Photoshop CS6 not opening in Big Sur update for Mac

[scottkb2000]

I had Photoshop CS6 installed on my iMac when it was running High Sierra. It ran smoothly for every update through Catalina. With the most recent Update (Big Sur), it will not open. There is a hack, where you "Show Package Contents" for the CS6.app, then go to Contents > MacOS > click on Adobe Photoshop CS6 and just disregard the error notices that pop up, close them and this opens Photoshop. The video I watched worked in Catalina, but when I tried it with the Big Sur update...it showed different popup messages and the only choice was to leave "terminal" open (if terminal was closed, the whole operation closed). Photoshop opened after closing the pop ups, but I was left with a spinning ball and it never ended. Therefore the hack didn't work for Photoshop in the Big Sur update. Does anyone have any solution to this and if not, does anyone know if there will be any attempt to make CS6 et al work in Big Sur? Any advice or information will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[John Waller · Accepted solution]

>>>Does anyone have any solution to this and if not, does anyone know if there will be any attempt to make CS6 et al work in Big Sur?

Regrettably, there is no solution for Big Sur and CS6 will never be updated to run on Big Sur.

[scottkb2000]

Thanks John, it is regrettable. I think Adobe let many of us down...I am disappointed in them. 

[kevin stohlmeyer]

No one is forcing you to update your Mac OS. You can very easily stay on the same OS that runs it.

[scottkb2000]

@kevin stohlmeyer I think we all know that already Kevin...thanks for that not-so-valuable insight! Maybe it would be helpful if Apple would let its potential updaters know that crucial apps might be rendered useless prior to urging us to update to the next version...that might help. It might also help if Adobe had discounted the subscription prices if you already had the software (like 6 versions, in my case). But corporate greed is the way of things now, I guess. 

[John Waller]

>>>Maybe it would be helpful if Apple would let its potential updaters know that crucial apps might be rendered useless prior to urging us to update to the next version...that might help.

Apple actually did just that. 32 bit support was not suddenly stopped out of the blue. Developers were given 10 years notice by Apple. Consumers were then given two years of notices and warnings in High Sierra and Mojave. Fun fact: 32 bit support was supposed to be dropped in Mojave but Apple could see that developers were not ready so support was extended to Mojave with more intrusive notices to consumers included. Hard to see what more Apple could have done.

Apple article, Macrumors article

Seems that most people are not really interested nor listening until the day it affects them directly when their favourite software will not run. Few people do any research before upgrading. They just try and fix things when they hit a snag. Unfortunately, there's no supported fix for running 32 bit apps on Catalina or Big Sur.

None of that will stop Apple and Adobe saturation marketing their latest products of course. So the cycle continues.

[scottkb2000]

Developers were given 10 years notice by Apple.

Developers may have been informed, but I sure wasn't. Fun fact: my Photoshop CS6 ran perfectly from High Sierra all the way through Catalina...yes Catalina! There was no reason for a non-Developer to suspect that it wouldn't keep running through Big Sur, except that Apple didn't notify its customers, nor did Adobe (but they gave up on us much before that). "Not really interested" customers, you say. Like there isn't enough going on in a person's life, that you insinuate that we should spend our lives researching software compatibilities. The vast majority of us just want software that works and want to be notified if we happen to change our operating system that somebody cares enough to let us know that there is a compatibility issue.

[John Waller]

>>>The vast majority of us just want software that works

Agreed. That includes me.

>>>and want to be notified if we happen to change our operating system that somebody cares enough to let us know that there is a compatibility issue.

I hear you but I've never known that to happen. From the info available online, Apple did their best to publicise the changes.

[Conrad C]

scottkb2000 wrote:

“Developers may have been informed, but I sure wasn't.”

We users were warned directly by Apple, long in advance. In both Mojave and Catalina, on first launch of an application that wasn’t going to be compatible in the future, Apple displayed warnings as shown in the link below (“The alerts started appearing in early April 2018”). A lot of users immediately clicked through because they wanted to get going without dealing with it. But if they didn’t think about it again, it was never dealt with before the big day finally came a couple years down the road, which is now.

What to do about Apple's Not Optimized & Needs To Be Updated warnings (Macworld UK, 2019)

[Ramon Masongsong]

Also. Adobe did update Photoshop CS6 and Illustrator CS6 to to 64 bit. I don't understand why they did not update InDesign. But like one of the others said, It is ALL ABOUT GREED!!!!

And, the reason MOST people do the Apple OS updates is because of the ever changing hackers out their that Apple, bless them, tries to stay ahead of them with these updates to the OS software. This was one of the main reasons that I kept up with the updates. But now, I have to bypass BIG SUR, because I am a professional who uses Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign on a daily basis. It really sucks, because I can't afford to pay the monthly fee for current versions of the Adobe suites!!!

[kevin stohlmeyer]

You're talking about updates from 2013 - that's 8 years ago and a lifetime in software development.

You've made the choice to stay with CS6 which is perfectly fine, but with that choice comes consequences - namely keeping your Mac OS on the version that the software was developed for.

No software company keeps support on end of life versions forever.

It's the same reason I keep an older model MacBook Pro with CS5.5 - I have plugins that only work with that version software. The manufacturer does not offer newer versions and is now gone.

