How to Repair Photoshop Crashes or Freezes on Windows

Photoshop is the holy grail of digital art alteration and photo editing. Yet, Photoshop, like any other software on your Windows 10 or 11 PC, is not without flaws. If your Photoshop keeps crashing or freezing, this post will walk you through some simple remedies.

Clear the Photoshop Font Cache

A damaged font cache that has accumulated in Photoshop might cause your computer’s performance to suffer. Clear the cache to resolve this:

Adobe Photoshop and any other Creative Cloud programs should be closed.
To open File Explorer in Windows, click Ctrl + E.
Go to the folder “C:Users[Your Username]AppDataRoamingAdobeAdobe Photoshop version>”.
Locate and remove the “FontFeatureCache” and “CT Font Cache” folders before emptying your Recycle Bin.

Photoshop font folders in File Explorer.

Restart Photoshop and use it for a bit. If the app continues to crash, try the following solutions.

Deactivate Plugins

Plug-ins can provide additional functionality to Photoshop. They are also capable of producing problems. Start removing these plugins one by one to rule them out as the source of your crashing and freezing difficulties.

Then, while holding down the Shift key, start Photoshop.
Select “Yes” to launch Photoshop without any plugins.

If Photoshop continues to crash, the plugins are not to blame.
Instead, if Photoshop is now running well, you may try to isolate the faulty plugin.
In File Explorer, navigate to “C:Program FilesAdobeAdobe Photoshop version>”.

Open the “Plug-ins” folder and try relocating one of the plugins to prevent Photoshop from loading it.
Continue this process until you discover the malfunctioning plugin.

Install Graphics Drivers

Your Photoshop may crash or freeze due to an outdated or defective graphics driver. To update it, follow the procedures below:

Launch Device Manager on your computer.

Locate your graphics card by expanding the “Display adapters” menu.

Go to the “Driver” tab and press the “Update Driver” button.
Choose the “Search for drivers automatically” option.

New drivers will be installed automatically if they are available. If not, proceed to the next tip.

Modify Photoshop’s Permissions

You may occasionally encounter damaged Photoshop preference settings. In this instance, consider resetting them, but first make a backup of your settings for future restoration in case something goes wrong.

Creating a Backup of Photoshop Preferences

With the Ctrl + E keyboard shortcut, launch File Explorer.
Go to “C:Users[Your Username]AppDataRoamingAdobeAdobe Photoshop version>.”

Photoshop Settings folder visible in Fire Explorer.

Copy and paste the “Adobe Photoshop v> Settings” folder to a different place.

Photoshop Preferences Reset

Launch Photoshop on your computer.
“Edit -> Preferences -> General” will open.

Check “Reset Preferences on Quit” and then “OK.”
If you need to revert to the previous Photoshop preference settings, copy the “Adobe Photoshop version> Settings” folder and paste it back into its original position.

Make RAM available

Photoshop is a memory-intensive program that can eat up to 70% of your system’s available RAM when running. You may free up RAM by closing superfluous background apps and allowing Photoshop to utilise these resources instead. It’s important to note that Photoshop requires a decent quantity of free RAM to run smoothly on your PC.

Use the Ctrl + Alt + Delete keyboard shortcut to open Task Manager.
Go to the “Processes” tab and end any resource-intensive activities by selecting each program and clicking the “End task” button.

Terminating resource-intensive tasks in Task Manager.

Restart Photoshop to see if it makes a change.

Boost Timeout Detection Recovery.

Timeout Detection Recovery (TDR) is a Windows feature that detects response difficulties from a GPU and, if a timeout occurs, resets the card. You may be able to prevent problems caused by Photoshop features that need GPU input taking too long to respond by raising its value.

To access the registry window, open Run and type regedit, then click “OK.”

From the left panel, navigate to “Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers.”

Registry Editor open with TdrDelay key visible.

On the right, double-click the “TdrDelay” key.
In “Base,” choose “Decimal” and provide a greater “Value data.” It was set to 60 in this case.

Lastly, restart your computer.

Restore Corrupted System Files

System file corruption is a well-known cause of unpredictable Photoshop crashes. Fortunately, you may simply resolve this problem by conducting an SFC scan.

In Windows Search, type “Command Prompt,” then select “Run as administrator” on the right.
In the new window, type SFC /scannow and hit Enter.

SFC scan in execution in Command Prompt window.

After the scan is finished, restart your computer.
Start Photoshop and verify that everything functions properly.

Finally, keep in mind that keeping your Windows up to date is always a smart idea. This helps to remove all types of problems from your system and may have an influence on your Photoshop problems as well.

Image credit: Pixabay. All screenshots by Joshua Solomon.