Level 4

2,624 points

Photoshop launches in Admin account but not in User account??

My 2007 Mac Pro is working fine. Just installed 10.6.7 on freshly wiped HD in Bay #2. Used the migration feature to bring over everything from drive in Bay #1 (which runs 10.5.8). After that: Photoshop CS5 will not launch (on either drive) under the regular user account. Throws 2 messages as follows: "Cannot find scratch disk because disk is unavailable." Then: "Cannot initialize because disk is unavailable."

But - just logged in on my Admin account on the Snow Leopard drive. I then tried (for the first time ever, I think) to launch PS CS5 just to see what would happen. The app launched normally!

This after:
1. using Adobe uninstaller to remove "original" install of PS CS5 from the Snow Leopard drive. Then reinstalling. (first reinstall of THREE). This did not work to make the app launch, still got above messages.

2. Ran permission repairs (I know - you don't have ta tell me.)
3. Ran DiskWarrior - applied new directory to both Leopard and Snow Leopard drives.
4. I then called Adobe support. Let the agent connect to my desktop from where he did another un-install & re-install using downloaded Adobe utility app. (A guy in India ran my Mac Pro in Michigan for 30 minutes while I sat there, entering Admin password when needed for the operations. Amazing.) He also performed Adobe diagnostics. All without success (on the User account).

After that, he gave up and arranged for a higher level agent to call me tomorrow (Wed. 4/13).

5. Adding: during the above Adobe effort, it came to me that I have too many versions of Photoshop. (I had CS, CS3, CS 4 and CS 5.) So - I systematically removed all versions except the original CS from both the Leopard and Snow Leopard drives. I used AppDelete for this removal, hoping to get all pref files, etc. I even deleted an old version of Acrobat - just because I no longer need it. Then I ran DiskWarrior again and used PreferentialTreatment to check for bad prefs: then again installed CS 5 again - on both drives. (Still working in my normal User account.)

6. Adding: all along, I had no trouble launching and using Photoshop Elements 8 on either drive. I had originally set the PSE scratch disk to my RAID storage drives (Bay #3 & #4). So I was sure by then that I had forgotten to apply the same designation for scratch disk of Photoshop CS5. This was the only variable or possibility I knew of at the time. Guessing: I had set CS 5 to use the drive I wiped clean for Snow Leopard and that's why it came up with: "drive not available."

Repeating: it was not until I logged into my Admin account on the Snow Leopard drive and found I could launch Photoshop from that account that I decided to check in here with my question:

Q. What is the remedy for having one account which won't allow launch for some (in this case, just ONE) apps?

Sorry to be long-winded: this was a major, day-long effort and I want to provide a complete picture of what was done to trouble shoot. Thanks in advance for any help.

Mac Pro 2.66 Ghz, 8 GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.5.8), 2010 MacBook (10.6.4)

Posted on Apr 12, 2011 10:18 PM

22 replies

-g

Level 4

3,449 points

Apr 13, 2011 4:59 PM in response to macnoel

Solution: uninstall Photoshop on both drives. Re-install on both drives

For anyone else stuck by this:

On one boot system, if Photoshop is opening in one user account, but not another account, uninstalling-reinstalling Photoshop is a premature move, in my opinion.

I say this BECAUSE the good user account proves Photoshop and the System installs are functioning.

Moreover, BEFORE uninstalling Photoshop it may be a good idea to Deactivate Photoshop from the good account, and trash the Photoshop preferences from the bad account (so you don't risk losing an activation and leaving bad Photoshop preferences in place).

With the benefit of reviewing the original post, specifically:

Photoshop CS5 will not launch (it) Throws 2 messages as follows: "Cannot find scratch disk because disk is unavailable." Then: "Cannot initialize because disk is unavailable."

Those errors point directly to a problem with the OP's Photoshop USER PREFERENCES, the Scratch Disk he set up.

Since he couldn't launch Photoshop to change that preference, SIMPLY resetting his Photoshop user preferences would likely have resolved the problem with Photoshop not opening.

