PSE 15 won't open - 2 copies of PhotoshopElementsLive.exe running

Report · Jun 07, 2017

I purchased Photoshop Elements 15 yesterday. The install went perfectly. I was able to verify that my organizer catalogs were there and I played around with the editor a little and everything appeared to work. I don't remember the sequence of events, but I restarted the program and had trouble at one point with it not opening and my laptop fan going into overdrive. I checked to see what was running and noticed there were 2 copies of PhotoshopElementsLive.exe running, each using 12.5% of my CPU. I don't remember if this happened before or after the one time I was able to get in.

Today, I haven't been able to get into PSE 15 at all. I've rebooted several times and each time, when I start the program, it kicks off 2 copies of PhotoshopElementsLive.exe. Not knowing what this is for, I thought it could possibly have something to do with the fact that I also had PSE 13 and a few remnants of PSE 9 on my laptop. I uninstalled 13, tried to clean up the leftover 9 files, and tried to start 15 again. Same problem. I finally uninstalled PSE 15 as well, rebooted, reinstalled, and I still have the same problem. I can't get PSE 15 to open and PhotoshopElementsLive.exe is running twice. I'm at a loss as to how to fix this.

I verified that the software is registered on Adobe.com - I assume during the one time I successfully got into the program yesterday. I don't plan to use any of the cloud services. Does PhotoshopElementsLive.exe relate to that? Can I somehow stop it from running? Or is that not even the problem? All suggestions appreciated!

I'm using Windows 10 on a laptop - all updates are current. Not sure what else you need to know.

Thanks!

Carol

Report · Jun 07, 2017

Hi,

Please see following kb article and try the resolution mentioned therein:

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/editor-has-stopped-working.html

Let me know if you have any queries.

Thanks,

Arshla

Report · Jun 07, 2017

Hi Arshla!

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't have "Web Companion" on my list of programs. I also checked C:\Windows\System32 and have nothing named Lavasoft. Other ideas?

I was just about to post this reply and thought I'd see if I could find anything on the event logs. I didn't have any luck (don't know what I'm doing there) so I decided to start PSE15 again since it has been a few hours since the last time I tried. I figured it would be easier to find something on the event logs since it is now after midnight and the date has changed.

Wouldn't you know, it started right up! All I can think is, before starting PSE15 again, I checked System Explorer to see if there were any PSE processes, services, etc. already running . In the Uninstallers section, I happened to notice there was still one listed for PSE9 (in addition to the uninstaller for PSE15).

Yesterday, I tried multiple times to uninstall version 9, even though I knew there were only remnants left. I kept getting error code 1316 about "the specified account already exists" and the uninstall would fail. Instead, I tried to manually remove all the files and folders I could find and did some registry cleanup for everything PSE9 using CCleaner.

So just now, when I found PSE9 listed on the System Explorer uninstallers, I tried one more time to uninstall, knowing it would fail again. It did fail, but instead of giving me the previous error, it gave me a message to uninstall it from the setup folder (or something like that). As soon as I okayed the message, the PSE9 uninstaller file disappeared. I then tried starting PSE15 again.

I don't see how still having a PSE9 uninstaller file (that didn't work) could cause the problem I was having, but PSE15 did just start, much to my surprise. So, for now, I'll just be happy it did and hope that it continues. If it doesn't, I'll be back!

Thanks!

Carol

Report · Jun 08, 2017

Well... it was too good to be true. After PSE15 unexpectedly started last night, I worked on a project for a couple of hours. This morning when I started the program, it wouldn't open. I'm back to the same problem, that it kicked off 2 copies of PhotoshopElementsLive.exe and the actual PSE15 never opened. I can see that PSE15 is running, but the screen is mostly white and just never finishes coming up.

I did notice last night that, after PSE15 opened and was actually running, I didn't see any instances of PhotoshopElementsLive.exe running at all. So I now have an intermittent problem. What does this "Live" program do? Other suggestions?

Thank you,

Carol

Report · Jun 08, 2017

Other suggestions?

Did you install the software from a CD or via a link online to the server?

Report · Jun 08, 2017

It was an Amazon download.

Report · Jun 08, 2017

flame1 wrote
It was an Amazon download.

I wonder if you have a flawed download/installation of the software. It can't hurt to contact the appropriate digital division of Amazon and try to obtain assistance from them.

Report · Jun 09, 2017

Thanks, hatstead. I'll give that a try once I run out of other options. From the comments I've seen, people are not having much luck once the software has been used and the key activated.

Report · Jun 09, 2017

Hi flame,

Thanks for posting in Adobe forum.

I understand you are facing issue in using Adobe Elements 15.

- I request you to please create a new user account with administrator privileges. And try to use the software in that user account. By this we can check the functionality of your current user account.

- You need to create a new admin user account in your machine & try to use both the software’s & check whether you get same issue or not .

Hope to see your reply soon.

Thanks

Regards

Dhananjay

Report · Jun 09, 2017

Thanks dhananjays. I'll give that a try either tonight or tomorrow.

Report · Jun 09, 2017

Hi dhananjays,

I was already beginning to make progress on the intermittent problem, and your suggestion just confirmed it. It seemed that PSE15 would run at night, but not in the morning, so I started thinking about what would be different. Every morning, I kick off a number of programs including Thunderbird and Excel. I also have a task that automatically starts Firefox and opens about 5 tabs so I can check my calendar, Facebook, weather, etc. when I start my day. At night, I don't think they were all open so I started experimenting.

I'm not sure this happens every time, but it appears that if Firefox is running, PSE15 won't open. If I reboot my laptop, wait for the task that starts Firefox to run, shut down the browser, and then start PSE15, it runs successfully. At your suggestion, I set up another user with admin privileges. I immediately started PSE15 and it ran perfectly. I don't have any tasks set up on the new user ID to start any programs, so I rebooted, manually started Firefox and opened a few tabs, then tried to start PSE15 and it hung - just like it does under my regular ID.

I don't seem to have any problem running Firefox with PSE15 as long as PSE15 is started first. Have you heard of this before? I'm not technical, but it appears that maybe Firefox grabs some resource that PSE15 also needs and can't get, so it never completes. I can see that PSE15 is running as a task, but the window just never completely opens, and my CPU goes way up on the 2 copies of PhotoshopElementsLive.exe.

Even though I don't understand this, it appears that maybe I have a workaround. Is there anything else you want to know or want me to do in order to narrow this down?

Carol