I have installed Yosemite and now my Photoshop 5 fails to start up because of a fatal problem. Please help me out!

Please add me to the list of victims. When installing Yosemite, Mac asks you to download Java runtime environment and the latest Java program for 2014 Mac OX: That hasn't helped me with Photoshop. I saw a suggestion: cancel Photoshop preferences then reboot, but how do you cancel preferences in a program you can't open. Note: I have InDesign, Illustrator and Bridge and they all seem to open. Hope Adobe will help us avoid entering a ping pong match between Apple and themselves.

Updating Java won't help, because Photoshop does not use Java in any way.

And we'll need a lot more details on what is going wrong to try and help you.

Also, are you talking about Photoshop 5 (from 1998), Photoshop CS5, or Elements 5?

I saw a suggestion: cancel Photoshop preferences then reboot, but how do you cancel preferences in a program you can't open.

Restore Preferences.  Close Photoshop.

Windows - CTRL-SHIFT-ALT immediately after you double-click the PS icon.

Macintosh - CMD-SHIFT-OPTION immediately after you double-click the PS icon.

Nancy O.

By Photoshop 5 I'm going to assume you mean CS5 (released in 2010); not PS5 (released in 1998). 

Adobe officially said:  The Photoshop team has tested the following versions of Photoshop on Mac OSX 10.10 (Yosemite) and found no issues specific to this operating system:

• Photoshop CC 2014 (2014.2)
• Photoshop CC (14.2.1)
• Photoshop CS6 (13.0.6; 13.1.2)

Photoshop & Mac OSX 10.10 (Yosemite)

No mention of CS5.

Nancy O.

I have problems initializing CS5. It says an unexpected and unrecoverable error has occurred and Photoshop needs to exit. I've deleted fonts and restarted the prefernces and shut off the Java, to redownloading OS 10.10, none of which has worked.

I'm sorry to hear that.  Just curious.  What made you upgrade to Yosemite? 

Nancy O.

"What made you upgrade to Yosemite"? Is that a joke?

Check the file PSErrorLog.txt in your Photoshop CS5 preferences folder -- that might give us some indication of the error.

"What made you upgrade to Yosemite" indeed. I'd love to know what makes people with important work to do, upgrade their system to an OS .0 release (especially from a company with a track record of unable OS releases), with no testing, no fallback plan, no checking for compatibility; not even running current versions of apps which might in time get any necessary corrections. I'd love to know what they will tell their bosses and clients.

These are the folders I have under Photoshop5 in my Applications and I can't open the Photoshop application itself.

Configuration/

Legal/

Locales/

MATLAB/

Plug-ins/

Presets/

Scripting/

And there is no preference folder in any of these.

Test Screen Arn't you the savy one. I have a fall back. I have a third machine. But how about a solution. Burn some brain cells and help instead of pointing.

Preferences are not in Applications, they are in ~/Library/Preferences or ~/Library/Application Support. Use Shift+command+G in Finder, copy/paste ~/Library including the funny symbol. However, don't start deleting at random!

The preferences would be in your Preferences folder (~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CS5 Settings/...) not in the application folder.

This is the first time I've ever had a problem with OS X. I do check and when I saw that Yosemite and Adobe failed on my MacBook, I stopped downloading on my Imac. I did check beforehand, but like was mentioned earlier, I was checking PS 5 and not CS 5.

Just like my MS stuff. My Imac has Office 2008 and MacBook has 2011. I didn't like 2011 so I never upgraded the Imac.

Open the file:Settings/Adobe Photoshop 5 Prefs.psp?

No, we're looking for the PSErrorLog.txt file in that directory.

I found it. Here is the last couple of tries:

2014:03:05 16:43:51 : /Volumes/workarea/PS_12_Mac_Daily_Retail/20110407.r.1265/photoshop/main/photoshop/xcode/. ./sources/TAdjustorGlue.cpp : 453 : REQUIRE failed

2014:07:04 22:46:12 : /Volumes/workarea/PS_12_Mac_Daily_Retail/20110407.r.1265/photoshop/main/photoshop/xcode/. ./sources/USheetRenderer.cpp : 260 : REQUIRE failed

2014:07:04 22:46:12 : /Volumes/workarea/PS_12_Mac_Daily_Retail/20110407.r.1265/photoshop/main/photoshop/xcode/. ./sources/USheetRenderer.cpp : 260 : REQUIRE failed

The rest of the log is 260 other than the last one, which is 453.

The 453 is actually at the top of the log.