*To reset all user Photoshop preferences to default settings do one of the following:*

*Press and hold Alt ControlShift (Windows) or Option CommandShift (Mac OS) as you start Photoshop. You are prompted to delete the current settings.*

*(Mac OS only) Open the Preferences folder in the Library folder, and drag the Adobe Photoshop CS Settings folder to the Trash.*

*New Preferences files are created the next time you start Photoshop.*

SOURCE: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WSfd1234e1c4b69f30ea53e41001031ab 64-74aaa.html

At least after the 5 minutes it took to rule out the user Photoshop preferences that pointed to the Scratch Disk, you could move on to the other likely suspects that are directly associated with the bad user account...

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Apr 13, 2011 4:53 PM in response to -g

On one boot system, if Photoshop is opening in one user account, but not another account, uninstalling-reinstalling Photoshop is a premature move.

sigh. You're not getting it. He was having problems with a standard account and not having problems with an admin account. If the two accounts do not have identical privileges, you cannot make the assumptions you seem so dead-set on making. I, and others, have already provided information about why this might happen due to the difference in privileges. This is completely different from something that works in one standard account but not another standard account.

Yes, there may be a simpler option than reinstalling, but it would involve escalating permissions on certain things for standard users, rather than hunting down corrupt preferences. This was NOT a preference-related issue.

-g

Level 4

3,449 points

Apr 13, 2011 5:18 PM in response to thomas_r.

sigh. You're not getting it.

I am afraid I do get it and can't write it more clearly.

He was having problems with a standard account and not having problems with an admin account.

By "standard account" I assume you mean a non-admin account (I don't use non-admin accounts, but I don't recall ever seeing this issue on the Adobe Mac Ps forum other than problems that cleared after standard Repair Permissions).

I see the "standard account" issue as a red herring -- why I clearly based my opinion on the opening error warnings (at least until the suspect user preferences are ruled out).

+++++

My point in dropping back in this long rambling thread was to give others an option from blindly uninstalling-reinstalling-updating-DiskWarrior-ComboUpdates-ArchiveInstalls-ect when they hit scratch disk warnings that prevent Photoshop from launching properly.

thomas_r.

Level 7

32,031 points

Apr 13, 2011 5:31 PM in response to -g

I don't use non-admin accounts, but I don't recall ever seeing this issue on the Adobe Mac Ps forum other than problems that cleared after standard Repair Permissions

I actually _have experience_ with problems caused by the privilege difference between an admin and non-admin account while using an Adobe product, and thoroughly investigated, understood and applied the solution. The problem, over several versions of PSE, involved items that _only an admin account had the needed level of permissions to access_. The solution involved _applying custom permissions to those items_. I would think that this experience qualifies me to comment more than someone who can simply say he doesn't recall seeing this issue on Adobe's forums. I'm not sure why you're being so insistent, but the OP's problem has been solved, so I'm not going to continue to debate it.

-g

Level 4

3,449 points

Apr 13, 2011 6:09 PM in response to thomas_r.

I actually have experience...

Crikey, Mr. Reed, of course you are qualified (and warmly welcome) to comment here.

Getting the scratch disk permissions in order (as you pointed out) for the problem user account would likely effectively resolve Ps' scratch disk opening warnings (just as resetting Ps' preferences as I suggested) -- how long would either maneuver take you or me to apply -- 30 seconds?

Sure beats hours-days of Un-Re-installing, DiskWarrior, updating, hours on the phone with clueless support, and dragging out a forum thread...

why you're being so insistent

I guess saving other people from all that was the reason for my clarifying what I read was held out as the solution for Photoshop Scratch Disk opening errors (because I don't think reinstalling Ps is what resolved the problem unless that process also reset the bad Photoshop user preferences).

Oct 24, 2012 3:36 PM in response to -g

I had the same problem. Deleting the settings on launch solved it completely.

-g

Level 4

3,449 points

Oct 24, 2012 6:37 PM in response to CaffeineIV

ya, the original "Cannot find scratch disk because disk is unavailable." Then: "Cannot initialize because disk is unavailable." errors are pretty specific and have since become more common problem that resetting (trashing) Photoshp preferences generally clears

still not sure what all the fuss in this thread was about...

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Photoshop launches in Admin account but not in User account??