Unable to launch Photoshop

[Lionel Wheeler]

Photoshop will not open in creative cloud or Lightroom Classic.  When I click on "Open" in adobe creative cloud nothing happens, and when I do it in Lightroom Classic it keeps giving message about trying to open Photoshop 2023.  Help.

[Claire H.]

Hi @Lionel Wheeler, welcome to the Lightroom Classic Community Forum! Let's try a few troubleshooting steps to resolve this issue so you can get back to editing.
1. Sign out of the Creative Cloud desktop app, quit it, relaunch, sign in, and update Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and Camera Raw.
2. Launch Lightroom once with third‑party plug‑ins disabled: hold Shift while starting Photoshop and accept Disable Optional and Third‑Party Plug‑ins.
3. Reset Lightroom Classic Preferences: Please take a look at this Helpx article for steps. https://adobe.ly/3HsQXpA It is recommended to back up your catalog before resetting preferences. For more information, you can refer to this article: https://adobe.ly/4dW8vqF.
4. Enable Full Disk Access: https://adobe.ly/4rRQgsK

If none of these steps work, please send us your OS information and the version of Lightroom Classic you are using. Thanks!
^CH

[Lionel Wheeler]

Thanks Claire...will try that...keep u updated...

[Edward8730]

This usually happens because Creative Cloud is trying to open an old Photoshop version. First check for updates and make sure the latest Photoshop is installed. If it still doesn’t open, uninstall Photoshop and reinstall it again.

[Lionel Wheeler]

I did that Edward...it keeps trying to open photoshop 2023

[Lionel Wheeler]

I'm on windows also...

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi @Lionel Wheeler,

Thanks for the update and for confirming you’re on Windows. Since Creative Cloud is still trying to launch Photoshop 2023 even after reinstalling, this usually points to a version mismatch or leftover components from an older install.

To help us see exactly what’s happening, could you please share a short screen recording that shows:
 • Clicking Open from the Creative Cloud app
 • The message Lightroom Classic shows when it tries to launch Photoshop

In the meantime, because you’re seeing issues across multiple Adobe apps, I recommend doing a clean reinstallation using the Adobe Creative Cloud Cleaner Tool:
 • This fully removes old Photoshop versions and corrupted launch references
 • After cleaning, reinstall only the latest Photoshop version from Creative Cloud

Note: Ensure you back up your import presets, brushes, etc. Also, ensure everything is synced to the cloud to prevent the loss of any documents or images.

Once you’ve tried this, let us know how it goes or share the recording, and we’ll take it from there.

Best regards,
Anshul Saini