Photomerge Crashes Photoshop on Windows

[lawrencew59674524]

This issue has suddenly cropped up on my machine..... Windows 10, current ver of Photoshop. It freezes when photomerge is clicked ...also when system info is clicked from the help menu. I'll attach a link to the dumpfile if its helpful:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h70ksizosgzd9zd/Photoshop.DMP?dl=0

[Sameer K]

Hi Lawrence,

Thanks for reaching out. Sorry for the trouble. If you can clarify a few things for me, we can get to the bottom of this.

Does Photoshop freeze with a specific document, or does it just freeze when you open any documents?

Has this happened since a recent update of the operating system, graphics drivers, or Photoshop?

Have you tried any troubleshooting steps?

Go to the location of the preference folder mentioned below and rename it to backup. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

• Windows 10/11: Users/[user name]/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop [version]/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings
• Rename the Adobe Photoshop folder by adding a .old at the end. (Adobe Photoshop 2022 > Rename > Adobe Photoshop 2022. old)

This will give a fresh start to Photoshop as a fresh install.

If Photoshop still crashes, please open Event Viewer from Windows Search.

• Go to Windows Logs > Application Logs & look for Error & Warning logs.
  
• Share the log related to Photoshop's crash instance with us.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks!
Sameer K

[Jake Charlson]

I clicked on the wrong reply button - my message below was meant to be in response to you.

[lawrencew59674524]

In short: A new installation of current photoshop, no new updates on my end. It freezes before the documents window opens, meaning it freezes exactly when you select photomerge. I have, on more than a few attempts, deleted and/or reset the preferences file. I'm running a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 on an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2950X 16-Core Processor, 3500 Mhz, 16 Core(s), 32 Logical Processor(s) with 64GB of ram. I will hunt down the windows log and send it as well.

[Jake Charlson]

I just tried photomerge on a different computer and it operates as expected.  Seems like the issue must be with hardware as both my computers are running the same software version.

Works:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, 8 Core

32GB RAM

Didn't Work:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop

i7 - 11th Gen, 8 Core

16GB RAM

[josephlavine]

The first item that I suggest trying is resetting Photoshop's Preferences.

Warmly/j

[lawrencew59674524]

Thanks for this and I did try it to no avail.

again, thanks

[Jake Charlson]

I'm having this same issue.  I just installed Cloud and Photoshop on a new computer today.  Haven't made any changes to any settings and Photomerge is the first thing I tried to do after opening the new installation.

It's not crashing Photoshop so much as it is freezing it up.  If you go to File > Automate and click on Photomerge, the application freezes up and becomes entirely unresponsive.  Just clicking on Photomerge in the menu is what's causing the problem, it's not launching a dialogue box to select images to merge.  The only way out is to go to Task Manager and force quit the program.  I have not had any issue opening any files or completing any other operations in Photoshop, Photomerge is the only issue I've found.

I updated my Geforce RTX 3060 graphics drivers to the latest stable release from the Nvidia website and restarted after running into this problem and that did not fix the problem.  There are no Errors or Warnings listed in the Event Viewer.

[Jake Charlson]

I just went back and installed previous versions of Photoshop, about 10 of them back to 22.0, and am having the same issue with all versions.  I've also gone into Preferences and unchecked Use Graphics Processor and Multithreaded Compositing, just to see if those made a difference and they did not change anything.

My Scratch Disk as 346GB available and Photoshop has a little more than 8GB of RAM allocated, so those shouldn't be causing issues.

[Sameer K]

Hi Jake,

Thanks for sharing these details. We're here to help.

Could you please share a few sample images you use in Photomerge? Could you please share the system info of Photoshop from Help > System info > Copy & paste into a text document > upload to Creative Cloud files (https://assets.adobe.com/files) and share with us?

Have you tried resetting Photoshop's preferences as recommended in my response above & @josephlavine's response?

Try step 7 in this article to set the default GPU for Photoshop to High-performance (Nvidia 3060): https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/troubleshoot-gpu-graphics-card.html

We hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks!
Sameer K

[Jake Charlson]

I never got to the point where I can select photos, it freezes right when I click on the Photomerge option in the menu.  But, I've attached 2 images that are part of what I'm trying to stitch.

Clicking on System Info also causes Photoshop to freeze, just like the Original author of this thread mentioned.

I did try Joseph's suggestion, but it did not change anything.  Since this is a brand new installation of Photoshop on a new computer, I don't think that any settings needed to be changed back to default.

I completed step 7 in that article and that did not resolve the problem.

[willp40619518]

Hello - 

I am having the same issue. I have tried everything suggested on this page and nothing works. I am on a Windows 11 laptop, with NVIDIA GeForce RTX2060 with Max-Q Design. 

There are tons of people all over the internet reporting similar issues and nothing seems to fix it. 

