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swferguson
Participant
August 30, 2013
Answered

Photoshop Elements Startup Problem

  • August 30, 2013
  • 3 replies
  • 18949 views

Hi I am having a very annoying problem with Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 that I cannot get to the bottom off. We have 20 PCs in a school with the program installed but whenever anyone (and I mean anyone - standard domain user, administrator, local user) runs the editor it appears to startup ok but then it immediately freezes and you can't access any menus. It freezes for approximately 5 minutes then kicks in to life and works ok after that. I have determined that it must go and try to check something on the network because I figured out if I remove the network cable it starts ok. I've been through a number of attempts to fix this including the standards of reinstall (from a  local location, and a disk and a network location), install it on a new PC (PCs are all running Windows XP SP3) delete the preferences file, start it directly from a shortcut to the editor and not through the shortcut it creates.

So my question is has anyone come across something similar and do you know what Elements Editor tries to do when it starts up.?

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer richjberke

I have PSE 10 with the same behavior.

A network packet trace shows attempts to reach a particular servername at cloudfront.net on TCP port 80.

Yes, it's taking just about 3 minutes (160+ seconds).

I have been only using a shortcut to the Editor, and see the problem behavior.  There is nothing in the Preferences that gives me a clue about reaching out to the Internet.

I have just opened Organizer.  Under its preferences there are Adobe Partner Services.  All were checked on for checking automatically.   I have UNchecked them.  Closed PSE.  Restarted PSE.  Same behavior.

A packet trace shows:

1. PC asks for "static.photoshop.com"

2. The answer from DNS for that includes a reference to a 'cname':  d2rvjokk0fvmdi.cloudfront.net

    The list of addresses has 8 entries. 

3. The PC tries to reach each of them.  Has to timeout/fail.  Then PSE lets me work okay. 

There appears to be some other hidden setting that PSE is acting upon.

I can't find any entry in the Windows Registry for 'static.photoshop.com', nor for any 'cloudfront.net'.  

Very frustrating.


I tried and found a somewhat devious workaround:  Add a dummy entry in my own host file for static.photoshop.com

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

127.0.0.1   static.photoshop.com

PSE now starts without the lag.  (my PC rejects my own attempt to get a TCP port 80 session.)

I haven't found yet what that might break that I would be unhappy about.... for now I'm happy with the quick startup.

3 replies

S
Springheel
Participating Frequently
September 10, 2018

Just wanted to say that I was having the same problem with PSE 2018 in my school lab last week.  It would work on 7 computers, but the other 23 in the lab would launch and then immediately freeze.  I was beginning a new digital art course and was ready to tear my hair out worried that the program required more RAM than the lab computers had, but then I found this thread and tried unplugging the problem computers from the network while launching the program.  That worked and allows me to actually run the program.  I'm hoping I'll be able to get tech support to try the dummy host solution.

T
Taggman
Participant
February 2, 2021

I had the delay after start issue with PSE 14 a little while after a new build and reinstallation of windows 10 and putting my programs back. I hadn't used PSE 14 since then but when I eventually installed and launched it there was a delay of 35 seconds or so before all the menus became active and it started to work normally. I read through and tried all the solutions above and some others elsewhere over a period of three or four days without any joy. I had checked out my Kaspersky Total Security for blocks as well as removing and re installing all Adobe programs. I nearly gave up and was prepared to put up with the delay when I looked into the "Show hidden icons" under the ^ sybol on the right of the taskbar. There I found the sybol for the Acronis anti ransomware feature which I had activated from Acronis 18. I realised this would be checking the I/O from my programs so I deleted it just in case. Viola! PSE 14 started straightaway, no delay at all. 

So it may be worth checking out all thed hidden stuff you may have running at startup. Worked for me.

 

T
Taggman
Participant
February 5, 2021

Sorry to say my joy was short lived, I'm back having to wait 35 seconds or so to get active menus after launching Photoshop Elements 14. Removing the Acronis ransonware protection feature didn't effect any lengthy cure. I will just have to put up with the delay I've no more ideas.

J
JorgeDardon
Participant
October 2, 2017

Hi everybody... here's my two cents.  I have had this same problem with both Photoshop Elements 14 and 15 and found that the redirection of the static.photosop.com didn't work for me.  So I continued checking and found that my problem was with printer (or more specific printer drivers).  Check it out, here is my original post:

https://radicalcritique.blogspot.com/2017/09/photoshop-elements-15-freezes-on-startup.html

    marcd48241333
    marcd48241333
    Participant
    November 16, 2019

    I just had to log in to confirm this fix for me.

     

    Elements 15 freezing AFTER splash screen - cannot access menus for 5-10 seconds after opening.

    Hosts file didn't work for me, but checking my printer as suggested by JorgeDardon worked.

     

    I have a network printer at home that is generally offline, that is connected wirelessly - but my main PC is connected via LAN cable to a router, that is itself connected to the main router to which the wireless printer is wirelessly connected.

     

    However, as we don't use the printer until needed it is powered off.  I must have recently set the network printer (or Windows 10 did) to the default printer and as a result, Elements cannot connect to it - which I assume it likes to do for colour profiles, ICM image matching etc.  Well of course it won't be able to connect while the printer is powered down.

     

    So setting my Windows 10 default preinter to a PDF printer solved the issue perfectly and instantly.  I can now open up Elements and carry on working immediately.

     

    Thanks for the solution and I would recommend others use 'Print to PDF' or a PDF printer as the default - you can always switch printers when you need to print out.

     

    T
    timdotexe
    Participant
    September 3, 2013

    Hi, we are in a NSW DET school and have the exact same issue that has just started occuring.

    Start Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, click editor. Then when you click a menu or any other item it freezes (not responding) for around 5 mins.

    But same as you are experiencing, it works fine if network cable is unplugged first before opening!

    Windows 7 here though, not XP. Happening on all workstations i have tested so far.

    What the hell is going on?!

    J
    JoshFVDHS
    Participant
    September 3, 2013

    Hello, we are in a WA DET school and have the same problem. We are using both XP and Windows 7 machines and the problem is the same on all of them.

    Start Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, click editor. Then when you click a menu or any other item it freezes (not responding) for around 3 mins.

    Anyone know any solution to this?

    S
    swfergusonAuthor
    Participant
    September 3, 2013

    This is interesting. I was starting to be of the believe that it must have been something that has changed on our network. I was thinking that when you start up editor the program tries to connect to an adobe website, possibly to check updates etc, and maybe a change in our proxy server has blocked access to the site. However the fact that it has started happening elsewhere seems to rule that probabilty out and maybe Adobe have changed something, ie the location of whichever site the program is attempting to contact at startup. Has anyone tried using the software outwith their school/business network? I am thinking about taking a PC home tonight and try it from there, or/and install the software on my own home PC and see if the same issue still occurs.

    I ran TCPView when opening the program which details all TCP connections that are occuring on the PC and any point. When you run the editor it returns the following as one of the connections (this is only there when Photoshop Elements is run and disappears after the program kicks in to life, so it definitely appears to be linked to the program):-

    server-54-230-3-3.lhr5.r.cloudfront.net http    SYN_SENT

    It also returns hundred of connectiona from our proxy just saying it is waiting but doesn't actually tell you what it is waiting on, other than concluding that it is access to the site above. I don't know if this site is anything to do with Adobe.

    Unfortuantely when you run Organiser the same connection also appears and I don't have any problems with Organiser just when you run editor.

    This is not getting any clearer.

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