[sefanzed]

If it works, don’t fix it.  Frankly, I’m not impressed with either Catalina or Big Sur.  Almost all the apps I currently use have become “rentware,” so the price of updating isn’t justified by the required outlay of $$, at least in my individual circumstances.  Mojave is working just dandy on my 2013 trashcan Mac and I suppose the new hardware with apple’s own CPU chips will pose new challenges, both developmentally and monetarily.  I’ve been a content producer for over 30 years and I’ve watched creative fees steadily decrease while software and hardware costs continue to rise.  I expect no surprises in that regard going forward.  

[Conrad C]

---

@Ramon Masongsong wrote:

Also. Adobe did update Photoshop CS6 and Illustrator CS6 to to 64 bit. I don't understand why they did not update InDesign. But like one of the others said, It is ALL ABOUT GREED!!!!

---

But they did update InDesign to 64-bit a long time before any of these OS requirements were made, it looks like InDesign went 64-bit in 2014. Seven years ago. It may not have been exactly the same time as Photoshop or Illustrator, but InDesign was only slightly later, and they are all very different code bases.

If it was truly about greed, it would not have been about InDesign alone. If it was an evil plot to control unannounced events that would happen almost a decade in the future, preventing a 64-bit version of InDesign would not have been enough. Instead they would have intentionally prevented all of those CS6 applications from being 64-bit. But that isn’t what happened.

---

@Ramon Masongsong wrote:

And, the reason MOST people do the Apple OS updates is because of the ever changing hackers out their that Apple, bless them, tries to stay ahead of them with these updates to the OS software.

---

That’s right, even if an application is 64-bit, that is not nearly enough to qualify it for Catalina and Big Sur. Apple also requires fundamental changes in how an application handles installation, security, privacy, and access to system files, because of the exact hacker threat you mentioned, so a quick 64-bit update would not have been enough anyway.

I don’t like subscriptions either, but that is the situation.

[teebox]

I HATE the rental software direction Adobe has taken... its like renting an apartment - at some point I want to OWN my software. I guess its ok if you use the stuff everyday - I don't

[sefanzed]

To be fair, it's not just Adobe, many other companies have begun doing business this way.  I supposed if you wish to keep paying upper management millions, you've got to fatten up the bottom line.  Rentware is the gift that keeps on giving.  It's the major reason I'm staying on Mojave...  Like they say, if it works, don't fix it!

[miguelm35614814]

Sorry but I'm sure there are programs that need to have the updated operating system, if not, they do not work

[Mohamed5C41]

Coming from an Adobe Community Professional that's a very ignorant comment. 

As time goes on Apple and Adobe stop releasing security updates for their respective OS and apps. 

In todays world were cyber criminals and malware is rampant it is vital to keep these security patches up to date and running an OS which is years old with no security updates is a real risk.

Everyone is being forced into these pay to use models which companies like Adobe are forcing everyone into.

It's daylight robery. Simple!

[Snakedog777]

I'm in the same boat John, I spent over 600 dollars for the CD and had it installed on my IMAC. Now with all updates it canceled the software out. I just through 600 dollars out the window. I have CS6 on windows 10, but I hate using windows. Leaves me no choice. Maybe I should revert back to 32 bit on my MAC, updates are not neccessary for the software. 

[jap345]

Hi John,

How do you know that Big Sur will never be updated to accommodate Adobe CS6 packages?
I'm hoping one day apple there will upgrade to permit the 16-bit capability software

I've got other 16-bit software aswell which I can no longer ac use & was forced to subscribe to Microsoft office 365

There is the alternative to refer back to Catalina but reckon this could end a bit messy to do 

[John Waller]

>>>How do you know that Big Sur will never be updated to accommodate Adobe CS6 packages?

The question should be asked the other way around since CS6 needs to be updated to support Big Sur.

Big Sur only supports 64 bit code. While CS6 apps are 64 bit, the installers and associated files contain 32 bit components which Big Sur cannot run. That prevents you from installing CS6 on Big Sur.

So, Adobe would have to replace all 32 bit components in CS6 with their 64 bit equivalents. Since CS6 is dead in Adobe's eyes, that will never happen. Adobe's resources are totally committed to the future and their Cloud versions.

>>>There is the alternative to refer back to Catalina but reckon this could end a bit messy to do 

There is no advantage in reverting to Catalina since Catalina, like Big Sur, also only supports 64 bit.

You'd have to revert to Mojave or earlier to run 32 bit apps.

[PECourtejoie]

Hello, I think that you can't even install CS6 on catalina as the installer is a 32bits apps.

[scottkb2000]

Hi PECourtejoie...read my hack above and look at YouTube for the hack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhnyYh_N9q4)

[Jayelle5C96]

Any luck to do this with CS5 you think?

[kevin stohlmeyer]

CS5 has 32 bit elements that wont run in newer MacOSes.

[sefanzed]

Clearly, Adobe wants you to switch to "rent-ware."  A lot of software companies are headed in this direction, as it feeds their bottom line on a continuing basis.  There are alternatives to Photoshop, notably Affinity Photo.  There of course is a learning curve and some functions won't be available, but depending on your work flow, it might be worth your while to check it out.