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The embedded ICC profile cannot be used because the ICC profile description is invalid. Ignoring the profile

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
November 19, 2017
6 replies
71526 views

Hello,

I recently replaced my old laptop with a Dell XPS 15 laptop with 4K display.

After installing Adobe Light Room and Photoshop CC 2018 on it - I started encountering issues exporting photos from Light Room to Photoshop. Specifically, when I attempt to export an image from Light Room to Photoshop - I receive the following error "The embedded ICC profile cannot be used because the ICC profile description is invalid. Ignoring the profile". When I click "Continue", Photoshop loads the image but the color is messed up and looks awful.

My current Light Room preferences are shown below:

I checked around on the web and can't find any instructions on how to fix this.

Does anyone know of a way to resolve this issue?

Thank you!

Patrick

Correct answer D Fosse

Hey, Dave.

I'm having the same problem. When I edit a RAW file from my Canon 70D and click open it says, "The embedded ICC profile cannot be used because the ICC profile description is invalid. Ignoring the profile." I've copied all the color profiles to the 'Recommended' folder (Both AdobeRGB1998 and SRGB Color Space Profile are both in there along with several others.) Still no fix. This was happening in Photoshop 2020 and now I'm using Photoshop 2021 and it's still happening. I'm using Windows 10.

That's most likely a broken monitor profile. If you're not using a calibrator, monitor/laptop manufacturers distribute their own generic profiles through Windows Update, and these profiles are very often inaccurate/defective in several ways.

Don't change anything in Photoshop's color settings! That's not where the problem is. Go into Windows color management and set sRGB IEC61966-2.1 as default system profile for that display. It won't be entirely accurate, but it'll work. The proper and adequate way to deal with this is to get a calibrator to make a new profile, but if you don't have one, sRGB should be close enough.

Relaunch Photoshop when done, it loads the monitor profile at application startup.

A

Anonymous

@davescm I followed your suggested steps, but it seems all of the most recent standard profiles are already in my Windows>System32>spool>drivers>color folder... is there another way to fix this problem?

davescm

Community Expert

Hi Kelly

There are two or three different problems contained in this old thread, which require different actions to fix. Can you describe your exact issue and which operating system and which version of Photoshop you are using.

Dave

K

karshaforever

Participating Frequently

Hey, Dave.

I'm having the same problem. When I edit a RAW file from my Canon 70D and click open it says, "The embedded ICC profile cannot be used because the ICC profile description is invalid. Ignoring the profile." I've copied all the color profiles to the 'Recommended' folder (Both AdobeRGB1998 and SRGB Color Space Profile are both in there along with several others.) Still no fix. This was happening in Photoshop 2020 and now I'm using Photoshop 2021 and it's still happening. I'm using Windows 10.

A

animationlife

Legend

For years I been using Adobe RGB (1998), and It works very well. Under Color Management Policies, I have It on Preserve Embedded Profiles. In other words, If I open an Image that Is not Adobe RGB, It opens as Untagged RGB, therefore It still opens with the Original color Profile. Alson Inside the Camera Raw Preferences, my Color Space Is also Adobe RGB (1998).

Later If I want to save images for example for Email or the web, I use the File-Export-Save For Web (Legacy) option, and I Check the Convert to sRGB Box.

D Fosse

Community Expert

No, you don't understand. Untagged means there is no profile. In that case Photoshop will display it using the working space. If that happens to be the same as the file was originally created in, it will appear to be correct. But there is still no profile, and it may display very differently elsewhere.

Untagged files usually come from Export or Save For Web. For some reason they both strip the profile by default. You need to manually check the box to "embed color profile".

Just checking "convert to sRGB" does not embed the profile.

A

animationlife

Legend

I have a question, please. Let say a Client sends you an Image which is Untagged, no profile, and he wants you to work on that Image with the same colors as is, and when you save it and send it to him he does not want the original colors to be different. When opening the Untagged Image in photoshop Do you convert It to Adobe RGB 1998?

Thanks.