Unfortunately, those are from July and earlier. Darn, I hoped it would give some clues.

So whatever is giving an error now is not recording it, and is likely to be a low level OS error happening early in the launch process.

I saw the dates in the log as well. When P/S opens it gets as far as initializing and then the error comes up and closes.

Trust can be good, but the patterns of the past show that your trust is misplaced.

1. You are using Photoshop CS5. This is no longer supported. If there is a problem, it will be fixed in Photoshop CC.2014 and probably nothing else.

2. Apple have, without hesitation, taken away things needed to run old software, or caused it to break. For example, no product made before 2005 (and not updated) can run on any modern Mac OS made since 2011 (unless the product is updated). So, in 6 years Apple can take a product from "state of the art" to "obsolete, cannot run". I'm not saying this is good or bad, but it's certainly something to bear in mind when upgrading a Mac OS that contains old apps. CS5 is four and a half years old.

Many thanks for the idea (Nancy) of finding the Preferences file for Photoshop. That worked. After rebooting the computer, however, I still couldn’t wake up Photoshop CS5. I’ve had myriads of successful installations of new operating systems and in every respect but this, I find Yosemite terrific. I hope the definite demise of Photoshop CS5 isn’t the last word.

I have the original disks and license. Is there any point to re-installing the Photoshop portion of the Suite disk, or will I damage something in the process?

I think your best option at the moment is to install CS5 on an older operating system.  Perhaps you have another computer lying around?

Nancy O.

As an update, try re-installing CS5 on Yosemite.  Please let us know how it goes.

Nancy O.

Hate to bother, but the following doubts about re-installation arise: since my CS5.5 suite is from 2011 or thereabouts, AND is an upgrade, will there be complications about reinstallation? I have spent a couple of hours reading Adobe's advice about dis-installing and wonder a) if the fact that my CS5.5 disk is an upgrade, totally legal, will that complicate the disinstall, re-install process, and if b) I will be able to recover updates (since I believe the product is no longer supported )? In any case, I have my upgrade disk poised and ready to go. Can I simply install on top of the old copy? Thanks for your attention.

To reinstall you'll certainly need

- the installer file/media

- the serial number

- the PREVIOUS serial number from the product you upgraded

I would also make sure you have full system backups in case the reinstall fails, as Adobe don't help very much with problems with unsupported versions. Don't you have full backups from before the ill-advised system update?

HALLELUHJAH! I took  my courage in my hands, put in the Creative Suite 5.5 installation disk, asked to install (on top of the residing Photoshop 5.5 CS) the Photoshop in question. Photoshop is now leaping into action! Thanks for your patience! Hope this can be useful for others in the labyrinths of installations, dis-installations, certification and what-all. Infinite thanks to the Adobians and their contributors.

I also reinstalled last night. But I first uninstalled the old photoshop CS5 and then installed from the original disc. I reinstalled just photoshop and it began, taking the serial number from the other portion of the CS5 suite. It is still working this morning. Thank you all!

If Photoshop doesn't use Java in any way, why do I have this message?

Two points: Java or not, Mac should (and did for me) make(s) it easy to download the Java. After the above message appeared to me, I discovered that Mac, Adobe or someone made it easy for me to do so, and I did. If you don't get guided to the download, Google or Java will enable you to find it. Whatever happens, try doing what I did, which solved the problem for me as mentioned above: find the original DVD for Photoshop (or the Suite) and, without canceling the already-installed version, re-install. I have the whole CS 5.5 Suite, but the installation disk enabled me to "install" just the Photoshop portion and confirmed the serial number. The re-installation is actually, in this situation, just a repair. There is a workaround if you don't have the original disk (a workaround which you would have to pursue on the Adobe site) and, if you registered the program with Adobe, you will be able to find your serial number online if necessary.

The riddle remains as to why Java supposedly has nothing to do with Photoshop, as you were told, whereas the message to download SE 6 that you reproduce in your query does appear (as it did for me).

"Le vie del Signore sono misteriose".

For what its worth, after installing the Java environment (by clicking the "More Info" button in my image), CS4 installed without a hitch.

That being said, this was a 'clean' install, I haven't had CS on this computer since reformatting it some time ago.

I would also just like to point out that if you want to completely uninstall Photoshop (or CS), then reinstall it, you can't just drag Photoshop to the trash. You need to run the Photoshop (or CS) installer, select the uninstall option, reboot, then run the installer. There are a lot of files installed in not-so easy-to-find places.

That prompt is put up by Apple, when they think applications need Java (whether they actually do or not).