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Cannot open Photoshop: get error: To open “Adobe Photoshop CS5.app,” you need a Java SE 6 runtime. Would you like to install one now? However installing Java SE 6 runtime does not fix nor does installing Oracle Java SE 7. Adobe says Apple is problem.

Searching the internet for solutions to this and some discussion with Adobe.


Adobe say Photoshop does not use java so it should not be asking for a java runtime.


The question is how can I stop Photoshop asking to install java since Photoshop does not need or use Java to run?


Found various links that might be helpful:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/58203/mountain-lion-with-java -7-only/58841#58841,

Work around for app that asks fo SE 6 when SE 7 is installed

Running Java Apps on OS X with Only JRE 7

How OS X determines an app needs Java,

Installing & Deinstalling Java SE 6 & SE 7, http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/install-java-jre-mac-os.html

Adobe's Installing Java SE 6

Java Mac Security and Background to SE 6 to SE 7 Changes

Java 7 & OS X

Known Issues with Adobe Software on OS X Lion

Adobe's Installing Java SE 6

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5), 2x3Ghz Quad core, 32Gb RAM

Posted on Sep 5, 2013 9:44 PM

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Posted on Sep 6, 2013 5:47 AM

The CS6 and CC apps don't use Java, but CS5.5 and earlier do. You can manually install Java 6 for Lion by downloading this file from Apple's site.

12 replies

Sep 6, 2013 10:10 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks for reply Kurt.


Yes you are correct going to the URL this file on Apple's site and downloading it does fix the problem.

(Though clicking via the error meesage asking me to install did not.)


However as I have Oracle Java SE 7 installed and SE 6 is deprecated and no longer supported for security reasons.

So going back to SE 6 seems to be a bit of a retrograde step.


Also I am aussured in no uncertain terms by Chris Cox over at Adobe that Photoshop CS 5 does not use java at all and that the java error message and so called dependency is just an error on the part of Apple.


In other words it is Apple's problem, which seems true enough.


So is there any way to run Photoshop with SE 7 only installed or even better with no java installed?


Perhaps there is a way to make OS X stop thinking it needs java SE 6 to run Photodshop CS 5.

Sep 6, 2013 10:49 AM in response to blueskys

However as I have Oracle Java SE 7 installed and SE 6 is deprecated and no longer supported for security reasons.

Apple is actually responsible for Java 6's security. They take Oracle's code and do whatever is needed to make it compatible with Apple's OS. Java 6 is still getting security updates from Apple. Versions 6 and 7 can also exist on the same drive. They won't interfere with each other.

Also I am assured in no uncertain terms by Chris Cox over at Adobe that Photoshop CS 5 does not use java at all and that the java error message and so called dependency is just an error on the part of Apple.

I did find a topic where Chris stated that for CS6, which I know is true. I've installed CS6 (and CC) on a newly formatted drive in Mountain Lion, and neither made any mention of requiring Java. Could have sworn CS5.5 and earlier did you Java for a few functions. Though I likely only assumed that since that version and earlier always causes a prompt to install Java if it isn't already on the drive.

So is there any way to run Photoshop with SE 7 only installed or even better with no java installed?

It doesn't really matter much if Java is installed. Java 6 should put an app in the Utilities folder by the name of Java Preferences. Open that, and you can completely disable it by undoing the check boxes.


User uploaded file


Perhaps there is a way to make OS X stop thinking it needs java SE 6 to run Photoshop CS 5.

Apple would have to make a change to the OS itself. It's a not a user accessible setting.

Oct 16, 2013 7:54 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Kurt Lang wrote:




Also I am assured in no uncertain terms by Chris Cox over at Adobe that Photoshop CS 5 does not use java at all and that the java error message and so called dependency is just an error on the part of Apple.


I did find a topic where Chris stated that for CS6, which I know is true. I've installed CS6 (and CC) on a newly formatted drive in Mountain Lion, and neither made any mention of requiring Java. C


I installed CS6 on a new 10.8 Mountain Lion, and I DO get a demand " To open 'Dreamweaver' you need a Java SE 6 runtime......" message.

Nov 12, 2013 4:58 AM in response to blueskys

I'm running Photoshop and Illustrator CS3 on ML without Java, so I think this could apply to CS5 as well.

Ok first let's try something :

- select Adobe Photoshop CS5.app in Finder ctrl-click and choose Show Package Content

- navigate to Content:MacOS and select Adobe Photoshop CS5, hit ⌘c

- open Terminal, paste (⌘v), hit enter

CS5 should launch without asking for Java.

If it's working you can then, for ease, make an automator script, applescript app or whatever that points to Adobe Photoshop CS5…

Feb 19, 2015 12:27 AM in response to blueskys

Kurt -- I was having this problem, did a google search, found this post, and followed your instructions. It did fix the problem, but I didn't find any "java preferences" utility, so I wasn't able to disable java 6. I see that this thread is over a year old, so I thought maybe it works differently now?


I'm not crazy about running java 6 on top of java 8, and I'd like to be able to disable java 6 if possible. Thanks.

Feb 19, 2015 6:09 AM in response to Jeremy Bell2

Yes, it's different now. OS X no longer has a panel for turning Java 6 or earlier on and off. You either have it installed, or you don't. Reinstalling the OS will always remove Java 6 or later as part of the process.


I have both Java 6 and 8 installed. It doesn't matter that they're on the system at the same time. Java 6 runs Java apps on your system which require it. Java 8 is actually only for your web browser. The entire contents of the app are installed to the /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ folder as file JavaAppletPlugin.plugin. If at any point you want to remove Java 8, you just put that file in the trash and delete it. Actually, I should just trash Java 8 from my system. I installed it, then turned off the check box in its System Preferences panel to disallow use in a browser. Which makes installing it pointless.


Anyway, the point is that if you have no need to enable Java 8 from Oracle for your web browsers (and virtually no one does anymore), there's no reason to ever install it. Java 6 is no longer allowed by the OS to connect to any web browser. I think that started with Lion. The only purpose of installing Java 6 is to allow Java apps to run on your system where they require it. I have a few of those; X-Rite's ColorPort app, and a couple of apps I have to use to upload images to get prints made. If you run Dreamweaver in CS6 or earlier, it also requires Java 6 to be installed. Not sure about the CC suite.

Feb 21, 2015 7:30 AM in response to Jeremy Bell2

Some updated info. I had read in a couple of places that Java 7, and now 8 were only for web Java access. Hence my comments above. That is incorrect. I removed Java 8 on based on those reports and my Java apps for uploading images immediately stopped working. They wouldn't run with only Java 6 on my Mac. So I had to reinstall 8. No big deal, though. You just turn off web access for Java 8 in the Java System Preference panel after installing it.

Cannot open Photoshop: get error: To open “Adobe Photoshop CS5.app,” you need a Java SE 6 runtime. Would you like to install one now? However installing Java SE 6 runtime does not fix nor does installing Oracle Java SE 7. Adobe says Apple is problem.

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