Hi, I have been experiencing the same issues with both Photoshop and Lightroom Classic since the dreadful March updates (Ides of March? pun intended.). I was close to cancel my subscription, having tried all the suggested fixes made by Adobe Support and the Community.
But I finally got both concoctions working back again.
Here is what I found:
My main machine is a Dell Inspiron 7000, it has an I7 CPU with four cores and eight threads, 16 Gb of RAM and Intel's 620 UHD integrated graphics. It also has two NVME SSDs. I use Window 10 Pro. So, it is not a hot rod but also not a lame netbook.
I have been using Photoshop since version 3.01 was released in the nineties.
Adobe's software has featured bugs but (imho) never in this massive scale.
After exhausting online resources, I contacted Adobe Support. The guy that took my case did the usual stuff:
- Disable GPU acceleration support
- Downgrade Lightroom and Photoshop to the last stable version
- Verify that Adobe's related files and folders permissions were correctly assigned.
- Create new catalogs and re imported photos.
- Uninstalled and reinstalled the apps
- And finally quit.
So, I had to solve it by my own means.
I started by checking Windows logs through the Event Viewer and the Systems Maintenance and Repair tools, they are available in Windows' Control Panel. The crashes were reported as Lightroom.exe has stopped interacting with the system, app crash and the number 1002 were also included in the logs.
I run the apps with Task Manager running to get more clues.
I found that when the apps stopped working, the dynamicmedialink server had also crashed.
The dinamicmedialink server app apparently is used by Adobe's apps to interact with each other.
I searched for its location and found that the directory structure of Adobe's apps was a real mess. I had tons of remaining files from previous versions, some plugins were in older CC folders and other in newer ones, etc.
I had heard about Adobe's command line total app removal tool, so I searched for it, downloaded, and then proceeded to uninstall everything Adobe related.
After that, I run the tool again since it seemed to miss some folders.
And finally, I deleted manually every Adobe related folder.
Then I disconnected my second monitor from the HDMI port in my Dell. I also disconnected the USB 3.0 hub which also had a HDMI port that I had tried to get a three-display system a few days before.
Then I uninstalled Intel's GPU drivers (asking Windows to delete them in the process.). I rebooted the Dell, and then reinstalled the latest Intel GPU drivers from Intel's website.
Then I rebooted the laptop into Windows Safe Mode and ran Photoshop and Lightroom. They run perfectly, although at a glacial speed. But I took care to disable GPU acceleration in Safe Mode.
I rebooted into Standard Mode, checked run the apps and found that both had re-enabled GPU support. I disabled it again. After that, both Photoshop and Lightroom started to work fine again.
I did all this brouhaha on past weekend, and I have been evaluating the apps doing things like multi-image merging, HRD merging, image enhancing, doing mask adjustments, batch exporting tasks and applying filters, selecting subjects creating dozens of layers, etc. Without a glitch.
I really don't know what the origin of the March update bug was, but again, imho, it must be related to the dynamicmedialink server and the way folders are handled in updates.
So, my final solution was:
- Use the Adobe cleaning tool to zap any file and folder that could be Adobe related.
- Perform a clean install of the latest graphics drivers.
- Run Adobe apps in Safe mode and with a single display for test purposes.
- Reboot and disable GPU acceleration in both Apps.
- Reconnect the second monitor if neccesary.
- Take a cup of coffee with croissants.
This worked for me. You can try these steps and check if they work for you.
So far, I am photoshoping and lighrooming like a junkie. I suppose it is due to Adobe's withdrawal syndrome.
Your mileage may vary.
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