Can't use Ps any more

[BobT]

Lightroom Version Number

10.2

Operating System

1. Windows 10

My old clunker of a PC runs Lr 10.2 just fine. It also ran Ps 21.2.6 but wouldn't run anything more recent. That was fine by me, I don't use Ps a lot. There were three Windows updates in April. Since then, I can no longer run Ps 21.2.6 either so now I'm totally Photoshopless despite paying for it.
I get the message, "Could not initialize Photoshop because of a program error".
Any ideas for an easy fix? I was hoping to get another years or two out of the old clunker before upgrading.

 

[johnbeardy]

Try holding Alt+Control+Shift and opening Photoshop. This clears the preferences, and I think that's the problem rather than anything to do with Windows versions.

 

[BobT]

Try holding Alt+Control+Shift and opening Photoshop. This clears the preferences, and I think that's the problem rather than anything to do with Windows versions.

Tried that. It didn't work. Curses curses. Tried it again and again trying different combinations of launching. Finally I got in but with all sorts of error messages. It was however V22.3 so that was a good sign. Feeling a little happier. However, each time on booting up, it got stuck on "Reading preferences...". It would stay there for about 3min 40sec then go into the program. I went into AppData>Roaming>Adobe and deleted "Adobe Photoshop 2021". Now it lets me in without the need for Alt+Control+Shift and no error messages but there is still the infernal 3mn 40sec delay that I never had before. One time it got stuck on "Reading brushes..." for the 3min 40sec :thumbsdown: Go figure. Getting into Ps is like a game of snakes and ladders. I haven't actually used it yet but at least I'm in so thanks for that johnbeardy. Any ideas about the delay in reading the preferences?

 

[Gnits]

Try launching Ps from the Creative Suite App. Log out and log in to your Adobe Account before trying to start Photoshop. Not sure if it will work but easy to check if it makes a difference.

 

[BobT]

Try launching Ps from the Creative Suite App. Log out and log in to your Adobe Account before trying to start Photoshop. Not sure if it will work but easy to check if it makes a difference.

Worth a try but sadly it didn't have the desired effect.
I have a few things in the Adobe Cloud. Lr syncs with them perfectly. However, both the CC App and Photoshop indicate a sync error. I have no idea what they are trying to sync with but could that be the problem perhaps. I'll do some more digging.

 

[BobT]

Worth a try but sadly it didn't have the desired effect.
I have a few things in the Adobe Cloud. Lr syncs with them perfectly. However, both the CC App and Photoshop indicate a sync error. I have no idea what they are trying to sync with but could that be the problem perhaps. I'll do some more digging.

Tried everything suggested by Adobe Support. The last resort was uninstall and reinstall everything. Even that changed nothing. I'll have to accept that it's a fundamental issue with my system and work with it. I can do that. At least now I can use Ps albeit with a long wait to to load.

 

[johnbeardy]

What happens if you're offline when you start it? Also, dig into that sync error. Where exactly is it?

 

[BobT]

Unfortunately being offline made no difference. However, as I mentioned above, thanks to johnbeardy, I can now open Ps so the original reason for the post is solved.
I'm left with two issues:
1. Ps and the CC app show sync faults but that's not really an issue because I don't need them to sync at this stage. As to the question of digging into the sync error, I wish I knew how. The CC app reports, "No storage information available..", "File syncing error", "Could not enable sync" yet LrC syncs beautifully with the Lr phone app.
2. Ps takes minutes to read preferences (~3m40s). It doesn't stop me working, it's just a AITA.
So, I've uninstalled all Adobe apps, done an Adobe CC clean, repaired the Visual C++ apps that could be repaired and reinstalled CC, LrC and Ps, all with no improvement. I'm resigned to accepting that there is a fundamental issue with my old system that I'm just going to have to work with it.
For future reference, I followed this procedure from Adobe Support, Re: CC Sync Issue

 

[johnbeardy]

What about updating your graphics card driver? Again it's a bit of a cure all, but I have seen it fix odd problems like this.

On sync, the CC app has a sync that is entirely separate from LR's and handles other CC-based sync services, for example the Dropbox-like Creative Cloud folders. There are other CC services inside PS which sync, and while you may not be using them it is likely that they still need to check that there's nothing they need to sync. The PS Library panel is one and syncs assets that you want to use in different pictures on different computers (I use it to sync watermarks, and also various cursors which I may want to add to screenshots). Others are the Typekit fonts and the Home screen which references Adobe content and the new Cloud documents. Maybe try switching off the Home screen (Preferences, General) but that's a long shot.

 

[johnbeardy]

Just noticed that in CC you can disable Adobe fonts. Click the cloud icon, then the settings (gear), and it's on Services.

 

[BobT]

What about updating your graphics card driver? Again it's a bit of a cure all, but I have seen it fix odd problems like this.

On sync, the CC app has a sync that is entirely separate from LR's and handles other CC-based sync services, for example the Dropbox-like Creative Cloud folders. There are other CC services inside PS which sync, and while you may not be using them it is likely that they still need to check that there's nothing they need to sync. The PS Library panel is one and syncs assets that you want to use in different pictures on different computers (I use it to sync watermarks, and also various cursors which I may want to add to screenshots). Others are the Typekit fonts and the Home screen which references Adobe content and the new Cloud documents. Maybe try switching off the Home screen (Preferences, General) but that's a long shot.

Well now that makes sense. I'm starting to understand. Thanks for that. I asked Adobe Support to explain the syncing. All I got were motherhood statements expounding the wonderfulness of the whole thing but leaving me none the wiser. A diagram would have been helpful.
Tried your suggestions with unfortunately no improvement. Anyway, a log file has gone off to Adobe but I don't expect to hear back.
The issue with Ps syncing may not be as bad as it seemed at first. After a minute or so, it reassuringly reports, "Synced and backed up" but there is still the ominous message, "No storage information available". That may simply be because nothing is stored but a better message would have been, "0 MB used."

 

[BobT]

Fingers crossed but it looks like my problem is solved. After half a day of digging into my PC by Adobe Support, it was determined the problem was with my PC user account. They found that CC Desktop and Ps worked on the PC Admin account but not on my personal account. They surmised that there was a problem with permissions or corruption on my account and left it for me to sort out, or rather my computer person as they said, which is me. I gave my personal account admin permissions and it work. The reason why LrC worked but not CC Desktop nor Ps was that LrC syncs directly whereas the other two need access to the CC folder on the user account. For whatever reason, that permission was not there. So that's a half a day I'll never get back.