to this party. I've been encountering other issues with MSEdge that it just will not terminate when the application is closed.  The only way to stop it is to force the task to stop.  Create a Shortcut on the Desktop with this command.  taskkill.exe /IM "msedge.exe" /F

This will kill all MS edge tasks.

Then I decided to do some editing in PS and thats when I found this webview nonsense. I went through all the previous comments about unchecking this/that/and the other thing and it didn't work.  So out comes the hammer again. Computers are very stupid and expect to see everything in the right directories. If something isn't found where expected, there are error messages that will show up.  So rather then overanalyzing things...MSWebView2 offends me, so I remove it from where it is supposed to be.

First step is to stop Photoshop. Ensure that it is NOT running or else this will not work as the processes are still open.

Open a Command Prompt as an Administrator.

type ren "C:\Program files\Common Files\Adobe\Microsoft" Microsoft-renamed

exit

This will just rename the directory where the WebView2 and associated junk reside. If there is a problem with your PS running, you can follow the same steps and rename it back.  To keep in the spirit of being non-destructive edits.

After I made this change on my PC the first time I ran PS, it defaulted to the Adobe web helper files in the CEF directory.  I closed & restarted PS and now it opens with just 4 processes and it's back to the traditional screen, not the Creative Cloud Home screen.   I hope this helps others with the WebView2 issues.

Unless I've missed it, no one seems to mention that AFAIK one such browser is open for every (third party?) CEP panel you have active (max 15?).

Thankfully, UXP plugins get rid of that.

In answer to the original post of why Edge Webview2 shows up - take a look here.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/webview2/

It is a way of application developers using Microsoft's own technology to access online content which of course can include libraries, AI driven functionality, telemetrics...etc. Whilst we all like to think of our PCs running purely as standalone, we are equally quick to criticise when our applications do not make use of new capabilities.  We say we do not want telemetrics on our PCs and try to block them, then complain when companies remove a function from their application because their metrics show that it is little used.

I fully understand when someone complains about such functionality slowing their PC, but most of the screenshots shown here show a tiny amount of memory and 0% CPU given over to these functions. That is unlikely to be the reason for a PC grinding to a halt.

Dave

Yes, why? I have the same Problem.

Oops I meant to respond to the main thread last time. I just got this again... I don't know what to do when this happens. The program freezes and there is nothing I can seem to do to fix it or get it to return from the freeze, then it doesn't have an auto save or recovery file either even though I have autosave set to on?!?!? 😞 This is the worst. I keep losing work.

As a 20 year Photoshop user, and professional photographer (that depends on stability!) I can say that NOTHING has crashed my Photoshop workflow harder or more persistently than Microsoft Edge WebView2. The solution: simple - open task manager, select the Photoshop drop-down, right-click on Microsoft Edge WebView2 and END TASK. Viola! No more random crashes, no more crashing when I use any of the select tools, no more crashing when working with multiple photos open, no more crashing when opening a photo from Lightroom... the list goes on.

Dear Friends at Adobe, I love and appreciate you all. I know you work hard to keep a very complex program running smoothly, and I'm thankful for your work. PLEASE investigate this. 

Faithfully yours,
Brian
HeckmanPhotos