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Fix issue with Lightroom and Photoshop CC crashing on launch

Fix issue with Lightroom and Photoshop CC crashing on launch
Photo by Patrick / Unsplash

With the launch of Lightroom CC ( also called Lightroom 6), Adobe introduced a slew of new features, most notably Photo Merge HDR and Photo Merge Panorama. The excitement soon died as users couldn’t launch the new application using the Creative Cloud Desktop. Lightroom and Photoshop would display the splash screen momentarily and then crash. The problem was compounded by the fact that there was nothing in the logs that pointed to a possible reason for this behaviour. Strangely, this issue did not plague every one who upgraded to Lightroom CC.

If you are one of the unlucky ones, read on to find out how to fix this issue and get Lightroom CC up and running. Please note that the solutions provided below are only for users on Mac OS X.

There are two solutions floating around on the web and both are from Adobe themselves. Although the first solution can be found on Adobe’s website, it worked only for a handful of users. The second solution, which seems to work for pretty much everyone, can only be obtained from Adobe by having a chat/calling their customer support. Now, we all know how quick that can be. So follow the instructions below to fix this issue.

Solution 1

Try this first as it is easier and seems to work for a few users. If it doesn’t work, try the next solution.

  1. Launch Finder and open the Adobe Creative Cloud app. This can be found inside Applications / Adobe Creative Cloud.
  2. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner and select Preferences.
  3. In the General section, click on Sign Out.
  4. When prompted to confirm you want to sign out, select Sign Out.
  5. You will be presented with the login prompt. Enter your login information to sign in.
  6. Once you are signed in again, launch Lightroom CC. If it launches fine, enjoy! If it doesn’t, move on to Solution 2.

Solution 2

This method includes fixing folder permissions and clearing some cached files. Scary as it might sound for some, it is in fact very easy. Just follow the steps below.

  1. Right-click on the Finder icon the dock and select Go To Folder.
  2. In the Go To Folder dialog box, type / and click on Go.
  3. Right-click on Library and select Get Info.
  4. Click on the lock icon in the bottom right corner and enter your password.
  5. Click on the + icon in the bottom left corner to add the Administrator and the currently logged in user account. Select Administrators and then click on Select. Repeat for your user account too.
  6. Change the permissions for the administrator and your account to Read & Write.
  7. Click on the gear icon at the bottom and select Apply to Enclosed Items. This will ensure the permissions are applied to all the folders and files within the Library folder.
  8. Next, these steps need to be repeated for the Library folder inside your user directory. To do this replace the / in Step 2 with ~/Library/. You will now be inside the Library folder. Press ⌘+3 to change the view to Columns. You can now find the Library folder (greyed out as it is invisible).
  9. Repeat steps 3 to 7.
  10. Once you have finished fixing the permissions, open the Creative Cloud app and ensure you are still signed out. Close the Creative Cloud app.
  11. Open Finder, press Shift+⌘+G, type /Library and press Enter.
  12. Navigate to Application Support/Adobe.
  13. Open the SLCache folder and delete everything in it.
  14. Now open the SLStore folder and delete everything in it.
  15. Launch the Creative Cloud app now and sign in to your account.
  16. Once you are signed in, you should be able to launch Lightroom or Photoshop.