10 Replies Latest reply: Jun 18, 2010 11:22 AM by ablichter RSS

    Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe

    Shan-Dysigns Community Member

      I have quite a few plugins, styles, brushes, etc in which I use almost daily. So, of course, Photoshop takes a while to open because of all those presets. Is there a way to have a duplicate version of Photoshop.exe and have it set to factory default (no custom presets)? This would almost be like how you can open Firefox in safe mode (with no plugins, etc). For times when I will just need Photoshop for a simple project (in which I won't need any of my presets), would it be possible to create a duplicate version of Photoshop as described above?

       

      Normally I would test things like this out myself, but that risks me having to reload every little preset, etc (which would be time consuming).

       

      Does anyone know if this is/isn't possible?

       

      Photoshop CS4

        • 1. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
          John Joslin Community Member

          I'm pretty sure the activation system would rule that out.

           

          I read somewhere that recent versions of PS do not load all that stuff on startup but on demand.


          Do you use a font manager?


          • 2. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
            Shan-Dysigns Community Member

            I am currently using FontExpert as a font manager. How does a font manager come into play with my question?

             

            After thinking about my question, I don't think I could achieve what I was wanting. Unless I'm wrong, all the presets and such aren't stored in the exe of Photoshop (maybe reference to the files that store that information), but I would think the only way to get what I wanted would be to have a separate install of Photoshop in a different directory. This way, ALL related files would be separate from the original install files. Then again, even if I chose a different directory to install into, required system files would probably still be placed in the "common files" and "system32" folders (assuming any files that may be placed in there would have anything to do with storing preset data).

             

            Come to think of it, I think too many things would have to work a certain way for me to achieve what I was thinking. Like you mentioend, maybe CS5 handles presets differently. I will have to find a bank to knock over before I can find out

            • 3. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
              John Joslin Community Member

              The font manager could cut down the number of fonts loaded on startup.


              Your best solution would be to get a copy of PS Elements for the basic stuff.


              Having said that, I can't understand why PS should take more than a few seconds to load up – maybe you should look at tuning up your system.


              • 4. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
                Shan-Dysigns Community Member

                I basically only have the default system fonts installed. There are a few other fonts I've installed (less than 20) that I use all the time. Any other fonts are placed into groups where I can just temporarily install them per project.

                 

                I takes about 60-70 seconds for Photoshop to open. For all the things I do randomly throughout the day, I need all the presets, plugins, etc installed and available. I have many clients who sometimes need a quick fix, so I always leave my PS open all day anyway. It's just that first run that takes so long to open (also any other time I have to re-open PS for whatever reason). Sometimes I have to exit PS because when I am rendering video, I need that RAM freed up. I'm planning on getting an Alienware soon, so most of these system load issues will be gone. But in the meantime, I was hoping there was a simple solution. For now, I just open PS and go shower... most of the time it's fully opened by the time I dry off... [that was a joke just in case...]

                • 5. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
                  Shan-Dysigns Community Member

                  How weird... after exiting PS when I tested how long it takes to open (in which I didn't even open a document or anything), and then exited... I just now opened PS again and it all loaded within 5 seconds... Maybe the load time is random based on what else my computer is doing.... oh well..

                  • 6. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
                    RWSP Community Member

                    Effect of RAM or disk cache?


                    • 7. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
                      Hobotor Community Member

                      Use 32 and 64 bit

                      • 8. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
                        Shan-Dysigns Community Member

                        Hobotor wrote:

                         

                        Use 32 and 64 bit

                         

                        I hate it when people just vomit a suggestion without actually reading the issue.

                         

                        It's a little obvious I don't have a 64-bit processor. I mentioned planning on buying a new computer because of "system load" issues. That might make one believe I'm still on an older computer.

                        • 9. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
                          Hobotor Community Member

                          No it's not obvious. You can run 64 bit on 1 gb ram too, so excuse me for suggesting an option.

                           

                          Good luck

                          • 10. Re: Having 2 Versions of Photoshop.exe
                            ablichter Community Member

                            Hi,

                            I believe the only way to accomplish that, is to change the location of that folders and use a bit batch scripting.

                            F.e. move you preset and plug-ins folder to say C:\CS4\presets and C:\CS4\plug-ins and create two batches.

                             

                            1.

                            mklink /j "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\presets" "C:\CS4\presets"

                            mklink /j "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\plug-ins" "C:\CS4\plug-ins"

                             

                            2.

                            rd "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\presets"

                            rd "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\plug-ins"

                             

                            The first one - which you call before you start PS, creates links to the outsourced folders. When finishing PS, you call the other, which deletes the links.

                            Than you would be able to start CS4 regually without plug-ins and presets.

                             

                            You also can write only one batch an add

                             

                            call "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS4\Photoshop.exe"

                             

                            in the middle of the above lines to start PS and delete the links automatically when PS was finished, but a DOS window will remain open in the backgroud while using PS.

                             

                            ps

                             

                            sure 64bit loads faster. But just because only 10% (estimated) of all plug-ins are avaible as 64bit version ;-)