NB, colourmanagement

Community Expert

D Fosse writes

The proper fix is to use a calibrator to make a new monitor profile. But if you don't have one, sRGB IEC61966-2.1 is often close enough for most people.

Absolutely right about the thread and to advise getting a calibrator, but I'd like to mention wide gamut displays

There is an exception when it comes to to the sRGB's suitability as a "stand-in" display profile - and that’s if the user has a wide gamut display.

Just wanted to mention that - it doesn’t apply to this particular user, it seems, but another may read this post and follow and she may have a wide gamut screen, as they are increasingly widely available, including from Dell I believe (along with all the problems they create which we've discussed her so often).

In the case of a wide gamut display and display profile corruption issues, Adobe RGB would probably make an OK stand in screen profile.

I hope this helps

neil barstow, colourmanagement.net

[please do not use the reply button on a message in the thread, only use the one at the top of the page, to maintain chronological order]

R

RobertMichaelson

Participant

A fix that worked for me on a PC was just go into the Color Management System using the search bar. Make sure Photoshop is not running. Click on add virtual sRGB and set as your default monitor. So far working fo me. Thanks to ezfixes--not my fix.

D

daspook

Participating Frequently

Thank you so much Robert, your post fixed my issue.

I've been pulling my hair out for days trying to figure out the problem. Thankfully I found this thread. On a Dell Xps15 as well but using a Asus 4k monitor as my main screen.

Thanks again,

Luke

R

robertc90806890

Participant

This is a worthless article that does not address the problem in any way this is clearly written by the tech support team. They need to fix the code the way I know that this article was written by the tech support team is the fact that they do not include any of the steps necessary to find the recommend folder and the person complaining has no issue with finding the folder. Photoshop 2019 is coded wrong and has a bug that they are not able to fix. I would stay away from Photoshop 2019 on Windows 10 until they fix the problem.

davescm

Community Expert

robertc90806890 wrote
This is a worthless article that does not address the problem in any way this is clearly written by the tech support team. They need to fix the code the way I know that this article was written by the tech support team is the fact that they do not include any of the steps necessary to find the recommend folder and the person complaining has no issue with finding the folder. Photoshop 2019 is coded wrong and has a bug that they are not able to fix. I would stay away from Photoshop 2019 on Windows 10 until they fix the problem.

Robert

The answer was written by me , not Adobe or a tech support team, and succesfully addressed the OPs problem (as confirmed by the poster). Contrary to your statement, Windows 10 and CC2019 do work together correctly with ICC profiles - it is essential for our daily work that they do.

If you have an issue then describe it in detail (preferably in a separate post rather than tagging on the end of a 2 year old post) and we will try and help you.

Dave

R

robertc90806890

Participant

I am getting the exact same error message and nothing works to resolve the

problem. I did not have any problems with Windows 7 and the older version

of photoshop. Both companies tech support teams are not able to fix the

problem. Thats why windows 7 and the old version of Photoshop are better.

D Fosse

Community Expert

There was an identical post only a couple of weeks ago. Was that you?

First, try Adobe RGB. If that works, there really is something odd with your ProPhoto profile.

Second, see if you actually have it installed. It's under Windows > system32 > spool > drivers > color. Then there's a copy under Program Files (x86) > Common Files > Adobe > Color > Profiles. I don't know which one is accessed here, but ProPhoto should be in both, and it's 1kB.

PaddyOAuthor

Participant

Thanks D Fosse. Yes, I posted the same question last weekend but thought it got buried so I resubmitted.

Thanks for the trouble shooting steps. I will give Adobe RGB a try.

I also looked in the file paths you mentioned. The Windows System32 color driver folder did not have a ProPhoto color profile file. Here is what is there:

And here is what is in the Adobe color profiles folder. I don't see the sRGB, AdobeRGB or ProPhoto profiles listed.

Is there a place a can download the color profiles and save them to these folders?

Thank you,

Patrick

davescm

Community Expert

Hi Paddy,

Click on the "Recommended" folder in your second screenshot. The standard profiles should be in there

Copy all those to the Windows>System32>spool>drivers>color folder

Dave

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