Photoshop keeps crashing or freezing on Windows PC

Does Adobe Photoshop keep crashing or freezing on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC? Here is a full guide to troubleshooting and resolving the issue. Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular graphics designing applications. It lets you create professional graphics designs, including posters, banners, logos, and much more. However, many users have reported crashes in Photoshop. While some users experience crashes on startup, many others crash while working in the app. This can be annoying and frustrating, as your work might not save before the crash.

If you’re experiencing crashes or freezing issues with Photoshop on your Windows PC, this post is for you. Follow this article to fix the problem.

Why is Photoshop crashing when I open it?

There can be several reasons due to which Photoshop might crash when you open it:

• If you have too many unnecessary apps running on your system and they’re using the resources Photoshop needs, it may crash or freeze. Close any unwanted apps you don’t need right now.
• Another cause could be outdated or corrupted graphics drivers. If applicable, update your graphics drivers to the latest version, then see whether the problem is fixed.
• It can also be caused by a corrupted Photoshop font cache. In that case, you can fix the problem by clearing the Photoshop font cache.
• The crashing and freezing issues can be caused by problematic plugins you are using in Photoshop. If applicable, delete the plugins, then relaunch Photoshop to see if the problem is resolved.
• Corrupted Photoshop preference settings can also cause this issue. If this applies to you, reset Photoshop preferences to fix the problem.
• The outdated Windows system and corrupted system files can also cause the problem.

In any case, try the fixes below to resolve crashing and freezing issues in Adobe Photoshop.

How do I stop Photoshop from crashing?

To stop Photoshop from crashing, try closing unwanted background apps, updating your GPU drivers or making sure Windows is up to date. If that doesn’t fix the problem, you can clear Photoshop’s font cache, reset its settings, or run an SFC scan. We have discussed these solutions in detail, so check out below.

Photoshop keeps crashing or freezing on Windows PC

Here are the methods that you can try to stop Photoshop from crashing on a Windows PC:

1. Close unnecessary applications.
2. Update your graphics drivers.
3. Clear Photoshop font cache.
4. Check optional and third-party plugins.
5. Reset Photoshop preference settings.
6. Make sure Windows & Photoshop are up to date.
7. Run an SFC scan.

1] Close unnecessary applications

In case you have too many applications running in the background on your PC, it might cause Adobe Photoshop to crash. This is because the resources required for Photoshop to run smoothly might be occupied by other programs and thus causing it to crash. So, close any program you don’t need running right now.

To close unnecessary programs, open Task Manager using Ctrl+Shift+Esc hotkey. Then, in the Processes tab, identify unnecessary tasks and use the End Task button to close the program. After that, relaunch Adobe Photoshop and see whether it crashes. If not, well and good. If you still get the same problem, move on to the next potential fix.

Related reads:

• Photoshop keeps lagging, closing itself or flickering
• Photoshop running slow on Windows
• Photoshop Elements app crashes on Windows.

2] Update your graphics drivers

Graphics drivers play an important role in the smooth working of Adobe Photoshop and other graphics-related applications. So, if you have outdated or faulty graphics drivers, you may experience Photoshop crashes. If this applies to you, update your GPU drivers to the latest version, then see whether the problem is resolved.

Follow one of the methods below to update your Graphics drivers:

1. You may check for Driver Updates via Windows Update to update your drivers
2. You may visit the manufacturer’s site to download the drivers.
3. Use a free driver update software
4. If you have the INF driver file already on your computer then:
   • Open Device Manager.
   • Click Audio input and Outputs to expand the menu.
   • Then choose your speaker and right-click on them.
   • Select Update Driver.
   • Follow the on-screen wizard to finish updating your audio drivers.

After you finish updating your GPU drivers, reboot your PC, then launch Adobe Photoshop. Hopefully, the app won’t crash anymore.

See: The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000022) when opening Adobe apps.

3] Clear Photoshop font cache

One reason Photoshop crashes can be a corrupted font cache. It can cause performance issues with the app. So, to resolve the problem, you will need to clear the Photoshop font cache. Here is how you can do that:

First, close Photoshop, Creative Cloud and any related tasks.

Now, open File Explorer using Win+E hotkey and then navigate to the following location:

C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop <version>

Add your username and Photoshop version in the above path.

Next, locate the CT Font Cache folder and select and right-click on it.

Then choose Delete to clear the font cache.

Also, make sure to delete it from Recycle Bin as well.

Now, launch Photoshop and see whether the problem is resolved.

In case if Photoshop still crashes, you can try the next potential fix.

Related: Photoshop crashes when Printing

4] Check optional and third-party plugins

Random Photoshop crashes can result from problematic plugins. If you use plugins, check whether they’re causing the app to crash. To do that, you can follow the below steps:

1. Firstly, press the Shift button on your keyboard and hold onto it. While holding Shift, launch the Adobe Photoshop app.
2. Next, you’ll see a “Skip loading optional and third-party plugins” dialog. Simply choose the Yes option.
3. Now check whether the app still crashes without plugins.

If Photoshop works fine without plugins, you can be sure that the problem was triggered by a problematic plugin you are using in the app.

To resolve the problem permanently, you can follow the steps below:

Firstly, open File Explorer and navigate to the following location:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop <version>\Plug-ins

Replace <version> with the version of Photoshop you have installed.

Now, identify any problematic plugins and move them to another location, such as the Desktop.

Next, start Photoshop and see whether the problem is resolved.

See: Fix Photoshop Scratch Disks are full issue on Windows and Mac.

5] Reset Photoshop preference settings

The problem might also be caused by corrupted Photoshop preference settings. In that case, clearing Photoshop preference settings must help you fix the issue. Here is how to do that:

1. First of all, you need to create a backup for settings. For that, go to the below location in File Explorer and locate and move the Adobe Photoshop <version> Settings folder to some other location.

   C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop <version>

   Replace [Your Username] with your username and <version> with the Photoshop version.

2. Now, try opening Photoshop and once you get inside the app, go to the Edit > Preferences > General option.
3. Next, on the Preferences window, press the Reset Preferences On Quit option.
4. After that, click the OK button.
5. Finally, relaunch Photoshop and see whether the problem is fixed.

6] Make sure Windows and Photoshop are up to date

If none of the above solutions work, the problem may be due to an outdated OS. In case you are not using the latest OS build, consider updating your Windows. New updates resolve compatibility issues and enhance system performance. So, make sure you have installed all the pending Windows Optional & Driver Updates.

You should also update Photoshop to the latest version.

Then, reboot your system to update Windows and on the next startup, try relaunching Photoshop. See whether it still crashes.

7] Run an SFC scan

System file corruption can also cause app problems and disrupt normal operation. So, you can try running a System File Checker (SFC) scan and then see if the problem is fixed or not. SFC is a command-based utility that comes in Windows. It scans and fixes corrupted or missing system files. You can run it using the below steps:

1. Firstly, open the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Now, type and enter the below command:

   SFC /scannow

3. Wait for the scan to be complete and then reboot your system.
4. On the next startup, try launching Adobe Photoshop and see if it still crashes randomly or not.

If nothing helps, you may need to share the Photoshop crash reports on their forums and seek their help.

All the best.

Now read: Illustrator keeps crashing or freezing.