PSE 12 installed editor but not organizer on Win 10, no errors in logs.

[LouisD]

I downloaded Photoshop Elements 12, ran PhotoshopElements_12_LS25.exe after PhotoshopElements_12_LS25.7z was completely downloaded, started Setup.exe from the PSE 12 folder on my desktop, installation completed successfully, no errors in the logs, but it only installed Photoshop Element Editor (which runs fine). Photoshop Element Organizer is not there and there are no file folder for Organizer in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 12 folder. What went wrong?

I'm on Windows 10 and I ran the installation from the Admin account.

[kglad]

[moved from Downloading, Installing, Setting Up to Photoshop Elements]

[Little_Pale_Face]

Hi,

The organizer files aren't in that folder - they should be in

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Elements 12 Organizer

Is this the first time of loading PSE 12 on this desktop?

Brian

[LouisD]

Yes, you're right, it should be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe but it is not there.

No, I had Elements 12 on this machine since 2014 and it worked fine. What happened is that I replaced the hard drive with an SSD. The hard drive was ghosted on an external drive and reload on the new drive. Everything is working fine with all my Apps except for Elements 12. It was fine at first but while I was copying some photos from Elements Organizer to a USB stick, after a few “copy, paste” I got an error message (I forget what the message was) but it would shut down automatically. I tried several times, same result every time.

I decided to uninstall Elements 12 and start fresh but to my surprise, it was not listed in “Programs and Features”, which baffled me since the Elements Organizer would open, I could see photos but then it would error and close.

So of course, when I tried to re-install Elements 12, I was getting error messages and it wouldn’t install. Long story short, I followed all the instructions from the Adobe forum on how to delete the files in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe and clean up the registry, got everything done and I was able to install Elements 12 as per Adobe instructions, no errors in the logs but no files for Photoshop Elements 12 Organizer??? Would you like to see the logs?

[Little_Pale_Face]

Hi,

Do you have Premiere Elements installed?

If you have both products then they both use the same organizer. If you only uninstall one, the organizer normally stays in place and will cause the next install to not re-install organizer.

If you have both, then try uninstalling both and then start an install.

Brian

[LouisD]

I don't have Premier Elements, only Photoshop Elements 12 (and only the Editor was installed). What should I do?

[Little_Pale_Face]

Hi,

I have just uninstalled my PSE 12, downloaded the files and re-installed it - here is my control panel screenshot - you'll notice the size is the same as yours.

Does PSE 12 now appear in your Apps & Features list?

If so, try and uninstall, then restart your system and try re-installing again.

When you last removing it using Adobe's instructions, do you remember cleaning up C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Elements Organizer\12.0

Brian

[LouisD]

Yes, it appears in Apps & Features list and it is the same size as yours.

Yes, I did clean up Elements Organiser\12.0 in C:\ProgramData\Adobe.

The Installation guidelines say:

• You do not need to uninstall previous versions of Photoshop Elements; some users prefer to keep the older, familiar version around as they come up to speed with the new version's features.

Therefore, since I'm re-installing the same version I have to uninstall PSE 12 Editor, delete the file folder in C:\ProgramData\Adobe and probably clean up the registry too before I can re-install, correct?

[Little_Pale_Face]

Hi,

Yes, I'm afraid so.

The problem started when you first tried to uninstall PSE and it wasn't there. I will have a look for the manual uninstall instructions and try them myself.

What antivirus product do you use? Sometimes it can cause problems with installations and some people recommend disabling while you do the install.

Do you use Ccleaner at all - it's a cleanup tool?

Brian

[LouisD]

I use McAfee and I did turn off the Antivirus before installation.

Yes, I use CCleaner Professional for Windows 10 64-bit and I used it to clean up the registry.

Should I use it to uninstall PSE 12 instead of the Windows Programs and Features?

[Little_Pale_Face · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I use McAfee too - and I rarely disable it.

I often use Ccleaner when I'm having problems so that's why I asked.

Using Ccleaner to uninstall an App only executes the same thing as the standard uninstall tool does. Just occasionally the executable disappears and you can use Ccleaner to tidy up the App list.

I think that manual instructions must be leaving a vital file or registry entry behind to stop the organizer being installed.

Do you have another hard drive so that you could try installing to that?

I would warn you at this stage that I think your original problem may be due to an error in your catalog. Once we get the organizer up and running, we might have to sort out your catalog

Brian

[LouisD]

Ok, thanks. I'll try to uninstall tomorrow and make sure I clean up real good before re-installing.

I'll let you know how things went tomorrow.

Again, thanks for your help.

[LouisD]

Hi Brian,

You are right, manual instructions are leaving a vital file or registry entry behind to stop the organizer being installed.

The problem began after reloading the ghosted image to the new SSD. For some unknown reason PSE 12 vanished from Programs and Features, and this prevented me from doing a proper uninstall.

Deleting the C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Elements 12 Organizer folder and C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Photoshop Elements 12 folder as per manual instructions was insufficient and I could see some Elements 12 Organizer files being removed during the uninstall process this morning (even though there was no C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Elements 12 Organizer folder).

PSE 12 is now properly installed, everything seems to be working fine and the association between photos and local albums was not lost.

Thank you very much for your timely help and support… you’re the best!

Louis

[Little_Pale_Face]

Hi,

Thanks for the good news that you are now OK.

The bad news is that my PSE 12 system will not Uninstall or install again - still I will learn something when I get it to work again.

Brian