Photoshop CC 2020 suddently taking 4 minutes to launch

[J Isner]

About three weeks ago, Photoshop CC 2020 began taking over four minutes to launch on Windows 10 (it normally takes 10 seconds).  During this time, the splash screen is stuck on "Initializing..." and Task Manager shows the process as "Not responding." After it finally launches, I don't notice any performance problems and everything works normally.

I updated my Radeon software to the latest version (this has caused problems with Photoshop in the past).  I restarted Windows.  I uninstalled and then reinstalled Photoshop from the Creative Cloud desktop app. 

But when I re-launched Photoshop, it still took 4 minutes. 

Any idea what might be causing the problem?

I should mention that since I started having this problem, my mouse cursor displays the "Working in Background" spinning blue circle almost continuously.  I wonder if it's related to the problems I'm having with Photoshop.

The problem started in Photoshop version 21.0.2 and continues in 21.0.3.

[nikunj.m]

Hi there,

We are sorry about the experience with Photoshop on your Windows computer.

Would you mind confirming if you have dual graphics cards on the computer? If yes, try to disable the AMD card from device manager and run Photoshop on the integrated graphics to check if the issue persists.

You can also try to reset the preferences of Photoshop using the steps mentioned here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html

Please backup your actions, brushes, etc. before you reset the preferences. You can check: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preset-migration.html

Regards,

Nikunj

[J Isner]

Device Manager only shows one display adapter.

Perhaps the integrated graphics does not show up because it is disabled.

The Julianne Kost video does not mention the need to back up actions, brushes, etc. before resetting preferences. Are you implying that they may be lost as a result of resetting preferences?  By "backing up" do you mean exporting them to a folder? (Edit -> Presets -> Export/Import Presets)?  

[JJMack]

Keep going deeper into it.... Look into system devices make sure there no gpu in there.  Does Photoshop Help>System Info show Intel HD graphics? I would think that would show as a second Display adapter in the device manager.  It may be a good idea to post your Photoshop 3030  Help>System Info

[JJMack]

You may want to close Photoshop. Rename the folder

"C:\Users\(your user id)\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2020\"

to

"C:\Users\(your user id)\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2020 Old\"

Then Start Photoshop to see if the Problem is any of your users id Photoshop 2020 user data. Start Photshop like you a new user without anf 2020 user data.

[J Isner]

The four-minute launch has persisted for over a month. During the four minutes, the splash screen is stuck on "Initializing..." and then it quickly zips through loading preferences and whatever else it does before the window appears.  But today Photoshop launched in 10 seconds.  Nothing on my system changed.  I suspect an intermittant hardware problem, although my PC shows no other signs of misbehavior.

[nikunj.m]

Hi there, 

If the issue is intermittent, please install all available Windows updates and also ensure that all new BIOS udpates are installed on the computer. Let us know if the issue still persists.

[Sirbasku2]

I have this problem too.  One time I resolved it (and Creative Cloud not being able to update error 184) by renaming the coresync folder and updating creative cloud. Then the photoshop 4 min launch and the problem of a 4 minute Export disappeared.  Today I had 4 minute photoshop 2020 launch problem again and noticed there was a new Creative Cloud update failure notification. So I tried the same trick again, (rename the coresync folder), I was then able to update Creative Cloud but this time it did not  fix the 4 minute photoshop launch.

[J Isner]

Today, when I launched Photoshop from Lightroom (Photo > Edit in... > Adobe Photoshop 2020), I got the following error

When I clicked OK, the Photoshop splash screen appeared.  Normally, Photoshop hangs for 4 minutes during the "Intializing..." phase.  However today it zipped through "initializing" and the program launched in seconds.

I checked my preferences and I don't see any changes.  Based on the timestamp, the Adobe Photoshop 2020 prefs.psp file wasn't touched.

Note that I never followed through on the suggestions various posters have made regarding the preferences file.  That's because the 4 minute delay occurs when the splash screen shows "Initializing...".  All the other launch phases, including the reading of preferences, go very quickly.

