Windows 10 - Photoshop Invalid ICC Profile Description

[howie013]

Good afternoon - I've just got a brand new Windows 10 laptop to replace my aging MacBook pro.  I'm already regretting my decision but am going to try work through it.  Color management in Lightroom CC and Camera Raw seem fine.  As soon as I try to open up any image in Photoshop (from Lightroom) I get an error message stating "the embedded ICC profile cannot be used because the ICC profile description is invalid.  Ignoring the profile."  Of course when this happen the color in Photoshop looks terrible.  I've tried converting and assigning a profile once an image is open in Photoshop all to no avail.  I get the same message stating the "ICC profile description is invalid".

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ryan

[D Fosse]

That's a new one. You're sure it explicitly says "embedded" profile? These are the exact words?

The Lightroom default for "Edit in Photoshop" is to send files as ProPhoto RGB. That's a standard profile with little room for anything becoming "invalid", unless it's a corrupt install.

Can you go into Lightroom preferences and change it to Adobe RGB or sRGB, and try again?

[howie013 · Accepted solution]

Yes I am 100% sure that is exactly what the pop up dialogue said.  I had tried to change the LR default to Adobe RGB and that did nothing to help solve the problem.

Interestingly enough I calibrated my monitor with my X1 Display Pro and since doing that I don't get the same error in Photoshop.  I don't know how that impacts embedded profiles in Photoshop but something has changed.

[D Fosse]

That's why the word "embedded" doesn't make any sense. It can't be the document profile - the problem here has to be the monitor profile, which is a different thing altogether.

So if you made a new monitor profile with the i1 and that fixed it, I think the problem is solved.

Defective monitor profiles from the manufacturer, distributed through Windows Update, is a very common problem.

[D Fosse]

I just have to ask this, to get rid of the little nagging feeling that something's wrong here:

You're not among those who have been misled into using the monitor profile as the document profile, are you? Some people do that - they create a monitor profile with their calibrators, and then instead of stopping right there as they should, they go ahead and assign that profile to the document. Which is completely wrong.

I'm asking because this is the only way a monitor profile could ever become "embedded".

[howie013]

First - yes I am 100% positive the error message stated embedded.  Second - no I absolutely did not attempt to assign a monitor profile to my document.  I appreciate your responses however the demeaning nature of them leave little want to thank you for taking the time to respond.  Yes I can read (hence using the word "embedded") and yes I am familiar with the differences between a monitor and document and printer profile.  Thank you for the use of "among those" in your last response.

I don't know why creating a new monitor profile fixed the issue in Photoshop but it did.

[D Fosse]

Demeaning? There's no need to take this personally. I'm sure you're a very knowledgeable person who understands all this - but that's just my assumption, there's nothing in your post that confirms to me there's no need to ask. I just want to get to the bottom of things. So I have to ask. I can't read minds, and I don't know you.

And that's why I used the word "misled". There are people out there on the internet - lots of them - who tell people to do this. They say it's the right thing to do. So what's an inexperienced user supposed to make of that? A lot of them end up doing it. Not because they're stupid, they just trust what they read.

[nicholer61833480]

I am having the same problem on my new Dell xsp 15. I am not knowledgeable on these things. Someone please help!! Thanks!

[D Fosse]

Please make a screenshot of the message and post it here. Is this also happening with raw files opened from Lightroom?

[iginop24848741]

I am also having issues with starting up the latest version of Ps (2018). My PS crashes evrytime when starting up. My Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 gives me feedback as follow;

Could not initialize Photoshop because the ICC profile is invalid.

I also use other CC products as Lr and dont have this issue. In fact this is the first time experience where my Ps crashes. Please anybody, help me solve the problem. I have updated my Window 10, uninstalled and reinstalled CC but for no use.

Igino

[nicholer61833480]

Hello. I ended up right clicking my home screen then chooseing display options then profile. I was able to my profile there and it works now.

[D Fosse]

iginop24848741  wrote

Could not initialize Photoshop because the ICC profile is invalid.

Is that the exact verbatim error message? Such a message should identify which profile is invalid - it can either be the embedded document profile, or it can be the monitor profile. If it's the latter, Photoshop should just discard the profile and use the Windows default, sRGB IEC61966-2.1, instead.

Are you launching the application "empty" from the taskbar/start menu when this happens - or are you opening a file that in turn opens Photoshop? If the former, it has to be the monitor profile. If the latter, you need to find out what the embedded profile is and where it comes from. I still don't understand why that should crash Photoshop though. It should still open the file and replace the profile with the working space.

[iginop24848741]

Hi D. Fosse,

I have involved the Microsoft team and Adobe team to support me with this issue. They been working on solving the crash all day without any solution or fix. They been a great help so far but the crash is till an enigma. The Adobe team is now still working on the problem, and they will give me a feedback within 48 hours.

I will thanks everyone that's been helpful so far... But still no fix.

Med hilsen/Best regards,

Igino Sigurd Parlati

[djtalis]

Interesting, the mods have rejected my post, possibly because I criticised D Fosse's attitude, even though I posted a fix that works.

[djtalis]

This question has been asked in various forms in other threads on the forum.

The error messages are correctly worded and were replicated on my Dell XPS 15.

Dell PremierColor sets Dell's proprietary profiles as default, which are not recognised by PS and LR.

What works for me is uninstalling Dell PremierColor, which sets the proprietary profiles asa default on every reboot. Setting the sRGB or scRGB virtual device model profile as default via Control Panel > Colour Management is the next step, following which everything works well, even without colour calibration, although calibrating would be the recommended next step, followed by setting the calibrated profile as default via Control Panel > Colour Management.

[D Fosse]

Dell is notorious for bad display profiles that aren't written to icc specs. This isn't the first Dell profile that Photoshop has choked on. I wouldn't expect Dell's own calibration software to do any better.

That said, It's at least a good sign that Dell actually and finally ships a calibrator with a wide gamut display. A calibrator is an absolute requirement for working with these displays. As is working with color managed software only. Anything else will reproduce sRGB oversaturated.

In either case sRGB is not the right class of profile to use with a wide gamut display. A display profile needs to describe the panel's actual, current response. For a wide gamut display Adobe RGB is a lot closer - until you can make your own custom profile with a calibrator.

You should never, in any situation, set the "sRGB virtual device" profile in Windows color management. This is not an icc profile! It is for entirely different purposes unrelated to standard color management procedures.