Photoshop CS6 Error 16 on Windows 10

[Buntobox]

I'm new here so hello to all.

This problem has been driving me crazy. Photoshop CS6 opens and works perfectly if I open it from a Quick Launch menu shortcut or the Start Menu shortcut. If Photoshop is already open and minimised, the right click "open with" shortcut will bring it to full screen and all will be well. If however, Photoshop is closed and I try to open it by clicking the "open with" shortcut, it throws up error 16, as shown below:

I have been all over the web looking for an answer to this one and so far have had no success. I've uninstalled and reinstalled half a dozen times, sometimes using the built-in Windows Admin account. I've added an SLStore folder in the Common Files directory. I've changes permissions on that and the Adobe PCD folder too as suggested by Adobe's own help pages. None of it made any difference. This issue always seems to be dealt with as a problem of never being able to open Photoshop at all, but my issue is that it is only the "open with" command that fails to open the program. All other methods work as they should. I suppose I could get round it by simply having PS open and then using the "open with" shortcut or using the "open" command from within PS itself, but this is something that is bugging me and I want to be able to fix it. It was never an issue with CS2 when that was the version I was using.

Any suggestions anyone?

[Guest]

Hi

Have you tried resetting PS preferences

To restore preferences quickly using a keyboard shortcut: Press and hold Alt+Control+Shift (Windows) or Option+Command+Shift (Mac OS) as you start Photoshop. You are prompted to delete the current settings. The new preferences files are created the next time you start Photoshop

If that doesn't help have you tried logging into Windows with another user account

[Buntobox]

Hi Ged.

I've tried both and neither fixed the issue. I even flattened the system drive and reinstalled everything from the ground up to sort out things like permissions and to generally clean out the system which had been up and running for about two years since the last major rebuild. It was about a day-and-a-half's worth of work and it didn't change a thing.

[Guest]

Seems like you've tried everything, is Photoshop up to date

Adobe - Photoshop : For Windows

Other than that I can't think of anything else, you would have thought a system rebuild and fresh install would have sorted it out, I don't use CS6 so can't test

[Buntobox]

Updating Photoshop is the one thing I haven't been able to do as the updates menu item is grayed out. I had assumed that was because CS6 is a bit long in the tooth. The same thing happened to CS2 eventually.

[Guest]

Found this although I think you've tried most of it

https://windowsreport.com/adobe-error-16-windows-10/

[Buntobox]

Thanks for this Ged but I've already been through that very site and have run all the permissions changes that were recommended. No joy.

[Guest]

Try the update to see if that helps

[Buntobox · Accepted solution]

I'm downloading a fresh copy of CS6 from the Adobe website because when I ran those updates you pinted me at, all of them failed and I can't think why. Reinstalling a fresh copy as opposed to the one I already have may help.

[SubGplayzYT]

I started getting this error today. I opened a PSD file when it happened. i tried following the guides on youtube, but none of them worked. i lost my account that i used to get photoshop, so i cant download it fresh. 😭 i really need to use it...