DynamicLink Media Server not available

[teresab67396309]

I am trying to drop audio into a new video timeline in Photoshop CC 2018 and I keep receiving this error message: "Could not complete request because the dynamiclink media server is not available."  I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling photoshop, restarted computer, and spent 2 hours on chat with adobe letting them try and figure it out with absolutely no resolution.  This worked at school and it worked on a friend's computer, both are photoshop 2017, but it will not work on mine with photoshop 2018.

[geisme]

In both Library preferences folders I have two versions 10.0.0, and 12.1.4

Since none of the noted fixes have worked for me should I delete the lower numbered folder in both directories? I'm on CC2020

[geisme]

Well that didn't do it. Progress bar gets almost done and then the error message appears

[geisme]

Saw another thread for a different product that suggested converting the audio to a certain bit rate but that didn't help. 

[geisme]

So three years after the original post the problem wasn't solved by the various tips here. And it wasn't the file format for my issue. Just spent three hours sharing screens with Adobe. Final solution was to install PS 2018 and allow Little Snitch to access DynamicLink Media Server from Adobe. It was trying to access it at FXFactory. 2019 and 2020 don't play well with video/motion files. Known bug. Waiting for an update. Guess I won't be jumping to Catalina until that happens. 

[geisme]

One thing that I think worked was turning off the GPU processing in Photoshop Preferences Performance. 

[Xeneldix]

Still awaiting solution - nothing suggested works so far.

[Zebbler2]

This is so frustrating.  To know this issue was around for years and Adobe just keeps kicking the can down the road, is very upsetting.  The software SHOULD BE ABLE TO OPEN A FILE.
At this point, I literally can't proceed on my project in Photoshop, simply because it needs the Dynamic Media Server to open my file, and it keeps throwing errors.  NONE of the suggestions in this long thread of ideas worked for me.

[Zebbler2]

I finally solved this.  It took a full Adobe Suite uninstall with a specialist who could find all of the hidden files the uninstaller can't find.  I tried everything else first, and nothing helped.  I spent hours with Adobe support and they weren't helpful.  But a super clean FULL Adobe Suite uninstall and fresh re-install did it.  There go my plugins, presets and automations, but such is life sometimes.  I am still quite upset, but at least my videos load now.

[AnimoMotion]

This can't be the only solution, can it Adobe? I'm one day's work down, so I'll be looking forward to getting that day rate removed from my subscription. Known bug? This should absolutely not be released with something so catastrophic.

Q - Does Photoshop open all the files it should?

A - On Macs, no. Doesn't open Movie files. 

Okay lets fix that then before we release this half arsed version to the world. This is ridiculous. I have worked with footage in photoshop for years and now suddenly it's f**ked? 

[Hamster1962]

sorry I tried this xxx-time without succes, this seem s to a very persistent issue with Photoshop..... For me no single video file opens not mp4 not avi not MOV, getting a bit frustrated about this. 

[AnimoMotion]

Workaround - found an old downloader from an external site with Photoshop CC2018 on there, reluctant to post in case Adobe stop it but you can google it and should be fine or DM me with your email and I will send it to you - using that in conjuction with Mojave worked great. So we have progressed 1 OS and 1, now 2 Photoshop CC iterations and this functionality no longer works. Well done Adobe and Apple. Once again, your corporate nonsense hurts the people who use your products. 

Ridiculous. 

[r_fitzpatrick]

I'm on CC2018 and I do not have this location available /Library/Preferences/Adobe/amecommand/10.0.0/. I am able to locate "Trace Database.txt" in /Library/Preferences/Adobe/dynamiclinkmediaserver/10.0.0/, however it is not empty. Do you have any recommendations on how to proceed?

[Guest]

Just found this three year old thread and the problem still isn’t solved… I’m on a Mac and opening a MOV-file with Photoshop always ends with the error message: »DynamicLink Media Server isn’t available«. I tried most of the ideas for a solution in this thread but honestly I don’t have the time to reinstall everything and start from scratch. Thanks in advance for new insights or any help!!
Configuration: macOS 10.15.6 / MacBookPro15,1 / 6-Core Intel Core i9
Adobe Photoshop v 21.2.3

[bradleyg92122464]

did you ever figure this out? Just had this happen to me a couple days ago and still no luck.

[bold13]

Freaking Adobe Dropping the Ball again!!!! 

[alexanderd64413812]

Dropping the ball? It's been in a hole for years and the team and fans have gone home and arer throwing darts at Adobe logos. 

[AAPFresno]

Here we almost half way through 2021 and getting the same error after the last update!  

[Don1King1]

Fix that works for the "dynamiclink media server" problem.

Note: I'm using CS6 (refuse to be ripped off with a perpetual never ending "subscription" ramson) running Mac OS 10.12 Sierra. But I suspect this fix would work with any setup, whether you're using a Creative Suite disc or Creative Cloud, and on any version of the Mac OS. I bet it would also work if you're using Windows instead of a Mac.

So... it looks like "some" people are having this issue (me), and "some" (probably most) people are not. It's for sure, that if most people had the problem, Adobe would be right on top of it and fix it. But of course the aren't doing that.

Going from this premise that some have the problem and some don't, the question then is: why? And I came to the obvious conclusion: it's a compatibility issue. The people having the problem have something on their computer that is causing the problem. And everybody here is trying to figure out what that is. Well I stopped doing that after much frustation and simply did a run around to trying to find the incompatible file: and it fixed the problem!

I had a hard drive on the shelf that I wasn't using any longer because it only had 500MG on it. So I attached it to my computer (iMac 27 inch 3.5 GHz Intel Core i7) and installed the Mac OS that I was using on my internal iMac hard drive. And installing it, I was asked if I wanted to port all my files from the internal iMac to this newly setup external drive. And here's the secret: I didn't import anything... no files, no email, no applications, nothing! Because if I did import anything, I'd run the risk of repeating the problem of incompatiblity all over again.

So I now have this external drive with just the Mac OS on it ... and nothing else. And I then installed Creative Suite 6 on the drive. And hooray! Photoshop workds like a charm. No window popping up saying "dynamiclinkmediaserver has encountered an error." Now I can work with any video file with no issues at all.

If you're using CC instead of an installed disc version of Photoshop, I think this fix would work too.

Just use this external drive (with nothing on it except the bare OS) when you're working in CC.

Yes it's true, when I know I have to work on a video file in Photoshop, I have to spend 2 extra minutes or so switching to the external drive that is now dedicated to using just Photoshop. But hey, I'll take this for now until a real fix is worked out. But knowing Adobe, I'm not holding my breath. Hope this helps our some of you!

[kermit4karate]

Posting this in case it helps someone else... I was struggling with the "Could not complete request because the dynamiclink media server is not available." error in Photoshop 22.5.1 today and did this to resolve it. First, I made sure the latest version of Adobe Media Encoder was installed, even though I don't have it in my Creative Cloud subscription. I just clicked to install it and left it there without activating the trial. 

Then I searched my primary drive for the following 2 files:

msvcr110.dll

msvcp110.dll

You can Google what those files are used for if you're curious. Suffice it to say, they're necessary, and something may have removed or moved one or both of them out of C:\Windows\System32, which is where they belong. Both should be in System32, so if/when you find them, copy and paste them into System32.

That's it. That fixed it for me, and I can open and import .mov and .mp4 video files in Photoshop again. Hope this works for you too!

[DalSifoDyas]

Thank you so much this was the thing that worked for me!