[J Isner]

Two months after the 4-minute launch problem began, it has mysteriously disappeared.  For the last five days, Photoshop has launched in under 10 seconds.  As far as I know, nothing on my Windows 10 system changed, at least nothing I am aware of.   I won't be surprised if the problem returns.

[J Isner]

Today, after three weeks of quick launches, Photoshop went back to taking 4 minutes to launch, again hanging in Initializing...

I think I know what may be causing it.  Today I had to re-install the Creative Cloud Desktop app because it would not launch.  After reinstalling and launching, I got the Error 184 (the app can't update itself).  Shortly thereafter, I launched Photoshop and the slow launch problem returned.  I have a feeling this conversation is dead since I started it in February, so I'm going to start a new one.

[TomChicago2011]

Have had the same problem for weeks and none of the forums or my other searches online have really fixed this.  The only thing that works for me is to launch Photoshop 2020 as an Administrator.  Then it starts just fine. Unfortunately, the way my employer has configured our machines, I have to go through 3 extra prompts to load something as an Adminstrator, but it's a heck of a lot faster than waiting 4 or 5 minutes for Photoshop 2020 to load.  In the one thread I found where someone discovered that running as an Administrator worked, they were getting a complete time out and an error message indicating it was file permissions issue.  The person answering her thread suggested she go to the help on which folders PhotoShop needs access to.  I never got the permissions mesage and mine will eventually load as a non-Administrator, but went through Adobe's help article on required permissions and made sure that I as a regular user on my PC had access to those folders, but that didn't help.  Still need to run as an Administror.  Something happened with one of the Photoshop 2020 updates that created this problem. Sure wish Adobe would figure it out for us and fix it. Across multiple threads on the internet hundreds of people are having this problem. 

[J Isner]

I found a workaround.  If you are running the Creative Cloud desktop application on Windows, and CC is configured to run at startup, then when you start Windows, CC will run.  If a new version is available, it will try to update itself.  If the update fails with error 184, it creates the condition for the slow Photoshop launch.  So here's the workaround: If you notice that CC has been getting the 184 error, disable automatic updates so that it will no longer try to update itself.  Resart the PC.  Launch Photoshop.  Of course the real solution would be figure out what's causing the 184 error and fix that.

[Aditya Bose]

I also faced same problem, but was surprised to know that at the exact same moment, MS Paint also started having same issue.  So it was evident that the problem was not with PS, but something else. Strangely, I simply uninstalled Paint, and the problem was solved. It seems Paint doesn't go well with PS. As an alternative, I downloaded installed Paint.Net and GIMP (both free), and all works well now. (maybe that's why Win11 doeesn't have Paint pre-installed, it needs to installed from MS Store).

[patricus_]

aint that some ****. i tried, and paint doesn't work for me either. this is beyond strange. sadly, uninstalling paint didnt solve it for me. 

[Aditya Bose]

One thing for sure... the problem is with Windows not PS, try fresh
installing Microsoft Windows 11 Version 22H2. All my problems were gone
with this version. The new MS Windows 11 also allows you to drop files in
the Taskbar Application button, that will cause the application to open the
file.

[Aditya Bose]

One thing for sure... the problem is with Windows not PS, try fresh installing Microsoft Windows 11 Version 22H2. All my problems were gone with this version. The new MS Windows 11 also allows you to drop files in the Taskbar Application button, that will cause the application to open the file.

[patricus_]

i did a fresh install, which fixed it.

... for two days. now it's back to borked. end me. i installed stable diffusion recently, which is the only change i made to my system. dont know if it's that (or any of the software dependencies that get installed with it). i doubt it though, since it certainly wasnt the trigger last time.

i guess i just have to live with a photoshop that starts on a four minute delay, it's not the end of the world, but it sure is annoying.

have you tried stopping photoshop / adobe services from phoning home btw? i'm considering that. editing the hosts file. or maybe just booting my pc with the internet off, see if that makes any difference ...