[Northridgelibby]

I am having the same issue with windows 11.  Works great on windows 10 computer but not on my new HP 

Device name Alan2
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics 3.80 GHz
Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.3 GB usable)
Device ID F31FF575-B48E-4760-B601-F0984309408A
Product ID 00342-22096-58005-AAOEM
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

photomerge works if I immediately try it with automate and photomerge picked as it is loading.

[NB, colourmanagement]

Perhaps try a thorough reset of Photoshop preferences? 

(read this entire post before acting please)

Resetting restores Photoshop's internal preferences, which are saved when Photoshop closes. 

If they become corrupt then various issues can occur.

Here’s some info on how to do that:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

Manually removing preferences files is the most complete method for restoring Photoshop to its default state: 

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#Manually

Note re macOS: The user Library folder is hidden by default.

To access files in the hidden user Library folder, see here for how to access hidden user library files. 

https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/access-hidden-user-library-files.html

Unexpected behavior may indicate damaged preferences. Restoring preferences to their default settings is a good idea when trying to troubleshoot unexpected behaviors in Photoshop. check out the video

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#reset_preferences

Learn how to access and modify Photoshop preferences and customize per your frequent workflows

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

And here’s an earlier forum discussion as an aid to understanding

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/quick-tips-how-to-reset-photoshop-pre...

You may want to backup your settings and custom presets, brushes & actions before restoring Photoshop's preferences.

Here is general info about that:  https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#BackupPhotoshoppreferences

Before you reset your preferences

in case of future issues, I suggest you make a copy as Adobe may need one to check problematic references. 

Quit Photoshop.
Go to Photoshop's Preferences folder

Preferences file locations: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/preference-file-names-locations-photoshop.html\

  [on MacOS see: Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings

  Note for those on macOS: - be aware that the user Library folder is hidden by default on macOS. 

  https://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/access-hidden-user-library-files.html

  In the Finder, open the “Go” menu whilst holding down the Option (Alt) key. 

  Library will now appear in the list - below the current user's “home” directory. ]

Now you can drag the entire Adobe Photoshop [Version] Settings folder to the desktop or somewhere safe as a back-up of your settings.

Note for those on macOS:

Preference preservation is affected by macOS permissions, 

you’ll need to allow Photoshop ‘Full Disk Access’ in your Mac OS Preferences/Security and Privacy

It may even be time to reinstall Photoshop. 

It’s recommended that you use the Adobe CC cleaner tool to remove all traces first. 

(See above about preserving preferences though! Its worth preserving them unless they are corrupted.)

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/kb/cc-cleaner-tool-installation-problems.html

Uninstall Photoshop BUT make sure to choose the option “Yes, remove app preference”.

Once that process finishes, start the installation process and look into the “Advanced Options”. Uncheck “Import previous settings and preferences” and choose to “Remove old versions”.

I hope this helps

neil barstow, colourmanagement net :: adobe forum volunteer

google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

[willp40619518]

have tried all your suggestions multiple times

[NB, colourmanagement]

@willp40619518 did you try the thorough preferences rest?

If so, sorry I wasted your time, it works in many cases of strange issues.

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

[Spirograph]

From what I'm seeing, the problem seems to have a lot to do with HP hardware. I'm experiencing it on an HP Envy Laptop and the problem persists...

There is a longer thread with more discussion. This problem still exists in the latest version released in Sept 2024.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photoshop-freezing-when-attempting-to...

[matth30899152]

Hi, I've been experiencing the same issue. Has this issue been resolved? 

[default7qgcnmpejlqu]

Same here for two years now.

Honestly this is getting ridicoulous...

[Pedro25350304etze]

Glad to see that after 1 year, the same issue still persists... 

🤦

[Marc329205411b41]

I also have this issue. Sad that it's not been fixed yet but glad to see it's a known issue. A fix would be very welcome. I too have tried all the things suggested here and no luck. The pc is brand new and an i9 13900k with a Geforce 4070ti with 64gb memory and 1tb of storage space so I doubt it's running out of anything on the hardware side!

[francyberne]

i use  Windows 10 Version 22H2 x64

hi when i try to do  focus stacking with photo 2024, it freeze the problem, it doesn't go

first i use: FILE - AUTOMATIZE - PHOTOMERGE ( and it works)

then when i use "automatic layer blending", it doens't work,

if i do the same steps  with photo 2021 works properly, can you help me? thanks

[Spirograph]

There is a longer thread with more discussion about Photomerge locking up Photoshop completely, and the same seems to happen with System Info on the Help menu. It's happening to me with an HP Envy Laptop. From what I've seen with others reporting in, HP hardware seems to be a common factor for people experiencing the freeze.

This problem still exists in the latest version of PS released in Sept 2024.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photoshop-freezing-when-attempting-to...