Photoshop Elements opens, but menus are blank

[kirstenj_2004]

My Photoshop Elements was working like a charm for some time. All of a sudden, I open it and the menus under file, edit, etc are blank. Anyone experienced this? I'm running Windows 10 - it worked on Windows 10 for months, and it's suddenly doing this. Nothing has changed on the computer as far as I know.

[j.pady]

I just came down with this problem (PRE 9, Windows 10). I was working with PSE & PRE all week without problem, then on Friday (8/11/17) the drop-down menus in the Editor disappeared, and are garbled in Organizer. Distinctly different (see image below). However, the PRE menus are still fine.

[S_Shore]

I have the exact same issues. I have been an Adobe customer for years. You would think that they can get their IT department to fix this. It is ironic that while I have been dealing with this issue, I have had two popups wanting me to update to the most recent version. I spend a lot of money every month on Adobe programs but Photoshop is one I don't use often and I can't afford to have a subscription on it. My version is Photoshop 11. And who's to say I won't have the same problem even if I upgrade. I'm ready to find another product.

[Anton+]

Please read my other responses in this thread. Adobe is NOT to blame in this issue and has addressed this problem; which has to do with the font cache; to Microsoft. In my other responses you can find a solution offered by Microsoft to solve the problem on short term. Microsoft is working on a solution to restore correct behavior of the font cache.

[Guest]

Hello Anton

Please send me a link to Microsoft's solution to this problem. I am not willing to do anything to my registry at this point.  (Very dangerous for someone like me.) 

Thank you.

[Anton+]

Please search in this thread (Ctrl+F -->  Anton) or WeTransfer to find a download link voor the files I used to solve the problem.

Be aware that these files will change one particular key in your registry.

[paulfc]

Yep, I have been having the same issue. Spent nearly 2 hours on another chat with someone today. They told me it was a C:Drive issue and nothing to do with Adobe and told me to come to the forum where I find I am not alone. I hope Adobe are able to find a solution to this.

[Anton+]

Finally found the cause and temporary solution here: Missing Fonts After Creators Update Installed ​

And: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4038303/fonts-installed-by-using-install-as-shortcut-are-mi...

Thanks to: Dove Isaacs (Adobe systems incorporated)

[paulfc]

Thanks for the find. The workaround does involve: "The FNTCACHE.DAT file is automatically rebuilt at system restart. Therefore, to use this workaround, you must delete this file before every system logoff. You may want to create a script that automatically runs at system logoff to delete the file." This seems above my pay grade of technical knowledge

[Anton+]

Yes, I agree, removing such a file requires certain knowledge about how Windows is shutting down and starting up.

Although I'm not afraid to use such an option, the option suggested by Microsoft is easier to implement, and therefor

I've choosen to go for that option. It really solves the problem!

How I did it:

Create a text file with the following content:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize]
"DisableFontBootCache"=dword:00000001

After creation, change the file name to something like DisableFontCache.reg

Windows probably will ask you if you're okay with changing the file extension. (You might need to make file extensions visible to do this)

Once created, double click the file. Windows will ask if you want to allow this app (registry editor) to make changes to your system --> Choose Yes

And next Windows warns you about the risk of making changes to the registry. --> Choose yes.

Next Windows will notifiy you if the registry key was succesfully added (or not)

You need to have administrator priviliges to carry out this type of actions.

To reverse above actions, make a copy of the file and name it EnableFontCache.reg

Change the file as shown below.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize]
"DisableFontBootCache"=dword:00000000

[paulfc]

Hi Anton, that worked! Thank you for the tip. I now see all the text back in Elements. Thanks Anton for such an elegant and simple solution to a frustrating problem

[Guest]

Hi Anton - I have followed all the steps (including creating and double clicking DisableFontCache.reg, then answer yes, then created EnableFontCache.reg file. PSE 10 is still not displaying properly. I must be missing something or not understanding something correctly. Many thanks for your help.

[Anton+]

Hi, just to be clear.

To solve the issue with the FontCache: only use the DisableFontCache.reg.  Use the EnableFontCache.reg once that Microsoft has released a real solution for this issue.

Forgot to mention: after using the DIsableFontCache.reg you have to restart your PC. Did you try this?

Regards, Anton

[Guest]

Hi Anton - Once I restarted the PC it works fine. I also realize that I shouldn't run EnableFontCache.reg. Thank you very much!

[Jeff Laurents]

Hi Anton,

i assume your solution only works for Windows. I am on a Mac with Sierra OS10.12.5, any ideas?

[Anton+]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry, I can't help you with this question, I have zero experience with Mac OS.

Hope Adobe can help you with this.

[Jeff Laurents]

Thanks Anton. I tried Adobe. They couldn't help except to refer me to the forums. But thanks for respondin.

[rogerm4156994]

Yes, thanks to Anton. I've checked this out on several occasions after

rebooting and no problems.

        RogM

[KimRee]

Thank you Anton. This fixed my problem also.

[Xrossbow47]

Anton, I just found your solution. But if I search Registry what I found at that location is now "DisableRemoteFontCache" rather than

"DisableFontBootCache". I'm up to date on Windows10 updates. Any idea if your fix will still work?

Thx

[Anton+]

Yes,

The Original text from Microsoft for this Fix is:

Workaround 1: Disable the font boot cache

1. Open Registry Editor.
2. Locate the following registry subkey:
   
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\GRE_Initialize
3. Create a DWORD (32-bit) registry entry.
4. Name the new entry DisableFontBootCache.
5. Set the value of the new entry to 1.

This means that initially this Key doesn't exist.

The fix will work

[Xrossbow47]

Thanks Anton, that worked great. Total brain fart on my end when I didn't see the "new" subkey there.

Now, I'll see what happens when I re-install Premiere. Initially after I uninstalled Premiere yesterday the editor seemed to work ok at least for the few pics I did last night. Sure was disappointed this morning when I started it up and same old problem with the editor.

My understanding is that if MS ever gets around to a fix, then we would either dump the subkey or at the very least change it back to zero?

[CheekyBud]

I tried this solution on my Toshiba Laptop running Win 10 32bit. Elements 11 and found it worked, the only thing that seemed to alter was my desktop, now it.. only shows the tiles and not the original programs. Not certain how to recover the old system but will try with some research. Thanks for the help. BTW my desktop which is running Win 10 64bit. operates okay with all the latest win updates when using Elements 11.

[Geoff_Kendall]

The solution from Anton certainly looks very good at first sight - I'm seeing my menus again - and is pretty easy to do. On a PC, use the Notepad program to make your new file as a plain .txt file, then (after you have saved the file), change the file extension to be .reg rather than .txt . You can do that by right-clicking the file icon and selecting 'Rename', then just change the last three letters (after the DOT) to reg. You might need to change your Control Panel settings (File Explorer Options>>Show or hide file extensions) so that you can see the extension and change it.

Thanks Anton 🙂

[tailanc24928267]

Another computer of mine that also has Windows 10 CU does not have this problem. I copied all the fonts from that computer on to a USB drive and pasted all those fonts into Control Panel -> Fonts on the computer that has the problem. After restarting Windows, the problem went away! Hopefully, it will stay away.

[gene1234567]

I have 2 Toshiba's with Windows 10, the first one everything in PSE10 went blank.  Now the newer one with PSE10 has several missing fonts.   I suspect this one will eventually go blank as well.  Is it necessary to upgrade to the most current version of PSE?  It's $70 to upgrade because it's not in the Adobe bundle.